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To: Northeast Organizers
From:
John Demos
July 5, 2002
PLEASE SEND AN LTE TO YOUR LOCAL PAPER ON ROADLESS BILL
Please thank your House member who
has signed on, or urge him/her to support Bill
177 Members of the House of Representatives have
cosponsored the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act introduced last
month. Most of the Representatives in our area have signed on, but a
few remain on the sidelines.
The strong support in the Congress generated thus far will
help us, at very least, win an amendment to put these areas off limits
immediately.
Please check the
list of cosponsors at the end of this message. If your Rep. Has
cosponsored, please write a letter of support to your local paper. If
they are absent, please give their office a call and write a Letter to the
editor asking that they sign up.
A sample letter is below. Please contact me at
demos@americanlands.org with any questions.
Thanks for all the help.
SAMPLE LTE ON ROADLESS
Dear editor:
Rep. __________ should be applauded for cosponsoring
legislation that would protect nearly 60 million acres of this nation's most
wild forests. The bill, the Roadless Area Protection Act that was
recently introduced in Congress, would codify the Roadless Area Conservation
Rule, one of the most historic land conservation measures in a
generation. The rule, which barred industrial logging and
roadbuilding in pristine public forests, was approved following years of
scientific study and more than 600 public meetings across the
country. To date the Forest Service has received more than 2.2
million comments favoring roadless protection. This outpouring of public
response is almost ten times greater than that of any other rule in
history.
Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has worked
aggressively to undermine the rule and the will of the people. It has
approved a number of bureaucratic directives that strip core national forest
protections.
By endorsing the
Roadless Area Protection Act, Rep. ____________ has demonstrated (his/her)
commitment to conserving our nation's most cherished places. The bill
sends a clear message to the Bush Administration that Congress will not stand
idly by while the White House sacrifices our biological heritage.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE
BACKGROUND INFO
The Rule would protect our
national forests Right now, our national forests are being destroyed by logging
and mining because the protection these national treasures deserve under the
historic Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been suspended by the White House.
The Rule, ordered in 2001,
which protected 58 million acres of our national forests, hasn't gone over well
with timber and oil interests in the administration because they would rather
carve up these lands with costly roads at taxpayer expense. But the
people have spoken. The rule, which the administration's own Attorney General
John Ashcroft promised to defend in the Justice Department, was put in place
after more than 600 public hearings and a record 2.2 million public comments
(90+% in favor of the Rule or stronger action).
In June, Congress took the lead by introducing the National
Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act, which would put these forest protections
back in place. This bipartisan legislation, of which U.S. Rep. William Delahunt
is one of 177 original co-sponsors, should be passed and signed into law.
I hope the president hasn't
forgotten our forests have other special interests - public recreation and
wildlife protection.
Original
Cosponsors in our area:
CT
Ms. Johnson (R-CT)
Ms. Delauro
(D-CT)
Mr. Shays (R-CT)
Mr.
Simmons (R-CT)
Mr. Maloney (D-CT)
Mr. Larson (D-CT)
MA
Mr. McGovern (D-MA)
Mr. Frank (D-MA)
Mr. Olver (D-MA)
Mr. Capuano (D-MA)
Mr. Neal
(D-MA)
Mr. Delahunt (D-MA
Mr.
Markey (D-MA)
Mr. Meehan (D-MA)
Mr. Tierney (D-MA)
ME
Mr. Allen (D-ME)
Mr. Baldacci (D-ME)
NJ
Mr. Pallone (D-NJ)
Mr. Holt (D-NJ)
Mr. Donald Payne
(D-NJ)
Mr. LoBiondo (R-NJ)
Ms.
Roukema (R-NJ
Mr. Pascrell (D-NJ)
Mr. Ferguson (R-NJ)
Mr. Menendez
(D-NJ)
Mr. Andrews (D-NJ)
Mr.
Chris Smith (R-NJ)
NY
Mr. Boehlert (R-NY)
Mr. Hinchey
(D-NY)
Mr. Serrano (D-NY)
Ms.
Maloney (D-NY)
Mr. Edolphus Towns (D-NY)
Ms. Velazquez (D-NY)
Mr. Weiner
(D-NY)
Mr. Rangel (D-NY)
Ms.
Slaughter (D-NY)
Mr. Crowley (D-NY)
Ms. Kelly (R-NY)
Mr. Engel (D-NY)
Mr. Nadler (D-NY)
Mr. Ackerman
(D-NY)
Mr. Israel (D-NY)
Mr. LaFalce (D-NY)
Mr. McNulty
(D-NY)
Mr. Quinn (R-NY)
Ms.
Lowey (D-NY)
Mr. Owens (D-NY)
Mr. Meeks (D-NY)
Ms. McCarthy
(D-NY)
RI
Mr. Kennedy (D-RI)
Mr. Langevin
(D-RI)
VT
Mr. Sanders (I-VT)
Green Party of New York State E-News Vol. 2, No. 8, July
2002
Greetings from E-News.
Green Party E-News is a
web-based newsletter that can be viewed in full
(including archives) at http://www.gpnys.org/enews/
Send
your news, events, alerts and letters to the editor for the next issue
to Ann Link at eastst@hotmail.com. Deadline for submissions
to next issue:
July 22, 2002. Comments and suggestions
on enews content and format are
welcome, as are
volunteers to help with writing, editing, photography, etc.
LATE BREAKING ITEMS:
1. Two candidate interviews will
be posted to the E-News website around
July 15, please
check back (interview with Stanley Aronowitz, Green
Gubernatorial candidate and Joshua Lieberson, Green
candidate for Assembly
in the Capitol District). These
will also be posted in the next E-News.
2. NEW YORK CITY KICK-OFF ORGANIZING MEETING
Green Campaign 2002 / Aronowitz for Governor, July 23, 2002
Please join us Tuesday, July
23 for the New York City Kick-Off Meeting for
Green
Campaign 2002 / Aronowitz for Governor. Your help is needed to keep
the Green Party Ballot line in New York State we need to
obtain a minimum
of 50,000 votes in the gubernatorial
election in order to keep our ballot
line.
We have 4 terrific statewide
candidates, as well as many Green candidates
for State
Assembly, Congress and other offices. Statewide candidates are
Stanley Aronowitz for Governor, Jennifer Daniels for
Lieutenant Governor,
Mary Jo Long for Attorney General
and Howie Hawkins for Comptroller. (You
can find
information about these candidates at
http://www.gpnys.org/ http://web.greens.org/ny/Elections.html
http://www.stanleyaronowitz.org)
WHY IS
THE BALLOT LINE IMPORTANT?
- Local candidates can gain
access to ballot the with much less effort
- We can
nominate statewide candidates (governor, president, etc.), saving
us vast efforts in
petitioning and allowing far more
time to focus on organizing
- New Yorkers can register
in the Green Party, which enables us to outreach
to our
supporters
- We gain credibility and visibility in the
voting booth, in the media, and
in our communities
HOW DO WE GET 50,000 VOTES?
Build a strong campaign infrastructure with organizing
groups in as many
neighborhoods as possible. These
groups should:
1. Contact all past supporters, enrolled
greens, potential supporters,
progressive
organizations.
2. Build visibility in their area. Hold
and attend events; develop and
implement a press
strategy that includes print, radio, letters to the editor.
3. Raise funds through mailings, house parties, events to
support campaign
activities.
4. Recruit volunteers and obtain commitments to vote Green
in 2002.
5. Support local Green candidates to build
momentum and visibility.
6. Plan a strong
Get-Out-The-Vote effort.
NOTE:
This is a working meeting not a discussion group. No campaign
experience is necessary, just enthusiasm. There's so much
to do that it is
possible to match everyone's skills,
experience and time available to
useful and rewarding
jobs.
WHEN: Tuesday,
July 23, 2002
7:00-9:00 PM
WHERE: Judson Memorial Church
55
Washington Square South (between Thompson and Sullivan
Sts.)
DIRECTIONS: Trains:
A,B,C,D,E,F to W4th St.; N,R to 8th St., 6 to
Bleecker
St., 1,2 to Christopher St., or visit
http://www.judson.org/directions.htm.
RSVP/INFO ABOUT THIS MEETING OR GREEN CAMPAIGN 2002:
Masada Disenhouse, 718-855-2263 or masada@akula.com
Look forward to seeing you there!
*****************************************************************************
In this issue...
(follow the
links below each story to visit a that story on the web, or
click here for the E-News home page: http://www.gpnys.org/enews/
*****************************************************************************
CAMPAIGN 2002
Are you are
running for office as a Green in the upcoming elections? Send
us your candidate statements for publication in Enews!
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/6_03_02candidatestatements.php
Join Green 2002 Voter Registration Campaign
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02voter.phpVoter Registration Drive
Info about NY Green Party, Runing for Office and Organizing
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02listserv.phpNew Green Campaign List Serve
List Serve for Model Letters to the Editor.
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02letters.phpCampaign Letter Writing Campaign
Funding for Local Greens to Maintain Ballot Line in NYC
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02funding.phpFunding Available for Ballot
Line Work
*****************************************************************************
ACTIONS/ACTIVITY alerts
New York City: Help Shut Down Indian Point Nuclear Power
Plant
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02indian.php
New York State: Sign a letter to NY health commissioner on
causes of breast
cancer
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02breastcancer.php
U.S.: Nuclear Waste Route Map. Will Waste Go through Your
Community on Way
to Yucca Mountain?
