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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
June 21, 2005
"I wish he was here every weekend; he's a real prophet. He taught us a good message -- not to be afraid." - Parishioner Victorio Paez, 82, at the Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Jose, CA where Goldman Prize winner Father José Andrés Tamayo gave mass on Sunday. Father Tamayo is visiting the United States to encourage members of Congress to oppose the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Read "Priest Delivers Words of Caution" in the San Jose Mercury News at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dkgg,o7l,9rf0,7tfb,dazy,eylb
1. Coasts: The Senate Knows the Drill
2. Take Action: America's Coastlines at Risk
3. Outdoors: An Outside Chance for Kids
4. Take Action: Support the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act
1. Coasts: The Senate Knows the Drill
This morning the Senate took a step down the slippery slope toward opening America's precious coastlines to oil and gas activities. By a vote of 52-44, the Senate rejected an effort to remove a damaging provision to conduct an inventory along America's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). This vote paves the way for oil and gas drilling and allows invasive and destructive seismic surveys that will cause permanent damage to marine species and put coastal communities and economies at risk. But the battle is not over, and Senators from coastal states are expressing alarm about offshore drilling's impact on their states' residents, economy and environment. To get involved, find out how your Senators voted, and express to them your ongoing support for protecting America's coasts.
Read the Associated Press article "Offshore drilling fight not done yet, senators say" at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dkgg,o7l,9htq,dmpb,dazy,eylb
Read "Senators fight oil inventory" in the Sarasota Herald- Tribune at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dkgg,o7l,848s,h4sy,dazy,eylb
2. Take Action: America's Coastlines at Risk
Today, the Senate voted to open up our precious coastlines to oil and gas exploration. This destructive amendment would harm marine life, threaten coastal communities, and set the stage for oil and gas drilling on our coastlines. Instead of destroying our coasts, Congress should be working on the kind of energy policy that America deserves - one that cuts our dependence on pollution energy sources by investing in clean energy solutions like renewable energy, hybrid cars, and energy efficiency.
Tell your Senators that America needs a real clean energy plan at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dkgg,o7l,7nch,jz1s,dazy,eylb
3. Outdoors: An Outside Chance for Kids
A study released by the California Department of Education and sponsored by the Sierra Club shows that students who participate in outdoor education programs not only improved their science grades by 27% but also gained confidence from their nature-as-classroom experience. The study also found that students had more self-esteem, a greater concern for the environment, and were more engaged in the classroom. Now, the Sierra Club hopes to increase funding for environmental education in California to combat the problem that only 15% of the state's youth have the opportunity to take part in these programs, and that most participants come from high income areas.
Read "An outside chance for schoolkids" in the LA Times at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dkgg,o7l,bixc,bw8b,dazy,eylb
4. Take Action: Support the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act
The upcoming National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (NFPRA) proposes to end the federal commercial logging program and to redirect federal funding into a proactive forest restoration program. The NFPRA will provide greater environmental and economic benefits by protecting communities from the threat of forest fires, promoting restoration jobs, and ensuring that National Forests will continue to provide clean water, quality recreation opportunities and abundant fish and wildlife.
Urge your Representative to support the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act sponsored by Representatives Jim Leach (R-IA) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY). Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected directly to your Representative's office.
"You can spend a lot of money on research, but if you let the oil industry censor the research after you complete it and if you don't act on the findings, you might as well burn the money on the White House steps." - Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope during an interview on Democracy Now responding to President Bush's claim that the U.S. leads the world in dollars spent on climate change research.
(1) LANDS: Seeing is Believing (2) PEOPLE: Father's Day
(3) TAKE ACTION: Keep Giving Communities a Seat at the Table
(4) TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators to Support Clean Energy Solutions
1. LANDS: Seeing is Believing
Few people have ever witnessed the caribou migration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now you can. The Arctic Refuge isn't filled with tourists -- it's filled with wildlife. During the summer months, this incredible landscape comes alive with flowers, birds and, not least, the caribou -- 40,000 caribou calves will be born in the next few weeks. Drexel University is hosting live video webcam views of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (In fact, you can already see some stunning footage that's been filmed during the past few days.) This webcast will be the first chance most Americans have had to see the Arctic Refuge for themselves.
