Help protect fishermen, coastal fishing communities, and marine 
ecosystems by sending a fax to your Representative today asking him/her to 
cosponsor the "Fishing Quota Standards Act of 2003," H.R. 2621.  Doing so 
will help ensure an abundant supply of ocean fish for generations to come.

Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) programs allow fishermen to catch a 
percentage of the total quota for a species of fish or shellfish in a 
defined area within a specific time.  This privilege allows fishermen to 
catch their quota anytime during a fishing season.

Advocates of IFQ programs offer them as the solution for many of the 
problems facing our fisheries, including over-exploitation, poor market 
prices, and unsafe conditions.  Although IFQ programs can provide some 
of these benefits, many fishermen and conservationists are concerned 
that poorly developed and poorly regulated programs will undermine 
conservation efforts and economically harm fishermen and fishing communities.

Please help protect fishermen, coastal fishing communities, and marine 
ecosystems by faxing your Representative today asking him/her to 
cosponsor the "Fishing Quota Standards Act of 2003," H.R. 2621. 

Take Action Today: 
www.politicaloutreach.com/outreach/conservefish/default.asp

For more information on individual fishing quotas (IFQs) visit: 
www.fairifqs.org
 

Congress has the responsibility to ensure that decisions on federal 
environmental legislation and policy are based on accurate and complete 
scientific information. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has 
ignored repeated requests for information on toxic mercury pollution, 
clean air, and global warming from members of the Senate Environment and 
Public Works Committee, which is responsible for oversight on these and 
other critical public health issues. Urge EPA Administrator Michael 
Leavitt to release the requested information to allow Congress to fulfill 
its responsibilities to protect public health and to restore scientific 
integrity in federal policymaking.  

TAKE ACTION
To automatically send the letter below to your senator, hit "Reply" and 
then "Send" in your email program.

To customize your letter, learn more about the issue, or if this 
message was forwarded to you, visit
http://www.ucsaction.org/ctt.asp?u=44389&l=32960

LETTER:

Dear Administrator Leavitt,

I am writing to urge you to respond to all outstanding information 
requests by Senator James Jeffords (I-VT), ranking member of the Senate 
Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW). Senate EPW Chair James 
Inhofe (R-OK) joined Sen. Jeffords in a March 4, 2004 letter to you, 
expressing the position that the EPA is obligated to respond to requests from 
both the Chair and ranking member of the Committee. These requests were 
also restated in a March 29, 2004 letter sent to your office that was 
signed by all nine minority Committee members. 

The requested documents address urgent environmental and public health 
issues such as toxic mercury pollution, clean air, and global warming. 
Congress and the EPA must work together to evaluate various pollution 
control measures and create policies that utilize the best available 
technology and science to reduce harmful industry emissions. 

Transparency throughout the policymaking process is essential to ensure 
that the EPA creates and enforces unbiased regulations based on sound 
science. Members of Congress must have access to accurate and complete 
scientific information in order to conduct agency oversight and make 
sound environmental policy decisions. The withholding of such information 
is particularly troubling given recent reports in the media and 
complaints from scientists that members of the Bush administration are 
suppressing and distorting scientific analysis from federal agencies and may 
even be including in rules material written by the regulated industry.  

Please help preserve the scientific integrity that is critical to 
making the best public health and environmental decisions by promptly 
releasing the requested documents. 

Sincerely,

(your name and address will be inserted)

KRASNOYARSK, Russia - Illegal logging and controversial business plans have ecologists raising the alarm in Siberia’s scenic Krasnoyarsk region, Russia’s prime forestry area and vital to a country struggling under massive air pollution.

“From Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk, the taiga stretches without limit.  Does it have an end? When you are on the top of a mountain, you see mountains all around... And all is covered by a dense forest. It gives you shivers,” Anton Chekhov wrote in the 1890s.

But the famed writer’s days are past, and now the sight is different—criminal logging and arson gnaw at the sea of trees.

In Russia, up to 30 percent of tree logging is illegal. Depending on the region, the wood then goes to Scandinavian countries or China.

“They do it quickly, a team of five or six people take a big truck, cut a large area and send the wo od to China. It makes a good profit,” lamented Galina Kuzmina, deputy head of Krasnoyarsk’s forest protection center.