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02yucca.php
U.S.: Public comments due July 25 for NASA Pluto-Kuiper
Mission
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02space.php
*****************************************************************************
ISSUES AND IDEAS
NYC Council Testimony in Defense of DOS Composting
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02compost.php
Students Use Web for Organizing to Fight Global Warming and
Promote Democracy
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02studentweb.php
Global Warming. Part One: The Science -- First in a 3-Part
Series
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02global.php
Citizen Works Update: Citizen Works Presents a Redesigned
Website and New
Bi-Monthly Print Newsletter
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02citizens.php
*****************************************************************************
EVENTS
Greenspeakers Toastmasters Meeting -- July 2, 2002, New
York City
Practice Speaking About Green Topics!
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02toastmasters.php
*****************************************************************************
NEWS AND NEWS LINKS
STATE
Greens' Man for Governor:
Support For Aronowitz -- 6/18/02, New York Press
(NYC)
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02nypressarono.php
Afton Attorney Runs For Attorney General: Green Party
Candidate to
Challenge Spitzer -- 6/18/02, Press &
Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton)
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02presssunlong.php
It's Not Easy Being Green. Beyond George, Carl and Andy --
6/14/02,
Metroland.net (Capital Region)
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02metroaron.php
These 28 Focus on Message: New Jersey Candidates For Senate
and House --
6/5/02, Newark Star-Ledger
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02njcandidates.php
Green Party candidate wants to raise taxes: Aronowitz
Proposes Taxes --
6/5/02, Associated Press (Albany)
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02aparonotax.php
In support of Aronowitz: Lieberson to run for State
Assembly in 104th --
6/13/02, Albany
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02lieberson.php
Party Promotes Peace: April Peace Rally in DC Drew 75,000
-- 6/5/02, Ithaca
Times
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02itpeace.php
Can Green Party Gain Widespread Support? Progressive party
catches on --
6/5/02, Ithaca Times
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02itbeinggreen.php
It Ain't Easy Being Green: NY 'Greens' Facing a Difficult
Task -- 5/31/02,
Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02sunpresseasy.php
Roadside Greenery: Greens rent billboards to get message
out -- 6/15/02,
Duchess County
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02duchessbillboard.php
*****************************************************************************
CANDIDATE STATEMENTS
Lorna Salzman for Congress, 1ST C.D., Suffolk County: A
platform of ecology
and Democracy
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02salzman.php
Margaret Lewis for Congress, 20th district
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02mhuman.php
*****************************************************************************
NATIONAL
National Green Party Midterm Convention in Philadelphia
July 18-21
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02nationalconvention.php
Bush Expands FBI Powers, Court Finds Abuses: Earthfirst
Wins Lawsuit
Against FBI Agents -- 6/18/02, Green Party
of the U.S. Press Release
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02fbiearth1st.php
Q & A for Nader: Give Them the Business -- 6/16/02, The
New York Times
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02nytnader.php
Do You Know? How many Green Mayors since 1990?
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02greenmayors.php
*****************************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL
DMC Helps Green Party Make History: Ads Run for the UK
Green Party --
5/7/02, United Kingdom
http://www.gpnys.org/enews/7_01_02ukad.php
Time for Greenpeace’s CLEAN ENERGY NOW! campaign’s weekly
good news update!!!
Inside
this edition:
- California Leads the Nation with the
Passage of Global Warming Bill
- Competitive Bidding
for 50MW of Solar in San Francisco
- The National
Climate Education Project Seeks Voices
+++++
California Leads the Nation
with the Passage of Global Warming Bill
On Monday, July 1, 2002, the California Legislature passed
the first bill in U.S. history to regulate global warming pollution from cars
and light-duty trucks. The bill AB
1058, passed the
Assembly 41-30, and now the fate of the bill is in California Governor Davis'
hands. If the
successor bill, AB 1493 is signed into
law, California will
finally start taking
responsibility for its greenhouse gas
emissions,
becoming a national leader in stopping global
warming.
Send a fax to Governor Davis
today and urge him to sign
AB 1439!
Just go to:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/bin/takeaction.fpl?action_id=139
+++++
Competitive Bidding for 50MW
of Solar in San Francisco
Last
November, San Francisco voters backed clean energy
initiatives Prop H & B, which allows for $100,000,000
in
bonds to finance solar energy facilities for use by
city
agencies and departments. The planning process has
begun
and it’s time for San Francisco to break-ground
on their
solar power facility.
This week, Board of Supervisors
President Tom Ammiano is
submitting legislation to the
San Francisco Finance
Committee initiating the
competitive bidding process for
the construction of a
50 Megawatt solar power facility in
San Francisco.
If you live in San Francisco: Take
Action!
Attend the public hearing on
Wednesday, July 10, 2002 at 12:30 p.m.
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place,
Room 263, City Hall
+++++
The
National Climate Education Project Seeks Voices
The National Climate Education Project is seeking
participants to speak across the nation about the
impact of global warming.
Scheduled for October 18-20 in
Portland, Oregon,
keynote speakers include:
Bill McKibben, author "The End of
Nature"
Dr. Eban Goodstein, Professor of Economics
Lewis & Clark College
Dr. Richard Gammon, Professor
of Chemistry, Oceanography, Atmospheric Sciences,
University of Washington
The Greenhouse Network, a non-profit organization dedicated
to public education about the need for urgent action to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is calling on speakers
to
join the National Speaker Network. Applications are
due
September 6, 2002.
For more information about the
National Climate Education Project, and the Green House Network, please visit
http://www.greenhousenet.org
The "Positive Energy" newsletter and our web site,
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.
Want to do more? Become a Greenpeace member
today!
To give online, go to:https://www.greenpeaceusa.org/join2/cen.htm
TRADING WILDERNESS ROADSHOW
West
Coast dates: July 14-22, 2002
--please circulate widely--
Those of you on the West Coast of the United States and
Canada are
invited to join us for a national roadshow
focused on the impact that
international trade
agreements--like those governed by the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA)--are having on
forests and global biodiversity.
The presentation gives particular attention
to the
forests of Canada, Ecuador, and Chile.
The program features information, folk music by Danny
Dolinger, and ways
you can take action to stem the free
trade of our wild forests. Sponsored by
American Lands Alliance, with support from Alliance for
Responsible
Trade, Citizens Trade Campaign, Mexico
Solidarity Network, Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance,
Pacific Environment, and Public Citizen. For more details and
schedule, click here:
http://www.pacificenvironment.org/whatsnew/intro.htm
For additional information about trade and forest issues,
contact Jason
Tockman at mailto:tockman@americanlands.org .
---------------------------------------------
Jason Tockman, Director
International Trade Program
American Lands Alliance
PO Box 555
Athens, OH 45701
(740)
594-5441
The Union of Concerned Scientists is pleased to announce
the release
of an information-packed, colorful,
interactive web feature about
climate change impacts in
the Gulf Coast region of the United States.
We invite you to explore this exciting new site at
http://www.ucsusa.org/gulf
Over
the coming months we will be working to bring educators, local,
state and national policymakers, and reporters to this
site. Our aim
is to help further the
public's understanding of climate change, to
highlight
the potential impacts of climate change on a regional
level, and to promote the solutions we believe can slow
global
warming and avoid the most devastating impacts.
This web feature is based on
the widely acclaimed report,
"Confronting Climate
Change in the Gulf Coast Region: Prospects for
Sustaining our Ecological Heritage." This comprehensive
study by
leading university and government scientists
in the Gulf States was
released last fall by the Union
of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the
Ecological
Society of America (ESA). It concluded that the combined
impacts of global warming and pressure from human
activities pose
serious challenges to the Gulf Coast,
but that there are steps that
we can take today to
protect this region.
Thanks to
your support, we are extending the reach of this report
through this innovative web feature. The site contains a
wealth of
information on climate change impacts and
solutions for people who
live in Alabama, Florida,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It also
contains
several interactive features that we hope will capture your
attention.
One feature examines the water cycle and how humans
interact with it
along the Gulf Coast. A second
explores the consequences of sea-level
rise, and a
third investigates how individual lives may be impacted
by climate change.
In addition to these exciting features, the web site also
has
multi-page summaries of the potential impacts on
the five Gulf States
and on several unique and special
places in the Gulf region, such as
the Everglades, the
Apalachicola Bay System, Big Thicket, Laguna
Madre, and
the Mississippi Delta.
Please visit this new feature at http://www.ucsusa.org/gulf.
Thank you again for your support of UCS and for making work
like this
possible.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you have questions about our
work in the Gulf Coast region or
about other things UCS
works on, please write to ucs@ucsusa.org
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
One of the largest ongoing
non-violent citizen campaigns to protect the
environment and human rights is the Movement to Save the
Narmada River in
India. Global Response members have
supported this movement with
letter-writing campaigns
over the last 4 years.
Please
respond to the Urgent Action (below) issued by Amnesty International
on behalf of B.N. Jagdish, an activist with the Narmada
Bachao Andolan (NBA)
Movement to Save the Narmada, who
was picked up by police on June 25.
Amnesty fears for
his safety. Since the Urgent Action was released, the NBA
reported in a press release that B.N. Jagdish is being held
in Sardarpur
jail under preventative detention and
charges of vagrancy. Amnesty has
declared Jagdish a Prisoner of
Conscience. Please write to Indian
authorities and demand his immediate and unconditional
release.
