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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
May 18, 2004
"It's guerrilla signage." - Matt Little, clean air coordinator for the Sierra Club's North Star Chapter, was one of many organizers in Minnesota posting makeshift signs on boat landings to warn anglers about the hazards of mercury- contaminated fish. Several environmental organizations are taking matters into their own hands after the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, citing logistical and financial reasons, refused to post warning signs.
(1) CLEAN AIR: And They're Off!
(2) LAWSUIT: Ship Shape
(3) TAKE ACTION: Send a Letter for Clean Air
1. CLEAN AIR: And They're Off!
We believe it was Harry Hogge to Cole Trickle in the 1990 movie "Days of Thunder" who said "rubbin, son, is racin." Well, the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC), traveling in the Toyota Prius "Heidi the Hybrid," will be rubbin bumpers this summer with the Republican National Committee's "Reggie the Registration Rig," an 18-wheeler, in their campaign to Race for Clean Air. "The Bush administration is making it easier for corporations to pollute our air. Even Reggie the Rig is doing his part in polluting America," said Meighan Davis, National Director of the SSC. "We're here to tell President Bush and Reggie it's time to stop polluting and start cleaning up our air."
Read about the kickoff of Heidi the Hybrid's "Race for Clean Air": https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6m7w,km3,4e2l,ap5y,irqz,5w4u
2. LAWSUIT: Ship Shape
In April 2002, Greenpeace activists climbed aboard a cargo ship carrying illegally-harvested Brazilian mahogany, planning to post a sign stating "President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging." The Bush administration, instead of addressing the illegal shipment of the lumber to U.S. ports, has responded by blowing the dust off a piracy statute from 1872 - yes, that's 1872 - to prosecute Greenpeace over their protest tactics. The Sierra Club will appear as a friend of the court in the lawsuit, opposing the administration's abuse of power. This appears to be the first time in U.S. history that the federal government is criminally prosecuting an organization for the civil disobedience of its members.
Read more about this lawsuit: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6m7w,km3,llmd,ipo0,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Send a Letter for Clean Air
As temperatures climb, Americans have more to worry about than just their tans. Already, several cities across the nation including Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbus, Ohio have had "Ozone Alert Days" because the air was unhealthy to breathe. As we experience this first bad air of the year, most Americans remain unaware that the Bush administration has been creating loopholes that allow polluting factories and power plants to get around key provisions of the Clean Air Act. Submit a letter to your local newspaper editor to spread the word.
Click here for a sample letter: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6m7w,km3,j6j2,c7o0,irqz,5w4u
May 13, 2004
Q: "Conservationists would probably belong to what organization? The Elks - The Sierra Club - Mathletes"
A: "The Sierra Club" - A Trivial Pursuit Junior question and answer
(1) NATIONAL FORESTS: Just Don't Do It
(2) THIS DATE: Anchors Away
(3) TAKE ACTION: Protect the Front from Drilling
1. NATIONAL FORESTS: Just Don't Do It
The footwear giant Nike, along with other manufacturers of outdoor gear, are urging the Bush Administration to keep logging out of our national forests. Nike, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear and others sent a letter on May 7 to Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey encouraging him to retain the Roadless Area Conservation Rule that bans logging on 60 million acres of untouched national forest. The Administration has already exempted the Tongass National Forest in Alaska from the rule and has proposed allowing that other states have exemption. The groups say doing this would "have the potential to negatively impact our nation's natural resources, our citizens' outdoor experience and ultimately, our industry's financial health."
Read the Associated Press story here: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6jzb,km3,rbc,3zvt,irqz,5w4u
TELL FRIENDS ABOUT CURRENTS! VISIT THIS LINK: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6jzb,km3,k0rv,4ayo,irqz,5w4u
2. THIS DATE: Anchors Away
Two hundred years ago tomorrow, Lewis and Clark left the map and began their quest to reach the Pacific Coast. As the nation commemorates the start of this epic journey, there is growing support for protecting what is left of that wilderness for future generations of explorers. The Sierra Club is working to connect Americans with the legacy of these pioneering naturalists and to identify conservation opportunities in the Lewis and Clark region. There is growing support to protect some of the remaining but disappearing wildlands and wildlife witnessed by the Corps of Discovery 200 years ago.
