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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
September 7, 2005
"America, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast have an opportunity to be visionary and think well into the future in our recovery efforts. In rebuilding New Orleans and the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast, we can help make America more energy independent by using green building practices that use renewable sources of energy. We can ensure that the neighborhoods that we rebuild are transit-oriented and people-friendly. We can decrease the effect of future disruptions by reducing our dependence on oil, not putting up more rigs and drilling our special places. And, we can rethink how toxic chemicals are stored and shipped through our communities." - Darryl Malek-Wiley, Sierra Club Environmental Justice Organizer and New Orleans resident. Read news from other Sierra Club staff and volunteers in the Gulf Coast area: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,1jd6,lu1e,dazy,eylb
HURRICANE KATRINA: FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has given us a lot to think about. In addition to being a human and economic tragedy, Katrina is an environmental disaster of unprecedented proportions. But it is also a wakeup call. The technology and the ideas for making our cities safer, more sustainable, and healthier exist today. As we support the people of the Gulf Coast, all Americans must continue challenging our leaders to support the real solutions listed below.
1. Increase the Use of Alternative Energy
Hurricane Katrina seriously affected the production, refinery capacity, and price of oil in the United States. This catastrophe spotlights the danger of our dependence on oil, and how fragile our reliance on it is. The only way to oil independence is to increase the use of renewable energy that won't pollute our air or poison our water.
Read "Katrina and the Gas Pump" in the New York Times: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,aqtp,6br7,dazy,eylb
2. Stop Global Warming
Climate change could bring an increase in severe storms like Hurricane Katrina. We have the technology today to curb global warming by making every car go farther on a gallon of gas.
Read "Katrina's Real Name" in the Boston Globe: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,1hai,9y6w,dazy,eylb
3. Keep Toxics Out of Our Communities
The floodwaters covering New Orleans are a toxic soup of chemicals from a variety of sources, including leaking fuels and oils from gas stations and submerged cars, paints and solvents from small businesses, and household cleaners and pesticides from peoples' homes. We can no longer delay in cleaning up toxic waste sites, upgrading our sewage treatment systems, and rethinking how toxic chemicals are stored and shipped through our communities.
Read "Sewage in Floodwaters Carries Disease" by Associate Press: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,kydl,cv3u,dazy,eylb dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090100947.html
The National Library of Medicine compiled a new Hurricane Katrina web page on toxic chemical and environmental health information resources for health workers and the interested public. Links provide information on chemicals that may be released as a result of the Katrina disaster and environmental health concerns following the wind and flood damage: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,icoj,976w,dazy,eylb
4. Preserve Wetlands
Wetlands protect coastal communities by storing floodwater. Louisiana has lost one million acres of wetlands - wetlands that could have acted as a buffer to Hurricane Katrina's storm surge. Across America, wetlands must be restored and protected.
Read "Katrina Offers Lesson on Wetlands Protection" in the St. Petersburg Times: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,5lyk,j86n,dazy,eylb
5. Uphold Environmental Justice
In cities across the country, minority populations live closest to petrochemical plants, industrial sites, oil refineries, underground gas stations, and sewage treatment plants. The flooding in New Orleans is now exacerbating the disproportionate effects these communities feel, exposing them to a toxic stew of contaminants. Our federal government must ensure that environmental laws are fairly implemented and enforced.
Read "Gulf's Toxic Stew Adds to Crisis for Black Residents" on BET: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,dwnq,8rlv,dazy,eylb
TAKE ACTION: Visit the Red Cross website to find out how to help
https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,ennm,9ayf,dazy,eylb
TAKE ACTION: Keep Communities Mercury-Free
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a set of rules in March 2005 that allows at least three times more mercury pollution from America's power plants than strong enforcement of our clean air laws permit and delays cleanup for more than a decade. Rather than enforce the Clean Air Act's directive to put strong controls on all toxic pollution from power plants, the rule removes them from the list of toxic pollutant sources. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), along with 30 other Senators, introduced a resolution that sends a strong message to the EPA that it should get started on a better rule to protect communities from mercury pollution.
Tell your Senator to support the Leahy-Collins resolution which sends EPA back to the drawing board to come up with a mercury plan that protects public health: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f0cm,o7l,1sy2,hj1f,dazy,eylb
"A clean environment is the foundation of livable community. It is not a luxury, it is a necessity. I will dedicate myself to transforming Los Angeles into the cleanest, greenest big city in America." - Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles's newly elected mayor. Villaraigosa recently appointed six seasoned environmentalists to play key roles in his administration including a new Deputy Mayor for Energy and the Environment, a position he created to oversee various green initiatives across the city.
(1) Take Action: Save Americans Money at the Gas Pump
(2) Coasts: Coming Soon to a Shoreline Near You
(3) Lands: Blogging through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(4) Take Action: Keep Snowmobiles Out of Yellowstone
1. Take Action: Save Americans Money at the Gas Pump
Today, the Bush administration announced plans that would fundamentally weaken the nation's most successful oil-savings law. Instead of making meaningful improvements in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, the administration's proposal creates new loopholes that will erode the fuel economy of America's pickup trucks, SUVs, and other light trucks. This will force Americans to pay more at the gas pump while deepening the country's oil dependence and exacerbating global warming. Tell the administration to put American innovation to work by requiring automakers to make all of their vehicles - from sedans, to SUVs, to pickup trucks - go farther on a gallon of gas.