In addition, 2,000 fires last year alone—most of them due to arson—and the Siberian bombyx parasite has devastated entire swaths of the region’s forest, she said.

But the government’s new forestry code, which is still being drafted and allows the regions to privatise forest zones, is what troubles Russian ecologists most.

The Russian forest is currently almost entirely managed by the “leskhozes,” local forestry administrations, which hand out licences to the lumberjacks and their firms.

“After the privatisation experience of the 1990s, public opinion will not stand for privatisation of forests,” Shvarts fumed.

Environmentalists also fear that the new code would bar millions of Russians from the forests, who make their living by collecting cedar kernels, mushrooms and berries.

“They say here that Russal,” the giant Krasnoyarsk-based aluminum producer, “is ready to buy up the region’s entire forest,” Kuznina said.

The government in turn hopes to encourage the creation of wood refining factories and paper and cellulose plants.

Russia, 70 percent of whose massive territory is covered by forests, nets 4.5 billion dollars (3.8 billion euros) annually from wood exports, but could profit more if it could refine wood at home rather than ship the raw material to be treated abroad.

The region’s governor Alexander Khloponin has ambitious plans to chop down 49 million cubic meters (1715 million cubic feet) of wood annually where only five million cubic meters are now harvested.

“This would require important forestry territories and big investors who would build roads and replant forests as needed, like they do in Finland,” he noted.

The governor hopes to attract enough capital to set up a cellulose factory, which would profit from the region’s low energy prices.

However, he said he thought privatisation plans were too hasty, arguing that the industry could pass into the private sector only after the state set up efficient control systems—which could take up to 15 years.

Sources:
http://www.terradaily.com/2004/040502030651.y5wzzm8d.html
Starmail - 5. Mai 2004, 19:29 - Rubrik: Umweltschutz

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Okinawa has been called the "Galapagos of the East" and is home
to ecologically significant coral reefs that support more than
1,000 species of reef fish, marine mammals and sea turtles, a
diversity of marine life second only to the Great Barrier Reef
in Australia. Creatures like the highly imperiled dugong, a
critically endangered and culturally treasured animal, rely on
these reefs for their very survival. Three types of endangered
sea turtles, protected under international as well as American
and Japanese domestic law, also depend on these ecosystems. The
United States and Japanese governments have plans to build a new
American military base atop a healthy coral reef that supports
at least nine species threatened with extinction and myriad
other types of animal life. Because of global warming and
pollution, Okinawa's coral reefs are already threatened. More
than half have disappeared over the past decade. This makes
preserving healthy reefs all the more important. 

American, Japanese, and international organizations all
recognize the potential harm the new base would cause. Japan's
Mammalogical Society placed the dugong on its "Red List of
Mammals," in 1997, estimating the population in Okinawa to be
critically endangered. The U.S. Government's Marine Mammals
Commission fears the project would be a serious threat to the
animals' survival. The World Conservation Union's dugong
specialists have expressed similar concerns.

Additionally, the Endangered Species Act of the United States,
lists the dugong and three sea turtles affected by the project
as endangered.

You can take action on this alert either via email (please see
directions below) or via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/dugong_aa/8gxg5d4qjbxxet

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/dugong_aa/forward/8gxg5d4qjbxxet

We encourage you to take action by June 6, 2004

HELP SAVE UNIQUE SPECIES AND CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEM

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this
alert by going to the following URL:

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/dugong_aa/8gxg5d4qjbxxet 


INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your email program.

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Ambassador Howard Baker 
President George W. Bush 
Secretary Colin Powell 
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld 
Vice President Richard Cheney 

----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

The island of Okinawa has been called the "Galapagos of the
East" because of the incredible variety of marine and
terrestrial life it supports. Almost 400 types of coral form
Okinawan reefs that support more than 1,000 species of reef
fish, marine mammals and sea turtles. This incredible array of
life makes the island second only to Australia's Great Barrier
Reef in terms of marine biodiversity. 

Tragically, a military project being pushed by the U.S. and
Japanese governments may doom a healthy reef, driving these
magnificent species to extinction. 

The current plan to construct a new American military base at
sea, atop a coral reef near Nago City in Okinawa would destroy a
critically important coral reef that supports at least nine
endangered species-animals protected under American, Japanese
and international law.

