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*
WILD ALERT
* Monday, April 8, 2002
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Dear WildAlert Subscriber:
Earth Day is Monday, April 22. On that day 32
years ago, an estimated
20 million people took part in
Earth Day activities, an outpouring of
public concern
that shook the status quo. Within months, the Congress
had passed (and President Nixon signed) the Clean Air Act
and the
National Environmental Policy Act, which
requires federal agencies to
consider environmental
impacts of development to national lands. That
year also saw the establishment of the EPA and the
President's Council
on Environmental
Quality. Within a few years, the Clean Water Act and
the Endangered Species Act were passed, along with
legislation
guaranteeing that the public has a voice in
the management of their
national forests and lands
managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
Today, much of that is at risk--from an Administration that
does not
scruple to sacrifice the environment to
benefit the industries that
support
it. These are the same industries, of course, that have
supplied a long list of high-level political appointees to
a range of
federal agencies. The principal
duty of those agencies is to ensure
reasonable
safeguards for the public's health and the public's
environment against the worst impulses of industry.
As a member of the WildAlert
community, you may sometimes wonder what
your faxes,
calls and emails can do. Never doubt their power, nor the
power of the individual. Earth Day was conceived
by a single person,
Senator Gaylord Nelson of
Wisconsin. He realized that a national
teach-in on the environment could lead to public awareness
that could
change public policy. He hired
Denis Hayes to coordinate that first
Earth Day, but he
credits individuals all over the country for its
real
success:
"Earth Day worked
because of the spontaneous response at the
grassroots
level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20
million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and
local
communities that participated. That was the
remarkable thing about
Earth Day. It organized itself."
Senator Nelson, now 85, still
comes to work every day at The
Wilderness Society,
where he has been our Counselor and conscience for
20
years.
We believe that many of
you were involved in the first Earth Day, and
have been
active in environmental protection ever since. Thank you.
Your involvement in the WildAlert community is evidence of
your
devotion to these issues, and your participation
**does** matter. In
the coming days, we will need your
voices more than ever as we fend
off arctic oil
drilling and other threats to our national lands.
Below are a list of online resources for Earth Day.
**********************************************************************
SEND A MESSAGE TO SENATOR NELSON
He'd love to hear from you. You can use the form
at:
http://earthday.wilderness.org/forms/gaylord.htm
Please understand that a reply will be unlikely.
*****************************************************************
SCHOOLS
For teachers and
students grades pre-K to middle school,
visit our
special Earth Day web site at:
http://www.earthday.wilderness.org
You'll find a history of Earth Day, curriculum and activity
outlines,
and a host of information about the Arctic
Refuge for young people,
including a virtual tour of
the Arctic Refuge for wilderness lovers of
any age: http://www.wilderness.org/wild/arctic/journal.htm
**********************************************************************
SPECIAL OFFER: BECOME A MEMBER OF THE
WILDERNESS SOCIETY
If you haven't yet joined as an
official member of The Wilderness
Society, there's no
better time than now. Our special Earth Day offer
makes you a member, and delivers a free t-shirt for just
$15. You can
take advantage of this offer
at: https://secure-net.com/tws/join-e.asp
**********************************************************************
EARTH DAY FOR WILDERNESS ADVOCATES
http://www.wilderness.org/earthday2002/
**********************************************************************
SEND AN EARTHDAY POSTCARD:
http://www.earthday.wilderness.org/forms/postcard/postcard_ed.html
**********************************************************************
LINKS AND LOCAL EVENTS: http://earthday.wilderness.org/links.htm
**********************************************************************
READ THE GRIST
Grist Magazine
provides cutting-edge reporting on the day's
environmental issues. You'll find commentary by
Bill McKibben, Amory
Lovins, E.O. Wilson, and
others. It's all in Grist Magazine
http://www.gristmagazine.com an online environmental
publication
serving up gloom and doom with a side of
humor. Grist also offers
email news
summaries of breaking environmental stories from around the
globe. They are free, and believe us, worth every
cent! Sign up for
either Daily Grist or
Weekly Grist, depending on your news appetite.
http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/signup/subgrist.asp
***************************************************************
For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm
***************************************************************
An archive of past Wildalerts can be found at
http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm
***************************************************************
To make a gift online to The Wilderness Society, click
here
https://secure-net.com/tws/join.asp
***************************************************************
WildAlert is an email action alert system brought to
you by The
Wilderness Society to keep you apprised of
threats to our wildlands -
in the field and in
Washington. WildAlert messages include updates
along with clear, concise actions you can take to protect
America's
last wild places. You are welcome
to forward Wildalerts to all
those interested in saving
America's wildlands.
FEEDBACK:
If you need to get in contact with the owner of the list,
(if you have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about
the list
itself) send email to <action@tws.org>.
TO SUBSCRIBE: If you have been
forwarded this message and would like
to subscribe to
the list, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/forms/subscribe.htm or send a
message to
wildalert@tws.org with 'SUBSCRIBE' in the
subject line and your
email address in the body of the
message.
Founded in 1935, The
Wilderness Society works to protect America's
wilderness and to develop a nation-wide network of wild
lands
through public education, scientific analysis and
advocacy. Our
goal is to ensure that future
generations will enjoy the clean air
and water,
wildlife, beauty and opportunities for recreation and
renewal that pristine forests, rivers, deserts and
mountains
provide. To take action on behalf of
wildlands today, visit our
website at http://www.wilderness.org
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 8, 2002
URGENT ALERT: Farm Bill Agreement Threatens National
Forests
We are hearing rumors
that a tentative agreement has been reached on the
Farm
bill conference committee that would allow an additional 75 goods
for services pilot projects EACH YEAR for the next five
years.
That's right, 350 projects over the
five year life of the bill in which
the Forest Service
can pay for the projects by logging.
We have been fighting hard to limit the House Farm bill
language which
allows for an unlimited number of new
goods for services contracts, but
we are not happy that
the conferees would accept a compromise allowing
so
many new projects each year.
There isn't much time to react. Calls to key
Senators are needed right
away. Please
contact these offices and urge him/her to oppose
extending the Forest Service any additional "goods for
services" pilots
authority in stewardship contracting
as part of the Farm bill. Remind
them that stewardship
contracting is still a pilot program, and that
almost
none of the projects have yet been completed, monitored or
analyzed.
Senator Staff Phone Fax
Sen. Tom
Harkin Lloyd Ritter 202/224-3254
224-9278
Sen. Tom Daschle Peter Hansen 202/224-2321
224-7895
Sen. Patrick Leahy Melody Burkins 202/224-4242
224-3479
For information on
"goods for services" please see
http://www.americanlands.org/forestweb/pilot_projects.htm which
details
four stewardship pilots. If you have
any questions or need additional
information please
contact Steve Holmer, 202/547-9105.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street
SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Hello Care2 Activist!
Care2 is always seeking critical issues for you
to quickly and easily take action and make a
difference in the environment. Read our latest, below.
************************************************
1) End Snowmobile use in National Parks!
2) Decrease Your Oil Consumption -- It's Easy!
3) Eco Activist Tips to Preserve National Parks
4) Quote of the Day
************************************************
1) END SNOWMOBILE USE IN NATIONAL
PARKS!
Every winter the world of Yellowstone and Grand
Teton
National Parks are transformed from breathtaking
to
breath threatening; exposing wildlife, park staff,
and visitors to dangerous air pollution caused by
recreational snowmobile use. Snowmobiles disturb all
wildlife, wake up hibernating bears which disrupts their
natural cycles, and endangers the ecosystem as a whole.
For years, there has been an
ongoing struggle to ban
snowmobiles in Yellowstone and
Grand Teton. Last
year, the struggle seemed to have
ended when the National
Park Service announced its
decision to initiate the ban.
But the $7-billion-a-year
snowmobile industry sued the
Park Service, and in July,
Secretary of the Interior Gale
Norton, yielding to
industry demands, agreed to "review
the finding" that
led to the ban.
The only way
to defend Yellowstone, Grand Teton and and
their
wildlife is to demonstrate a groundswell of public
support for the snowmobile ban.
Please act NOW to let the National
Parks Service know
you support a clean, safe
Yellowstone and Grand Teton
National Parks. Don't let
the National Park Service ruin
our parks on behalf of a
small number of snowmobilers.
Click Here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3855
************************************************
2) DECREASE YOUR OIL CONSUMPTION -- IT'S EASY!
One major way we can all make a difference in protecting
our wild
spaces is to decrease our dependence on oil.
By using less oil,
we create less demand for drilling
in our own countries, as well
as demand for foreign
oil.
Learn how much oil you
can save by taking a few small steps
in your own home
when you take the energy Pledge. It's free
and easy!
Click Here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3856
************************************************
3) ECO ACTIVISTS TIPS TO PRESERVE NATIONAL PARKS
*Stay on the right paths. Get good, established trail
maps from the visitor center before you embark on your
trip.
*Follow the Golden Rule for camping and hiking.
"Take nothing but pictures; leave nothing but footprints."
*Minimize your impact on your
campsite. Select a site
that has already been used, to
eliminate further expansion
of the camp. And leave the
campsite in as natural a state
as possible.
*Wash yourself, your dishes and
your clothes at least
100 feet away from rivers,
streams, lakes or ponds. When
using any soap to wash
yourself or your dishes, use it
well away from natural
water sources and pour it into
highly absorbent ground.
That goes for tooth brushing, too.
************************************************
4) QUOTE OF THE DAY
"If future
generations are to remember us with gratitude rather
than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracles of
technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world
as it
was in the beginning, not just after we got
through with it."
-- President Lyndon B Johnson on
signing the Wilderness Act, 1964
 It's week two of Earthjustice's month-long Earth Day celebration, and that means it's time to take a few minutes to see what you can do to ensure that our pristine wilderness areas, precious natural resources, and healthy environment are preserved for future generations. (Did you miss week one? Click here!) This
week: ACT
This week, Earthjustice invites you to keep on clicking. We're working on three critical issues and need your help. And, in honor of Earth Day...go ahead, take the extra time to ACT on all three!
 Save the West's wild places! Western states
like Utah and Alaska still have miles and miles of undeveloped public
land. But there's a move afoot that will change this irreversibly, and
give away some of America's most beautiful and pristine wild lands. Think
we've lost too much public land already? Then the federal Bureau of Land
Management needs to hear from you.
 Stop industrial waste dumping! The Bush administration recently announced
plans to reverse an important Clean Water Act regulation that will give
polluters the green light to use streams, rivers, and wetlands all over
the country as waste dumps. Public outcry stopped a version of this rule
before, and we need you to do it again. Let the Bush administration know
that you don't want our nation's waters to be buried in waste and
destroyed forever.  ACT now:http://ga0.org/campaign/mountain  Support Hawaiian critical
habitat! Sometimes your activism stops bad actions,
and sometimes it supports good ones. This is a good one. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service is developing proposals to designate critical habitat for
255 endangered and threatened plant species found on Mau`i and Kaho`olawe.
