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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
February 2, 2005
1. PEOPLE: The Man Who Coined Conservation
2. FORESTS: Those Thirsty Trees
3. TAKE ACTION: Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge!
"There are some monuments where the land is so widespread, they just encompass as much as possible. And the integral part of the precious part, so to speak, I guess all land is precious, but the part that the people uniformly would not want to spoil, will not be despoiled." - President Bush, March 13, 2001. Want to read some more of his environmental doublespeak in preparation for the State of the Union address? Take our Spot the Whoppers quiz: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,at1b,km3,6e7l,5frt,irqz,5w4u
1. PEOPLE: The Man Who Coined Conservation
Sierra Club founder John Muir appears on the new California quarter, which made its debut on Monday. The design, featuring Muir gazing at Yosemite's Half Dome while a California condor flies overhead, was chosen by Governor Schwarzenegger. Conservationists hope the quarter will remind Californians and all Americans to keep Muir's legacy alive. "John Muir literally coined conservation as we know it and so it's particularly fitting that we have placed him on the California quarter," Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said at the quarter's unveiling ceremony.
Read the Associated Press article: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,at1b,km3,ayhj,kxa8,irqz,5w4u
2. FORESTS: Those Thirsty Trees
The U.S. Forest Service has been known to say the darndest things, but this one's particularly hard to swallow. The agency is claiming that 25 percent of Wyoming's National Forests need to be clear cut to increase water yields on forested land. Regional Forester Rick Cables maintains that fewer trees will increase water flows which will in turn bring about healthier forests. Officials expect public resistance to the forest being managed in this "open condition."
Read the article in the Casper Star-Tribune: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,at1b,km3,dbhb,4cag,irqz,5w4u /29/news/wyoming/8498b5db06c88b3f87256f970003d033 .txt
3. TAKE ACTION: Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge!
Keep an ear out during President Bush's upcoming State of the Union address because despite his administration's renewed push to open the Arctic Refuge to destructive oil and gas drilling, you most likely won't hear it in the speech. Instead, you're likely to hear a plug for America to increase domestic oil production. In the face of overwhelming public support for protecting this national treasure, drilling proponents will try to attach controversial Arctic drilling provisions to the upcoming FY 2006 Federal Budget bill. Such an attempt to limit public debate and circumvent normal Congressional procedure represents an abuse of the budget process.
Call the brand new ARCTIC ACTION HOTLINE at 1-888-8- WILDAK (1-888-894-5325) which will connect you to the offices of your Congressional delegation. Tell your member of Congress to protect America's national heritage - - keep the Arctic Refuge out of the budget!
"We can't drill our way to energy independence. We have to invent our way there, by harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit that made our country great. We can conserve energy and make our cars run farther on a gallon of gas. We can increase our investment in clean-energy products and create hundreds of thousands of jobs along the way. What we can't do is buy into the myth that America's energy future lies under the snow of [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]." - Senator John Kerry in Outside Magazine's "The Gloves are Off" (February 2005) https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,apgj,km3,h8oa,lrx0,irqz,5w4u kerry.html
(1) FACTORY FARMS: Do Not Go Directly to Jail
(2) CLEAN AIR: Fight for our Skies
(3) TAKE ACTION 1: No Sewage in Our Waters
(4) TAKE ACTION 2: Keep Arctic Refuge Drilling Out of the Budget
1. FACTORY FARMS: Do Not Go Directly to Jail
Factory farms, or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), produce huge quantities of solid waste that emit ammonia and other into our air. Tyson Foods, one of the biggest factory farm polluters in the country, recently dropped $100,000 for the Presidential Inauguration. And only a day after the inaugural parties, the Bush administration quietly announced a backroom deal: CAFO-operating companies would agree to be monitored in exchange for a tiny one-time penalty ranging from $200-$100,000. Under the new deal, the administration has handed these serial polluters a get-out-of-jail-free card, allowing them to escape fines of up to $27,500 per day under the Clean Air Act.
Read the article in Grist: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,apgj,km3,f8bx,b7l,irqz,5w4u 33
2. CLEAN AIR: Fight for our Skies
A major debate over clean air began in America today as a key Senate subcommittee meets to discuss the future of the Clean Air Act. The Bush administration and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) Chairman James Inhofe have made it very clear that they would like to replace the current Clean Air Act with something more favorable to big energy companies. The proposed legislation allows 2 to 3 times more soot, smog, and mercury to be released than strong enforcement of the current protections - and for as much as a decade longer. The best way to achieve clean air standards continues to be the strong enforcement of the Clean Air Act - not in the hands of a risky pollution trading scheme that would put too many people in harms way.