Watch the webcam and sign a petition to keep the Arctic protected from oil and gas drilling: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dfhl,o7l,9wuz,5q5w,dazy,eylb
2. PEOPLE: Father's Day
Father Andrés Tamayo is one of this year's winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize -- the Nobel Peace Prize of the Environmental Movement. Father Tamayo will be visiting Northern California and Washington D.C. to talk about how international trade rules could affect his efforts to protect indigenous forests in his native Honduras. He has been compared to Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr. for his tireless and peaceful work to stop the rampant commercial logging that is plaguing the communities in Honduras.
For more information on Father Tamayo and his incredible story and courage visit: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dfhl,o7l,9jz8,i57q,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: Keep Giving Communities a Seat at the Table
Public participation and environmental review are under attack. Plans are under way to hold field hearings to give industry representatives a platform to mischaracterize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as costly and unnecessary. The Congressional NEPA Task Force needs to hear from you.
Let them know that we need to make sure we understand all the options and consequences before doing major projects and that we must keep people involved in the government decision making: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dfhl,o7l,d2hq,17hn,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators to Support Clean Energy Solutions
Next week, the Senate will once again take up an energy bill that misses the opportunity to move forward with clean energy solutions and instead promotes the outdated, polluting energy sources of the past. One of the major environmental assaults expected on the Senate floor is a move to end decades of protection for America's coastlines by opening them up to destructive oil and gas drilling.
Tell your Senators that America deserves a smarter, cleaner, and safer energy policy that puts clean energy sources to work to cut America's oil dependence and curb global warming: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,dfhl,o7l,asen,gl5i,dazy,eylb
"...it's better because you get to see it. Back at school we can only learn this from books, and that is not much fun." - Twelve-year-old Eddie Gonzalez, quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about a new study on the effects of outdoor education for at-risk kids. The study, administered by the California Department of Education and funded by the Sierra Club, showed that kids who completed a week-long outdoor education program through their school increased their science scores 27 percent.
(1) GLOBAL WARMING: Put Your Hybrid Where Your Mouth Is
(2) ENERGY: Griles Gone Wild
(3) TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators to Support Clean Energy Solutions
(4) TAKE ACTION: Keep Giving Communities a Seat at the Table
1. GLOBAL WARMING: Put Your Hybrid Where Your Mouth Is
House and Senate members talk the talk about saving energy but what are they doing about it? A recent article in U.S. News and World Report says fifteen members drive a gas saving hybrid car: eight Democrats, six Republicans, and one independent. "I get 32, 33, sometimes 34 miles per gallon," Rep. Jeb Bradley, a New Hampshire Republican, said about his Ford Escape Hybrid. "I'm really stoked about that."
Find out who's zipping around Washington in a hybrid car: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,da6h,o7l,edoh,446k,dazy,eylb
2. ENERGY: Griles Gone Wild
You've heard of the topless antics featured on MTV's "Girls Gone Wild" -- well, now there's a new flash animated movie to raise awareness about the perils of "topless" mountains and the officials who are creating them. Check out Stephen J. Griles, a former coal lobbyist who then spent four years at the Department of Interior, as he promotes a dangerous mining practice called "mountaintop removal mining." By blowing the tops off of mountains, they endanger local communities but enrich the polluters who are hungry for coal.
Check out the new flash movie: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,da6h,o7l,8mik,6j16,dazy,eylb
Sign the petition to stop mountaintop removal mining: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,da6h,o7l,kdhy,1vg7,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators to Support Clean Energy Solutions
Next week, the Senate will once again take up an energy bill that misses the opportunity to move forward with clean energy solutions and instead promotes the outdated, polluting energy sources of the past. One of the major environmental assaults expected on the Senate floor is a move to end decades of protection for America's coastlines by opening them up to destructive oil and gas drilling.