There has been a
history of arrests and harassment of activists protesting
the Narmada dam project. Urge Indian authorities
to guarantee that
environmental defenders be able to
carry out their peaceful activities
without fear of
reprisal. For more information about the Narmada Dam
project and its impact on human rights and the environment,
visit the Just
Earth! website at:
http://www.amnesty-usa.org/justearth/countries/india.html
****************************************************************************
PUBLIC AI
Index:ASA 20/008/2002
UA
195/02 Fear for safety/ 27 June
2002
Prisoner of Conscience
INDIA B.
N. Jagdish (m), Human rights defender
On 25 June, B. N. Jagdish, an
activist working with the Narmada Bachao
Andolan (NBA)
Movement to Save the Narmada, was picked up by police at a
bus stop in Khedi Balwadie, Dhar district, in the state of
Madhya Pradesh.
He has not been seen since.
Amnesty International fears that he
is being kept in illegal detention and
that he may be at
risk of torture or ill-treatment. The organization
considers B.N. Jagdish a prisoner of conscience, detained
solely for his
legitimate activities for the NBA.
Several villagers witnessed B. N.
Jagdish being picked up by the police.
Colleagues and
friends have contacted the police stations and the control
room at Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. The police authorities however
denied that
his arrest ever took place and stated that
they have no record of it.
B. N.
Jagdish is a graduate from Bangalore. During the last year, he has
been working with the NBA in Dhar district. The NBA have
been opposing the
construction of dams on the river
Narmada since 1985.
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
Those living along
the Narmada river have been protesting for several years
at the construction of 30 dams along the river, as this
would lead to the
submergence of their villages.
Protesters have often been arrested,
detained,
ill-treated and harassed as they exercised their rights to
freedom of expression. Women, indigenous people and human
rights defenders
have often been the target of these
violations.
The NBA calls for a
fair rehabilitation and resettlement process, including
the granting of land, for those displaced by the
construction of the dams.
On 21 May four activists went
on hunger strike seeking intervention from
the Madhya
Pradesh government over the issue. They were protesting over the
rehabilitation of 17 villages which would be submerged
following the
construction of the Man dam, as a part of
the Narmada project. The hunger
strike lasted 29 days,
and led to the opening of negotiations with the
government on the rehabilitation of the villagers. However,
since the end
of the hunger strike the police have
reportedly been targeting the leaders
of the protest,
conducting search operations in the villages and illegally
detaining some of the activists.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send
appeals to arrive as quickly as possible,
in English or
your own language:
- urging the authorities to make
known immediately the whereabouts of B.N.
Jagdish;
- calling for him to be released immediately and
unconditionally, unless he
is to be charged with a
recognizable criminal offence and brought before a
court
of law; - calling on the authorities to guarantee his safety, and grant him
immediate access to a legal representative, his family, and
any medical
treatment he may require;
- urging the authorities to give a commitment that human
rights defenders
will be free to carry out their
peaceful activities without fear of
harassment.
APPEALS TO:
Mr. Sanjay Dube
District Collector,
Dhar
District Collectorate
Dhar
Madhya Pradesh
India
Telegrams: District Collector, Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, India
Fax: + 91 7292 34711 (it may be difficult to get through
to this number,
but please keep trying)
Salutation: Dear District Collector
COPIES TO:
Mr. Digvijay Singh
Chief Minister of
Madhya Pradesh
Office of the Chief Minister
Vallabh Bhavan
Bhopal
Madhya Pradesh
India
Fax: + 91 755 540 501/ 551 781
Salutation: Dear Chief Minister
and to diplomatic representatives of India accredited to
your country.
PLEASE SEND
APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat,
or your section office, if sending appeals after 8 August
2002.
********************************
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.
To: All Activists
From: Steve Holmer
Date: July 9, 2002
ROADLESS PROTECTION CALL-IN DAY THIS THURSDAY
With the Interior Appropriations
bill expected on the House floor either
this Friday or
early next week, we need to let Congress know that we
want National Forest roadless areas protected
now. An amendment will be
offered to the
Interior bill cut off Forest Service spending on any new
development projects in inventoried roadless areas.
This will halt 33 new timber sales
on Alaska's Tongass National Forest
and at least
seventeen other logging and drilling proposals in Colorado,
Idaho, California and elsewhere. It will also
help repudiate efforts by
the Administration to rollback
roadless area protection and renew
subsidized logging
and roadbuilding in pristine backcountry watersheds.
TOLL FREE NUMBER TO BE ISSUED FOR CALL IN DAY
A toll free 800 number will be
provided for activists to participate in
this call-in
day. The number will be sent out in another message
tomorrow or early Thursday morning. Please get
your friends, families,
allies and activist trees ready
to make some calls this Thursday and
rock the Congress
to protect our roadless areas!
OPPONENTS OF ROADLESS PROTECTION USING PHONY ARGUMENTS
The timber industry and its
political allies are making phony claims in
a last-ditch
effort to derail the roadless conservation amendment.
Three main false arguments are being made: 1) Roadless
Protection puts
forests at risk from wildfire, 2) the
Roadless policy protects private
lands, and 3) the
Forest Planning Process can best solve this issue.
FIRE: The Roadless Conservation Final EIS makes
clear that the top
priority for fuel treatments should
be near homes and communities, not
in roadless
areas. It also indicates that roadless areas will not be a
priority for fuels treatments for another twenty
years. When necessary,
the rule allows for
limited fuel reduction treatments. To address the
fire issue in depth, American Lands has put together a
factsheet
available at
http://www.americanlands.org/fire_&_roadless_conservation.htm
PRIVATE PROPERTY: The Roadless Rule does not
protect any private lands
and only applies to National
Forests. The policy doesn't restrict any
existing rights to access inholdings including state or
private lands.
FOREST PLANNING:
Forest Planning failed to address this issue which is
why the creation of a national policy was
necessary. Under existing
forest plans
without the Roadless Conservation Rule, the Forest Service
is expected to construct an estimated 1,160 miles of new
road and log
1.1 billion board feet over the next five
years. Based on historic
levels of road
construction, it is anticipated that 5% to 10% of
inventoried roadless areas are likely to have roads
constructed in them
over the next 20 years. By 2040,
between 18% and 28% of inventoried
roadless acres would
be roaded with an estimated 16,000 miles of new
roads
(Roadless Conservation Final EIS).
ROAD SUBSIDIES AND THE $8.4 BILLION ROAD MAINTENANCE BACKLOG
One issue that opponents of
roadless protection would like to forget is
the massive
$8 billion road maintenance backlog, which continues to grow
bigger each year. Due to road subsidies and the
purchaser road credit
program that allowed trees to be
traded for road construction, the
National Forest road
system grew from 100,000 miles in the 1940's, to
over
386,000 miles of roads today. Road maintenance funding never kept
pace with this expansion and as a result, there is now an
$8.4 billion
backlog in road
maintenance. Each year, the backlog grows larger
because at current funding levels, only 20% of the roads are
being
maintained each year.
Congress began to reform the National Forest roadbuilding
program in the
late 1990s by eliminating the purchaser
road credit program. In 1998,
the House also
voted on a voice vote to prohibit the construction of new
roads in roadless areas. This was followed with
the "time out"
announced in January 1999 by Forest
Service Chief Michael Dombeck who
determined that a
moratorium on new roadbuilding in roadless areas was
necessary until the agency could develop a long-term policy.
Not building new roads in
roadless areas except in the circumstances of
public
safety and access to private and state in-holdings, will allow
the Forest Service to reduce future maintenance liabilities
and focus
limited road budgets on reducing the
maintenance backlog. It now costs
the agency
approximately $1,500 per mile to maintain National Forest
roads.
It is
essential we maintain the "time-out" begun by Chief Dombeck in
1999. Your calls have already created strong
support on the Hill for
the Roadless Conservation Act of
2002 — 179 cosponsors — and
commitments to
vote our way on the amendment from many others. But
there are still lots of undecided voters we need to
reach. Let's get ‘em.
Thanks for all your efforts.
In this post :
#1 Reuters July 8 Colombian U'wa Indians brace for new
battle
#2 Earth First! Journal cover story June-July
2002 Victory for the U'wa!
****
Here's 2 new U'wa stories, one
warning of future dangers and one
celebrating the
victory. The Reuters article contain some particular
ridicolous OXY propaganda.
Check out the Earth First! Journal
to see a beautiful cover photo of
U'wa territory (taken
by murdered U'wa activist Terence Freitas) and a
back
cover collage of U'wa resistance and support actions. You can
order a copy at www.earthfirstjournal.org or find a copy at
your nearest
Borders, Whole Foods, Wild Oats or radical
bookshop.
Remember that even
though OXY may have been driven off U'wa land that
Bush's oil war in Colombia is still escalating and we've got
to keep
working to stop U.S. military aid to Colombia!
Start organizing in your
community now for the next National
Mobilization on
Colombia - a day of action across the continent on
September 27th! Full organizing and media packets
are available at :
http://www.colombiamobilization.org/
also check out the re-vamped version of the U'wa Traditional
Authorities
website : http://www.uwacolombia.org/
To keep
updated on the U'wa struggle check out www.amazonwatch.org
#1
Monday July 8, 10:35 am Eastern Time
Reuters Company News
FEATURE-Colombian U'wa Indians brace for new battle
By Ibon Villelabeitia
CUBARA, Colombia, July 8 (Reuters) - Roberto Perez chews a
cluster of
drycoca leaves as he stands near a precipice
overlooking a valley of
rainforest and swift rivers.