Let the Fish and Wildlife Service know you think it's the right thing to
do. ACT now:http://ga0.org/campaign/maui Next week: TEACH Thanks for taking time out for the earth today. Look for our suggestions next week about how you can TEACH family and friends about protecting the environment.
|
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 9, 2002
URGENT ACTION ALERT: Farm Bill Conference Not Finished
The Farm bill conference committee
is not finished and there is still a
chance to derail a
tentative deal on stewardship contracting that would
allow an additional 375 "goods for services" projects over
the next five
years. Please contact
these key Senators and Representatives and urge
them to
oppose extending the Forest Service additional "goods for
services" authority in stewardship
contracting. It is important to
remind them
that stewardship contracting is still a pilot program, and
that almost none of the projects have yet been completed,
monitored or
analyzed.
Senator Staff Phone Fax
Sen. Tom Harkin
(D-IA) Lloyd Ritter 202/224-3254
224-9287
Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) Peter Hansen
202/224-2321 224-7895
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Melody
Burkins 202/224-4242 224-3479
Rep. Eva Clayton (D-NC)
Derek Miller 202/225-3101 225-3354
Rep. Colin Peterson
(D-MN) Rob Larew 202/225-2165 225-1593
Rep. Gary Condit
(D-CA) Christine Robbins 202/225-6131 225-0072
Rep. Tim
Holden (D-PA) Nana Darrel 202/225-5546 226-0996
Rep.
Cal Dooley (D-CA) Jim Travis 202/225-3341 225-9308
Stewardship Contracting and Fire Program Funding Opening
the Door to
Increased Logging on the National Forests
Let's take a quick review of current events and see
where that suggests
we go next. First of
all, we have an Administration that wants to
overturn
roadless area protection, overturn old growth protection,
undermine public involvement in management decisions and
increase
logging under the guise of fire risk
reduction, stewardship and
restoration. In
Congress, it is being suggested that we allow the
Forest Service to give away unlimited amounts of trees to
pay for
stewardship activities as part of 375 new
stewardship "pilot projects"
that can also be conducted
in roadless areas.
And finally, the Forest Service is using money intended to
protect homes
and communities from wildfire to instead
further subsidize the timber
sale
program. In summary, the National Forests are being put at grave
risk.
In
response, there are a number of possible of courses for action. Here
are a few suggestions that I invite your input on:
1. Support an amendment
to the Interior Appropriations bill to cut off
all
spending to implement stewardship contracts that utilize goods for
services or receipt retention. These are the
two authorities granted
under Sec. 347 of
the FY 1999 Interior bill which create a new incentive
for logging.
2. Support an amendment to the
Interior Appropriations bill to cut
spending for timber
sales in order to pay for ecological restoration.
3. Support an amendment to the
Interior Appropriations bill to cut
spending for
hazardous fuels logging in order to pay for a grant program
to homeowners for brush removal and protecting structures
in the
wildland/urban interface.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American
Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
ACTION FOR ALASKA - TWO WAYS TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD....
1. TONGASS WILDERNESS PLAN -
Release Close at Hand. Request pre-printed postcards and flyers today!
2. HELP STOP ANOTHER ROLLBACK -
White House Proposing Rule Change to Giveaway Public Lands. Send your comment
today!
******
TONGASS WILDERNESS PLAN – Release
Close at Hand
Based on the recent “buzz” coming from
the Forest Service, the Tongass Wilderness Plan may be released as early as
April 15, 2002 starting a 90 public comment period.
We will alert everyone as soon as we are made aware of the
release. In the meantime, we are making available – free of charge and in bulk –
fact sheets and pre-printed postcards that organizations and individuals can use
to participate. If you and/or your organization is interested in receiving a
supply of the postcards, please contact Laurie Cooper
(laurie@alaskacoalition.org) with your request in multiples of 20 for the
postcard and/or flyer.
Background:
The development of a
new Tongass Wilderness Plan will provide Alaska Wilderness supporters with the
opportunity to help safeguard the remaining unprotected temperate rainforest
wildlands on the Tongass National Forest. By court order, the U.S. Forest
Service has had to revisit its management blueprint for the Tongass National
Forest. Originally developed in 1997, the Tongass Land Management Plan (TLMP)
was ruled illegal because it failed to consider new wildlands eligible for
long-term protection under the National Wilderness Preservation System. As a
result, the USFS will issue a supplemental plan which we expect to include an
Alaska Rainforest Conservation alternative. Stay tuned for information on how
you can participate in the upcoming 90-day public comment period.
*****
BULLDOZING THE ENVIROMENT AND PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW
White House Proposing Rule Change to Giveaway Public Lands
The Department of Interior
(DOI) has quietly proposed using a repealed law – section 2477 of the 1866
Mining Act (R.S. 24577) – to allow states, counties and other special interests
to claim title to federal lands including the right to build roads across
millions of acres of the nation’s most spectacular wild places. DOI asserts that
this law gives them the right to build roads, with little or no public
involvement or environmental protections, through our National Parks, National
Forests, National Monuments, National Wildlife Refuges and wilderness areas.
The proposed rule expands the
BLM’s current authority to “issue a disclaimer of interest in lands” when the
Secretary determines that another entitiy has the legal right to access,
construct and maintain a road across federal public land. The proposed rule
eliminates the deadline for when claims could be asserted by a State and allows
not just “owners of record” but anybody with an “interest” in the lands—recorded
or not—to file a claim. This expansion of unchecked authority opens a Pandora’s
box of potential claims.
In
Alaska this could spell disaster. Under the Alaska Supreme Court’s incredibly
broad interpretation of R.S.2477, every section line in Alaska could potentially
qualify as a R.S. 2477 claim. Such action would crisscross the state with nearly
a million miles of alleged roads in Alaska wild lands.
Background:
The DOI proposal comes on the heels of secret negotiations
between the State of Utah and BLM over R.S. 2477 claims. Utah has
insisted it owns 10,000 tracks, trails, animal paths, and portions of streambeds
across federal public land in some of Utah's most wild places and has threatened
to file a lawsuit alleging these claims. The lawsuit has never
materialized, however “settlement talks” with the BLM were initiated and, not
coincidentally, this proposed rule has suddenly appeared. Both the
State and DOI have refused to divulge any information about the progression of
the talks. This rule change would facilitate the finalization of the
secret negotiations and would permit BLM to validate thousands of claims
throughout the West and Alaska in mass without detailed review by a federal
judge in proceedings open to the public, and without opportunities for the
public to intervene to protect their interests.
Action:
The Bush Administration
has made clear its agenda to quietly undo important environmental protections.
This proposal from the DOI’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is just the latest
move.
Please let the Bush
Administration hear from you today! Write the BLM and ask the agency to withdraw
its proposed rule. Tell them you do not appreciate its attempt to give away
claims to land that would allow special interests to fracture otherwise unroaded
areas and allow destructive activity in wild places.
Send your letter by April 23, 2002
- a sample letter follows.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Date
The
Honorable J. Steven Griles
Deputy Secretary of the
Interior
Mr. Jeff Holdren, BLM
Lands and Realty Deputy Group Manager
Bureau of Land
Management
Ms. Cynthia Ellis, BLM Regulatory Affairs Group
and the Office of the Solicitor
Bureau of Land
Management
Bureau of Land
Management, Eastern States Office
7450
Boston Boulevard
Springfield, VA 22153
ATTN: RIN 1004-AD50
RE: Proposed Rule: regulations pertaining to recordable
disclaimers of interest in land,
RIN 1004-AD50
Dear Mr. Griles, Mr. Holdren and Ms. Ellis:
I am writing to comment on your
proposed rule pertaining to recordable disclaimers of interest in land (RIN
1004-AD50. I oppose this effort to make it easier for your agency to give away
public lands and request that you withdraw this rule.
Your attempt to change this
obscure regulation would make it easier to give away rights-of-way that would
fracture otherwise unroaded areas and allow motorized use in wild places. This
proposal is inappropriate, illegal and should be withdrawn.
At risk are some of our nation’s
wildest lands—in Alaska, Utah and other western states. Many claims of
rights-of-way for “highways” across public lands are not valid claims, but
cynical attempts to thwart wilderness protection or otherwise break up public
wild lands. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should not be
validating these false claims through the expedited process allow under the
proposed rule.
The BLM should,
instead, apply a rigorous determination process for validating each claim to
rights-of-way across public lands. National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges,
National Forests and public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management are
valuable public assets that should not be given away.
The proposed rule is also illegal.
Congress passed a provision in 1996 stating, “No final rule or regulation of any
agency of the Federal Government pertaining to the recognition, management, or
validity of a right-of-way pursuant to Revised Statute 2477 (43 USC 932) shall
take effect unless expressly authorized by an Act of Congress subsequent to the
date of enactment of this Act.” (Section 108, Public Law 104-208). By
BLM’s own admission, “This proposed rule would provide an opportunity for States
and other local governmental entities to secure a right to a highway which is
purported to be a RS 2477 highway reservation. . . .” (BLM Website,
2/22/02, “Proposed Rule on Conveyances, Disclaimers, and Correction Documents:
Q's and A's”) It is therefore in violation of the Congress’s
prohibition on regulations related to RS 2477.
For these reasons, I ask that you withdraw the proposed
rule pertaining to recordable disclaimers of interest in land (RIN 1004-AD50).
Sincerely,
*****
For more inforation on either action, please contact:
Laurie Cooper
Alaska Coalition,
Forest Outreach Director
laurie@alaskacoalition.org
Thanks for your support.
Alaska Rainforest Campaign
Staff.
This Project is Now Over..Please Do Not Send Any more Banners!
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
Over the last six years,
letters from Global Response members have helped
persuade major multinational corporations to withdraw from
Burma, where
their operations support a brutal military
junta.
California-based Unocal
continues its pipeline construction in Burma. This
project has been connected to gross human rights violations
including forced
relocation, forced labor, rape,
torture and murder conducted by the military
troops
against the Karen, Mon and Tavoy indigenous peoples living in the
pipeline region. The project has fueled the
destruction of the environment
by decimating precious
habitats of numerous endangered animals and opening
once remote primary forests to unmitigated logging.
This month we're gathering
banners, not letters, to get Unocal's attention.
Please
join this campaign if you can! -- Paula Palmer
"PLEASE USE YOUR LIBERTY TO PROMOTE OURS"
-- Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize
Winner
*Tell Unocal to Stop Supporting Burma's Brutal Military *
What is the Banner Project About?
People throughout the world are invited to create
colorful banners with
powerful messages telling Unocal
to Get Out of Burma.
Unocal, a
U.S. oil & gas company, has a notorious human rights and
environmental record.
Among other
environmental nightmares, Unocal is responsible for the worst
oil spill off the coast of California and polluting Lubicon
Cree land in
Canada. Unocal also has a
shameful history of doing business with ruthless
military regimes from the Taliban of Afghanistan to Burma’s
military junta.
We are calling upon Unocal to end its
shameful history by immediately
severing its ties with
Burma’s military junta.
These
banners collected from people around the world will send Unocal a
message that the people have had enough!