Find out more about what is lost and what is left on the route of Lewis and Clark: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6jzb,km3,6ozt,2xrl,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Protect the Front from Drilling
Montana's Rocky Mountain Front is treasured as a place of unparalleled natural beauty. Despite massive public opposition the Bush administration is pressuring the Forest Service and BLM to expedite drilling along the Front. The drilling proposals being considered on several controversial pre- existing leases would threaten the stunning landscape and endanger the rich wildlife. The benefits of preserving this splendid undeveloped natural area for future generations far outweigh the costs of exploitation for a miniscule amount of gas.
Send a letter to the Bureau of Land Management asking them to consider a legitimate "No Action" alternative: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6jzb,km3,1n64,306w,irqz,5w4u
"What I'm telling you is no different than what 300 other superintendents know is true. If they come after me, there's gonna be another one just like me. And if they come after that person, there will be another one. They cannot fire all 300 of us." - J.T. Reynolds, 57, superintendent at Death Valley National Park, quoted in a Los Angeles Times article "A New Campfire Song: Help!" (April 6, 2004). Reynolds is one of the few employees speaking out against the Bush administration for attempting to hide National Park Service cutbacks from the public.
Special Announcement: The Sierra Club is holding a conference June 11-12 in Sheridan, Wyoming to showcase the major threats the Bush administration's energy policy has on the wild landscapes of the West.
Find out how to attend this important event: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ik4,km3,2ad9,lkz6,irqz,5w4u
(1) VICTORY: Blast from the Past
(2) WATER: Cry for Me, a River
(3) TAKE ACTION: America Needs Better Clean Air Standards
1. VICTORY: Blast from the Past
On Monday, Vermont Federal Judge William Sessions III put the brakes major highway the Bush administration tried to expedite by executive order. The Judge said the state transportation department and the Federal Highway Administration seriously failed to evaluate the environmental impacts of the Circumferential Highway as required by law. Instead, both agencies relied on an environmental impact study conducted 17 years ago! Talk about taking America backwards!
Read more about the roles environmental review and public input play in achieving better transportation projects: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ik4,km3,d0jc,g8ad,irqz,5w4u
TELL FRIENDS ABOUT CURRENTS! VISIT THIS LINK: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ik4,km3,k0rv,4ayo,irqz,5w4u
2. WATER: Cry for Me, a River
The Grand Canyon's stretch of the Colorado River is becoming a shell of its former self. The effects of damming are, well, damning. The beaches continue to erode and populations of native fish species like the humpback chub and the tamarisk continue to decline. The river waters, once violent and unpredictable, shaped the canyon's ecosystem until dam development turned it into a plumbing system, one that has wreaked havoc on the river and its environment throughout the Colorado River Basin.
Read the Los Angeles Time article "A River Losing Its Soul": https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ik4,km3,hzzd,5w,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: America Needs Better Clean Air Standards
As temperatures climb, Americans have more to worry about than just their tans - unhealthy air. Already, several cities across the nation including Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbus, Ohio have had "Ozone Alert Days" because the air was unhealthy to breathe. As we experience this first - bad air - of the year, most Americans remain blissfully unaware that the Bush administration has been creating loopholes that allow polluting factories and power plants to get around key provisions of the Clean Air Act. Submit a letter to your local newspaper editor and help spread the word.
Click here for a sample letter: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ik4,km3,87ls,hoek,irqz,5w4u
"Never give up. Even if you don't win in your lifetime, you can blaze a trail for others to follow." - Dr. Edgar Wayburn, environmental defender whose conservation achievements over 50 years of activism include the creation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and a leading role in the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
(1) GLOBAL WARMING: Fatty Fatty 4 X 4
(2) SOCIAL: Join the Club
(3) TAKE ACTION: Be a Part of National Election Day
1. GLOBAL WARMING: Fatty Fatty 4 X 4
While everything else seems to be getting lighter - cellular phones, computers, the menu options at McDonalds - American automakers are tipping the scales at two tons. A recent New York Times article says the average 2003 model car or light-duty truck weighs 4,021 pounds. This trend is the main reason the average fuel economy has stopped improving and America's need for crude oil is increasing.
