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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
October 24
"They give you a piece of paper that has names on it, then you vote for the person you like." -7-year-old Nikhia Caldwell, a participant in the Sierra Club's voteforchildren.org, tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution how one votes, 10/24/2002
(1)GOTV: Atlanta's Students Teach Parents the Power of Voting
(2)GLOBAL WARMING: And He's Off!
(3)ENERGY: Help Democracy and the Environment - Read a Book
(4)TAKE ACTION: Vote on November 5th
1. Atlanta's Students Teach Parents the Power of Voting
The Sierra Club and Service Employees International Union Education and Support Fund (SEIU) launched non-partisan partnership working in 13 cities across the country to directly involve kids in the political process launched and Atlanta is off to an excellent start!
"If kids start learning about it now, at an early age, voting as a grown-up will be a habit," said one mother, who heads a Vote for Children program in the area. The Atlanta program will include participation from 9,000 students who will learn the importance of voting, hold mock debates and elections, and have essay contests at school. Outside of school, students and parents are reaching out to voters with a series of neighborhood activities to remind them to vote. Their campaigns will culminate three days before the November 5 election as the students converge on their neighborhoods with a final Walk for Kids canvassing event.
Check out the article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: https://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/thursday/news_d37b48ade17740f00046.html
2. And He's Off!
Sierra Club's Matt Astleford is pumping premium super by driving a 1,000 mile road trip in a 52 mile-per-gallon hybrid car. The road trip is to show-off the latest technology of the Honda Civic hybrid that looks like a conventional version of the popular sedan. This gas-electric hybrid (as well as any of the hybrids on the market) does not need to be plugged in at night, rather they charge as they go.
Better gas mileage for Matt's hybrid means more than just big savings at the fuel pump. It also means freedom - freedom from air pollution and freedom from foreign oil. Forty percent of the oil we use in this country goes to our cars and trucks, so driving vehicles that go farther on a gallon of gas is the biggest step we can take to ensure our freedom. Matt, drive on!
Read about Matt's road trip at: https://www.argusleader.com/business/Tuesdayfeature.shtml The Sierra Club's Freedom Package is well worth your 'energy': https://www.sierraclub.org/freedompackage/
3. Help Democracy and the Environment - Read a Book
Earlier this year, Sierra Club played a major role in passing a landmark campaign finance reform bill. The measure was a crucial first step towards getting big money out of politics. And that's good news for the environment, because the less influence wielded by corporate polluters, the easier it is to protect our air, water and special places. But the fight to clean up our democracy isn't over, and that's why a hard-hitting new book about the role of big money in politics comes just at the right time.
"Selling Out: How Big Corporate Money Buys Elections, Rams Through Legislation, and Betrays our Democracy" (Harper Collins/Regan Books) exposes how special interest dollars have infiltrated the political process. Here's a snippet from the interview with the author Mark Green, long-time public interest activist, and former New York City Public Advocate, "Hundreds of times a day in Washington meetings occur between business lobbyists and members, and each is engaged in a rational shakedown of the other. It's a great system for big business lobbyists and incumbents because they profit from each other, but it's a lousy system for the millions of the rest of us who don't give PAC money with preconditions."
Read the an interview with the author at https://www.sierraclub.org/currents/mark_green.asp
4. Take Action: Vote on November 5th
We all want the Bush Administration to celebrate the Clean Water Act's 30 year anniversary with strong actions to our clean water clean, but they're not. Actually, the Administration is trying to dismantle the key environmental legislation that keeps our lakes, rivers, and streams swimmable, drinkable, and clean.
With the protection of our waterways in jeopardy, there is no better time to VOTE. Just like swimming in your favorite swimming hole or savoring clean drinking water from your tap, getting out to pull the lever, poke the ticket, or mark-up your ballot, it is in your power to VOTE November 5th.
"Polls show that environmentally conscious voters are far more likely to come out on Election Day than average voters." - Business Week, 10/16/2002
(1)PARTNERSHIPS: Kids teach parents about Hanging Chads
(2)SPRAWL: A Bridge of Boats
(3)WATER: Happy Anniversary Clean Water Act!
(4)TAKE ACTION: Vote on November 5th
1. Kids teach parents about Hanging Chads
The Sierra Club has teamed up with the Service Employees International Union Education and Support Fund (SEIU) for a new non-partisan partnership working in 13 cities across the country to directly involve kids in the political process while mobilizing communities with low voter turnout to increase voter participation.
The program will reach students through schools, where they will learn the importance of voting, hold mock debates and elections, and have essay contests. Outside of school, students and parents are reaching out to voters with a series of neighborhood activities to remind them to vote. Their campaigns will culminate three days before the November 5 election as the students converge on their neighborhoods with a final Walk for Kids canvassing event.