The banners received will be
linked together to create a chain of "Banners
of Hope
and Resistance" to encircle the Unocal building at the annual Unocal
shareholder meeting in Los Angeles, California. At the
meeting, Unocal CEO,
Board Members and prominent Unocal
shareholders will meet to decide whether
or not to
continue their operations in Burma. The banners will serve as a
vivid and powerful message from the people and communities
who stand against
Unocal's operations in Burma.
We are seeking to collect at least
1,000 banners from individuals and
communities and
welcome everyone to participate.
How to Participate
*Have your
school class, place of worship, community or other group, create
a colorful banner to help us send a message to Unocal that
they should leave
Burma immediately. You can create one
individually or organize a banner
making party at your
house, place of worship or school. Please see below
for more details on the banners.
*We invite people to write large
messages to Unocal on their banners, paint
images
representing their message, sew their banners, decorate their banners
with images and objects that represent their local
culture’s opposition,
write the name of their town,
village or country on the banner so that it
can easily
be identified where the banner came from.
*So that we can link all the banners together we ask that
the banners:
· Be made out of fabric and not paper (so
that they won't rip etc...)
· Be no larger than 4 feet
x 4 feet (1.5 meter x 1.5 meter) and no smaller
than 2
feet x 2 feet
DEADLINE: We need to receive your banners by
Wednesday MAY 15th 2002 so
that
we can use them for the Unocal shareholder meeting.
request no more banners
Below is more information about the situation in Burma and
Unocal's role in
supporting the military.
If you would like to learn more
about the situation in Burma or Unocal's
operations in
Burma, please visit the following websites:
www.freeburmacoalition.org, www.earthrights.org,
www.burmaproject.org
32
BRIEF BACKGROUND ON BURMA & UNOCAL
Burma, a country in Southeast Asia, is ruled by a brutal
military junta
which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Burma's
military regime is considered one of the world’s most brutal and has been
condemned for its gross human rights abuses by
the United States, European
Union, United Nations, AFL-CIO, Amnesty International and numerous human
rights organizations. The United Nation's
International Labor Organization
(ILO), after years of investigation, has called for multilateral sanctions
due to the pervasive use of forced labor throughout
Burma. The military maintains its
stranglehold on Burma’s people with weapons bought with foreign currency gained from
partnerships with multinational oil companies. Currently, investment by
foreign oil corporations serves as the largest source of
revenue for the
military outside of the illegal heroin trade. Unocal, an oil and gas
company, is the largest U.S. company still doing business with Burma’s
military.
The construction of Unocal’s pipeline in Burma has been
connected to gross
human rights violations including forced relocation, forced labor, rape,
torture and murder conducted by the military troops against the Karen, Mon
and Tavoy indigenous peoples living in the pipeline
region. The project
has fueled the destruction of the environment by decimating precious habitats
of numerous endangered animals and opening once remote
primary forests to
unmitigated logging.
BURMA's HUMAN RIGHTS & DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT
In 1990 elections, the people of Burma overwhelmingly voted for the
National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who in 1991 was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize. But her party was never allowed to take
office, and the military continues
to keep a tight grip on the country. Many of the weapons for the army have been
bought with money earned from deals with
foreign oil companies.
Foreign investment plays a critical role in keeping the
military regime in
power by providing the military with much-needed hard currency as well as
international legitimacy. As Aung San Suu Kyi told Time
Magazine
"They (the oil companies) need to be reminded that this is
one of the most
brutal military regimes
in the world and putting money into the country now is simply supporting a
system that is severely harmful to the people of Burma."
Aung San
Suu Kyi has called upon the international community to "Please Use
Your Liberty to Promote Ours.” Responding to her
and the people of Burma's
request for help, an international grassroots movement for corporate withdrawal from Burma, based
on South Africa’s anti-apartheid campaigns, has resulted in
over 50
corporations leaving Burma including such oil companies as ARCO, Texaco, Amoco. Many
people are currently focusing on a campaign to pressure
Unocal, the largest
remaining U.S. investor in Burma, to leave Burma until democracy is
restored.
PLS USE YOUR VOICE TO STAND UP FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT!
Participate in the “Banners of
Hope and Resistance” project and tell Unocal
to Leave Burma!
********************************
Paula Palmer, Executive Director
Global Response
P.O. Box 7490
Boulder CO 80306
USA
TEL: 303-444-0306
FAX:
303-449-9794
Email: paula@globalresponse.org
Website: www.globalresponse.org
Global Response empowers people of
all ages, cultures, and nationalities to
protect the environment by creating partnerships for effective citizen
action. At the request of indigenous peoples and
grassroots organizations,
Global Response organizes international letter-writing campaigns to help
communities prevent environmental
destruction. Global Response involves
young people as well as adults in these campaigns, to develop in them the
skills for global citizen cooperation and earth
stewardship.
This Project is Now Over..Please Do Not Send Any more Banners!
Under
severe pressure from industry lobbyists, President Bush is preparing to
weaken our clean air protections by letting approximately 17,000 of the
country's biggest polluting facilities -- including old, dirty power
plants, oil refineries, and chemical plants -- escape rules that require
them to install modern pollution controls when they pump out more
pollution. This
unprecedented weakening of our clean air laws would allow millions more
tons of soot, smog, and toxic pollution to be spewed into our air each
year. Take Action! Dear
President Bush and Administrator Whitman, I am alarmed
that your administration is preparing to weaken our clean air protections.
I urge you not to gut the Clean Air Act by allowing power plants and
refineries that increase production to avoid installing modernized
pollution controls. If the New Source Review is weakened, the amount of
harmful soot and smog pollution spewed into our skies will increase by
millions of tons. Please take
the health of millions of Americans seriously. This pollution leads to
lung and heart problems, triggering asthma attacks, sending people to
emergency rooms, and even cutting short the lives of tens of thousands of
Americans each year. We should be
moving forward on air pollution, not backward, as the lobbyists for the
coal, oil and power industries are urging. Dirty power plants and
refineries, which have avoided pollution rules for decades, should be
required to use the best pollution controls available. Your
administration should reject industry lobbyists' attempts to block
enforcement of the Clean Air Act and any proposal that would weaken the
Act's new source requirements for future projects. Please keep our clean
air laws strong for us and for future generations. Sincerely,
Action Alert - Stop The
Attack on the Clean Air Act!
SaveOurEnvironment.org Action Center
Update: April 9, 2002
Stop the
Attack on the Clean Air Act!
We need your help to persuade
the administration to keep our clean air laws strong! Please act now by
urging the Bush Administration to reject industry lobbyists' attempts to
block enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
| ||||||
| Thank You! |
You may already have heard of Chilean Sea Bass, a fish that
in recent years
has become
popular, particularly in high-priced seafood restaurants across
America. What you may not know is that Chilean
Sea Bass is now on the
verge of extinction. Even though
large-scale commercial fishing of this
species only
began in the early 1990's, estimates suggest that the fish may
be commercially extinct in less than five years.
NET has recently launched a new
campaign to educate consumers about Chilean
Sea Bass. I
encourage you to visit www.environet.org/marine/csb and
have
a look for yourself.
Hundreds of restaurants, fish markets, and supermarkets
across the country
have pulled Chilean Sea Bass off
their shelves and menus after learning of
the imminent
threat to its survival.
Unfortunately, Trader Joe's, a boutique super market that
normally has very
positive environmental policies, has
so far refused. Their stores are
responsible
for selling thousands of pounds of frozen Chilean Sea Bass,
every year.
Please, take a moment to send a Free Fax to Trader Joe's,
asking them to
remove Chilean Sea Bass from their
freezer shelves before it is too late.
Just click on
the "Compose fax" button, below, or, if you can't see the
button, vist www.environet.org/grassroots to send your Free
Fax.
Sincerely,
Andrea Kavanagh, Manager
Take A Pass on Chilean Sea Bass Campaign
The National Environmental Trust
News Release:
Tuesday, April 9th,
2002
The Five Gene Giants are
Becoming Four:
DuPont and
Monsanto -
"Living in Sinergy"?
Rather than enter into a marriage
that even the U.S. Government would find unpalpable, the world's two most
powerful Gene Giants have decided to live in sync by sharing their proprietary
agricultural biotechnologies with one another. Unless the two titans
are committing to long-term monogamy, such a tech-swap is the corporate
equivalent of "unprotected sex". It seems the risks in
this particular union will be offloaded on farmers with fewer choices and higher
prices - the corporate notion of "Fee Love"?
Corporate Coupling: The low-key announcement by
DuPont and Monsanto (85% owned by Pharmacia) April
2nd was presented as a "win" for farmers who, the companies'
joint statement claimed, will have access to more technology
choices. The companies are not proposing to merge. Instead
the world's first and second largest seed enterprises are agreeing to swap their
key patented technologies and to drop a bushel of outstanding patent lawsuits
that have festered for years. The agreement creates the kind of
non-merger monopoly that is overlooked by government regulators.
The DuPont - Monsanto alliance
does not extend to the whole range of products and processes controlled by the
two companies. Only agricultural biotechnology patents are involved
but the companies' roles in crop chemicals as well as in seeds are implicated
since the lion's share of their biotech activity relates to herbicide-tolerant
and insect- resistant transgenes.
DuPont is the world's largest seed company with sales of
more than $1.9 billion in 2000. Monsanto ranks a close second in the
global seed trade with 2000 sales of $1.6 billion. Together they
account for almost 15% of annual world commercial seed sales. In the
lucrative U.S. seed corn market, the companies control 73% of
sales.1 More to the point, the two Giants together command 41% of all
significant agricultural biotechnology patents* and share about 93% of the GM
seed market worldwide. In addition, Monsanto is number two in global
sales of crop chemicals and DuPont is number five. In 2000, their
combined sales amounted to $6.6 billion or 22% of global agrochemical
sales. (For further details, please see ETC Communique,
"Globalization Inc.", September-October, 2001, at www.etcgroup.org )
"Unprotected Sex"? The
deal gives both titans cross-licenses to technologies for maize, canola (edible
oilseed rape) and soybean crops. In their joint statement on the alliance, a
DuPont VP said, "farmers can use the best of what both companies have to
offer." Monsanto's spokesperson added, "This is a win for
farmers". Among the particulars of the deal: DuPont wins a
royalty-bearing license to Monsanto's latest Roundup Ready maize and soybean
technologies, and DuPont's current license for Monsanto's corn borer technology
will be opened up to allow DuPont greater geographic coverage and better terms.
2 In return, Monsanto wins "freedom to operate" access to DuPont's
maize transformation technologies. Most significantly, the two giants
have struck a deal on access to their proprietary germplasm for plant
breeding. "Exactly why this should thrill farmers is not clear," Pat
Mooney, Executive Director of the ETC group, says, "The agreement appears to
encourage the two corporations to extend the use of existi
Rites of Spring - Starlinked lovers: The
DuPont - Monsanto alliance comes just as another biotech union is nearing
consummation. This week, Bayer will seek European Union approval to
acquire Aventis Crop Science. The merger was proposed last fall
for $6.65 billion. Aventis is seeking a safe suitor
following the famous "Taco Debacle" -- the escape of a restricted GM
maize technology known as StarLink that somehow seeped into the human food chain
in the USA and quickly spammed the Pacific Rim. The merger may only
be blessed in Brussels and Washington if the new entity divests some of its
agricultural products. On the eve of DuPont's purchase of Pioneer
Hi-Bred (then the world's largest privately-held seed enterprise), Wall Street
was actually expecting DuPont to make a bid for Monsanto. Once
Pioneer was absorbed, however, there was no way that U.S. regulators were going
to allow a DuPont - Monsanto merger.