Legend has it that Perez's U'wa
Indian ancestors jumped to their deaths
froma similar
ridge 500 years ago to avoid enslavement by Spanish
conquistadors.
Perez, a shy and mild-mannered U'wa leader, says his people
will not
commit mass suicide this time, but warns they
will do whatever it takes
to defendtheir land from the
latest "intrusion" -- a planned U.S. aid
package totrain
an army battalion.
The $98
million in aid is aimed at preparing Colombian forces to protect
an oil pipeline that runs near U'wa territory from attacks
by Marxist
rebels, but tribal leaders fear it will
spread Colombia's 38-year-old
war acrosstheir land.
The U'wa, an impoverished
semi-nomadic indigenous group in northeastern
Colombia,
gained international attention two years ago when they fought
a protracted battle against Los Angeles-based Occidental
Petroleum
(NYSE:OXY - News) that sought to drill next to
their reservation.
Occidental withdrew from the
project this year after failing to find
commercially
viable oil deposits.
The
controversy had been a public relations nightmare for the U.S.
company as vociferous international environmental
organizations cast the
dispute as a David versus
Goliath struggle between indigenous groups and
corporate power.
Now U'wa leaders fear Washington's plan, which is being
discussed in the
U.S. Congress, could drag them into a
military conflict that kills
thousands of people every
year.
"We have our own law.
The army and the rebels should respect us. We
don't
want them on our land," said Roberto Cobaria, an U'wa leader with
a wispy mustache.
International green groups are bracing for a new battle.
"Our campaign
is not over. We campaign for the
indigenous groups' right to
self-determination, be that
against oil or U.S. military aid," said
Kevin Koenig, a
spokesman for Amazon Watch, a group based in Oakland,
California, that has taken up the U'wa cause.
'THINKING PEOPLE' SUFFER
DISCRIMINATION
The U'wa, which means "the thinking
people" in their language, are one
of Colombia's 80
indigenous ethnic groups.
For
centuries they have suffered oppression and discrimination at the
hands of Spanish colonizers and Colombian government.
Their numbers have dwindled
dramatically -- to 5,000 from 20,000 in
1940. They live in remote mist-shrouded
mountains, having lost large
parts of their ancestral
land to government expropriations and
incursions by
displaced peasants fleeing the violence of the country's
largely rural war.
Near Cubara, the main town on the tribe's reservation,
children with
stomachs swollen from malnutrition sat in
the dirt in one settlement of
mud huts inside the
reservation. There is no electricity or running
water.
One girl, barely 15,
breast-fed two babies as scrawny chickens pecked
around
pools of rain water. Inside a smoky hut, elders gathered around a
wood fire and drank "chicha," a traditional beer made of
fermented
maize. Most didn't speak Spanish and seemed
suspicious of foreigners.
The
lifestyle of most U'wa has changed little in 500 years although
tribe leaders have set up a campaign office in Cubara
equipped with
telephones and fax machines. The leaders
live in the town, and dress in
the same shirts and
trousers as other country Colombians.
WRATH OF GOD
The U'wa, a firmly
religious people, believe that exploiting their
sacred
rivers and forests would unleash the wrath of "Sira" (God). They
regard oil as the "blood of Mother Earth" and say drilling
is like
"stabbing a knife into your stomach." They
carry coca leaves -- the raw
material for cocaine -- in
gourds around their necks and chew them to
"gain
strength and wisdom."
The land
dispute with Occidental entered the U.S. presidential election
in 2000 as environmental groups criticized Democratic
candidate Al Gore
for owning company shares.
When Occidental won a court order
to sink a test well after a seven-year
legal wrangle,
Colombian soldiers were deployed near the reservation and
military helicopters hovered in the skies to prevent
protesters from
blocking the drilling.
Word that the U'wa were
considering walking off the 1,400-foot
(400-metre)
"Cliff of Death" to fight the "invaders" as they did against
the Spanish caused a media frenzy even though the U'wa
later ruled out
such drastic action.
"The collective suicide was
something our ancestors did 500 years ago to
avoid
becoming slaves. We are going to fight until the end to defend our
land but we are not thinking of jumping off the cliff,"
said Perez, 60,
who has 10 children.
OIL IS TROUBLE
History of Colombia shows that oil means trouble.
Discoveries of oil --
the country's main export -- have
brought violence from all sides
fighting in Colombia's
war and done little in the way of lifting the
people
from poverty.
After the Cano
Limon pipeline opened in the 1980s the two Marxist rebel
groups that operate in the area grew fat by extorting
private companies
servicing the pipeline. Right-wing
paramilitary outlaws have also moved
into the area.
In 1999, the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia --
known as "FARC" -- kidnapped and killed
three U.S. Indian activists who
were visiting U'wa
territory.
When the oil
controversy faded away, the television cameras went home
and the U'wa were left to their poverty and mud huts. Tall
grass is
overtaking the old drilling site and the sound
of the rushing waters
fills the air. The U'wa said they
want the government to invest in
hospitals and schools,
not oil or war.
After the
White House announced the new aid package earlier this year,
U.S.-based environmental groups began mobilizing a new
campaign and U'wa
leaders were back in the spotlight.
U'wa leaders say they
appreciate the solidarity received from
international
groups. Occidental and government officials say the
Indians have been manipulated by outsiders. U'wa leaders
have flown to
Los Angeles, Washington and many European
capitals -- paid by foreign
support groups -- to
promote the U'wa plight at anti-globalization
forums.
"These are groups that depend
on fund-raising to survive and are always
looking for
causes in developing countries to raise their profile," an
Occidental spokesman said. "They don't seem to have a
problem when they
fly the U'wa leaders around the world
burning the 'blood of Mother
Earth.'"
U'wa support groups say such
claims are ridiculous and accuse big oil
companies of
trying to silence the voice of the indigenous community.
Amazon Watch spokesman Koenig, who has never been to
Colombia, said his
group's job is "to shed the media
spotlight so that the voices of the
U'wa can be heard."
*****
#2
(Reprint and spread this
story! Plagurize it for your own articles!
Celebrate the victory by getting the word out!)
Earth First! Journal cover story
June-July 2002
Victory for the
U'wa!
by Patrick Reinsborough
“We are seeking an explanation for
this ‘progress’ that goes against
life. We are
demanding that this kind of progress stop, that oil
exploitation in the heart of the Earth is halted, that the
deliberate
bleeding of the Earth stop... We ask that
our brothers and sisters from
other races and cultures
unite in the struggle that we are
undertaking... We
believe that this struggle has to become a global
crusade to defend life.” —Statement of the U’wa people,
August, 1998
When the story of Colombia’s indigenous U’wa people first
hit the world
stage, it was an all too familiar tragic
tale: A ruthless multinational
oil company invades the
homeland of a traditional culture, threatening
their
way of life and the fragile ecosystem. It was a new twist on the
same 500-year-old story of conquistadors, invasion and
genocide that has
shaped the Americas—only this time,
the gold which the invaders were
willing to kill for
was black.
To the U’wa (a name
which means “the thinking people”), oil is Ruiría
meaning “the blood of Mother Earth,” and to extract it
violates their
most sacred beliefs. To the Los
Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum
(OXY), oil is the
lucrative drug of choice for industrial society and
the
fast track to record profits. With both the Colombian and US
governments backing the project, it seemed inevitable
despite the
uncompromising resistance of the U’wa, that
eventually OXY would develop
oil operations on U’wa
land.
But on May 3, at the
Occidental shareholder’s meeting, the story of U’wa
resistance turned a triumphant page. OXY made the historic
announcement
that it is returning its oil concessions
on U’wa land to the Colombian
government and abandoning
its plans to drill in the region. OXY has
suddenly
decided there is no oil under U’wa land despite eight years of
assuring investors of a major oil strike and only pursuing
one drill
site in the vast area. In other words, when
you strip away the corporate
face-saving, the
resistance of the U’wa and the pressure of the
international solidarity campaign helped to force OXY to
abandon its
efforts to drill on U’wa land! The slogans
that so many of us have
written on banners and chanted
in the streets—OXY Off of U’wa Land!—are
coming true.
The significance of this
victory cannot be overstated. It is a victory
not only
for the U’wa and their thousands of allies, but for all
impacted communities fighting the devastation of resource
extraction
around the world. Although it is not the
final victory for the U’wa, it
is a major milestone in
their decade-long struggle to defend their way
of life
and to teach the world the simple message that, “If we kill the
Earth, then no one will live.”
The announcement comes nearly a year after OXY retreated
from the
Gibraltar 1 drill-site, which thousands of
U’wa, local campesinos, trade
unionists and students
had occupied to prevent oil drilling. After using
the
Colombian military to brutally evict the protesters and militarize
the region, OXY was unable to find oil at the site. This
came as no
surprise to the U’wa whose Werjayas (“wise
elders”) had spent months
doing spiritual work to
“move” the oil away from OXY’s drills.
But as with all victories, this one has come with its share
of losses.
As we celebrate this victory, remember the
spirits of those who have
given their lives as part of
the struggle to defend the U’wa land and
culture.
Remember Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and Lahe’ena’e
Gay, three indigenous rights activists who were kidnapped
from U’wa
territory and murdered by Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia
guerrillas in March, 1999.