Creatures like the highly imperiled dugong, a critically
endangered and culturally treasured animal, rely on this habitat
for their very survival. Japan's Mammalogical Society placed the
dugong on its "Red List of Mammals" in 1997, estimating the
population in Okinawa to be critically endangered. The U.S.
Government's Marine Mammals Commission also fears the project
would be a serious threat to the animals' survival; the World
Conservation Union's dugong specialists have expressed similar
concerns. 

Additionally, three types of endangered sea turtles -- the
hawksbill, loggerhead, and green turtle -- also depend on this
ecosystem. All of these turtles, as well as the dugong, are
listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Construction of the offshore facility will devastate the marine
environment and have dramatic consequences for avian and
terrestrial species as well. In addition to complete destruction
of the coral reef off the coast of Henoko village, this plan
will deplete essential fresh water supplies and encourage more
environmentally harmful development. 

Because of global warming and pollution, Okinawa's coral reefs
are already threatened. More than half have disappeared over the
past decade. This makes preserving the healthy reefs that
continue to exist all the more important.

By reconsidering construction of this airbase, you can help
ensure that Okinawa's treasures of the sea survive and thrive.
Please put a halt to this shortsighted plan.

----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----

As you know, Interior Secretary Gale Norton has lifted essential 
federal protections for wolves in the lower 48 states.  Soon the magnificent 
Yellowstone wolves could be in harm's way should they wander from the 
safety of the park.  We've gone to court to reverse her irresponsible 
action.

But now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed new rules that 
will allow extensive killing of gray wolves in Idaho and Montana.

Defenders of Wildlife helped make history with the reintroduction of 
wolves in Yellowstone National Park and Idaho in 1995.  Today, over 600 
wolves live in the Northern Rockies.

This latest action by the Fish and Wildlife Service puts these wolves 
in grave danger!

Help us, by taking the following action steps.

First, send a message >> 
http://defenders.spacely.com/petitions/petition.cfm?orgid=04CSAWM&action=44&petitionID=9&MX=307&H=1 
<< now to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expressing your opposition 
to their dangerous proposal.  The deadline for comments on this rule is 
May 9th, so please send your message today.

And then, please send a generous tax-deductible emergency contribution 
>>http://defenders.spacely.com/contribute/contribute.cfm?orgid=04CSAWM&act=43&slp=y&cid=3&fn=2&MX=307&H=1 

<< to Defenders of Wildlife to help support our "Campaign to Save 
America's Wolves".  Your gift will help fund legal, media, public outreach, 
education and grassroots efforts.

If we are to save the lives of America's wolves we need your urgent 
action support.

Steven DelVecchio
V.P. for Membership

P.S. This latest threat to wolves in Idaho and Montana comes at the 
same time we are fighting another wolf emergency - the aerial killing of 
wolves in Alaska.  Our resources are stretched thin.  Please help us by 
making an emergency tax-deductible contribution today.
>>http://defenders.spacely.com/contribute/contribute.cfm?orgid=04CSAWM&act=43&slp=y&cid=3&fn=2&MX=307&H=1 
<<

Also, if you prefer you can renew your support by phone by calling 
1-800-385-9712.  Our operators are standing by 7 a.m. to midnight, seven 
days a week.  Thanks for helping to save wildlife and habitat for future 
generations.

Privacy Policy:

Defenders of Wildlife does not sell, trade, or rent your e-mail 
information to others. To see our complete privacy policy, visit 
http://defenders.spacely.com/L/www.defenders.org/donate/privacy.cfm?orgid=04CSAWM&MX=307&H=1

Viewing majestic landscapes. Getting back to nature. Stepping back in 
time. Having a fun, healthy outdoor experience. These are just a few of 
the reasons people visit national parks - and a few of the things that 
are degraded by pollution. More than 25 years after Congress 
strengthened our clean air laws and required parks to have clean air, an 
unnatural haze ruins views to some degree in every national park and unhealthy 
air threatens park visitors, resources, and neighbors.