Sign up for The Hotline, the Sierra Club's Energy e-newsletter, and in a few weeks you'll have the chance to tell the administration to set stronger fuel economy standards to protect our economy, our national security, and our environment: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,erbm,o7l,m6tq,1260,dazy,eylb
2. Coasts: Coming Soon to a Shoreline Near You
America's shorelines are a national treasure, providing sanctuary for wildlife, destinations for vacationing families, and the economic lifeblood of thousands of tourism and fishing communities. But now, our long-protected beaches and coastlines are under threat from oil and gas industries. A provision of the polluting energy bill passed by Congress and signed by the Bush administration calls for the inventory of oil and natural gas reserves off America's coasts - a destructive process that would severely damage our fragile shores and ocean wildlife and could lead to drilling off our Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts.
Our new flash cartoon gives you the lowdown on the devastating effects of coastal drilling. Watch and pass it along to your friends: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,erbm,o7l,2gbc,ct9i,dazy,eylb
3. Lands: Blogging through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Summer's winding down, and your travel bug probably isn't. You're in luck. Bart Semcer, the Sierra Club's Representative for Fish and Wildlife Policy, is in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge right now and he's keeping a blog. His adventures include fishing for Arctic char, scouting for big game, visiting the Gwich'in settlement Arctic Village, dining on moose soup, and journeying farther away from "civilization" that he - or most of us - has ever been.
Take a virtual trip with Bart to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,erbm,o7l,c5yc,l0t7,dazy,eylb
If you dream of visiting the pristine Arctic Refuge someday, act now to make sure it will still be there -- the budget Congress will consider when they return after Labor Day could inaugurate drilling in the Refuge. Participate in Alaska Wilderness Week 2005: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,erbm,o7l,h4nd,kcfq,dazy,eylb
4. Take Action: Keep Snowmobiles Out of Yellowstone
It may be summer, but snowmobiles are on the Bush administration's agenda. The National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency have concluded three times that shifting winter visitors from snowmobiles to snowcoaches is the best way to protect Yellowstone National Park. The Park Service has repeatedly determined that even limited snowmobile use threatens wildlife and air quality, but the administration is still proposing to spend millions of tax dollars on a fourth study to justify snowmobile use in Yellowstone.
Tell the National Park Service that it is redundant and wasteful to conduct a fourth study when three previous Park Service studies have agreed on the best course for protecting public health and the resources of Yellowstone: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,erbm,o7l,6ywd,6ebe,dazy,eylb
"Your motto is service. Back on the farm, when I heard that the bull was 'servicing' the cows, I looked behind the barn. And, gentlemen, what the bull was doing to the cow is exactly what you people have been doing to the public all these years." - Will Rogers to the Board of Directors of Standard Oil, as quoted by Morris K. Udall, 1988
(1) EVERY DAY MATTERS: A Snapshot of the Sierra Club
(2) GLOBAL WARMING: Backyard Scientist
(3) TAKE ACTION: ExxposeExxon
(4) TAKE ACTION: Keep Communities Mercury Free
1. EVERY DAY MATTERS: A Snapshot of the Sierra Club
We asked and we received -- real-life stories from hundreds of Sierra Club members and friends about what they were doing on August 6, 2005 that related to their interest in the environment. Some were kayaking, climbing, or caving. Others were writing letters to politicians, weeding out invasive plant species, or maintaining a hiking trail. Still others were basking in the sun on the deck of a cabin, preparing a sumptuous meal from their own organic garden, or building a barn out of recycled lumber. One guy even proposed marriage!
Discover how Every Day Matters, in the words of people just like you, and add your own voice: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,emsf,o7l,ctaa,hcut,dazy,eylb
This virtual convocation foreshadows the real deal -- the Sierra Summit next month in San Francisco. We hope you'll join us there! https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,emsf,o7l,4npx,4tdz,dazy,eylb
2. GLOBAL WARMING: Backyard Scientist
Meet Ron Gremban. Sierra Club member, engineer, committed environmentalist, backyard scientist. He has a Toyota Prius parked outside with all the benefits of a standard hybrid -- a combined gas/electric motor that gets great fuel economy and reduces pollution. But Gremban also installed 18 batteries to harness even more electricity. For about twenty-five cents, he plugs the car into a wall outlet to let him store the additional power. His hybrid gets the standard 60 miles per gallon but, with the extra battery power, he can get up to 80 mpg. The good news is, even if you don't tinker in the garage to figure out how to save some green, you can still choose a car with hybrid technology that goes further on a gallon of gas.
Read "250 miles per gallon? They're doing it" on CNN.com: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,emsf,o7l,2lm8,kw7z,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: ExxposeExxon
The Sierra Club and over a dozen of the nation's largest environmental and public advocacy groups have joined together to Exxpose Exxon in a campaign to reveal and change Exxon's appalling environmental policies. ExxonMobil is making record-breaking profits because of record high gasoline prices but refuses to invest that windfall in renewable energy to ease America's oil dependence; in fact, ExxonMobil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to fund junk science to hide the facts about global warming and is the only major oil company still pushing to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
Tell ExxonMobil that you pledge not to buy ExxonMobil's gas, not to invest in ExxonMobil's stock, and not to take a new job with the company: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,emsf,o7l,6m35,70hv,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Keep Communities Mercury Free
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a set of rules in March 2005 that allows at least three times more mercury pollution from America's power plants than strong enforcement of our clean air laws permit and delays cleanup for more than a decade. Rather than enforce the Clean Air Act's directive to put strong controls on all toxic pollution from power plants, the rule removes them from the list of toxic pollutant sources. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), along with 30 other Senators, introduced a resolution that sends a strong message to the EPA that it should get started on a better rule to protect communities from mercury pollution.
Tell your Senator to support the Leahy-Collins resolution: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,emsf,o7l,1sy2,hj1f,dazy,eylb
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