Remember the three indigenous children who
were killed
in February, 2000, when the military attacked U’wa
blockades. Remember the 20 non-combatants who are murdered
in Colombia’s
war every day as well as the numerous
cultures, species and ecosystems
that have already been
lost across the region.
Celebration also gives us pause for introspection as we
analyze our
victories and draw some lessons from this
amazing campaign. The U’wa
struggle for survival has
become a symbol of resistance to oil
exploration,
corporate-led globalization and American militarism. During
the last five years, the U’wa resistance inspired a massive
international solidarity movement that captured
headlines around the
world with hundreds of peaceful
demonstrations and actions. U’wa
supporters confronted
OXY’s most important shareholders—former Vice
President
Al Gore and mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments —and forced
them to dump more than 60 percent of their holdings.
Activists raised
tens of thousands of dollars to
support U’wa organizing on the ground
and made links
with numerous local campaigns.
The U’wa struggle is the embodiment of the clash of
worldviews that
defines the globalization era. Across
the planet, traditional cultures
with ancient spiritual
traditions of living in balance with the Earth
are
under attack by multinational corporations capable of seeing the
Earth only as a commodity to exploit and extract. It is up
to all of us
to show the public that they must choose
sides—either with those who
fight to defend the Earth
or those who would destroy it for personal
profit.
The U’wa campaign has shown that
times are changing. Increasingly,
activists from the
global North are aligning themselves with the voices
of
frontline resistance and weaving our struggles for peace, justice and
ecology into a broader vision of people’s globalization. As
we work to
globalize solidarity, dignity and ecological
sanity, we must look to
indigenous resistance to help
us relearn and articulate Earth-centered
values. Let us
learn from the examples of people like the U’wa and place
being in solidarity with all the planet’s besieged
indigenous cultures
at the center of our strategies for
transformative change.
The
U’wa will continue to need our support. Despite this major victory,
the U’wa and all the people of Colombia are in danger of
becoming the
next target in George Bush’s global
military offensive against
“terrorism.” The Bush
administration is proposing to spend $98 million
to
defend OXY’s Caño Limon pipeline. This money will inevitably deepen
the cycle of violence in Colombia’s brutal civil war. It is
up to us to
continue our organizing to stop Bush’s
latest oil war in Colombia.
Likewise, the Colombian
government or another oil company could invade
U’wa
land and continue where OXY left off. Ultimately, no culture or
ecosystem will be truly safe until we drive the oil barons
from power,
kick our global fossil fuel addiction and
begin to restabilize carbon
dioxide levels in the
atmosphere.
Celebrate the U’wa
victory and let it fuel your passion to defend the
Earth. Our work is far from done—but with each milestone,
each victory,
each action and each celebration, we are
getting closer. Another world
is possible!
***
Patrick Reinsborough is a long-term U’wa supporter and
freelance global
justice organizer.
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
Since 1995 when we sent
thousands of letters to the government of Nigeria
pleading for the lives of Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other
Ogoni men, Global
Response has launched several rounds
of letters on behalf of Ogoni and other
indigenous
communities whose lands, waters, health, safety and livelihoods
have been ravaged by oil companies.
Here's some good
news: The African Commission on Human and People's Rights
called on Nigeria to undertake a "comprehensive cleanup of
lands and rivers
damaged by oil operations." It must
also ensure that the social and
environmental impact of
future oil development on its territory does not
harm
local communities. Thanks to Self-Determination in Focus for its
report on this important ruling.
***
PEOPLE VS. BIG OIL: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS RECOGNIZED IN NIGERIA ***
By Jim Lobe
(Editor's Note: Excerpted from a new Self-Determination
News article
available in its entirety at http://www.selfdetermine.org/news/0207nigeria.html .)
At a
time when the petropolitics of the Bush administration seem to reign
supreme, the rights of peoples affected by the global hunt
for oil have
received an important boost. An African
commission has ruled the Nigerian
government should
compensate the Ogoni people for abuses against their
lands, environment, housing, and health caused by oil
production and
government security forces. Nigerian and
international groups say that the
ruling by the
nine-member African Commission on Human and People's Rights
(ACHPR) is a sweeping affirmation of what the human rights
community calls
ESC rights--defined by the UN's
International Covenant on Economic, Social,
and,
Cultural Rights.
The
commission called on Nigeria to undertake a "comprehensive cleanup of
lands and rivers damaged by oil operations." It must also
ensure that the
social and environmental impact of
future oil development on its territory
does not harm
local communities.
Human
rights groups are hailing the commission's decision as a major
breakthrough in the battle for international recognition of
ESC rights,
which have long been given lesser
status--particularly by Western
countries--than
political and civil rights. "This is the first decision by
the African Commission to specifically and comprehensively
address
violations of economic and social and cultural
rights under the Africa
Charter," said Felix Morka,
director of the Lagos-based Social and Economic
Rights
Actions Centre (SERAC), which launched the case against the military
regime of Gen. Sani Abacha in 1996. Morka observed that the
recent ruling
was the strongest and most articulate
statement on the validity and
enforceability of
economic and social rights emanating from any
intergovernmental human rights body.
"It is a remarkable decision
indeed," said Bronwen Manby, a Nigeria
specialist at
the London office of Human Rights Watch (HRW). "The very fact
that it's a decision by the African Commission--which is a
body of the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and
appointed by governments--means
that it will certainly
form a part of the body of international
jurisprudence
on economic and social rights."
The case was filed shortly after the execution in November
1995 of nine
leaders of the Movement for the Survival
of the Ogoni People (MOSOP),
including the
world-renowned playwright and author, Ken Saro-wiwa. MOSOP
and Saro-wiwa had led a global campaign to publicize the
plight of the
Ogonis, a minority in the oil-rich Niger
Delta region, whose lands and
rivers had been polluted
for years as a result of operations by Shell
Petroleum
Development Corporations, the area's largest foreign oil
producer, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company
(NNPC). Protests by
the Ogoni, especially in the early
1990s, were met with fierce military
repression,
including what one internal government memo called "wasting
operations" against Ogoni villages and suspected MOSOP
activists. Scores of
people were killed and their
property looted and burned.
After the 1995 executions, Shell became a target of an
international
consumer boycott, while a number of
Western countries slapped diplomatic
and other
sanctions on the military regime, most of which lifted only after
the return of civilian rule in 1999 when retired Gen.
Obusegun Obasanjo won
elections. Apart from one
submission that confirmed the main allegations
filed by
SERAC, the Obasanjo government did not participate in the case,
forcing the Commission to conclude that Nigerian courts
were not prepared
to act on the plaintiffs' case.
Although the judgement was communicated to
the
government early last month, Abuja has not yet reacted officially.
The decision, which runs 14 pages,
asserts that the government violated
seven articles of
the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to
which Nigeria is a signatory. They included the rights: "to
enjoy the best
attainable state of physical and mental
health," "to a general satisfactory
environment
favorable to [the peoples'] development," and to "freely
dispose of their wealth and natural resources."
According to the ruling, "By any
measure of standards, its practice falls
short of the
minimum conduct expected of governments." In a direct
reference to the role of the oil corporations, the
commission observed:
"The intervention of multinational
corporations may be a potentially
positive force for
development if the State and the people concerned are
ever mindful of the common good and the sacred rights of
individuals and
communities."
The decision is important for
people throughout the world who suffer from
corporate
practices, said Roger Normand, director of the New York-based
Center for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESR),
which co-sponsored
the case with SERAC.
"I believe that this can serve as
a precedent not only throughout Africa,
but also for
all similar efforts to hold governments accountable for gross
human rights violations linked to abusive corporate
practices," he added.
Normand and others also agreed
with Morka that the decision is the
strongest
affirmation to date by an inter-governmental body of ESC rights.
Despite their inclusion in the 1948 Universal Declaration
of Human Rights,
this family of rights have tended to
be given second-class status by the
West, including
Western-based human rights groups such as Human Rights
Watch and Amnesty International.
Western nations agreed most
recently at the 1993 World Conference on Human
Rights
in Vienna that all rights in the Universal Declaration are
indivisible and interdependent, however, "for most of the
past 50 years,
these rights were totally neglected by
governments and human rights NGOs,"
according to Larry
Cox, senior program officer for international human
rights at the New York-based Ford Foundation. "But in the
last five years,
we've seen the beginning of real
momentum on these rights, led first and
foremost by
groups in the Global South who are in many ways the most
adversely affected by the lack of such rights," he noted.
"That's the
history of the human rights movement:
people who make these rights real are
the victims who
are fighting for them."
Although the U.S. government has long agreed that all of
the rights
included in the Universal Declaration are
indivisible and interdependent,
Washington has tended
to treat economic and social rights more as
privileges
than as core rights. Indeed, the State Department's annual human
rights country reports do not explicitly cover economic and
social rights.
In that respect, said Normand, the
African Commission's decision "is moving
ahead of
western standards in the protection of economic, social, and
cultural rights--an important achievement for Africa, but
an example for
the rest of the world."
(Jim Lobe <jlobe@starpower.net> writes for Foreign Policy In Focus (online
at http://www.fpif.org) as well as for OneWorld.net and
Inter Press Service.)
********************************
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.