National parks have some of the worst air quality in the country, a 
statement underscored by several NPCA reports, studies by the 
Environmental Protection Agency and the National Park Service, and newspaper 
articles. The good news is that the EPA has released a proposed rule to clean 
up hazy park skies with pollution controls known as the "best available 
retrofit technology" that has the potential to address some of these 
concerns. Unfortunately the rule must be improved, finalized, and fully 
enforced to truly improve air quality for both people and the parks.

TAKE ACTION >> http://www.npca.org/aa.asp?ID=378

The proposed rule is now open for public comment, and we need your help 
to ensure that a strong park haze rule is finalized this year. Please 
send a letter urging the EPA to finalize a strong, effective, and 
enforceable rule.

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR >> 
http://www.npca.org/Take_Action/lettertoeditor/

Write to your local newspaper to highlight why this issue is important 
to your community.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR >> http://www.npca.org/take_action/upcoming_events/

In addition, two hearings are being scheduled around the country, and 
we will be sharing that information with those of you who live near a 
hearing location. 

We will be contacting you in the coming weeks with additional ways you 
can help protect air quality for people and the parks.

Thank you for your time and dedication to helping enhance and protect 
our national parks for present and future generations,
NPCA Grassroots Staff

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* National Park Lines is a publication of the National Parks 
Conservation Association's Park Action Network. To learn how you and your friends 
can become more involved in national park advocacy, contact our 
grassroots staff at TakeAction@npca.org. 

NPCA's park protection work is made possible by the generous support of 
people like you. Membership is just $15, and includes a subscription to 
our award-winning National Parks magazine. Join us today!  
http://www.npca.org/support_npca

Visit us online at http://www.npca.org.

Right now, your Governor has a special opportunity to help
improve ocean protections for future generations. By taking
action and contacting your Governor, you can help the U.S. take
important steps to revive the oceans.

Last month, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which was
appointed by President Bush in 2001, issued its preliminary
report about the state of America's oceans. Before a final
version of the report is sent to President Bush and Congress,
the Commission is seeking comments by May 21 from State
Governors. This is a great opportunity for you to alert your
Governor about the importance of healthy oceans and the need for
strong directions in the final report. 

The U.S. Commission report confirms the findings of leading
scientists and the 2003 report by the independent Pew Oceans
Commission that show ocean waters, wildlife, and habitats are in
serious trouble. These reports state that urgent action is
needed. 

But while the U.S. Commission report includes several positive
directions, it needs to put forward bolder recommendations for
protecting ocean waters, wildlife, and habitats to ensure that
urgent action actually will occur. Specifically, stronger
recommendations are essential for the following key areas:

* Ocean Water Quality: The report emphasizes voluntary actions
to reduce coastal and ocean pollution. The final report should
encourage strengthening water quality laws to address the
preventable and major sources of ocean pollution.

* Management of Fish Populations: The report takes a positive
step in decreasing the opportunities for fishery managers to
ignore or influence scientific findings as they set the rules
for fishing. However, the report fails to include strong
recommendations for protecting undersea habitats, like deep sea
coral gardens, from destructive fishing gears. Nor does it call
on fishery managers to reduce "dirty fishing" (sea life that is
unintentionally caught and snared in fishing gears and often is
returned to the ocean dead or dying). Finally, the report needs
to call for balanced representation to break the monopoly of the
commercial fishing industry on many fishery management councils.


* Ocean Ecosystem Management: Currently, we focus on managing
particular elements of the ocean -- fish populations, pollution
sources, coral reefs, and oil drilling -- without giving full
consideration to the impact of these decisions on oceans as a
whole. The report should be strengthened to call for the
establishment of regional ecosystem councils that have a mission
to protect, maintain, and restore ocean ecosystems. These
councils should create comprehensive ecosystem management plans
that meet certain national goals. To help ensure actual
progress, these plans should include elements that require
accountability. 

In the past year, two large reports about oceans show that we
need to act now to protect our oceans. It is important that this
opportunity is seized so that our children and grandchildren
will be able to fully enjoy the benefits the oceans can provide.
We hope you will help by building support for a strong national
commitment to protecting our oceans.

For the oceans,

Ted Morton
Federal Policy Director
Oceana

You can take action on this alert either via email (please see
directions below) or via the web at:
http://ga0.org/campaign/oceanscommittee/3378bgrqje8nk8

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this
issue!

http://ga0.org/campaign/oceanscommittee/forward/3378bgrqje8nk8

We encourage you to take action by May 19, 2004

Ask Your Governor to Help Protect the Oceans!

