home of the wildlife conservation environmental
and freedom activist

Environment Action
Alerts for August 24 - August 31, 2002
 
President's
Logging Proposal 		Have Your Say On
Greenpeace Campaigns 		The Navy is blocking your
messages -- call them on it

Environmental Defense
Newsletter Aug 28, '02 		Save Our Forests from
a Misguided Fire Policy 		A Logged Forest Is
Not a Healthy Forest

Stop Redrock
Canyons Drilling 		Save Sea Turtles from
Resort Developers, more







from The Wilderness Society August 24 2002

In a callous response to a summer of human suffering and property loss
across the Western United States, President Bush yesterday announced
his proposed changes to federal wildfire policy.  

His plan will pay off the timber industry, disembowel environmental
protections and do precious little to protect our forests, those who
live near them and those men and women who risk their lives fighting
wildfire.

Please tell President Bush that you reject his fire plan for what it
is: a shameless willingness to trade on human fear and suffering just
to fulfill the timber industry's wildest anti-environmental dreams.

We urge you to not only call the White House comment line at
202-456-1111 yourself, but to get your family and friends involved by
forwarding this Wild Alert to them and asking them to respond.  The
threat to our forests from this initiative is that serious!  
You can also take action from our website at:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1818


One of the Worst Summers on Record
Wildfire charred more than six million acres of forest this summer and
some fires continue to burn.  The fires also damaged hundreds of homes
and caused entire communities to be evacuated. The reasons are
generally understood and generally agreed upon:

-This summer caps four years of serious drought across the West.
Standing timber has less moisture in it than kiln-dried lumberyard
two-by-fours.

-The nation has systematically extinguished every blaze, of every
size, in our forests for over a century.  The result is fuel-many more
trees per acre than occurred historically, and a huge increase of low,
weedy, flammable growth those natural fires cyclically consumed.

-People are moving into forest environments in growing numbers and are
reluctant to remove the very trees that attracted them in the first
place and where local zoning often neither prohibits such building nor
imposes sensible fire-protection requirements on it.

When reasons are so well understood, solutions should be
correspondingly clear.  And they are.


A VERY DANGEROUS BLAME GAME
The timber industry, now speaking through a compliant president eager
to press an election advantage, says environmental regulations are to
blame-that conservationists have tied the Forest Service up in knots
and prevented the removal of all this built-up fuel.  

The facts and the General Accounting Office (GAO) say otherwise.  The
GAO reports that only 1 percent of fuel reduction projects was
appealed last year.  

Environmental laws are NOT the problem.  The problem is the Forest
Service's steadfast refusal to address the problem where it exists-and
where so many Americans paid so dearly this summer.  That place is
where the forest meets homes and communities.  The timber industry,
and thus today's Forest Service, would rather cut large, old trees in
remote areas than confront the deadly problem that this summer damaged
so many homes and lives.

TAKE ACTION NOW!
Please call the White House comment line today at 202-456-1111.  We've
provided suggested talking points, below.

Or you can take action from our Action Center at:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1818

or send your own letter to: President George W. Bush
president@whitehouse.gov


TALKING POINTS  (202-456-1111)
-I strongly oppose the "Healthy Forests Initiative." It would not
protect communities from fire and would serve only to weaken
environmental laws.

-I believe we can protect homes and communities without sacrificing
the health of our forests to do so.

-Scientists and many policy makers agree.  In fact, your
administration has already endorsed the collaborative, science-based
strategy crafted by the Western Governors' Assn. last May.  All who
signed the plan, including your Secretaries of the Interior and
Agriculture, agreed that fire risks could be reduced without any
change to existing law.  Now you propose such drastic changes.

-You failed to make environmentalists scapegoats for this summer's
fires. Now you are blaming some of our most basic environmental laws
and simultaneously giving the timber industry the free hand it has
always demanded on our National Forests.

-This initiative is **unhealthy ** --for forests, for communities at
risk of wild fire and for your own credibility.


REMINDER!
Please help us enlist your family and friends in this critically
important response to the President's dangerous plan.  Forward this
Wild Alert to them and urge them to respond.  As always, we thank you
for being a part of WildAlert, the online community of wilderness
advocates!

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it
leaves to its children. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian 

For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm

An archive of past Wildalerts can be found at
http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm

from Greenpeace August August 28, 2002
Greenpeace: Have Your Say On Our Campaigns

September is the start of the major planning season for Greenpeace - the beginning of a series of campaign meetings to determine our program for next year.

This year, we'd like your views.

You can get involved by participating in two open houses with the leaders of our energy campaigns and by posting your views on the future of Greenpeace cyberactivism.

Benedict Southworth, the international coordinator of Greenpeace's climate campaign, is currently hosting a cyber open house at:

http://act.greenpeace.org/1030532793

Today, and over the next two days, Benedict will be answering questions and responding to comments on our climate change campaign. Here's your opportunity to discuss the Earth Summit, oil companies, the Kyoto Protocol and the impact of climate change with the leader of one of Greenpeace's largest and most important campaigns.

Next week, Stephanie Mills, leader of our international nuclear campaign, will be hosting a similar open house.