NRDC's EARTH ACTION:
The Bulletin
for Environmental Activists
July 10, 2002
========================================
In This Issue:
--Action alerts--
1. NATIONAL FOREST PROTECTION: Urgent - House vote soon!
Urge your
representative to preserve our wild national
forest lands
2. PUBLIC LAND
PRESERVATION: Tell the Bush administration to keep
industry's hands off our special lands
--Updates on Previous alerts--
1. Nuclear waste storage
======================================================
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. NATIONAL FOREST PROTECTION
Urgent - House vote soon! Urge your representative to
preserve our
wild national forest lands
As early as this Friday, the House
of Representatives will vote on an
amendment that would
force the Bush administration to halt logging
and
roadbuilding anywhere in over 58 million acres of wild roadless
areas in our national forests for the next year. Although
the
amendment stops short of permanently protecting
these lands, it will
most likely be the only
opportunity this year to move roadless area
protection
in the House, where anti-environment committee chairs
control most public lands legislation.
As we have reported to you before,
the Bush administration has
abandoned the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule, probably the most
popular
conservation measure of all time, as part of its
comprehensive assault on environmental protections. But
now, through
the annual spending bill for the Forest
Service, Congress can
overrule the administration in
its efforts to promote logging in wild
forest areas.
Millions of acres of our last wild lands are at risk --
including Alaska's Tongass rainforest, where thirty large
commercial
timber sales in pristine roadless areas are
in the planning stages.
These and other national forest
wildlands serve as vital habitat for
threatened and
endangered species, ensure clean drinking water and
provide quality recreational opportunities for all of us.
== What to do ==
A vote on this amendment is possible as early as Friday,
July 12th,
so contact your representative *today* and
urge him or her to vote
"YES" on the Interior
Appropriations bill amendment to protect
roadless
areas. Please take a moment to include your own reasons why
protecting these remaining unspoiled areas from the
logging, mining
and drilling industries is important to
you.
== Contact information ==
You can email or fax your representative directly from
NRDC's Earth
Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action/ If you prefer to call
your
representative, the Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121.
2. PUBLIC LAND PRESERVATION
Tell the Bush administration to keep industry's hands off
our special
lands
Americans have a grand tradition of traveling to and
exploring the
West's wide open
spaces: backpacking, mountain biking, climbing,
whitewater rafting and flyfishing throughout the wildest
spots on the
map. These spectacular landscapes come
without the crowded
campgrounds and RV caravans -- and
with no noise but the music of
wind, water, coyote's
yip and elk's bugling call.
But since taking office, the Bush administration has
quietly
undertaken a sweeping effort to give the oil
and gas industry greater
access to America's public
lands -- including such natural treasures
as Utah's
redrock canyon country, Montana's Rocky Mountain Front and
unspoiled stretches of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
With no
need to wait for Congress to pass new energy
legislation, the White
House has made it clear that
these fragile and pristine public lands
are "open for
energy business." Much of this development is taking
place just outside national parks and monuments, on lands
that
provide crucial habitat for threatened or
endangered species.
== What to
do ==
Tell the Bush administration it's supposed to
protect, not pillage,
the nation's natural treasures.
== For background ==
Last-Chance Outdoor Adventures in the West
http://www.nrdc.org/land/use/west/index.asp
== Contact information ==
You can
send a message to the heads of the Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management (the two agencies primarily responsible
for
carrying out the administration's energy policy in
the West) 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 you want the Bush
administration to back off its plans to drill its way
across
America's western wildlands.
Kathleen Clarke, Director
Bureau of Land Management
Room #
5655MIB
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Fax: 202-208-5242
Email: Kathleen_Clarke@blm.gov
Chief Dale Bosworth
U.S. Forest Service
4NW Yates
Building
201 14th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20250
Fax: 202-205-1765
Email: dbosworth@fs.fed.us
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Keep the oil
industry's hands off our special lands
Dear Director Clarke and Chief Bosworth,
You are charged with protecting
our nation's natural heritage -- the
public lands and
forests of the American West. These wide open spaces
include some of the wildest, most remote and most
spectacular places
in this country, such as Utah's
Redrock canyon country, Montana's
Rocky Mountain Front,
unspoiled areas within the Greater Yellowstone
ecosystem, and Colorado wildlands. These are among the
places that
most deserve to be cherished and protected
from harmful human
activity, yet you and your agencies
have targeted them for energy
development.
I do not oppose energy production
on all our public lands. But I do
oppose your
unbalanced open-door policy for the oil and gas industry.
Not all lands are suitable to be handed over to industry to
dig
and drill for economic gain. If our beautiful,
undeveloped public
lands -- and the fragile wildlife
habitats, precious archeological
sites, and other
irreplaceable resources they harbor -- are not
protected we will be the last generation to experience
them.
Some places are just too
special to drill, and we do not need to
sacrifice our
nation's natural treasures to the energy industry. I
urge you to restore balance to your agencies' land use
policies. Keep
the energy industry's hands off our
natural treasures!
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
==========================
Updates on Previous alerts
==========================
1. NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE
During
the past few months we've asked you to urge Congress not to
designate Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as the nation's sole
repository of
high-level nuclear waste until remaining
safety and environmental
issues could be satisfactorily
resolved. You sent thousands of
messages to your
senators and representatives but, despite risks of
radiation contamination and transporting radioactive waste
from
nuclear power facilities across the country, the
Senate last evening
voted 60-39 to override a veto of
the site's designation by Nevada
Governor Kenny Guinn
(R). Together with the House vote to override
Gov.
Guinn's veto on May 8th, the Senate vote clears the way for
the Bush administration to proceed with a license
application for the
site from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. Gov. Guinn and
environmental advocates --
including NRDC -- have vowed to fight the
application
in court, so this issue won't be resolved anytime soon.
In the meantime, thanks to everyone who took action.
==================================================
About Our Bulletins/How to Subscribe & Unsubscribe
==================================================
NRDC distributes three bulletins
by email. To subscribe to any or all
of them or to join
our activist networks, go to:
http://www.join.nrdcaction.org/subscribe.asp.
EARTH ACTION is sent
biweekly and calls out urgent environmental
issues
requiring immediate action. To unsubscribe from Earth Action,
send an email message to earthaction@nrdcaction.org with
REMOVE in
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LEGISLATIVE WATCH is sent biweekly
when Congress is in session and
tracks environmental
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legwatch@nrdcaction.org with REMOVE in the subject
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The CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST
NETWORK ACTION ALERT is distributed monthly
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of NRDC's California Activist Network and provides action
tools to Californians and others concerned with protecting
the
state's natural resources and the health of its
citizens. To
unsubscribe, send an email message to
wildcalifornia@nrdcaction.org
with REMOVE in the
subject line.
==========
About NRDC
==========
The Natural Resources Defense
Council is a nonprofit environmental
organization with
over 500,000 members nationwide and a staff of
scientists, attorneys and environmental experts. Our
mission is to
protect the planet's wildlife and wild
places and ensure a safe and
healthy environment for
all living things.
For more
information about NRDC or how to become a member of NRDC,
please contact us at:
Natural Resources Defense Council
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY
10011
212-727-4511 (voice) / 212-727-1773 (fax)
General email: nrdcinfo@nrdc.org
Earth Action email: nrdcaction@nrdc.org
http://www.nrdc.org
Also
visit:
BioGems -- Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
If you are a WWF Conservation Action Network member, you can
take
action by following the simple steps
below. If you received this
email from a
friend, visit http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/action.asp?step=2&item=1698
to take action.
Action deadline: July
12, 2002
As early as this
Friday, the House of Representatives is expected to
vote on an amendment that would provide desperately needed
protection
to our nation's wild and roadless
forestlands.
The
amendment would cut off Forest Service spending on any new
development projects that would be prohibited by a roadless
area
conservation rule adopted by the U.S. Forest
Service in 2001.
Unfortunately, the Bush
administration has proposed directives that
would
completely undermine the roadless rule. As a result, timber
sales and other development projects once again threaten
some of our
nation's most pristine forests.
Roadless areas are vitally
important and need our protection. They
serve as sanctuaries for large mammals such as bears,
wolverines, and
lynx; protect freshwater supplies for
local communities; and provide
many other
benefits. Science has shown that forests subject to
fragmentation through roading and logging are more
vulnerable to fire
than intact, roadless forests.
Please forward this alert to your
friends and encourage them to take
action.
**************************TAKE
ACTION NOW! ************************
TO TAKE ACTION QUICKLY -- hit "reply" to this email and
then "send"
and we will automatically send the message
below, as is, to your
member of Congress.
MUCH BETTER YET, ADD YOUR OWN
THOUGHTS AND GREATLY 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. Once you are in your
Personal Action Center, click on "Save Our Wild
Forests" and follow
the instructions for adding your
own thoughts to your message. Do not
use the
option that lets you print out and mail your message; there is
not enough time. Let us send the message for you
via fax.
If you have any
questions or problems with taking action, contact us
at
actionquestions@takeaction.worldwildlife.org for help.
****************************LETTER
TEXT******************************
Dear (your representative's name will be inserted here):
I write to urge you to support
the roadless area conservation
amendment that is
expected to be offered to the fiscal year 2003
Interior
Appropriations bill when it comes to the floor of the House.
The amendment would cut off Forest
Service spending on any new
development projects that
would be prohibited by a roadless area
conservation
rule adopted by the U.S. Forest Service in 2001.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration has proposed
directives that
would undermine the roadless
rule. As a result, timber sales and
other
development projects once again threaten some of our nation's
most pristine forests.