DINCs (Double Income - No
Controls): This is why some giants are favouring alliances over
wedding bells. After more than a decade of frenzied merging,
global corporations are discovering that marriages aren't all they're cracked-up
to be. When titans mate, the commotion embarrasses even the most
sanguine anti-combines regulators. Some multinationals have
reached a size now where they must either not grow further or they have to enter
into what polite society euphemistically terms "liaisons". "We used
to talk about the worry-free 'DINKs'," Mooney explains, "Double Income - No
Kids. For DuPont and Monsanto, this is 'Double Income - No Controls -
'DINCs'". According to The Economist, between 1996 and 1998, the
world's biggest multinationals established over 20,000 such liaisons. The top 20
life industry companies more than doubled their number of liaisons with biotech
enterprises in a single decade. More than one-fifth of
multinational revenues are now drawn from these alliances - double their share
UN Conventional Action: The ETC group is
urging governments to monitor corporate technology transactions that could
impact on the environment and on biodiversity through the UN Convention on
Biological Diversity. The CBD began three weeks of meetings in The Hague,
Netherlands yesterday. In addition, ETC group is calling for an
International Convention on the Evaluation of New Technologies (ICENT).
Agreement to negotiate ICENT should be reached at the "Rio+10" (World Summit on
Sustainable Development) that will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa at the
end of August. Finally, the group believes that the issue of
proprietary biotech monopolies should be incorporated into the work underway at
FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organization) to establish a Code of Conduct on
Biotechnology. An intergovernmental meeting will discuss the Code in
Rome in October. However, most civil society organizations including
ETC group, agree that the code must not be voluntary.
For further information:
Pat Roy
Mooney: etc@etcgroup.org (204) 453-5259 CST - Winnipeg
Hope Shand: hope@etcgroup.org (919) 960-5223 EST
- North Carolina
Silvia
Ribeiro: silvia@etcgroup.org (52) 5555-63-26-64 CST - Mexico
City
* At the end of 1998,
Gregory Gaff of the University of California (Berkeley) calculated that the top
30 assignee enterprises receiving agricultural biotechnology patents in the
United States controlled 1370 patents and that 74% of these patents were held by
just six companies. With this new alliance, five companies now have
three-quarters of the main patents and DuPont and Monsanto share 41% or 566 of
the 1370 patents Greff analyzed.
The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration,
formerly RAFI, is an international civil society organization headquartered in
Canada. The ETC group is dedicated to the advancement of cultural and ecological
diversity and human rights. www.etcgroup.org
1. Chemical and Engineering News,
March 1, 1999, P.17.
2. DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, "DuPont,
Monsanto Sign Cross-Licensing Pact", online service, April 2, 2002.
3. New York Times, 5 April, 2002.
4. "Mergers and Alliances - Hold My Hand", The Economist,
15 May, 1999 (from The Economist website library).
========================================
NRDC's EARTH ACTION:
The Bulletin
for Environmental Activists
April 10, 2002
========================================
In This Issue:
--Action alerts--
1. WATER CONSERVATION: Help stop Peabody Coal from draining
the Hopis'
and Navajos' only drinking water supply
2. WATER POLLUTION: Tell the Bush
administration not to allow industry
to dump mining
waste in our waters
======================================================
You will also find these alerts in NRDC'S Earth Action
Center, which
includes tools for taking action easily
online, at
http://www.nrdc.org/action
(Please do not reply to this message; see the instructions
below for
how to unsubscribe or contact NRDC with
questions or comments.)
=============
Action alerts
=============
1. WATER CONSERVATION
Help stop
Peabody Coal from draining the Hopis' and Navajos' only
drinking water supply
On the dusty plains of the Black Mesa in Arizona, the Hopi
and Navajo
people live in a delicate balance with
nature, adapting to the arid
climate of the desert by
drawing from the only aquifer available that
produces
pure water to feed crops and sustain a community.
Peabody Coal Company is pumping billions of gallons of
water from this
precious water source to feed a coal
slurry to transport coal to
generators hundreds of
miles away. The company's activities have
decreased the
water table level by more than 100 feet and, over the
years, the Hopi and Navajo have watched as vital springs
have run dry,
damaging the environment and reducing
their water supplies.
Amazingly, Peabody actually wants to *increase* its take of
the water
-- by more than 30 percent -- even though it
can access other water
sources or technologies to use
in its operations. The company has
requested a "life of
mine" permit that would lock in its mining and
water
rights permanently. For 10 years, the government has denied
Peabody's request for such a permit, but the company's
chief executive
has close ties to President Bush, so
Peabody has begun a new push to
obtain the
administration's blessing to take as much water as it
wants.
==
What to do ==
Send a message to the Office of Surface
Mining at the Department of
Interior, urging the agency
to deny Peabody Coal's permit request and
to instead
preserve the aquifer for the Hopi and Navajo before the
water runs dry.
== Contact information ==
You can
send a message to the OSM directly from NRDC's Earth Action
Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact
information
and sample letter below to send your own
message, and please include
your own reasons why
protecting the Hopis' and Navajos' drinking water
supply is important to you.
Jeffrey D. Jarrett
Director,
Office of Surface Mining
1951 Constitution Ave. N.W.,
Room 233
Washington, D.C. 20240
Phone: 202-208-4006
Fax: 202-219-3106
Email: jjarrett@osmre.gov
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Reject Peabody
Coal's "life of mine" permit
Dear Mr. Jarrett,
I urge you to deny Peabody Coal Company's request for a
"life of mine"
permit that would permanently damage the
only aquifer the Hopi and
Navajo Indians have for fresh
drinking water on the Black Mesa plateau
in Arizona.
Other water supplies and technologies are available for
Peabody's coal slurry process but this aquifer is the only
drinkable
water supply for the native Indian nations.
Even though independent
science shows that Peabody is draining the
aquifer to
dangerously low levels, the new permit would allow the
company to increase its water withdrawal from 4,400 to
5,700 acre-feet
per year, greatly accelerating the
damage to this aquifer.
The
federal government has a special obligation to help protect the
well-being of native Indian nations. I urge you to live up
to this
responsibility, reject Peabody's permit request
to tap the N-Aquifer,
and stop the company from
continuing to drain this aquifer until an
equitable
agreement is reached that protects the Hopis' and Navajos'
water supply.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
2. WATER POLLUTION
Tell the Bush
administration not to allow industry to dump mining
waste in our waters
At the behest of the coal mining industry, the Bush
administration is
poised to weaken a critical Clean
Water Act rule that prohibits the
disposal of mining
and other wastes into the nation's waters. The
mining
industry wants to continue mountaintop removal mining, an
extraordinarily destructive practice in which the tops of
mountains in
Appalachia are blown up to gain access to
narrow seams of coal. The
obliterated mountaintops are
then dumped into the valleys below,
burying miles of
streams under hundreds of tons of waste and rubble.
While the Army Corps of Engineers
may issue permits to allow companies
to fill streams,
wetlands and other waters for development purposes,
it
is expressly forbidden from allowing waste material to fill
waterways. But for years the Corps has been routinely
ignoring this
rule and illegally issuing permits to
dump mining waste into
Appalachian waters.
Changing the rule was initially
proposed by the Clinton administration
as a result of
political pressure brought on by a federal court
decision questioning the legality of Corps permits for
mountaintop
removal waste disposal. After more than
17,000 citizens and dozens of
members of Congress
objected, however, the Clinton administration
abandoned
the proposal. But now, responding to industry pressure, the
Bush administration has revived the proposal and wants to
delete the
waste exclusion provision from the rules to
allow mining companies to
dump their wastes into
streams. Even worse, the proposed rule change
would
reach far beyond mountaintop removal mining, giving the Corps
authority to issue permits for dumping all kinds of wastes
-- such as
hardrock mining and construction debris --
into the nation's waters.
== What to do ==
Send a message to
EPA administrator Christie Whitman, urging the Bush
administration to abandon its proposal to allow industry to
dump
mining and other waste into our waters.
== Contact information ==
You can send a message to EPA administrator Whitman
directly from
NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the
contact information and sample letter below to send your
own message.
Administrator
Christie Whitman
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Fax: 202-501-1450
Email: whitman.christine@epamail.epa.gov
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Don't allow
mountaintop removal mining waste into our
waterways
Dear Administrator Whitman,
I strongly oppose the Bush
administration's plan to change the rules
of the Clean
Water Act to allow the dumping of mining and other waste
into our nation's waters. Such a plan is completely
contrary to the
Clean Water Act's mission "to restore
and maintain the chemical,
physical and biological
integrity of the Nation's waters."
By changing the rules to allow the Army Corps of Engineers
to issue
permits for dumping waste in U.S. waters, you
would ensure that
hundreds of miles of streams in
Appalachia are buried by mountaintop
removal mining, a
process whereby the tops of mountains are blown up
and
dumped in the river valleys below. As if that weren't bad enough,
the proposal under consideration would not be limited to
coal mining
waste in Appalachia, but instead would
allow the Corps to issue
permits for all kinds of
waste, including hard rock mining,
construction debris,
roadbuilding and other sources.
When this rule change was initially proposed by the Clinton
administration, more than 17,000 citizens and dozens of
members of
Congress spoke out in opposition, while only
a few industries that
stood to benefit from the change
spoke in support. The Clinton
administration wisely
abandoned this misguided proposal; the Bush
administration should do the same.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
==================================================
About Our Bulletins/How to Subscribe & Unsubscribe
==================================================
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==========
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==========
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For more information about NRDC or
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Also visit:
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===========
If you are already a WWF Conservation Action Network
member, see below
for how to take action. If
you received this email from a friend,
please visit the
Conservation Action Network at
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ to take action on
this issue.
Within the next
few weeks, the Bush administration proposes to
dramatically weaken federal Clean Water Act regulations in
a way that
poses grave threats to rivers, streams, and
forest habitat. The
change would allow waste
material to bury rivers, streams, and other
aquatic
systems across the nation and permit the continuation of a
devastating strip mining practice known as mountaintop
removal mining.
In West
Virginia and other Appalachian states - in one of the most
biologically diverse temperate regions of the world -
mountaintops are
torn apart to gain access to
low-sulfur coal lying underneath. The
leftover rock and
earth is dumped into nearby valleys and streams.
These
practices threaten songbirds and other wildlife dependent on
large tracts of interior forest, and the mussels, fish,
crayfish, and
invertebrates found in the streams.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE SIMPLE STEPS
BELOW TO SEND A FREE MESSAGE URGING
PRESIDENT BUSH TO
KEEP OUR RIVERS AND STREAMS CLEAN AND TO STOP
MOUNTAINTOP MINING.