Check out the Sierra Club's clean car campaign: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6gdi,km3,8kz,4i5d,irqz,5w4u
TELL FRIENDS ABOUT CURRENTS! VISIT THIS LINK: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6gdi,km3,ds0d,fbqs,irqz,5w4u
2. SOCIAL: Join the Club
Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, says interest in public affairs has decline by 20 percent, voting by 25 percent, and participation in party politics by 40 percent. Here is your opportunity to get out and get social. Sierra magazine has come up with a book and film club to help you get together with friends and neighbors to discuss issues that matter.
See how to get involved: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6gdi,km3,3boo,b9hj,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Be a Part of National Election Day
This weekend you can join thousands of volunteers across the country as we join together with America Votes for an unprecedented event. The Sierra Club is teaming up with 29 other grassroots organizations to launch the first ever National Election Action Day on Saturday, May 8, 2004. We will be linking up our members with volunteers and organizers from such groups as EMILY's List, the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, and many more. Join more than 10,000 activists for this groundbreaking event!
No matter where you live, you can be a part of this day. Sign-up now: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6gdi,km3,4hpt,gky4,irqz,5w4u
"I applaud the people that are trying to save species that are endangered. But it might be good that we don't have dinosaurs now. We've gotten oil from the dinosaurs. If we had preserved the dinosaur, we wouldn't have that oil." - Gretchen Borck, a lobbyist with the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, suggesting that it might not be so bad for wild salmon to go the way of the dinosaurs. Her comments were made in support of the Bush administration's recent move to count hatchery-bred salmon as wild salmon when considering listings under the Endangered Species Act. (Reuters, April 30, 2004)
(1) CLEAN AIR: Contraire Mon Air
(2) SIERRA CLUB: West Winging It
(3) TAKE ACTION: Breathe Clean Air
1. CLEAN AIR: Contraire Mon Air
"The sky is clear and we intend to keep it that way," said President Bush in a speech to Congress in September 2003. But the administration continues to weaken clean air laws proven to protect public health. Power plant pollution causes at least 30,000 deaths from respiratory illness and 600,000 asthma attacks each year. According to the American Lung Association's recently released 2004 State of the Air report, over half of the U.S. population lives in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.
Check out the state of your air: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ep8,km3,x9w,2rws,irqz,5w4u
TELL FRIENDS ABOUT CURRENTS! VISIT THIS LINK: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ep8,km3,ds0d,fbqs,irqz,5w4u
2. SIERRA CLUB: West Winging It
The Sierra Club these days is popping up more often than a Pop Tart. Next time you turn the dial to the West Wing, check out the red, white and blue Sierra Club bumper sticker on the file cabinet in Josh Lyman's office. (That's Bradley Whitford in real life.) The bumper sticker reads "Protect America's Environment--For Our Families, For Our Future".
Find out how to join the Sierra Club: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ep8,km3,9gv8,8ynj,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Breathe Clean Air
Today organizations around the world marked World Asthma Day by conducting activities and events to raise the awareness of asthma as a chronic disease and public health epidemic. In the United States alone, 4.7 million children suffer from asthma, which accounts for one-third of all pediatric emergency room visits, and is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. Soot and smog from industrial facilities and automobiles can increase the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. Unfortunately, the Bush administration's efforts to weaken clean air protections will lead to more soot and smog in the air, causing asthmatics to suffer from increased air pollution.
Send a letter to your newspaper editor saying that the Bush administration should not let polluters off the hook and weaken clean air programs proven to protect public health.
Follow this link to see a sample letter: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,6ep8,km3,4s1v,8im4,irqz,5w4u
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