Combined, this is a great opportunity to discuss strategy and tactics with the leaders of Greenpeace's two energy campaigns. Energy is surely one of the greatest issues of the 21st century.

We've also opened a general forum on the future of our cyberactivism program here:

http://act.greenpeace.org/1030531363

Please drop by soon and post your views. They will be incorporated into a report that will be sent to all Greenpeace issue coordinators before the major planning meetings begin in mid-September.

Please participate in these discussions. As Greenpeace cyberactivists, we very much welcome your views.

VISIT THE CYBERCENTRE

Please don't forget to visit the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community at:
http://act.greenpeace.org


 
from Natural Resources Defense Council August 27, 2002
NRDC's EARTH ACTION:
The Bulletin for Environmental Activists

August 26, 2002
========================================

SPECIAL ALERT: The Navy is blocking your messages -- call them on it!

==================================================

Dear NRDC Earth Activist,

Last month we asked you to use NRDC's Earth Action Center to send a
fax to Navy Secretary Gordon England, urging him not to deploy low-
frequency active sonar, which could seriously harm whales and other
marine mammals, throughout the world's oceans. [The Navy, and other
branches of the U.S. military, will not accept email from the
public.] Since then, more than 16,000 of you have clicked
the 'Send' button -- but only few thousand of those messages have
actually been received.

That's because, after receiving the first several thousand messages,
the Navy began blocking your faxes. We're not sure if Navy staff in
the secretary's office simply unplugged the fax machines or
disconnected the number entirely -- they won't give us a straight
answer. Over the course of last week NRDC staff members tried
repeatedly to obtain an official explanation and/or a new working fax
number from representatives in the secretary's office. But those
representatives alternately claimed ignorance of the situation or
berated us for sending so many messages. Each time we tried to
determine whether the Navy would give us a working fax number or if
it was officially refusing public comments as a matter of policy, we
were told that someone "would have to get back to" us; as of today,
no one from the Navy has seen fit to call us back.

The last time we called the secretary's office, we let the staff
person know that if the Navy would not provide a satisfactory
explanation, we would have no choice except to alert the public as to
its actions. After rudely telling us to "do what you have to do," the
person hung up on us.

We think the Navy's refusal to accept electronic comments from U.S.
citizens on matters of broad public concern (such as how its actions
could seriously harm the world's marine life) is, quite simply,
completely unacceptable. IF YOU AGREE, WE URGE YOU TO CALL SECRETARY
ENGLAND'S OFFICE AT 703-695-3131 and register your concerns. The Navy
needs to hear that it has an obligation to listen to the people it is
sworn to serve -- and that those people intend to hold it accountable.

**Again, the number is 703-695-3131. Please call TODAY, and tell the
Navy it can't just shut out the American public by simply turning off
its fax machine.**

Please forward this message to others, and encourage them to call the
Navy, too.

==================================================

Thanks so much for your help with this matter. For those of you who
are concerned that the Navy may not have received your message about
LFA sonar, don't worry. We are in the process of printing your
messages, and will special-deliver them to Secretary England's office
at the Pentagon.

If you want to sound off to some of the Pentagon's top brass about
the Navy's refusal to accept your comments about LFA sonar, here are
some mailing addresses (the Navy claims that postal mail is its
preferred method of receiving public correspondence).

Hon. Gordon R. England
Secretary of the Navy
1000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, DC  20350-1000

General Richard B. Myers
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
9999 Joint Staff Pentagon
Washington, DC 20318-9999

Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000

==================================================

To become a member or give a gift to NRDC, please visit:
http://www.nrdc.org/joinGive/default.asp

To update your email address or other information, go to:
http://www.join.nrdcaction.org/profileeditor. To unsubscribe from
Earth Action, send an email message to earthaction@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

from Environmental Defense August 28, 2002

West Nile Virus: How Vulnerable Are We?

As the mosquito-borne West Nile virus spreads across the United States, health officials are spraying pesticides in some areas of the country in an effort to control mosquito infestation. But is the cure worse than the disease?

Read the Full Story

Get quick tips on how to keep mosquitoes at bay

Sinful Emissions: Getting Automakers to Clean Up their Act

When it comes to polluting activities, driving a car is probably society's most egregious act. In 2000, emissions of carbon dioxide from only autos in the United States exceeded the total carbon dioxide emissions of every nation in the world minus three (China, Russia and Japan). A new report from Environmental Defense spells out one of the main sources of global warming pollution -- and what automakers need to do to clean up their act.

Read the Full Story

Find out more about cars and the environment and the new report Automakers' Corporate Carbon Burdens

How much does your car, SUV or mini-truck pollute?  Check out our interactive Tailpipe Tally

New Slideshow: Capturing Vanishing Species of Hawaii

On view now: stunning portraits of fast-disappearing wildlife from the book Remains of a Rainbow: Rare Plants and animals of Hawai'I by award-winning photographers David Liittschwager and Susan Middleton, from an exhibition currently on tour across the country through 2004. Preview a selection of these photographs in a slideshow, a new online feature.