For more background, see the end of this message.
**************************TAKE
ACTION NOW! ************************
To send the message below, as is, to President Bush, hit
"reply" to
this email and then "send." We will
automatically send the message for
you. However, we urge you to greatly
increase your impact by adding
your own thoughts to
your message. Personalizing your message only
takes a minute; see below for detail.
ADD YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND INCREASE
YOUR IMPACT
Log in
to your Personal Action Center
(http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/login.asp) with
your email
address (alerts@earthhopenetwork.net) and
your password. (If you have
forgotten your
password, follow the instructions on the log-in page to
have a new password emailed to you.)
Once you are in your Personal
Action Center, click on "Major Threat to
Rivers,
Streams, and Forest Habitat" and follow the instructions for
adding your own thoughts to your message.
Please forward this email to your
friends and colleagues and ask them
to act today.
***************************LETTER
TEXT******************************
Dear President Bush:
I urge you to reject changes to Clean Water Act regulations
that would
authorize the dumping of waste into our
nation's waterways and
threaten fish and wildlife
dependent on clean water.
The changes would revise the definition of "fill material"
under the
act. Such changes would result in
the increased use and size of
valley fills in
mountaintop removal coal strip mining operations,
where
coal companies blow the tops off of mountains and dump the
generated waste into nearby valleys, thereby destroying
streams for
miles. Moreover, the proposed
revision would allow other strip and
underground coal
mines, hardrock mines, and other polluting industries
to dump a wide variety of solid waste into our nation's
waterways,
contrary to the goals of the Clean Water
Act. Such a broad change
could endanger
wildlife habitat in our rivers, lakes, and wetlands
across the nation, negatively affecting numerous threatened
and
endangered species.
In West Virginia and other Appalachian states, mountaintop
removal
strip mines destroy huge tracts of some of the
world's most
biologically diverse
forests. In West Virginia alone, mountaintop
removal mining has destroyed over 300,000 acres of rich
hardwood
forest and buried over 750 miles of streams,
including some of the
richest temperate freshwater
ecosystems in the world. These practices
threaten songbirds and other wildlife dependent on large
tracts of
interior forest, and the mussels, fish,
crayfish, and invertebrates
found in the streams.
For the protection of both
wildlife and human communities, please do
not change
the current rule to allow the dumping of waste into
waterways.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
will be
inserted here
***********************END OF LETTER
TEXT*********************
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Since 1997, World Wildlife Fund has been working to protect
the rivers
and streams of the Southeastern United
States, which constitute one of
the most species-rich
river ecosystems in the world. Mountaintop
mining wastes are devastating some of the headwaters of
these streams.
In 1998
concerned West Virginians brought suit against regulatory
agencies for failing to enforce the Clean Water Act, which
should have
prevented many of the streams in the region
from being buried in
mountaintop mining
wastes. In 1999, a federal judge ruled that
certain restrictions need to apply to mountaintop mining in
compliance
with federal law and
regulations. Bowing to coal industry pressure,
the Clinton administration in 2000 proposed the regulatory
changes to
the Clean Water Act that the Bush
administration now seeks to
finalize.
WWF Conservation Action Network
activists were among the 17,000
individuals speaking
out against this plan when it was proposed in
2000
(thank you!). Please let President Bush know that it is still a
bad idea.
______________________________________________________________________
Direct any questions about the WWF Conservation Action
Network to
actionquestions@takeaction.worldwildlife.org
______________________________________________________________________
The Conservation Action Network is sponsored by World
Wildlife Fund-
US. Known worldwide by its
panda logo, WWF is dedicated to
protecting the world's
wildlife and the rich biological diversity
that we all
need to survive. The leading privately supported
international conservation organization in the world, WWF
has
sponsored more than 2,000 projects in 116 countries
and has more than
1 million members in the United
States. WWF calls on everyone --
government,
industry, and individuals -- to take responsibility by
taking action to save our living planet.
World Wildlife Fund
1250 Twenty-fourth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.worldwildlife.org
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org
The moment of truth has arrived. The biggest environmental
struggle of the last twenty years could come to a vote this week, as the Senate
prepares to consider Arctic drilling. And we need one final push from you. Let
your senators know you're watching what they do. Click the link to send a
message directly to them.
The
Sierra Club recently improved our on line Action Network, but in order to be a
part of this revamped system you need to create a brand new account. Go to the
address below and click "create my account." Once you have taken this easy step,
YOU can help the Sierra Club get messages through to your elected officials on
issues you care about.
http://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=143&st=tact=&rf=a00143b
Drilling the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge would destroy one of our last remaining areas of
pristine wilderness for six months worth of oil, doing nothing to increase our
energy independence. We need our Senators to know how we feel.
Thank you for helping to save this
precious wild place. Your voice is the most important tool we have to protect
the environment.
Sincerely,
Ryan Silva
Activist Outreach Coordinator
Check out the new ad campaign revealing the true Citigroup!
First, go to Citigroup's site
and look at their brand new ad campaign at
http://www.citigroup.com/citigroup/press/020322b.htm
and then check out the
truth at http://www.ThisIsCitigroup.org.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Ilyse Hogue
Rainforest Action Network
415-398-4404 x351 or cell: 415-652-9529
ihogue@ran.org
Sara Brown Riggs
Rainforest Action Network
415-398-4404 x316 or cell: 415-572-8466
sbriggs@ran.org
THIS IS CITIGROUP…
IN DENIAL!
Citigroup’s New Ad
Campaign Not Showing The Real Picture
San Francisco –
April 11, 2002 –Citigroup’s (C) new ad campaign, launched
today, shows a completely different picture of the kind of
business that is
really going on under the red
umbrella. The new ad campaign is so out of
touch with
reality that Rainforest Action Network is concerned that critical
levels of psychological denial have taken hold of the
executive suite.
Citigroup’s new campaign completely
ignores customers and investors
understandable concern
about the environmental and social destruction
bankrolled by Citigroup’s lending practices. RAN is so
concerned about the
delusional images displayed in
Citigroup’s ad campaign that it has
intervened with its
own ad campaign showing the true destruction caused by
Citigroup’s lending practices. RAN’s ad campaign can be
viewed at
http://www.thisiscitigroup.org.
The cognitive dissonance between
Citigroup’s (Citi) ad campaign and the
company’s
investment in controversial fossil fuel projects, global warming
and the destruction of the world’s old growth forests is
known technically
as "denial." RAN’s ad campaign draws
a sharp distinction between Citi and
other banks that
are not developmentally stunted and have adjusted to modern
times. Citi has fallen behind companies and competitors in
better touch with
modern values that have taken steps
to end the destruction of the world’s
endangered
forests and address global warming. Top European Bank, ABN/AMRO,
has a policy prohibiting the funding of projects that clear
or degrade old
growth forests. More than 400 companies
have pledged not to buy or sell
products made from old
growth wood. Through lending, underwriting, mutual
funds and funding government politics, Citi continues to
profits off
projects that destroy fragile ecosystems,
accelerate global warming and
displace communities.
"The new ad campaign almost seems
like a cry for help," said Ilyse Hogue,
global finance
campaigner with Rainforest Action Network. "It’s such a
violation of truth in advertising that we felt we had no
choice but to
intervene."
RAN’s ad campaign uses actual photos to document the true
destructive social
and environmental consequences of
specific Citi-funded projects including
the
construction of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline in Africa and a gas pipeline
in Camisea Peru. It also features images of Citi’s
destruction of the world’
s remaining endangered
forests through numerous logging projects, the
destruction of the endangered species’ habitat, and the
callous displacement
of indigenous communities. RAN’s
campaign consists of seven different print
ads with the
tagline This is Citigroup.
"It’s not a pretty picture," explains Chris Hatch,
Executive Director of
Rainforest Action Network. "But
Citi can’t continue to turn a blind eye to
the
devastation it's causing around the world. Sometimes, pictures speak
louder than words."
Citi is the top funder of new oil, gas and mining projects
around the world.
According to Bloomberg analytics,
Citi’s loans and corporate bond
underwriting secured
its position as the number one financier of both the
coal industry and the fossil fuel industry in the year
2001. Citi’s
controversial projects include the OCP
Pipeline in Ecuador, funding for palm
oil plantations
in critical orangutan habitat in Indonesia, the Camisea Gas
Project in Peru, and a pipeline through the Orinoco Delta
in Venezuela.
Citi is the
target of an ongoing international intervention to introduce
sanity into the funding practices of the corporate
financial system. The
campaign has included hundreds of
demonstrations, a boycott of Citibank
credit cards and
non-violent protests. As part of the campaign, Rainforest
Action Network and a broad coalition of groups and
individuals is calling on
Citi to at least match the
best practices within the corporate financial
sector in
ending insane investments in fossil fuels and deforestation.
###
Ilyse
G. Hogue
Rainforest Action Network
Global Finance Campaigner
Tell
Citigroup "Not with my Money!"
221 Pine Street, #500
San Francisco, CA 94709
ph: 415-498-4404
fax: 415-398-2732
http://www.ran.org
BREAKING NEWS! Senate Preparing to Vote on Oil Drilling
in Arctic Refuge Within The Week
Send a message to your senators opposing Arctic drilling
***************************
Action Network from Environmental Defense
finding the ways that work
***************************
After a long debate, the U.S.
Senate is poised to vote
on a provision allowing oil
drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge in
Alaska.
TAKE
ACTION:
So far, over 70,000 people around the country
have
used Environmental Defense Action Network to send
messages
to Congress opposing new oil drilling in the
Arctic
Refuge. And with this impending vote, more
voices are
urgently needed urging protection of this
national
treasure, and the caribou, polar bears and
other wildlife
that call it home. Take action and send
a free fax
message to your senators.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/energy_arctic/wk8bxn2o78xex5
Save the wildlife and rugged
beauty of the Arctic!
The price of opening this
pristine and wildlife rich
wilderness area is too high
for the small amount of
oil it will offer. Take action:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/energy_arctic/wk8bxn2o78xex5
*****************
For fast facts about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
visit:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/071-AS11jPJ1/arctic_factsheet
*************************************************************
Thank you for taking ACTION, Care2's eco-alerts
newsletter.
Care2 constantly finds the most important
environmental alerts,
supported by the worlds leading
environmental nonprofit
organizations, to empower you
with action-oriented tools to help
our environment.
*************************************************************
1) Save U.S. Virgin Island
Coral Reefs
More than a year ago, ocean national
monuments were
established to protect threatened coral
reef systems. Please
urge the U.S. Interior Department
to protect U.S. Virgin Islands
Coral Reef National
Monuments.
Click here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3886
Overfishing has depleted reef fish
populations and
undermined the health of coral reef
ecosystems in these
areas. Yet, the Dept. of Interior
has yet to develop important
regulations and management
plans to protect these vital
ocean areas. As a result,
these monuments are merely lines
on a map without any
protection on, or in, the water.
As you read this alert, intense fishing pressure continues
to
harm these areas. Fully protected, no-take marine
reserves
are proven tools for restoring and protecting
marine ecosystems
and can be key to recovering depleted
fish populations. The
Department of the Interior needs
to know you want our reefs
effectively protected.