Learn more at https://www.voteforchildren.org
2. A Bridge of Boats
Kayaks and canoes formed an alterna-bridge where Manatee County, FL plans to build another "real" bridge across the Manatee River. The bridge of boats sat in a tranquil part of the river between Fort Hamer Road in Parrish and Upper Manatee River Road east of Bradenton where the proposal is planned. The protestors floated to raise awareness of the issue and to inform locals of the November 14th public hearing.
Simply adding another bridge over the Manatee River would not curtail the ever increasing traffic problem but would instead increase traffic. When roads are expanded or bridges are built, people stop taking public transit or carpooling but instead get in their car to drive. Drivers also switch routes inducing more congestion on smaller streets reducing neighborhoods' quality of life. Conclusion: the bridge isn't worth it.
For more information on the event see: https://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?SearchID=73114551154378&Avis=SH&Dato=20021020&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=210200546&Ref=AR
3. Happy Anniversary Clean Water Act!
To generate hype surrounding the Clean Water Act's 30th anniversary in Cincinnati, a week before the event local organizers posted a HUGE clean water celebration banner downtown. Turns out it worked, as 1,000 people turned out for the 2-day celebration. A press conference kicked off the festivitees announcing a clean water proclomation by the mayors of Newport, Cincinnati, and Covington. The celebration then moved to a riverboat cruise of the Ohio River.
The Clean Water Act's anniversary reinforces how far we have come since its conception but it also shows how much work is still needed. According to the EPA's National Water Quality Inventory Report, 37 percent of Kentucky's river and stream miles are still polluted. Sources of the pollution comes from such places as old sewer systems, over-development, and agricultural run-off. The new mayor proclomation hopes to work on these problems in the local waterways.
Here's the story in the Kentucky Post: https://www.kypost.com/2002/10/16/eaton101602.html
4. Take Action: Vote on November 5th
With the Bush Administration touting the deceitfully named "Clear Skies Plan", our air looks drastically more hazy then clear. The Bush plan limits community protections outlined in the Clean Air Act and actually gives coal-fired power plants less restrictions on pollution. States downwind of these coal-burning plants would have less power to demand that their polluting neighbors clean up their acts. Halting the "Clear Skies" plan depends on choices voters make on November 5th.
With the protection of the air we breathe in jeopardy, there is no better time to VOTE. Just like running outside or taking a deep breath, getting out to pull the lever, poke the ticket, or mark-up your ballot is in your power to VOTE November 5th.
"This is a startling revelation." - Judge Emmet Sullivan, reacting to the admission by Justice Department lawyers that they hadn't read some of the energy documents they're trying to with-hold.
(1)ENERGY: Flying Blind
(2)LANDS: Sprawling Development Project Draws Big-Name Opposition
(3)NATIONAL MONUMENTS: Protecting the Environment, One Door at a Time
(4)TAKE ACTION: Defend the Defenders in Mexico
1. Flying Blind
Get this: the Justice Department today claimed that documents from Dick Cheney's energy task force are so sensitive they can't be released to the public. But at the same time it admitted that it hasn't even read them all! The embarrassing exchange between Judge Emmet Sullivan and government lawyers was just the latest setback for the Bush administration in its increasingly desperate attempts to keep secret how it formulated its energy policy last year.
Sierra Club and Judicial Watch are suing to gain access to the documents. We think it's in the public interest to know just which corporate polluters helped the task force come up with its dirty, polluting energy bill last year. Judge Sullivan ordered the government to end its stone-walling and release the documents by November 5th. Maybe DOJ lawyers will have a chance to read them by then, too!
For more information on the Bush administration's polluting energy plan, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/energy/bush_plan/
2. Sprawling Development Project Draws Big-Name Opposition
When Washington Mutual, the nation's largest savings and loan, announced plans to build a $2 billion golf course community on the Ahmanson Ranch, it probably expected a slam dunk. It could never have anticipated that it would be pitted against former vice president Al Gore, environmental leader Bobby Kennedy Jr, and Hollywood director Rob Reiner in a high profile environmental struggle over the area of rolling grasslands near the San Fernando Valley in southern California.
The ranch is an area of pristine open space, and home to various endangered species. And approving the project would only exacerbate the traffic problem on the area's freeway's, which are already some of the most clogged in the country. Gore got involved at the behest of Reiner, while Kennedy's organization, like the Sierra Club, has opposed the project for years. Looks like Washington Mutual is getting more than it bargained for!
For the latest developments on the fight to save Ahmanson Ranch, go to https://www.insidevc.com/vcs/county_news/article/0,1375,VCS_226_1482189,00.html
3. Protecting the Environment, One Door at a Time
Arizonans are showing that national monuments are worth fighting for. Sierra Club and allies took to the streets Saturday, going door-to-door to protect some of the richest and most biologically diverse land in the state, including parts of the Agua Fria National Monument. These areas are threatened by a Bureau of Land Management plan that could open them up to road-building, mining, and other destructive development.
