NEXT PAGE -->
|
Updated Daily!
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
|---|
DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
August 15
"The most distinctive, and perhaps the most impressive, characteristic of American scenery is its wildness." John Muir
(1)WILD FORESTS: Tide is Turning on Fires
(2)HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: New York City's Lawyers Want Justice For Digna
(3)GLOBAL WARMING: You're Never Too Old to Drive a Cleaner Car
(4)TAKE ACTION: Save the Tongass National Forest
1. Tide is Turning on Forest Fires
A month or two ago, conservative media outlets like the Wall Street Journal were leading the charge to point fingers at environmentalists, and Sierra Club in particular, over this summer's spate of forest fires. Although the weather's still as hot as ever, cooler heads in the media seem to be prevailing at last. Sunday's Denver Post carried a thoughtful opinion by a renowned environmental journalist, which took issue with the race to blame which has characterized much of the debate over the blazes.
The Post piece followed an equally even-handed editorial that appeared in the New York Times a few weeks back. The fact is that the timber industry, the Forest Service, and pro-logging western Senators have opportunistically used these disasters as an excuse to gut crucial forest protections. For a while, the media bought their baloney that environmentalists were to blame for the fires. Looks like people are wising up.
To read the Denver Post piece, go to https://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E73%257E786092,00.html?search=filter
2. New York City's Lawyers Want Justice For Digna
When Digna Ochoa, a human rights lawyer who was representing environmental hero Rodolfo Montiel, was murdered in Mexico City last October, the Mexican government promised a full and fair investigation. Instead, the police, who many suspect are complicit with Digna's murderers, mounted a half-hearted effort. They even suggested that Digna committed suicide.
Now the New York City Bar Association, after being contacted by local Sierra Club activists, has thrown its weight behind the struggle for justice. New York's lawyers have sent a letter to Mexican President Vicente Fox, urging a more strenuous inquiry into the killing. Sierra Club members around the country are contacting their own local and state Bar Associations to encourage them to send similar letters. To join these efforts, contact Sam Parry at sam.parry@sierraclub.org.
To stay updated on Human Rights and the Environment issues, sign up for the listserv at https://lists.sierraclub.org/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?SUBED1=cons-spst-human-rights-and-env&A=1
3. You're Never Too Old to Drive a Cleaner Car
Want to let 50 million seniors know about Sierra Club's campaign for more fuel-efficient cars and SUVs? Here's how: this week's edition of Modern Maturity, the magazine of the American Association of Retired Persons, contains a story called "Cars for Grownups". It's about how automakers are aiming many of their new high-tech advances at the over-50 crowd.
But there's no mention of fuel economy, even though saving money at the gas pump is something that seniors, in particular, might appreciate. At the end of the piece, readers are invited to share ideas for "the next generation of dream cars." Let's take them up on it. Let readers know that cars that go further on a gallon of gas could save them money, help save American lives overseas by easing our dependence on foreign oil, and cut global warming pollution. And while you're at it, tell them about the Sierra Club's Freedom Package too!
To read the article, click on the link below. Then go to the end of the story, and "join the discussion" as requested. https://www.modernmaturity.org/departments/2002/lifestyle/0905_lifestyle_a.html
For more information on the Sierra Club's Freedom Package, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/freedom
4. Take Action to Save the Tongass National Forest
The Tongass is the crown jewel of our National Forest system. It occupies a 500-mile-long stretch of rugged coastline in Southeast Alaska, and is the largest remaining temperate rainforest on Earth. It's full of grizzlies, salmon, and the world's densest population of bald eagles. But now the Forest Service is considering opening up 3 million acres of the Tongass's old-growth rainforest to logging and other destructive activities.
Luckily, they're still taking comments from the public, so you can make your voice heard. Tell the Forest Service you support permanent protection for all roadless areas in the Tongass.
To send an email directly to the Forest Service, click below. There's a draft provided. https://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=86&st=curr
"I've known all along that more of what I am seeking in the wilds is right here in my home state of California than anywhere else on earth." Award-winning nature photographer Galen Rowell, who died this week
(1)IN MEMORIAM: Sierra Club Mourns Deaths of Galen and Barbara Rowell
(2)FACTORY FARMS: "Bad Rap" is Justified
(3)GLOBAL WARMING: For Louisiana, the Future is Now
(4)TAKE ACTION: Protect the Alaskan Wilderness
1. Sierra Club Mourns Deaths of Galen and Barbara Rowell
Galen Rowell, the award-wining nature photographer who died in an accident early Sunday along with his wife Barbara, lived life to the fullest. An avid rock-climber, hiker, and runner, Rowell found time in his 61 years to trek through Nepal with Robert Redford, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. McKinley, and make first ascents of more than 100 routes in Yosemite and the High Sierra range. Barbara was also a nature photographer, and she joined Galen on many of his trips.