Click here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3886
*************************************************************
2) Activist Tips:
-- When you
go to the beach, pick up trash left by others as well
as your own. Sea animals often eat plastic bags and other
trash
that look like their natural prey.
-- Don't dump oil or other toxins
into gutters -- they flow into the
water supply. Used
oil from a single oil change can ruin a million
gallons
of fresh water, a year's supply for 50 people.
*************************************************************
3) Inspirational Quote:
"The
better acquainted we become with sharks, the less we
know about them, and one can never tell what a shark is
going to
do."
-- Jacques-Yves
Cousteau
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 11, 2002
Subject: Farm Bill Forest
Provisions Still Pending
A
proposed deal on goods for services projects in the Farm Bill
Conference Committee is still hanging in the balance, but
we know the
activist calls are coming in and that they
are having an effect. We
need to keep the
pressure on to stop this harmful proposal that would
allow for 375 new projects using "goods for services,"
where the Forest
Service can give away trees to pay for
other activities.
Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee is
a key player in this decision. He has an
outstanding American Lands
Campaign Forest Scorecard
rating of 100% and has been a longtime
supporter of
forest protection. Please contact his DC office and leave
the following message with his receptionist at
202/224-3254: "Please
stop the forest give-away and
stick to the Senate passed language on
stewardship
contracting."
In
the House, the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee is Rep.
Charles Stenholm (D-TX) who has a lifetime zero rating on
the American
Lands Campaign Forest Scorecard including
votes in favor of the Salvage
Logging Rider and
increased logging and roadbuilding subsidies. We need
to convince Rep. Stenholm and his staff that the Forest
Service can do
the wrong thing sometimes and should not
be trusted with "goods for
services" authority that
would allow them to give away unlimited amounts
of
trees.
Please contact Quinton
Robinson, Committee staff for Rep. Stenholm at
202/225-8903 and urge him to oppose new goods for services
projects.
Please provide Quinton with any
information you have about illegal
agency activities in
your area as well as examples of the agency abusing
their discretion. His fax number is
202/225-0970.
Other House
Democrats on the Conference Committee we need to contact
include:
Rep. Colin Peterson (D-MN) Rob Larew 202/225-2165 225-1593
Rep. Gary Condit (D-CA) Christine Robbins 202/225-6131
225-0072
Rep. Tim Holden (D-PA) Nana Darrel
202/225-5546 226-0996
Rep. Cal Dooley (D-CA) Jim Travis
202/225-3341 225-9308
Thanks
for all your efforts to halt this dangerous legislation.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American
Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
This Earth Day, join hundreds of citizen advocates
from across New York state to lobby our elected officials
on important environmental issues. We hope you will
attend this annual event on Monday, April 22nd at the
State Capitol in Albany.
**************************
Action Network from Environmental Defense
finding the ways that work
***************************
Earth Day Lobby Day is your chance to participate in
a day-long event on behalf of the environment. Spend
the morning session hearing from legislative and
environmental
leaders, and then lobby in the afternoon.
This year
we will hear from Senate Environmental
Conservation
Chair Carl Marcellino and new Assembly
Environmental
Conservation Chair Thomas DiNapoli, among
others.
The morning session
also includes a How-to-Lobby workshop
and issue
briefings. After the noon rally, we will
break into
targeted lobby teams, with a concurrent
program for
those who are not lobbying.
We
need your help to build the strongest possible Earth
Day Lobby Day!
Registration Cost: Only $5. Free for students.
To register or to learn more,
visit:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/u7qjMdM1jP-5/Earth_Day_Lobby_Day
,
For more information,
contact Laura DiBetta from Environmental
Advocates of
New York:
Tel: 518-462-5526, extension 221
E-mail: edld@eany.org
THE EARTH DAY LOBBY DAY AGENDA:
Composed of representatives from
national, state and
local environmental groups, the
Earth Day Lobby Day
Steering Committee has been working
to develop a strong,
representative agenda. This year
we will be lobbying
in support of legislation
addressing issues like cleaner
power plants,
Superfund/brownfields cleanups, healthy
school
environments, open space funding and an expanded
bottle
bill. This ambitious agenda unites environmentalists
from the state's largest cities to its most rural areas.
Selected from a long list of bills and broad issue
areas, the agenda aims for state lawmakers to take
some real steps to protect New York's environment this
year.
--------------------------------------------------
Visit the web address below and
spread the word about
Action Network's efforts to
protect the environment
in New York!
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=edan_message&r=p71-AS11juJL
If you received this
message from a friend, you can
sign up for
Environmental Defense Action Network Announcements
at:
http://actionnetwork.org/edan_message/join.html?r=p71-AS11juJLE
Positive Energy
April 8-14, 2002
Time for Greenpeace’s
CLEAN ENERGY NOW! campaign's weekly
good news update!!!
Inside this edition:
- Thai Villagers Switch on to Solar
- Climate Change Conference at UC Berkeley this Weekend
- Shining Solar Technologies to Come
+ + + + +
Thai Villagers Making the Shift to Solar
Greenpeace helped villagers
install solar power on two
public buildings of Bo Nok
and Ban Krut, in the Prachuap
Khiri Khan province of
Thailand, to stress that the
villagers are doing
something about achieving clean,
sustainable energy.
The installation was a follow-up to last week’s action at Edison Mission
Energy’s headquarters
in Irvine, CA, Greenpeace and the
people of Prachuap
Khiri Khan are opposing unjust
dumping of old, dirty
energy technology by energy
giants onto poorer communities
–rather than
implementing clean renewable energy that would
not
destroy the climate or the subsistence of local
livelihoods. For the past eight years, communities in
the Prachuap Khiri Khan province have opposed plans by
Edison and Gulf Power to build two coal-fired power plants
in the area. In February 2000, Finnish power company,
Fortom, divested from the controversial plans after
pressure from Greenpeace.
Check out the Greenpeace report
"Edison Out: The Struggle to Stop Coal Fired Power Plants
in Bo Nok and Ban Krut, Thailand" at:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/pdfdocs/edison_out.pdf
You can also find out more
about the current environmental
struggles in Thailand
by visiting:
http://www.greenpeacesoutheastasia.org
+ + + + +
Join Discussions Concerning Climate Change at UC Berkeley
This Weekend
UC Berkeley will be hosting a Climate Change Conference for
its Earth Weekend 2002. Anyone interested in climate
change
and energy issues are encouraged to attend the
discussions;
educational materials will also be
available. It will be a
great opportunity to
gain a deeper understanding of
the issue, as well as to
network with individuals and
organizations in the
region.
For more
details visit:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/stayinformed/events/evets.html
+ + + + +
Latest Solar Technologies
--Less Expensive? More Flexible? More Jobs?
After nearly six years in
development, company
officials from Global Solar
Energy, Inc. announced
they are close to supplying
commercial markets with
their high-tech, thin-film
lightweight solar devices.
Expecting that there will be
a strong interest in
these solar cells, which are less
expensive and more
flexible than current commercial
solar technology, the
company is expected to double its
work force in order
to reach manufacture productivity
that is competitive
with today’s silicon technology by
next year.
A report on Global
Solar Energy can be read on:
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/wed/20410GLOBALSOLAR.html
--Painting Solar Power
onto Electronics?
Chemists in
UC, Berkeley have found a way to produce
cheap plastic
solar cells (using nanotechnology) that
are flexible
enough to paint onto any surface.
Although still early
in its development, researchers
predict that this
technology will be used to provide
electricity for
wearable and portable electronics.
They hope to
overcome efficiency limitations faced by
other plastic
semiconductors by their use of hybrid
plastic solar
cells that incorporates nanorods with a
plastic
semiconductor.
Read the report
on plastic solar cell technology at:
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/item.asp?ch=e4_home&type=News&id=45149
---------------------------------
The "Positive Energy" newsletter and our website,
http://www.cleanenergynow.org, will give you good news
about ways to achieve clean air, climate justice, and renewable energy solutions
to our ongoing energy crisis.
DEN Alert: Stop Oil and Gas Drilling in a Wild Forest
The U.S. Forest Service is trying
to open more than 700,000 acres
of wildlands in the Los
Padres National Forest to oil and gas
drilling. Located
north of Los Angeles, the forest is home to more
than
20 imperiled species – including the highly endangered
California condor, the San Joaquin kit fox, the red-legged
frog,
and Smith's blue butterfly. Oil and gas companies
would build roads
and pipelines through this pristine
forest, fracturing wildlife
habitat. The forest is
vital to the successful recovery of the
California
condor. There are only 61 condors in the wild, and many
are just reaching sexual maturity, so any disturbance at
this
critical time could jeopardize the entire recovery
program.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Help us protect the Los Padres
National Forest and its wildlife for
future
generations. Please send a FREE e-mail to Forest Supervisor
Jeanine Derby urging her to save the forest from oil and
gas
drilling. We encourage you to put the sample letter
below into your
own words. Comments are due by APRIL
19, 2002, so please send your
e-mail today.
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
THE WEB:
If you have access to
the web, simply click on the link below which
will take
you to the DEN Action Center web site: http://www.denaction.org
If you don't have access to the Internet, please mail your
letter
to: Jeanine Derby, Forest Supervisor, Los Padres
National Forest
6755 Hollister Ave, Suite 150 Goleta,
CA 93117 or via e-mail at:
jderby@fs.fed.us
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Supervisor Derby:
As a citizen and a supporter of
the remaining wild forests left in
the United States, I
urge you to protect the Los Padres National
Forest from
oil and gas drilling, exploration and development.
Los Padres National Forest is vital to the successful
recovery of
the California condor. The
condor recovery effort has been one of
the most
intensive endangered species recovery programs to date.
Many of the condors are just reaching sexual maturity. Any
disturbance at this critical time could jeopardize the
entire
recovery program.
Oil and gas companies would build roads through this
wilderness,
fragmenting habitat for endangered wildlife
such as the San Joaquin
kit fox, red-legged frog, and
Smith's blue butterfly. They would
also introduce
damaging exotic pests and plants and promote erosion,
causing landslides and sediment to fill streams and choke
aquatic
species.
The Forest Service should not consider plans for energy
development
in Los Padres, but rather maintain the
strongest protections,
especially for roadless areas
within the forest. Once roadless
areas are disturbed,
they are lost forever. Once again, I urge you
to promote conservation rather than the degradation of Los
Padres
National Forest. Thank you for considering my
comments.
Sincerely,
___________________________________________________________
To SUBSCRIBE to DENlines,
visit Defenders' website at:
http://www.defenders.org/den or send an e-mail to
DEN@defenders.org and put the word SUBSCRIBE in the
subject line, and your name and address in the text
area.
___________________________________________________________
DENlines is a biweekly
publication of Defenders of Wildlife, a
leading
national conservation organization recognized as one of
the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and
its
habitat and known for its effective leadership on
saving
endangered species such as brown bears and gray
wolves. Defenders
advocates new approaches to wildlife
conservation that protect
species before they become
endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders
is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization with more than 480,000
members
and supporters.