The American public has shown its strong support for
roadless
areas. Ninety percent of the 2.2
million comments the Forest Service
received during its
extensive outreach effort on the roadless area
conservation rule supported the strongest protection
possible for
these wild lands.
Roadless areas in our national
forests are vital resources that must
be
protected. Roadless areas provide refuge for wildlife, reservoirs
for plant life, and protection for freshwater supplies for
local
communities. Sadly, more than
two-thirds of the U.S. national forest
system is
crisscrossed by 380,000 miles of roads (enough to circle the
planet more than 16 times) that break up habitat, cause
soil erosion,
and leave fragmented stands of timber
vulnerable to disease. In
addition, science has shown
that forests subject to fragmentation
through roading
and logging are more vulnerable to fire than intact,
roadless forests.
We urgently need to protect America's wildest remaining
national
forestlands. Please support the
roadless area conservation amendment.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
will be inserted here
***********************END OF LETTER
TEXT*********************
______________________________________________________________________
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
RE: Wolves in So. Norway
----------------------------------
Good Morning,
Here is information that I
received today
and I want to keep all of you informed
as to what is happening in Norway
regarding the wolf.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Donna Bettinger
------------------------------------
Wolves may roam in Agder
counties
Experts are not sure, but there are signs that
two wolves roam southern
Norway, in East and West
Agder. This would be extremely rare, and
authorities
will take action if a wolf is found near the center of the
county.
Predator specialist Tom
Udoe checks tracks to make sure that sightings
do not
involve dogs. Wolves have been spotted in all corners of Agder and
several of the observations are beyond dispute, with
photographs and
clear footprints. Not long ago a wolf
was photographed in Vennesla, just
north of
Kristiansand. The animal stood just 20 meters away from the
photographer.
Last weekend an East
Agder farmer found eight of his sheep torn to
pieces by
a wolf.
"There are many indications that we are dealing
with two wolves. So far
they have not caused much
damage, but if they take livestock the wolves will
be
shot. Parliament has said that wolves will not be tolerated in inner
Agder," said Helge Sandåker, head of West Agder's predator
committee.
Jon Erling Skåtan of the SNO (Directorate
for Nature Management) is
more cautious. He won't rule
out the apparent presence of a plurality of
wolves but
he is not convinced yet that there is more than one.
"If it is correct it would be a very long time since it
last happened.
It is also rare to see a wolf near the
west coast. It must be ages since a
wolf was last seen
there," Skåtan said. He is confident that the animal -
or animals - is a younger specimen looking for a mate or
company.
Udoe also needs proof that there is more than
one wolf in the area since
he is well aware of how much
terrain they can cover.
"The wolf has an enormous
capacity for travel so we must take care not
to
maintain that there are two wolves roaming Agder right now. Until we
have proof it can still be just the one," Udoe said.
Both Udoe and Skåtan criticize media reports that seem
designed to
frighten the general public, and point out
a story in the newspaper
Faedrelandsvennen on Monday
where a nine-year-old girl and her father speculated that she
had been chased by a wolf while riding a pony in the woods.
"It was a dog, no doubt about it," said Udoe, who was
called in to
examine the footprints left at the scene.
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=360955
We need your help more than ever!
Your Senators will soon make a decision on an act that will
safeguard antibiotic effectiveness. They need to hear
from
you, tell them to support the "Preservation of
Antibiotics
for Human Treatment Act."
Click Here: It's Free! http://www.care2.com/go/z/1505
WILL
ANTIBIOTICS STILL WORK IN TEN YEARS?
Each year an
estimated 325,000 people in the U.S. go to the
hospital
for food poisoning! Nearly 5,200 die because of
food-borne illnesses. Although food poisoning is currently
treated effectively with antibiotics, this might not
always
be true. The same antibiotics we depend on to
treat people
with food poisoning, anthrax, teburculosis
and strepp throat
are becoming increasingly less
effective! Antibiotic misuse
is contributing to the
emergence of antibiotic-resistant
bacterial strains
that cause serious human illnesses. Already
a recent
study showed that 25 percent of Strepp patients were
found to have a strain that is resistant to several
antibiotics.
Help Now! It's Free!
http://www.care2.com/go/z/1505
WHY?
There is rampant misuse of antibiotics in the
agriculture
industry! The "nontherapeutic"
use of antibiotics in healthy
pigs, poultry and beef
cattle constitutes an estimated 70% of
all antibiotics
used in the United States. Any time, that
bacteria are
exposed to antibiotics, only the resistant germs
survive to reproduce resistant offspring. In order to
reduce
antibiotic resistance, we MUST reduce the
unnecessary use of
antibiotics.
How does animal antibiotic use
affect humans? The types of
antibiotics given to farm
animals are closely linked to the
antibiotics used in
humans. Similarly resistance to those
drugs can easily
spread from germs that infect animals to
those that
infect humans.
Already
antibiotic resistance costs the health-care system
billions of dollars each year -- a figure that will only
increase as resistance continues to worsen. And more
importantly, it endangers
lives... potentially your life,
or the lives
of friends and family!
WHAT
CAN YOU DO?
The Union of Concerned Scientists needs YOU
to help
prevent the misuse of antibiotics! Tell your
Senators
to support the "Preservation of Antibiotics
for Human
Treatment Act. It is a critical piece of
legislation
which is currently under debate in the
Senate. The
act will phase out the routine feeding of
medically
important antibiotics to healthy livestock
and poultry
and phase out the use of Cipro-like drugs
in treating
sick poultry.
Join thousands of other concerned
citizens, the American
Medical Association, the
American Public Health
Association and the World Health
Organization in opposing
the nontherapuetic use of
antibiotics in animal
agriculture. Urge your Senators
to vote YES on the
"Preservation of Antibiotics for
Human Treatment Act".
Add your voice and press for fast
action on this vital
legislation today!
ACT NOW! IT'S FREE! YOU CAN MAKE A
DIFFERENCE!
http://www.care2.com/go/z/1505
Thank
you for your help!
Hilary Stamplers
Environmental Activism Manager
Care2 & ThePetitionSite
Mat Jacobson wrote:
BREAKING NEWS:
Roadless Vote in
House Next Week
YOUR PHONE
CALL WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!=
We are anticipating a vote to protect
roadless areas on the interior
appropriations bill to take place early
next week.
The Bush administration is already
moving ahead with plans to log and road
our last wild forests.
Call your representative and tell them
to stop the destruction TODAY:
For more information and a toll
free
number to call your representative, Go
to: http://action.zdev.net
Yours -
Mat Jacobson
Roadless Forests
Earthjustice
A Bi-weekly
Update from Defenders of Wildlife:
California's
Legislature has approved a bill that would, for the first time,
force automakers to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas
that's the main cause of global warming. Politically powerful auto
interests defeated federal legislation. But California's rules could
have a ripple effect across the country because other states could
follow its lead. Cars and light trucks are responsible for one-third
of greenhouse emissions in this country. California Gov. Gray Davis,
though, is under heavy pressure from special interests to veto the
bill. California DEN members are sending e-mails urging Davis to
sign the bill. 2. TOXIC
DECISION: EPA allows spreading of bird-killing
pesticide The
Environmental Protection Agency is allowing Louisiana rice growers
to spread a bird-killing pesticide. The highly toxic carbofuran has
been responsible for the deaths of millions of birds, including bald
eagles, and the granular form is so dangerous that it was withdrawn
from use in the mid-1990s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has
stated: "There are no known conditions under which carbofuran can be
used without killing migratory birds." But EPA didn't even consult
the Fish and Wildlife Service as required by law. We alerted DEN
members with a special interest in birds, and more than 2,200 of
them have sent e-mails demanding that EPA reverse
itself. "This is an
outrageous decision that won't stand," Defenders of Wildlife
President Rodger Schlickeisen said. "The precedent this could set is
beyond terrible. We are ready to go to court to stop the spreading
of this deadly pesticide if the EPA doesn't reverse its decision
before it's too late." 3. FOX IN THE
HENHOUSE: Look who's running our national forests It sounds
bizarre, but a long-time champion of the timber industry is now in
charge of our national forests. As under secretary for natural
resources and environment in the Agriculture Department, Mark Rey is
leading the fight to gut historic new federal protections barring
road-building and commercial clear-cutting on nearly 60 million
acres of as-yet untouched wilderness. And he's trying to strip
wildlife protections from the long-standing law governing our
national forests. That would throw millions of animals to the mercy
of timber-industry profiteers. To learn more
about Rey, click here: http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/rey.html. 4. IT'S
BAAAAAACK: Arctic drilling isn't beaten yet in Congress 5. DON YOUR GAS
MASKS: Snowmobiles to roar in Yellowstone again Interior
Secretary Gale Norton has sided with her friends in the snowmobile
industry and decided to overturn the federal regulation that bars
the noisy, pollution-belching machines from Yellowstone and Grand
Teton national parks. Norton ignored the nearly 9,000 DEN members
who sent e-mails to the park service last month in support of
banning snowmobiles. Snowmobiling in our national parks can stress
wolves and elk so much that it harms their ability to fight off
diseases, scientific studies have shown. At Yellowstone, there are
so many snowmobiles on some winter days that rangers have been
forced to wear gas masks. 6. BIRTH
ANNOUNCEMENT: Nursery news from Florida panther refuge 7. SAVING FOR
WILDLIFE: Invest your money and help wildlife at the same
time Squirrel away
your money! A solid savings and investment plan is founded on the
principles of diversity, security, and performance. Defenders of
Wildlife is pleased to provide CD and Money Market Deposit accounts
through MBNA America Bank N.A. The Defenders of Wildlife CD has
consistently ranked among the best nationwide. And the Defenders of
Wildlife Money Market has outperformed most money funds, as well as
other bank money market and savings accounts, year after year.