Read more about the Bush administration's plan to weaken the Clean Air Act: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,apgj,km3,mfhh,85nw,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION 1: No Sewage in Our Waters
Although the Clean Water Act requires that raw sewage be treated to remove dangerous viruses, parasites and other pollutants before it is discharged into streams, lakes and drinking water sources, the EPA is poised to finalize a new policy that would allow mixing of sewage that is not fully treated with treated sewage before discharging it into our waterways whenever it rains. The policy would mean more pollutants in our recreational waters and drinking water supplies, where they would make more people sick (more than half of all waterborne disease outbreaks in the U.S. in the past 50 years were preceded by heavy rainfall).
Urge your representative to sign the Shaw/Stupak/Pallone anti-sewage dumping letter that asks EPA Administrator Leavitt to abandon this policy: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,apgj,km3,awxm,5cjz,irqz,5w4u
4. TAKE ACTION 2: Keep Arctic Refuge Drilling Out of the Budget
The fight over the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is heating up again in the face of overwhelming public support for protecting this national treasure. Oil corporations and their friends in Congress are back to the same old tricks. In an attempt to limit public debate and circumvent normal Congressional procedure, pro-drilling advocates have pledged to attach Arctic drilling provisions to the upcoming FY 2006 Federal Budget bill. But leasing revenues are speculative at best, and adding those numbers to the budget is not only an abuse of the budget process but an insult to good government.
Take Action:
There are two letters circulating in the House urging the Chairman of the Budget committee to keep Arctic drilling out of the Federal Budget Resolution. Please call your Representative at 202-224-3121. If they are a Democrat, ask them to sign on to the Dear Colleague letter authored by Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA); if they are a Republican, ask them to sign on to the letter spearheaded by Nancy Johnson (R-CT).
"That's right, the president says nuclear power is a renewable energy source, just like wind and solar. The president neglects to mention, in this warm-and-fuzzy makeover, nuclear power's deadly byproduct: high-level radioactive waste, which is dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years." - From a recent editorial in the Las Vegas Sun, entitled "Nuke power 'makeover'"
(1) GLOBAL WARMING: Follow the Leader
(2) POLITICS: May the Enforce be with You
(3) TAKE ACTION: Host an Oil on Ice House Party!
1. GLOBAL WARMING: Follow the Leader
California was the first to finalize rules curbing global warming pollution from cars and trucks. No other state or nation has adopted legislation specifically designed to cut motor vehicle pollution that causes global warming - despite the fact that pollution from cars and trucks is the largest sources of global carbon dioxide emissions. But California's landmark solution has caught the attention of Canada, which recently dispatched some of its top officials to the Golden State to meet with Governor Schwarzenegger and other officials as part of a fact finding mission.
Read "Canada likes California emission rule" in the San Jose Mercury News: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ak1d,km3,h3i5,kecv,irqz,5w4u cs/10670204.htm?1c
2. POLITICS: May the Enforcement Be with You
While Alabama ranks fourth in biodiversity nationwide, it ranks number one for species lost and spends a mere one dollar per person on environmental protection. NPR's Morning Edition reported on the political battle happening over at Alabama's Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). ADEM is the state's "one stop permitting department for industry" but understaffing and underfunding have resulted in decades of poor environmental protection. ADEM's new director - stepping in next month - and four new commissioners plan on taking a more aggressive approach to enforcement, something fiercely opposed by private land interests like loggers and paper manufacturers who don't want stricter rules.
Listen to the NPR story: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ak1d,km3,4hcu,9tzv,irqz,5w4u 456661
3. TAKE ACTION: Host an Oil on Ice House Party!
Emboldened by the election, President Bush and his allies in Congress have renewed their call to open up the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The choice is clear. We can either put our nation's energy future in the hands of the oil companies or we can aggressively pursue a clean energy policy. On Saturday, March 12th, people will be getting together in homes across the country to watch the new Sierra Club documentary, Oil on Ice - https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ak1d,km3,760g,j68v,irqz,5w4u - a compelling new film that connects the fate of the Arctic Refuge and the communities that depend on it to the decisions America makes about energy policy.
Host Your Own Party! - Email us at global.warming@sierraclub.org if you are interested in hosting a house party. We'll send you a DVD of Oil on Ice and a host of materials to help you and your friends take action and move America towards energy freedom.
1. Arctic: No Go for Conoco
2. Technology: The Great Escape
3. Take Action: Urge your Senator and Representative to oppose CAFTA!
"I think they would be distressed with the current state of affairs- the confusion and the lack of a clear mission. I think they'd despise that." -Former Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas on Teddy Roosevelt's and Gifford Pinchot's possible perspectives of the U.S. Forest Service on its 100th anniversary. Roosevelt created the agency to "perpetuate the forest as a permanent resource of the nation," and Pinchot was its first director.