Defenders
of Wildlife
1101
14th Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington,
DC 20005
http://www.defenders.org
http://www.kidsplanet.org
Copyright
(c) 2002 by Defenders of Wildlife
EarthNet News
... a project of the
Center for Environmental Citizenship
http://www.envirocitizen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
April 12, 2002
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In this week's EarthNet read
about how rising mercury
could affect you and tell
someone to do something about
it. Plus, read about a
stellar activist and what she's
doing to change the
world in our WHO'S WHO.
And
don't miss a cool piece on eco-nomics in the GREEN
READING section.
--Zachariah Silk, EarthNet Editor
mailto:earthnet@envirocitizen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Shadow Congress: Mercury
Rising
2. Quote of the Week
3.
Who's Who: Terra Firma
4. Glimmer of Hope: Crunch Time
for the Artic
5. Green Reading: Bush Spanks the Bottom
Line
6. Jobs and Internships
7. Conferences and Gatherings
8.
Activist Phone Book & EarthNet News Info
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shadow Congress
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MERCURY RISING
CLICK HERE to tell the FDA to do
something meaningful
about mercury.
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/ppqAAaF1jPJN/
You've probably read recently
about mercury-contaminated
fish and the affect on our
health. Environmental and
consumer groups have been
creating quite a hubbub about
methylmercury
contamination and its impact on developing
fetuses and
children. Solid evidence connects methylmercury
to
development irregularities in the human brain and
nervous system. And babies exposed to mercury before
birth have decreased motor skills and -- in extreme
cases -- cerebral palsy. The problem is that methylmercury
contamination is highest in some of American's favorite
fish -- large predators like tuna and swordfish. And
most people don't have a clue that their tuna salad
sandwich may be affecting their children's mental
development.
The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), the Environmental
Protection
Agency (EPA) and several state Departments
of Health
have given some recognition to the threat
methylmercury
poses to public health threat. But the
problem still
persists and no one is taking strong
enough action to
protect pregnant mothers and children
from dangerous
exposure. In fact, even the FDA's recent
warning about
the dangers of certain fish species was
watered down --
it didn't even include tuna in the
listing. It's
important that the FDA and state health
agencies take
action to meaningfully address this growing
threat
before it's too late.
TAKE
ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/ppqAAaF1jPJN/
Tell the FDA to do something meaningful about mercury.
FOR MORE INFO:
**Environmental Working Group Findings
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/RdqAAaF1jPJX/
**Mercury Policy Project
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/RpqAAaF1jPJr/
**Sea Turtle Restoration Project
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/Y1qAAaF1jPJf/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Men must be capable of
imagining and executing and
insisting on social change
if they are to reform or
even maintain civilization,
and capable too of furnishing
the rebellion which is
sometimes necessary if society
is not to perish of
immobility.
-- Rebecca West
----------------------------------------------------------------------
WHO'S WHO
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TERRA FIRMA
Cia Bruno wants to change the
world -- and she is well
on her way. Cia is founder and
executive director of
TIERRA (To Inculcate
Environmental Responsibility,
Respect, and Awareness),
a program that provides environmental
education for
inner-city youths ages 9 to 19. "TIERRA
empowers
minority youths to become stewards of our
natural
resources," says Bruno, who designed, built
and help
runs the project. "TIERRA offers young people
growing
up in urban areas an opportunity to explore
the world
beyond their limited circumstances." And,
guess what,
Cia is not some crusty middle-age dreamer.
She is a
hardnosed mover and shaker and a student at
Syracuse
Law School. She's changing the world one day
at a time.
Wonder how you can be as cool
as Cia? Well, she learned
her mad skills and got way
inspired at CEC's Summer
Training Academy. And you can
do the same. CEC is currently
accepting applications
for the premiere political skills
training in the
country. We guarantee you won't see
the world the same
ever again.
Apply Now: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/PpqAAaF1jPJx/
Check out Cia's story:
**Cia's Bio
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/PdqAAaF1jPJw/
**TIERRA
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/P7qAAaF1jPJs/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GLIMMER OF HOPE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CRUNCH TIME FOR THE ARTIC
The Senate is finishing work on a comprehensive energy
bill that could set the stage for the country's energy
security for decades to come. Senators are now debating
whether to bow to pressure to open up the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling (they've
already
squandered an opportunity to increase fuel
economy
standards for cars and trucks and increase our
supply
of renewable). There is reason to believe that
some
environmental stalwarts in the Senate will hold
off
this foolish attempt to open the Refuge, but things
have been crazy and unpredictable in this debate. And
these will be some of the most important environmental
votes Senators cast this year. It's time to tell (and
tell them again) that we want an energy plan that
provides
long term security without threatening our
natural
heritage.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/P1qAAaF1jPJ2/
The moment of truth nears. Tell your Senator to protect
the Refuge.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GREEN READING
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Straight from Grist Magazine
http://www.gristmagazine.com
BUSH SPANKS BOTTOM LINE
In a speech made last month,
President Bush called
on business leaders to answer not
just to the demands
of the bottom line but also to
long-term environmental
and social concerns. That's a
nice idea, but can hortatory
appeals to conscience
really do the trick in an era
when businesses are
struggling simply to survive? Writing
in Grist's Global
Citizen, columnist Elizabeth Sawin
says that too often,
the answer is no. Asking people
to be saints isn't
enough; easing the conflict between
the short-term
goals of the bottom line and our long-term
responsibility to the future by redefining basic economics
just might be. Take a crash course in eco-nomics, only
on
the Grist
Magazine website.
GRIST
MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE http://www.gristmagazine.com:
Economics for four-year-olds -- thinking beyond the
bottom line -- by Elizabeth Sawin http://actionnetwork.org/ct/R7qAAaF1jPJ4/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
JOBS AND INTERNSHIPS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
These are a sampling of the
over 200 environmental
and activist jobs and
internships listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/index.asp
Job Title: Northwest Field
Organizer
Organization: Center for Environmental
Citizenship
Location: Seattle, WA
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/R1qAAaF1jPJB/
Job Title: Program Officer
Organization: Clean Air-Cool Planet
Location: Portsmouth, NH
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/QpqAAaF1jPJc/
Job Title: Issue Researcher
Organization: Project Vote Smart
Location: Philipsburg, MT
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/Q7qAAaF1jPJd/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFERENCES, GATHERINGS AND VIEWINGS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lots more events listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/index.asp
WHAT: Three Problems, One
Solution: Tackling Climate
WHERE: Denver, CO
WHERE: Boston, MA
WHEN: 4/14/02
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/QdqAAaF1jPJe/
WHAT: Greenpeace Forest Days of
Action
WHERE: All over the country
WHEN: 04/14/02 - 04/16/02
FOR MORE
INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/YdqAAaF1jPJv/
WHAT: Earth Night @ Clark College
WHERE: Vancouver, WA
WHEN:
4/19/02
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/Q1qAAaF1jPJ3/
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U.S. Capitol Switchboard:
202.224.3121
White House Comment Line:
202.456.1111
White
House Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington,
DC
20500
Senate Address: US Senate,
Washington, DC 20510
House Address: US
House of Representatives, Washington,
DC
20515
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****************************
*
WILDALERT
* Friday, April 12, 2002
****************************
Dear WildAlert
Subscriber,
People who love
wild places in Utah, Alaska, and elsewhere may wake up
one day to find dirt bikes, ATVs, and RVs roaring around on
lands that
used to be protected or *should* be
protected as wilderness, parks or
wildlife
refuges. The Bush Administration is again working to open up
and give away our public lands, this time on a huge
scale. You can
take action now at:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1359
****************************
BACKGROUND
The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) in Gale Norton's Interior Dept. is
quietly proposing changes to an obscure federal regulation,
RS2477.
If it succeeds, the agency will be
able to hand over great chunks of
some of America's
wildest and most beautiful places to special
interests.
THE THREAT
The BLM's proposal
emerges from secret negotiations between the BLM
and
the State of Utah over disputed ownership of federal lands in that
state. Utah has insisted it owns some 10,000 individual
tracks,
trails, paths, and portions of streambeds of
varying lengths
crisscrossing federal public land in
some of Utah's wildest and most
beautiful
places. They include parts of national parks and lands
proposed for wilderness designation in America's Red Rock
Wilderness
Act.
The State alleges that these are
"highways" under a 136-year-old
federal law known as
R.S. 2477, which was repealed in 1976. If the
BLM recognizes these claims, it will simultaneously
surrender control
of them to Utah and to other states
making similar claims. The
bulldozers
will begin to carve up the West. This threat is not
speculative; it is real. Several Utah counties
have illegally
bulldozed roads into proposed wilderness
areas already, even before
their bogus claims are
decided.
Such
claims are a burgeoning trend throughout the country.
-- The Mojave National Preserve
and Death Valley National Park in
California recently
received a letter from local counties alleging
over
2,300 miles of R.S. 2477 routes in the Preserve and Park.
-- Under the Alaska Supreme
Court's incredibly broad standard for RS
2477 claims,
every section line in the State could qualify as an RS
2477 right-of-way, criss-crossing the State with over one
million
miles of claims. Granting these claims would
threaten Alaska's most
treasured National Parks,
National Wildlife Refuges, National Forests
and
designated Wilderness areas. That, precisely, is the claimants'
goal.
--
Several counties in Montana, Idaho and Oregon have asserted claims
to every road on the national forest lands within the
county
boundaries.
**************************
WHAT
THE CHANGE IN RULE WOULD DO
An orderly process for
considering the legitimacy of RS2477 claims
already
exists. The new rule would allow the BLM to give away the land
to non-owners, outside of judicial proceedings, with
minimal public
involvement. Current law requires that
such claimants assert their
claim within 12 years of
learning of disputed claims. The BLM's new
proposal
eliminates the 12-year statute of limitations for asserting
such claims, opening the door to a flood of old claims. The
proposal
is custom-tailored to bypass existing
protections.
****************************
TAKE
ACTION
Please write the BLM and tell the agency that it
should withdraw its
proposed rule and that you strongly
oppose its attempt to give away
rights-of-way that
would lead to the fracture of otherwise unroaded
areas
and allow motorized use in the few wild places now safe from the
drone of motors.
Take action from our web site by April 23:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1359
Or tell the BLM directly
that:
-- It should withdraw
its proposed rule (67 FR 8216) that makes it
easier to
give away federal lands-including rights-of-way-to states;
-- Giving away rights-of-way would
fracture otherwise unroaded areas
and allow motorized
use in wild places. If you can, give examples of
public lands you have visited that would be harmed;
-- The rule is illegal.
-- National Parks, National
Wildlife Refuges, National Forests and
public lands
managed by the Bureau of Land Management are valuable
public assets that should not be given away nor their
management
dictated by bulldozer.
-- Many claims of rights-of-way
for "highways" across public lands are
not valid
claims, but are cynical attempts to thwart wilderness
protection or otherwise break up public wild lands. The
agency should,
apply a rigorous determination process
for validating each claim to a
right-of-way across
public lands.