Tell your Senators that America deserves a smarter, cleaner, and safer energy policy that puts clean energy sources to work to cut America's oil dependence and curb global warming: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,da6h,o7l,4g42,isv1,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Keep Giving Communities a Seat at the Table
Public participation and environmental review are under attack. Plans are under way to hold field hearings to give industry representatives a platform to mischaracterize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as costly and unnecessary. The Congressional NEPA Task Force needs to hear from you.
Let them know that we need to make sure we understand all the options and consequences before doing major projects and that we must keep people involved in the government decision making: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,da6h,o7l,d2hq,17hn,dazy,eylb
1. Species: Goodbye to a Fishy Salmon Plan
2. Public Lands: No Place is Sacred
3. Take Action: Tell Your Senators to Oppose Anti- Environment Judicial Nominees
4. Take Action: Support Clean Energy Solutions
"As sure as a bear sleeps in the woods, conditions are ripe for an era of cooperation between outdoorsmen and environmentalists." - Charlie Meyers, Outdoor Editor for the Denver Post, in a recent column. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,d4xv,o7l,3hi,d11v,dazy,eylb
1. Species: Goodbye to a Fishy Salmon Plan
Last week, Federal Court Judge James Redden ruled that the Bush administration's wild salmon plan for the Columbia and Snake rivers is illegal, will not restore healthy and harvestable numbers of salmon, and leaves them vulnerable to extinction. This year's low return of spring chinook salmon has been economically devastating for Northwestern people and communities. Recent studies have shown that restoring healthy runs of wild salmon would greatly benefit the regional economy. The Northwest needs real salmon recovery - recovery that increases the number of jobs, the strength of communities and restores a balance to the Northwest.
Read "Pacific Northwest salmon plan violates species act, judge says" in USA Today at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,d4xv,o7l,73z5,8q65,dazy,eylb
Read "Judge says Bush salmon plan ignores impact of dams" in the Seattle Times at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,d4xv,o7l,8sxs,jgl2,dazy,eylb
2. Public Lands: No Place is Sacred
National parks may soon be catering to more than just tourists. Recent federal legislation has opened up parks designated as wilderness- the highest level of protection- to energy companies. A bill signed by President Bush sets a precedent allowing seismic testing these regions to locate oil and gas deposits. Mississippi's Gulf Islands National Seashore could be one of the first national parks subjected to such sound-wave detonations, an environmentally damaging practice that could be a precursor to oil drilling.
Read "Wilderness Site May See Oil Drilling" in the LA Times at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,d4xv,o7l,45sw,4mpx,dazy,eylb
Learn about the Sierra Club's campaign to protect America's coasts at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,d4xv,o7l,fat3,7e3k,dazy,eylb
3. Take Action: Tell Your Senators to Oppose Anti- Environment Judicial Nominees
On the heels of a last-minute deal between moderates in the Senate last week over stalled judicial nominations, Majority Leader Frist scheduled votes on two of President Bush's most controversial judicial nominations yet. The first, Janice Rogers Brown, who was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, opposes federal regulations such as the government's right to protect basic environmental rights like clean water, clean air, and wetlands. The second nominee, William Pryor, who was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, has taken a stand against the Endangered Species Act, wetlands protection, and environmental justice. Both nominees have shown an avowed hostility towards the environment and are unfit to serve lifetime appointments in our nation's federal court system.
Tell your Senators to oppose both Janice Rogers Brown at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,d4xv,o7l,4zhw,bqd8,dazy,eylb and William Pryor at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,d4xv,o7l,6qow,8loh,dazy,eylb
4. Take Action: Support Clean Energy Solutions
In a speech today, President Bush called on Congress to pass his energy bill. America deserves an energy policy that puts innovation to work, not a rehashed version of the same energy bill that the Bush administration hatched in back room meetings with energy industry executives five years ago. By investing in real energy solutions, like renewable energy, energy efficiency, and fuel-efficient technology like hybrid cars, we can protect the environment, create new jobs, lower consumer energy bills, and cut America's dangerous dependence on oil.
Tell Your Senators that America needs real energy solutions at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,d4xv,o7l,js06,4ed8,dazy,eylb
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