1. Arctic: No Go for Conoco
ConocoPhillips, the largest oil company operating in Alaska, has withdrawn from Arctic Power, the lobbying group that promotes opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling. According to the company, it's "merely a business decision;" according to environmentalists, it's the result of shareholder pressure to be more socially responsible. But no matter how you look at it, the decision means that the two largest operators on Alaska's North Slope - BP and ConocoPhillips - have both dropped out of the Arctic drilling lobby group.
Read all about it in the Fairbanks Daily News- Miner (https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,afrn,km3,dv2k,f8vw,irqz,5w4u miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2637870,00.html ) and GreenBiz.com (href=https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,afrn,km3,jbpo,bw2o,irqz,5w4u ?NewsID=27547).
2. Technology: The Great Escape
Last August, Ford became the first American auto maker to market a gas-electric hybrid vehicle, the Escape SUV. On Sunday, the vehicle won the "Truck of the Year" award at Detroit's North American International Auto Show, beating out numerous conventional SUVs and light trucks. Last year, Ford sold 3,000 of the cars - and this year it expects to sell 20,000. The Escape is the first hybrid SUV available to American consumers, and the second hybrid vehicle to be nationally recognized as a best of class vehicle (the first being the Toyota Prius, which won Motor Trend's 2004 Car of the Year Award).
Read the article in the Detroit News (https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,afrn,km3,9lrb,9qie,irqz,5w4u /autos-54820.htm).
Read the article in the Windsor Star (https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,afrn,km3,i2if,6n5j,irqz,5w4u 726ead5-103d-44e3-803e-04f48d2ea83f).
3. Take Action: Urge your Senator and Representative to oppose CAFTA!
The proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) puts our communities at risk by increasing trade at the expense of hard-won safeguards for working people and the environment. America needs trade agreements that uphold, rather than undermine, labor and environmental standards.
Click here (https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,afrn,km3,d8tt,gzz8,irqz,5w4u rr) to tell your representative that CAFTA is the wrong model for hemispheric trade.
"Oregonians have spoken loud and clear in both public- comment periods, and our governor supports roadless protection. The question is whether the Bush administration will listen here in Oregon. The answer is: probably not." - Ivan Maluski, statewide grass-roots organizer for the Sierra Club, comments in the Statesman Journal on the Bush administration's changes to the roadless policy which allows companies to log large trees in national forests.
(1) SIERRA MAGAZINE: Ask and You Shall Receive
(2) ORGANIC: Toasting Trends
(3) TAKE ACTION: Ensure an International Right to Know Law
1. SIERRA MAGAZINE: Ask and You Shall Receive
Is air-conditioning really as wasteful as people say? In the grand scheme of things, would changing your lifestyle and practicing voluntary simplicity really help the environment? Sierra Magazine's new attitudinal advice columnist, Mr. Green, gives all kinds of advice on life, laundry, food, cars, and just about any other environmental topic. His new column "Ask Mr. Green" addresses a range of questions submitted by readers like you. Your questions can be about anything, from environmental philosophy and literature to practical tips like how to build a deck without destroying a forest.
Submit your question or read Mr. Green's recent column: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,abpd,km3,iux4,53ns,irqz,5w4u
2. ORGANIC: Toasting Trends
Over the past several years, as Americans have become more health conscious and concerned about the environmental effects of the way food is grown, the demand for organic products has grown by leaps and bounds. This trend toward organic products is not limited to produce and meats. It now extends to a wide variety of foods and beverages, including wines. In 2004, the Sierra Club made its own entry into the wine market through the provider Signature Wines. Sierra Club's Atira Vineyard wines include three varietals, all made from certified organically grown grapes. The finished products are packaged with environmentally friendly materials, and a portion of the proceeds goes to the Sierra Club's efforts.
Find out more or buy wine online: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,abpd,km3,jpf2,dqk3,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Ensure an International Right to Know Law
At this time of heightened concern about international issues, U.S. companies are informal ambassadors of our country around the world. When operating abroad, they should represent our democratic ideals and our values, as companies often do. However, American companies have too often been implicated in human rights abuses, environmental destruction and labor rights violations. We need an International Right to Know law to demonstrate that America is committed to corporate responsibility not only here at home, but worldwide.
Take action to ensure an International Right to Know Law: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,abpd,km3,ksbb,j36f,irqz,5w4u
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