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this
alert by going to the following URL:

http://ga0.org/campaign/oceanscommittee/3378bgrqje8nk8 

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your email program.

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Governors of Coastal States 

----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

In the upcoming days, you will have an opportunity to help
influence the way we manage and protect ocean waters, wildlife,
and habitats. Oceans sustain life on Earth. The recent reports
of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans
Commission show that oceans are in a serious crisis. In order to
revive our oceans, our nation needs to adopt bold changes.

The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy has just released its
preliminary report and recommendations for comment by the
nation's Governors. The report states urgent action is needed
and puts forward several solid proposals. However, many of its
recommendations for ocean protection should be strengthened. In
your comments to the Commission, I urge you to include the
following recommendations to make vital changes in the way the
U.S. protects oceans and coasts:

* Strengthen ocean ecosystem management by requiring regional
ecosystem councils to be established and calling for the
creation and implementation of comprehensive ecosystem
management plans that use accountable measures and meet national
goals.
* Improve fishery management by improving measures to protect
undersea habitats (such as ancient deep sea corals) from
destructive fishing gears, reducing the amount of sea life that
is unintentionally caught or snared in fishing gears, and
balancing the membership of regional fishery management
councils. 
* Promote cleaner ocean waters by strengthening water quality
laws to control sources of pollution, such as cruise ship
pollution and polluted runoff that are not subject to strong,
enforceable measures.
* Encourage immediate action on pending federal legislation
(such as the Clean Cruise Ship Act), increased appropriations
for ocean protection and science (such as more funding for
fishery observers), and executive decisions that promote
improved ocean management and conservation.
* Design a trust fund that will help pay for improved ocean
management so that it does not encourage more offshore oil
drilling in sensitive areas or fund projects that actually
damage the environment.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something bold
and essential for our oceans. Your leadership will be crucial to
convincing national leaders to fully protect ocean waters,
wildlife, and habitats. I hope you seize this chance and put
forward recommendations to strengthen the final report. Thank
you for considering my thoughts.

----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----

ETC Group
News Release
Friday, May 21, 2004
www.etcgroup.org



Canadian Supreme Court Tramples Farmers' Rights - Affirms Corporate 
Monopoly On Higher Life Forms

Civil society and farmers' organizations worldwide reacted with outrage 
to today's 5-4 decision by the Canadian Supreme Court, affirming 
Monsanto's right to prosecute farmers who are found to have GM crops growing 
on their land - whether they wanted them or not. Gene Giant Monsanto 
accused Saskatchewan farmers Percy and Louise Schmeiser of violating the 
company's patent on genetically modified canola (oilseed rape). Percy 
and Louise did not want Monsanto's GM canola seeds that invaded their 
property, and they did not try to benefit from the herbicide-tolerant 
trait in the GM seed (that is, they didn't spray Roundup weedkiller), but 
still Monsanto prosecuted them for patent infringement and demanded a 
portion of their income. The Schmeisers waged a courageous, 7-year 
battle against Monsanto that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

"The good news is that the Schmeisers don't have to pay a penny to 
Monsanto [reversing the lower courts' ruling], but the decision has grave 
implications for farmers and society everywhere the Gene Giants do 
business," said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group, one of the 
interveners in the case. Monsanto's GM seed technology accounted for over 
90% of the global area planted in GM seeds last year. 

"The decision not only undermines the rights of farmers worldwide, but 
also global food security and biological diversity.  Ironically, the 
United Nations has declared tomorrow to be International Biodiversity 
Day. We should all be wearing black," lamented Mooney.

Inflatable Patent: The Canadian Supreme Court decision effectively 
nullifies the Court's 2002 decision, which held that higher life forms, 
including plants, are not patentable subject matter.  According to today's 
decision, a patent on a gene or cell can be infringed by a farmer's use 
of a plant or seed into which the patented material has been 
incorporated. 

"Monsanto has won an inflatable patent today. They can now say that 
their rights extend to anything its genes get into, whether plant, animal 
or human," said Pat Mooney. The Canadian Court goes even further than 
notoriously monopoly-friendly US patent law because it finds that a gene 
patent extends to any higher organism that contains the patented gene. 
"Under this ruling spreading GM pollution appears to be recognized as a 
viable corporate ownership strategy," said Mooney.