But it was Rowell's photographs that made him such an important figure in the conservation movement. He went to incredible lengths to capture images from Alaska to Fiji, and his work appeared on the cover of National Geographic and countless other publications. He began mountain climbing as a ten-year old on Sierra Club outings, and received the Club's Ansel Adams Award in 1984 for his contributions to the art of wilderness photography. The environmental community is deeply saddened by the deaths of Galen and Barbara Rowell.
To see the website for the Rowells' gallery, go to https://www.mountainlight.com/
For Galen and Barbara Rowell's obituary, go to https://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/local/3853828.htm
2. "Bad Rap" for Factory Farms is Justified
Animal cruelty, bribery, records destruction, fraud, worker endangerment, illegal pollution: it sounds like a bad movie. In fact, it's the contents of a new Sierra Club report which exposes hundreds of legal violations committed by massive animal factories. This sorry picture comes just weeks after the second largest beef recall in history.
The report, "The Rapsheet on Animal Factories", is accompanied by an online database, which shows users what's going on at factory farms in their hometowns. It's intended as a tool to help citizens and local authorities hold corporate polluters accountable, and keep them out of town if need be. And with the reputation these factories are getting for air and noise pollution, contamination of groundwater, and inhumane treatment of animals, alot of communities may want to do just that.
To search the database, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/rapsheets
For more information on the report and the dangers of factory farms, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/13/science/13FARM.html
3. For Louisiana, the Future is Now
Alot of people think of global warming as a critical, but distant, threat. We won't start seeing the effects for a while, right? Louisianans know better. Every year, up to 35 square miles of the state's wetlands sink into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of rising sea levels. Louisiana has now lost an area the size of Rhode Island, and it's estimated that a major hurricane in New Orleans could claim up to 100,000 lives.
Louisiana isn't the only place that's at risk. Almost every other Atlantic or Gulf coast state could lose large areas of land over the next 50 years. Some estimates put the amount that could disappear at 23,000 square miles. Global warming is a threat to our children, and theirs. But it's also a threat to us.
For more information on the frightening effects of global warming, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/
4. Take Action to Protect the Alaskan Wilderness
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline sends one million barrels of oil each day across 800 miles from Alaska's North Slope to the port of Valdez. It crosses public land for almost the whole journey, thanks to a 1974 agreement. That land includes 80 rivers and streams, three mountain ranges, and some of Alaska's most spectacular locations.
Now the agreement is up for renewal, and that's where you come in. Let decision-makers know that if the pipeline is re-authorized, it must be accompanied by the strictest possible environmental standards. That means the following: - An independent environmental review should be conducted by the BLM and the State of Alaska. - Additional periodic reviews should be mandatory. - Citizen advisory councils, representing local people and interests, should be given a formal oversight role.
The comment period ends August 20th. So email your comments to the following address today: ADNR_Administrative_Record@jpo.doi.gov
"In California, people used to write songs about T-Birds and Corvettes. Today, they write regulations." Bill Ford Jnr, acknowledging reality
(1)CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY: Clean Car Campaign Rolls On
(2)TOXIC POLLUTION: Kids, Chemicals, and TV
(3)TAKE ACTION: Help the Global Environment
1. Clean Car Campaign Rolls On
We knew the Sierra Club could do a lot, but this is ridiculous: in June the Club went to Detroit to kick off its three-year campaign to pressure Ford, GM, and Chrysler to build cleaner cars. It followed that up this week by making a splash with a local event at a St. Petersburg, Florida, car dealer. Ford was paying attention, because they reportedly took out an ad in a local paper, welcoming the Sierra Club!
That's not all. Yesterday Ford announced that it wouldn't challenge California's recent landmark auto emissions law. And its CEO, Bill Ford Jnr, compared his company's credibility gap on the environment to that of other corporations on accounting. All this comes on the heels of Ford's decision last week to stop making it's Excursion SUV - dubbed the Ford Valdez by the Sierra Club because of the huge amounts of gas it consumes. Looks like we've knocked one of the Big 3 back on its heels in just 90 days. There's no telling what we can do in 3 years!
For more information on how Ford is feeling the heat, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/08/business/08AUTO.html
2. Kids, Chemicals and TV
Across the country, growing numbers of children are suffering from asthma, leukemia, and behavioral disabilities. And it now seems that toxic pollution in the air kids breathe and the food they eat may be the cause. That's the subject of a ground-breaking new PBS documentary by Bill Moyers, which airs this Friday night.