DENlines is a
bi-weekly update of Defenders of Wildlife, a leading national
conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most
progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. It is known for
its effective leadership on endangered species issues, particularly
predators such as brown bears and gray wolves. Defenders also
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 400,000 members
and supporters. To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to denlines@defenders.org and put the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject
line. Defenders of
Wildlife Copyright
Defenders of Wildlife
2002
Working to Save Wildlife and Wild Lands
FIGHTING GLOBAL WARMING: California acts
to cut auto emissions
TOXIC DECISION: EPA allows spreading of
bird-killing pesticide
FOX IN THE HENHOUSE: Look who's running
our national forests
IT'S BAAAAAACK: Arctic drilling isn't
beaten yet in Congress
DON YOUR
GAS MASKS: Snowmobiles to roar in Yellowstone again
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: Nursery news from
Florida panther refuge
SAVING FOR WILDLIFE: Invest your money
and help wildlife at the same
time
1. FIGHTING GLOBAL
WARMING: California acts to cut auto emissions
House and Senate
negotiators are ready to start working out a national energy law,
and Big Oil's allies are pushing again for drilling in America's
greatest wildlife preserve. The Senate wants to protect the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge for future generations. But the House wants
to allow drilling, even though scientists say it would harm polar
bears and other wildlife. The conference committee will try to
settle differences between the two bills. We hope lawmakers won't
allow drilling in the refuge in the final legislation. The energy
bill also threatens other public lands with more oil and gas
drilling. As the committee meets in the coming weeks, watch for
e-mails on how you can make your voice heard.
A joyous occasion
at the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge-- two litters of
highly endangered Florida panthers have been born. The seven kittens
weighed around a pound each, and their mothers will nurse them for
about two months until they're able to fend for themselves. When
they're grown, they can leap 15 feet and run 35 mph. Florida
panthers are among the world's most endangered mammals. There are
only between 80 and 100 of them remaining in the wild. The biggest
threat to panthers is loss of habitat. Another threat is being
struck by cars on highways. To learn more, click here: http://www.defenders.org/habitat/highways/
Did you seen any
dolphins on your vacation this summer? Dolphins are still under
threat from tuna nets. Help protect dolphins from tuna fishermen who
chase, harass, encircle, capture, harm and even kill these
magnificent marine mammals. With your tax-deductible gift of $25 or
more, you'll receive our plush dolphin toy, an adoption certificate
and a year's subscription to our award-winning Defenders magazine.
Place your order online by clicking here http://www.defenders.org/adopt/dolphin/ or through our toll-free number at 1-800-385-
9712.
1101 14th Street, N.W.
Suite 1400
Washington,
DC 20005
Greenpeace Activist News, Vol. 2, No.
4 July 11 2002
In this issue, the world's largest
oil company sues Greenpeace over a logo, a deadly plutonium shipment leaves
Japan for a long journey around half the world, three countries threaten the
Earth Summit, help stop genetically engineered fish, the Indian government goes
soft on Bhopal criminals and Greenpeace launches a new website.
WHAT IS ESSO AFRAID OF?
ExxonMobil, the world's largest
oil company, is worried about the reputation of its Esso brand, and is suing
Greenpeace to protect it.
It's
not worried about the fact that it has tried to convince the public that global
warming isn't happening. It's not worried about getting criticism because it has
sabotaged international climate agreements. Nor has it expressed concern that it
has chosen to prioritise selling more petrol over scientific warnings of famine,
floods, and disease for future generations.
It's worried that Greenpeace is making fun of its logo.
As a result of the lawsuit, a
Paris judge has ordered Greenpeace France to stop using a parody of the Esso
logo pending a full court hearing.
You can participate in a discussion about this outrageous
case (and sign up to the campaign update list) at:
http://www.stopesso.org/posting/1026230662
You can send a letter to ExxonMobil CEOs from:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=esso_int2&s=blue2s
You can also send the "banned" logo along with a campaign
message and a personal message to your friends and colleagues from:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ecs/s2?i=392&sk=stdn&la=en
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE WORLD'S DEADLIEST CARGO
Two British freighters carrying
enough plutonium to make 50 nuclear bombs are now on route through the Pacific
ocean. The ships will pass South Africa then up to the Irish sea before reaching
their final destination at a nuclear reprocessing facility in Sellafield. Along
their entire route the ships will face opposition by ordinary citizens in small
boats and governments terrified at the prospect of an accident or deliberate
attack.
The deadly freighters,
Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal, will soon face opposition by a citizen's
flotilla of small ships in the Tasman Sea. You can get your own virtual ship and
join the Greenpeace virtual flotilla by participating in this cyberaction to
send a letter to the Japanese foreign minister:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=vf1&s=vf
You can find the latest plutonium news at:
http://archive.greenpeace.org/~nuclear/bnfl
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE FILTHY THREE THREATEN THE EARTH SUMMIT
World leaders will gather in
Johannesburg, South Africa, this August for the Earth Summit - an event meant to
spark new commitments and action to save the environment and its people.
However, governments - led by the "filthy three": US, Australia, and Canada -
are selling out. They're working overtime to ensure the summit fails to deliver
any real commitments on key global issues such as water, energy, health,
agriculture and biodiversity.
Please write to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to urge him
to put the summit back on track:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=esnew&s=blue2s
You can read more about the Earth Summit at:
http://archive.greenpeace.org/earthsummit/
and participate in a discussion about the Earth Summit at:
http://act.greenpeace.org/1023104101
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STOP FRANKENFISH
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering an
application to commercialise salmon that are genetically engineered to grow four
to six times the normal rate.
The Biotech company A/F Protein has submitted the FDA
application to sell the GE salmon. AF Protein/Aquabounty is reported to have 15
million GE salmon eggs ready for sale at their Canadian facility.
Please write to the FDA and ask
them to reject this application:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=fish_fda&s=blue2s
You can also "engineer" your own virtual Frankenfish and
send it to your friends and colleagues to warn them about this new threat to the
world's oceans and food supply, from:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ecs/s2?card_id=5&sk=fish
You can
find a link for more information and participate in a discussion about this
issue at:
http://act.greenpeace.org/1025272801
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INDIAN GOVERNMENT GOES SOFT ON BHOPAL CRIMINALS
The Indian government's move to
reduce charges against a former Union Carbide CEO has met with protests and
hunger strikes in India. The 1984 Bhopal gas disaster that has killed 20,000 to
date and injured hundreds of thousands continues its toxic legacy today.
Warren Anderson, former CEO of
Union Carbide, has been hiding in the United States during the almost 18 years
since the disaster. The victims, on the other hand, have been left with
lingering disability and disease in the shadow of the chemical plant, where
tonnes of dangerous, highly toxic chemicals remain strewn. Their land and water
is contaminated with heavy metals and chlorinated chemicals, and fair
compensation remains outstanding.
You can find more information at:
http://greenpeace.org/news/details?news_id=17643
and send a letter to Dow Chemical (which has absorbed Union
Carbide) from:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=Bhopal&s=blue2s
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GREENPEACE LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE
At the end of June, Greenpeace
launched a new international website at http://greenpeace.org . Besides the new design, which will already be familiar
to visitors to our activist centre at http://act.greenpeace.org, the new site has many more links to cyberactions,
discussion threads, e-cards and other ways to get involved in Greenpeace
campaigns.
You can read more
about the new website at:
http://greenpeace.org/features/details?features%5fid=14977
We would really like your comments. You can participate in
the discussion at:
http://act.greenpeace.org/1025093382
VISIT THE CYBERCENTRE
Please don't forget to visit the Greenpeace Cyberactivist
Community at:http://act.greenpeace.org
July WaveMaker
News
In This
Issue:
- Clean Beaches and You
- Take Our Poll
- Trek for
Clean Oceans
- Protecting Fish and Ocean Life
- Share Your Concern for the Ocean
Clean Beaches and You
You have no guarantee that the beach water in which
you swim is safe. The federal government passed legislation (the BEACH
Act) designed to protect the public from water pollution by requiring
notifications when the water is unsafe to swim, surf or dive in. The BEACH
Act provides funding for coastal states to monitor and test beach water.
It requires the states to adopt minimum water quality standards for
recreational beach waters. After monitoring the water, if the tests show
that the water pollution is beyond healthy levels the public is notified
appropriately. 
Find out if your beach is clean, visit:
www.oceana.org. Oceana has
teamed up with Earth 911 to bring you a new informational website to help
you and your family plan your next trip to the beach. This web service
will allow you to click on coastal states and learn which beaches have
bad, fair or good water quality. It will provide you with
one-stop-shopping to learn about beach water quality and ocean pollution
issues.
Ever since
passing the BEACH Act, Congress has fallen short on funding it. Right now,
Congress is deciding once again whether or not to fully fund the BEACH
program. Full and adequate funding is necessary for coastal states to
fully implement successful monitoring programs.
Now is the time to remind
Congress about their commitment to the health of your family and the
American public. Please ask your Senators and Representatives in Congress
to fully fund the BEACH Act so that we can all swim safely.
Click here
(www.oceana.org)