Canvassers encouraged local residents to attend a public meting Monday, and speak up on behalf of the earth. Specifically, Sierra Club representatives will urge the BLM to close roads that threaten historic sites and wildlife habitat, to support wilderness designation for sensitive areas, and to protect areas for black hawks and bald eagles. And after Saturday's neighborhood tour, they should have a lot of support.
To see how the public meeting went, go to https://www.communitypapers.com/dailycourier/myarticles.asp?P=664471&S=400&PubID=9676&EC=0
4. Take Action to Defend the Defenders in Mexico
A year ago this Saturday, human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa was murdered in her Mexico City office. Since then, the Mexican authorities have made little progress in bringing Digna's killers to justice, even publicly floating the outrageous suggestion that Digna took her own life. Nor has there been a full investigation into the kidnapping and torture of two of Digna's clients, environmental heroes Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera.
Though released from prison, Montiel and Cabrera have never been declared innocent, and their efforts to oppose destructive logging are hampered by on-going fears for their personal safety. You can help. Tell the Mexican government to enforce the law against criminals who intimidate, torture, jail, and even murder those who defend the earth. Until this is done, environmental activists will never be able to conduct their work without fear of repression. Let President Fox know that the world is watching.
To send an email directly to Mexican President Vicente Fox, click below. There's a draft provided. https://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=33&st=curr
"I am disappointed that the federal government would intervene with our efforts to protect our air quality." - Governor Gray Davis, on the Bush administration's support for a lawsuit challenging California's landmark auto emissions law
(1)CLEAN AIR: Bush Administration + General Motors = Pollution
(2)POLITICS: One City, One Environment
(3)CLEAN WATER: Chemical Filtration Gives the Big Apple a Sour Taste
(4)TAKE ACTION: To Protect Our Forests
1. Bush Administration + General Motors = Pollution
As if General Motors didn't have enough influence, now the Bush administration is helping the company out. An automakers trade group, backed strongly by GM, is trying to undo California's land-mark Zero Emissions Vehicle clean air law. And the Bush Justice Department has submitted a formal brief to the court, supporting the automakers' case. Interestingly, the President's Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, is a former lobbyist for GM. Go figure.
California has made huge strides on air quality in recent years. While LA smog alerts used to occur nearly half the year, they are now far rarer. Clean vehicles that put out less air pollution can help California make further progress. But only if the court rejects the attempts by GM and the Bush administration to interfere with California's efforts to protect public health.
For more information on GM's power play, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/10/politics/10POLL.html
2. One City, One Environment
Also from the Golden State...a plan to allow the San Fernando Valley to secede from the City of Los Angeles could threaten crucial environmental protections, the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club pointed out last week. Los Angeles' laws would lapse after four months, meaning the new city might have to start from scratch in its attempts to safeguard public health and the environment.
Though the City of Angels faces a host of environmental challenges, it has taken a number of important steps in recent years, including maintaining critical wetlands habitat and promoting city-wide mass-transit alternatives. Those advances would be placed at risk in the Valley if the ill-advised plan goes ahead. Secession would be a step backwards for the environment of the San Fernando Valley.
For more information on the Sierra Club's position on secession, click below, then click "Announcements" https://www.angeles.sierraclub.org/
3. Chemical Filtration Gives the Big Apple a Sour Taste
The Yankees may be out of the baseball play-offs, but Bronx residents are still making some noise. Over 300 of them turned out for a community forum last week to learn about the threat posed by plans to build a massive chemical filtration plant in their neighborhood. Many of those who attended knew nothing about the project when they got there. But by the end of the event they were so fired up that one speaker who dared to suggest that the plant could be approved was met with thunderous boos.
New York City's drinking water is threatened by pollution from sprawling over-development in upstate watershed areas. But instead of protecting these areas from further unnecessary sprawl, thus preserving open space and keeping the city's drinking water clean, Mayor Bloomberg is considering a huge chemical filtration plant. Filtration would cost taxpayers $1.4 billion, encourage more sprawl in the watershed, and do nothing to guarantee clean water. New York City deserves better.
For more information on clean water, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/cleanwater/
4. Take Action to Protect Our Forests
Last week, a House committee approved a compromise fire policy bill. The committee failed to produce a bill that safeguards communities, protects wild forests and other special places, and keeps crucial environmental laws in place. Instead, it would allow expedited logging of millions of acres of National Forest in the name of fire prevention, while reducing the role of ordinary people in the process of forest management.
This legislation is now headed for the floor and could pass before the year is out. So, your help is still needed! We have the chance for Members of Congress to instead support a pro-active, solution oriented bill, offered by Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA). This measure would make progress on protecting communities and reducing fire hazards. But first we have stop the threat to our forests.
Call your Representative this week and urge them to OPPOSE the McInnis bill, HR 5319. You can reach your Representative through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
For a real community protection fire management plan that provides solutions, go to https://www.sierraclub.org
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