Moyers travels to New York City, to report on a novel study of 500 expectant mothers. Doctors are recording the toxins that these women are exposed to while pregnant. Then over the next few years, they'll look for links between these toxins and the health of the children as they grow up. The results could permanently change the way we think about toxic pollution. Don't miss it!
NOW with Bill Moyers: Kids and Chemicals, this Friday, August 9 at 9pm ET on PBS (or check local listings at https://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html)
3. Take Action to Help the Global Environment
As the World Summit on Sustainable Development approaches, concern over the Bush administration's blase attitude to the event - and pro-business stance toward the global environment - is building. Now key lawmakers are circulating a letter which tells President Bush that he should personally attend this crucial world gathering, and that the U.S. must play an active and forceful role in seeking global solutions to the global environmental challenges of the 21st century.
The more Members of Congress who sign the letter, the more powerful it will be, and that's where you come in. While your Members of Congress are home for the recess, urge them to add their names to the list. It's easy - all they need to do to sign on is to contact the office of Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR).
Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224 3121 and ask for your Members of Congress. Or call them directly at their district office. Then ask them to call Rep. Blumenauer's office at (202) 225-4811, and say that they would like to sign the letter to President Bush regarding the World Summit for Sustainable Development.
"It is not appropriate to say 'This request is unconstitutional'. I need to know what the basis is." Judge Emmet Sullivan, rebuking the White House for its failure to hand over key energy documents
(1)POLITICS: Moment of Truth in Michigan
(2)INTERNATIONAL: Global Problems, Global Solutions
(3)ENERGY: Judge Blasts White House (Again)
(4)TAKE ACTION: Save our Wild Forests
1. Moment of Truth in Michigan
Voters in Michigan's 15th district finally go to the polls today, and they face a clear choice on the environment. Rep. Lynn Rivers has a long and consistent record of voting to protect Michigan's air, water, and special places. Her opponent in today's Democratic primary, Rep. John Dingell, has often been quick to cave to the auto industry and other special interests.
Sierra Club has pulled out all the stops for Rivers. We're going door-to-door, making phone calls, running TV and radio ads, and doing anything else we can think of to make sure the district's voters know who's standing up for the environment. It's neck-and-neck in the home stretch, but Rivers has all the momentum right now...
For more information on Rivers' late charge, go to https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-politics-primaries.html
2. Global Problems, Global Solutions
As the World Summit on Sustainable Development approaches, concern over the Bush administration's blase attitude to the event is building. Now key lawmakers, including Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, and Reps. Ed Markey, George Miller, John Conyers, and Henry Waxman, have signed a letter which urges the White House to take a more collaborative approach, and to reconsider it's pro-business, anti-environmental position.
The Summit begins August 26th in Johannesburg, and over one hundred heads of state are signed up to attend. But not President Bush, whose month-long Texas vacation inconveniently intrudes. Maybe the President's embarrassed that the U.S. is trying to back out of some of the pledges his father made ten years ago in Rio. Whatever the reason, this seems like a bad time to be making new enemies overseas.
For more information on the WSSD, go to https://www.ems.org/world_summit/
3. Judge Blasts White House on Energy Documents (Again)
In what is becoming a familiar pattern, a federal judge sharply rebuked the Bush administration last week over public access to key energy policy documents. Sierra Club and Judicial Watch are using the courts to bring to light exactly who Dick Cheney's energy task force met with before releasing it's dirty, dangerous energy plan last year.
The White House claimed "executive privilege" as justification for withholding the documents. But Judge Emmet Sullivan wasn't buying it. He gave the government 30 days to come up with a better argument, or hand over the goods. We may be close to finding out just what role irresponsible corporations like Enron had in writing our energy policy.
For more information on what Dick Cheney's hiding, go to https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37103-2002Aug2.html
4. Take Action to Save our Wild Forests
In a piece of shockingly cynical opportunism, some western Members of Congress, backed by the Forest Service, are using this summer's spate of wildfires to push for more commercial logging. The priority right now should be protecting homes and communities threatened by wildfires. And the best way to do that is to leave environmental protections in place.
Contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know that commercial logging is not a solution to protect lives and communities from fires. They should help end logging on our National Forests and should work to ensure the Forest Service follows our environmental laws.
Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224 3121. Ask for your Members of Congress. Deliver the message. Don't let pro-logging extremists destroy our national forests.
NEXT PAGE -->
|
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
|---|