The Court's ruling means that if a farmer is in possession of seeds or 
plants containing a patented gene, the burden is on the farmer to prove 
that s/he is not infringing the company's monopoly patent. "In 
Monsanto's world, we're all criminals unless a court rules otherwise," observes 
Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group's Mexico office. "This will come as 
shocking news to indigenous farmers in Mexico, whose maize fields have been 
contaminated with DNA from genetically modified plants, and to farmers 
everywhere who are fighting to prevent genetically modified organisms 
from trespassing in their fields," said Ribeiro. Monsanto's newspaper ads 
in Chiapas, Mexico are already warning peasants that if they are found 
using GM seed illegally, they risk fines and even prison.

"No doubt Monsanto will say this is a victory for their stockholders, 
but its victory will be short lived. As always, Monsanto's hot air is 
the wind beneath our wings," said Pat Mooney. "This ruling will unite 
farmers and others opposed to corporate control of food and life, and 
galvanize civil society to take the issue out of the courts and back to 
politicians," said Mooney. 

One of civil society's first major responses in North America will be 
expressed during the "Reclaim the Commons" meeting in San Francisco in 
about two weeks (June 5-10). This international activist gathering 
parallels the annual meeting of the Biotechnology Industry Organization 
(BIO) also in San Francisco.  

Tell Monsanto Where to Go!  ETC Group and others have initiated a 
letter-writing campaign. Anyone (rural or urban based) who fears that 
Monsanto's GM seeds have blown onto their property - as happened to the 
Schmeisers - can notify Monsanto that the company's uninvited genes may be 
trespassing.  

Go here to take action: http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=450

Go here to view the text of the Canadian Supreme Court's judgement: 
http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/index.html 

For further information:

Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc@etcgroup.org: 204-453-5259
Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) hope@etcgroup.org: 919 
960-5223
Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) siliva@etcgroup.org: 52 55 55 632 
664
Jim Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim@etcgroup.org: 44 (0)7752 106806 (cell)

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. The ETC group is 
also a member of the Community Biodiversity Development and Conservation 
Programme (CBDC).  The CBDC is a collaborative experimental initiative 
involving civil society organizations and public research institutions 
in 14 countries.  The CBDC is dedicated to the exploration of 
community-directed programmes to strengthen the conservation and enhancement of 
agricultural biodiversity.  The CBDC website is www.cbdcprogram.org

In the coming weeks the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the Climate 
Stewardship Act (CSA-S. 139). This bill, introduced by Senators John 
McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), is the first comprehensive 
plan for reducing U.S. emissions of heat-trapping gases that contribute to 
global warming. The CSA sets mandatory limits on emissions from 
relevant sectors of the economy and encourages an increase in energy 
efficiency and clean renewable electricity generation. Please tell your senators 
to take the first step toward curbing global warming by supporting the 
CSA.

TAKE ACTION:
To automatically send the letter below to your senators, hit "Reply" 
and then "Send", in your email program.

To customize your letter, learn more about the issue, or if this 
message was forwarded to you visit,
http://www.ucsaction.org/ctt.asp?u=44389&l=37339

LETTER:

Dear Senator,

I am writing to urge you to support the Climate Stewardship Act 
(S.139). As you know, S. 139 will limit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping 
gases from major industrial sources. These gases are contributing to 
global warming, which poses a serious threat to our economy and way of 
life. In the absence of federal action, U.S. emissions have risen 12 
percent since 1990. It is time for Congress to act.

The bill's market-based approach offers a flexible, affordable way to 
curb the costly environmental, public health, and economic impacts of 
global warming by setting mandatory limits on emissions from relevant 
sectors of the economy and encouraging an increase in energy efficiency 
and renewable electricity generation. By encouraging investment in clean 
energy solutions, the bill would also ensure that American technology 
remains competitive as other countries move to reduce their own 
emissions.

Please plan responsibly for our children and grandchildren's future by 
supporting the Climate Stewardship Act. I look forward to hearing your 
position on this issue.

Sincerely,

(your name and address will be inserted)