Send your
letters to:
Mr. Jeff Holdren,
BLM Lands and Realty Deputy Group Manager
Bureau of
Land Management
Ms. Cynthia
Ellis, BLM Regulatory Affairs Group and the Office of the
Solicitor.
Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States Office
7450 Boston Boulevard
Springfield,
Virginia 22153
Attention: RIN 1004-AD50
Email: WOComment@blm.gov
(please use AD50 in the subject line of your
email)
Fax: 202-653-5287
***************************************************************
For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm
***************************************************************
An archive of past Wildalerts can be found at
http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm
***************************************************************
To make a gift online to The Wilderness Society, click
here
https://secure-net.com/tws/join.asp
***************************************************************
WildAlert is an email action alert system brought to
you by The
Wilderness Society to keep you apprised of
threats to our wildlands -
in the field and in
Washington. WildAlert messages include updates
along with clear, concise actions you can take to protect
America's
last wild places. You are welcome
to forward Wildalerts to all
those interested in saving
America's wildlands.
FEEDBACK:
If you need to get in contact with the owner of the list,
(if you have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about
the list
itself) send email to <action@tws.org>.
TO SUBSCRIBE: If you have been
forwarded this message and would like
to subscribe to
the list, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/forms/subscribe.htm or send a
message to
wildalert@tws.org with 'SUBSCRIBE' in the
subject line and your
email address in the body of the
message.
Founded in 1935, The
Wilderness Society works to protect America's
wilderness and to develop a nation-wide network of wild
lands
through public education, scientific analysis and
advocacy. Our
goal is to ensure that future
generations will enjoy the clean air
and water,
wildlife, beauty and opportunities for recreation and
renewal that pristine forests, rivers, deserts and
mountains
provide. To take action on behalf of
wildlands today, visit our
website at http://www.wilderness.org
***********************
* WildAlert
* Monday, April 15, 2002
***********************
Dear WildAlert Subscriber,
When the Interior Department begins peddling industry
propaganda to
the news networks to support oil and gas
drilling in the Arctic, as
reported last week, you can
bet a decisive moment is near. It is,
after
weeks of jockeying, stalling and frantic last-minute deal
shopping. Tomorrow, Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK)
and others will
finally offer their amendment to the
Senate Energy Bill, S. 517,
to allow oil development in
the incomparable Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge.
We've come to you repeatedly for
help with the Arctic and you have
responded
brilliantly. This is the most important request of all: It
is absolutely vital that your Senators hear from you once
more on the
Arctic. Please call your
Senators **by Thursday, April 18** and urge
them once
more to vote to protect the Arctic Refuge. Use our online
directory to look up phone numbers.
http://tws.ctsg.com/wac/legDirectory
BACKGROUND
So fluid is the situation, we can't even tell you yet for
sure what
the amendment will contain. We can
tell you that the vote on it has
been scheduled for
Thursday, and it is likely to include inducements
to
make it tough for our friends to stay strong on the Arctic. For
example:
--Last week, drilling proponents tried to couple Arctic
drilling with
relief for ailing steel-industry
retirement funds; they may try that
again.
--They may also offer to
reduce the area in which drilling will be
allowed, from
the entire 1.5 million-acre refuge to some smaller part
of it.
And there are likely to be schemes proposed that we haven't
even
thought of yet; proponents are that desperate.
This much is certain: Whatever the
final shape of the amendment, if it
wins, the Arctic
loses, along with its wild character, its wildlife
and
the Gwich'in people for whom the refuge is life itself.
TAKE ACTION
Please call your Senators and ask them to vote to protect
the Arctic
Refuge. Use our online directory
to look up your Senators' phone
numbers. http://tws.ctsg.com/wac/legDirectory
Here are some points you may want
to make during your call:
--You're calling about S. 517, the Senate Energy
bill. You urge the
Senator to oppose any
attempt to open the Arctic Refuge to oil
drilling.
--The national security argument
is bogus. No oil from the Arctic
could reach
American markets for at least seven years. The oil
companies themselves say so.
--The Administration's estimates of the amount of oil
likely to be
found in the Arctic are wildly
exaggerated. The Energy Information
Administration puts it into perspective this
way: In the year 2020,
when our oil imports
will equal 62% of what we consume, Arctic oil
would
reduce that amount by just two percent.
--Conservation--such as reasonable increases in auto fuel
efficiency--would reduce our dependency far more and
far more quickly.
--Environmentally safe drilling in the
Arctic? Not likely! We've
seen
what the industry's done on Alaska's North Slope; if it can drill
and produce oil safely, why hasn't it done so
there? The fragile
Arctic is no place
to test another empty Big Oil promise.
Please call now! And thanks once more for being
such a faithful
advocate for the Arctic Wildlife
Refuge!
***************************************************************
For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm
***************************************************************
An archive of past Wildalerts can be found at
http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm
***************************************************************
To make a gift online to The Wilderness Society, click
here
https://secure-net.com/tws/join.asp
***************************************************************
WildAlert is an email action alert system brought to
you by The
Wilderness Society to keep you apprised of
threats to our wildlands -
in the field and in
Washington. WildAlert messages include updates
along with clear, concise actions you can take to protect
America's
last wild places. You are welcome
to forward Wildalerts to all
those interested in saving
America's wildlands.
FEEDBACK:
If you need to get in contact with the owner of the list,
(if you have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about
the list
itself) send email to <action@tws.org>.
TO SUBSCRIBE: If you have been
forwarded this message and would like
to subscribe to
the list, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/forms/subscribe.htm or send a
message to
wildalert@tws.org with 'SUBSCRIBE' in the
subject line and your
email address in the body of the
message.
Founded in 1935, The
Wilderness Society works to protect America's
wilderness and to develop a nation-wide network of wild
lands
through public education, scientific analysis and
advocacy. Our
goal is to ensure that future
generations will enjoy the clean air
and water,
wildlife, beauty and opportunities for recreation and
renewal that pristine forests, rivers, deserts and
mountains
provide. To take action on behalf of
wildlands today, visit our
website at http://www.wilderness.org
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 15, 2002
Cosponsor Drive Begins on Roadless
Area Protection Legislation
Roadless area protection legislation that would make the
threatened
Roadless Area Conservation Rule a law will
be introduced later this
spring, according to a Dear
Colleague letter sent to all of the members
of the
House of Representatives today. Calls, letters, faxes and
emails are urgently needed asking Representatives to sign
on as original
cosponsors of the roadless area
protection bill.
The timing
couldn't be better, because the Forest Service, and their
bosses in the Bush Administration are working overtime to
get back to
large-scale logging in roadless areas and
to abolish the roadless area
conservation
rule. It is critical that Congress intervene to ensure
all remaining roadless areas are protected.
In addition to stopping this
renewed assault on roadless areas,
legislating the rule
will have significant long-term effects on the
ground. According to the Final Environmental
Impact Statement, the
roadless conservation rule would
reduce logging allowed under existing
Forest Plans by
85% in inventoried roadless areas from an estimated 1.1
billion board feet over 5 years, to just 160 million board
feet. In
addition, an estimated 623 miles of
new logging roads will not be built
over the same five
year period.
The bills' main sponsors Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and
Jay Inslee
(D-WA), were joined on the Dear Colleague by
Reps. Nick Rahall (D-WV),
Jim Greenwood (R-PA), Connie
Morella (R-MD), Eva Clayton (D-NC), Jim
Leach (R-IA),
George Miller (D-CA), David Wu (D-OR), Nancy Johnson
(R-CT), Maurice Hinchey (D- NY) and Stephen Horn (R-CA) in
a strong show
of bipartisan leadership for this
legislation. If your Representative
is
listed above, please thank them for their leadership to protect 58
million acres of National Forest roadless areas.
Calls, letters, faxes and emails
are urgently needed to your
Representative asking them
to be an original cosponsor of the National
Forest
Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2002. The Capitol Switchboard
number is 202/224-3121 the address is Your Representative,
US House of
Representatives, Washington DC 20515, and
fax numbers and email
addresses can be found at http://www.congress.org Interested
Representatives should call either Rep. Jay Inslee or Rep.
Sherwood
Boehlert's office to sign on by May 8.
A copy of the Dear Colleague
letter is available at
http://www.americanlands.org/dear_colleague.htm Also,
a sample letter
that you can send to your
Representative to encourage them to sign on as
a
cosponsor is available at
http://www.americanlands.org/sample_letter.htm
Thanks for all your efforts.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American
Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response
Network:"
Please go to the forests.org website, http://forests.org/emailaction/cbd/,
and send an email message to government officials from around the world who
are meeting this week at The Hague. Their decisions at this week's meeting
of the Convention on Biological Diversity will have a huge impact on global
efforts to stop illegal logging and deforestation. This is one
campaign
where email messages can make a difference. Thanks, --Paula
ACTION ALERT!
**************************************************************
CBD: FATE
OF THE WORLD'S FORESTS & BIODIVERY BEING DETERMINED NOW
Urge U.N.
Conference Delegates to Protect Forest Biodiversity
**************************************************************
April 13,
2002 - By Forests.org and the Global Forest Coalition
TAKE ACTION: LOBBY
GOVERNMENT LEADERS TO PROTECT FOREST BIODIVERSITY
http://forests.org/emailaction/cbd/
* One email click sends to several dozen governments
The
ultimate fate of the World's forests may be determined this
week at the
Convention on Biological Diversity meeting at The
Hague. The convention
technical body has developed a strong,
action driven work programme on
forest biodiversity
conservation; which contains innovative action items on
ending
deforestation, halting illegal logging, stopping biopiracy and
protecting and sustainably managing natural forests - including
primary
forests. The programme is being undermined by countries
profiting from the
trade in illegal or unsustainable logging and
consumption patterns.
Ministerial delegates must be urged to support this programme.
Please send the email below, asking for bold commitments to end
all
forest loss, protect primary forests from unsustainable
commercial
development, and encourage community based eco-
forestry management and
protected areas.
TAKE ACTION: http://forests.org/emailaction/cbd/
BACKGROUND:
The World's forests - home to 60% of the World's
biodiversity
and providing critical ecosystem functions - are dangerously
threatened. Over the past decade the estimated annual rate of
deforestation was 14.6 million hectares. One-fifth of the
Earth's
rainforests have disappeared since 1960. Worldwide,
large and fully intact
ancient primary forests have been reduced
to 20% of their original
pre-development extent. The COP6
meeting may be the last best chance to
address the forest
biodiversity crisis.
Issued by Forests.org,
Inc., The Global Forest Coalition and FERN
********************************
Paula Palmer, Executive Director
Global Response
P.O. Box 7490
Boulder CO 80306
USA
TEL:
303-444-0306
FAX: 303-449-9794
Email: paula@globalresponse.org
Website: www.globalresponse.org
Global Response empowers people of
all ages, cultures, and nationalities to
protect the environment by creating
partnerships for effective citizen
action. At the request of
indigenous peoples and grassroots organizations,
Global Response organizes
international letter-writing campaigns to help
communities prevent
environmental destruction. Global Response involves
young people
as well as adults in these campaigns, to develop in them the
skills for
global citizen cooperation and earth stewardship.