Find out more and view slideshow

Give a Gift to Environmental Defense

Your gift to Environmental Defense will help us continue our fight for your Health and for the environment.  Please click here to give a gift today.
                                                        
Recycle This Newsletter!                 

Don't let this newsletter go to waste. Send your friends this link so they can view it online: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/Newsletter
from World Wildlife August 28, 2002
Action deadline:  September 4, 2002

We need your help to protect bears, mountain lions, elk, and the many
other wildlife that depend on our national forests.   Under the guise
of responding to the spate of Western forest fires, members of
Congress are considering changes to the management of national
forests.  But these changes could increase logging and road building,
which further fragment the habitat of wide-ranging animals and may
even increase the risk of fire.

This year has seen one of the worst fire seasons on record.  Fires
have burned over 6 million acres, and have threatened communities
across the West.  Unfortunately, the Bush administration and some
members of Congress are using this disaster as a smokescreen for an
attempt to roll back environmental laws and allow increased logging of
large trees on our national forest and Bureau of Land Management
lands.   Some members of the Senate are readying an amendment to make
the changes in law necessary to put the Bush administration's plan in
place.

Please follow the simple steps below to send free messages urging your
senators to stop this attack on our environmental laws and concentrate
instead on providing real assistance to rural communities working to
protect their homes from catastrophic fire.

Please forward this alert to your friends and colleagues.

**************************TAKE ACTION NOW!*********************

If you received this email from World Wildlife Fund's Conservation
Action Network, follow the steps below for taking action.  If a friend
forwarded this email to you, go to
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/action.asp?step=2&item=1823 to
take action.

TO TAKE ACTION QUICKLY -- To send the message below, as is, to your
senators, hit "reply" to this email and then "send."  We will
automatically send the messages for you.  

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 Forests from a Misguided
Fire Policy" and follow the instructions for adding your own thoughts
to your message.

If you have any questions or problems with taking action, contact us
at actionquestions@takeaction.worldwildlife.org for help.

***************************LETTER TEXT**************************

Dear (your senators' names will be added here):

I write to urge you to provide meaningful aid to western communities
in or near national forests and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands
that are at risk for catastrophic wildfires.  This is best
accomplished by a plan of action for community protection, not a
suspension of environmental laws that have served us well for 30
years.  Therefore, I ask you to oppose any measures that would weaken
or suspend the National Environmental Policy Act or any administrative
appeals of Forest Service or BLM logging or thinning.  In the Senate,
an amendment proposing these changes is expected to be offered to the
Interior or Agriculture appropriations bills.

Instead, please support providing aid to fire-endangered communities
in the following ways:

1. Do the most important work first.  Reduce fuels in the Community
Protection Zones -- the first third of a mile out from buildings. Take
out flammable brush and small trees and fireproof buildings.
2. Provide funding that makes a difference by putting it directly to
fireproofing homes and removing hazardous fuels in Community
Protection Zones.
3. Shift Forest Service personnel skilled in brush clearing and
thinning projects from backcountry, low priority areas to Ranger
Districts near Community Protection Zones.
4. Carry out immediately the vast majority of fuel reduction projects
in Community Protection Zones in which clearing brush raises no
significant environmental issues.  Work with communities and
environmentalists to plan fuel reduction activities that may affect
critical wildlife habitat.
5. In order to have natural forests, restore natural fire cycles.  
Prescribed burns (burns set and controlled to mimic known natural fire
cycles) can help to reduce fuel buildup and restore healthy forest
habitats.  Every dollar spent on prescribed burning saves seven
dollars on fighting large fires later.
6. Protect our ancient and unroaded forests from logging and logging
roads. Numerous studies demonstrate that roadless forests are at
reduced risk of fire and sustain much less damage than do roaded and
logged areas.

These measures would provide prompt and effective assistance to the
communities that need it most and would begin to restore the natural
fire cycle in the backcountry that maintains forest health and reduces
risk of catastrophic fire.  I urge you to back these progressive ideas
and oppose any attempt to suspend our environmental laws.

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

from Heritage Forests Campaign August 28, 2002
Last week, in a politically motivated response to this
summer's wildfires, President Bush announced his Healthy
Forests Initiative, a plan to weaken environmental
safeguards and limit public input in the name of fire
prevention.

President Bush wants to "streamline" or more accurately
rollback the backbone of environmental protections,
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which
was signed into law in 1970 by President Nixon. Under
NEPA federal agencies are required to produce an Environmental
Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS),
which outlines the details of a project and several
alternatives to a proposed project. NEPA requires the
EA or EIS to explain the environmental impacts of a
proposed project in order to give federal land managers
the best scientific information on which they base
their decisions concerning our national forests.

The Bush plan would allow logging projects, masked
as fire prevention measures to skip the NEPA process,
a misguided concept the timber industry and certain
members of Congress have been attempting to push through
for years. Dismantling NEPA would eliminate the public's
opportunity to participate in many federal land projects
and remove safeguards that ensure that public lands
managers understand what impacts a particular project
will have on our increasing threatened wild forests.

While the Bush plan serves as a boon to corporate special
interests, it fails to protect communities from fire.
Additionally, Bush's plan would open millions of acres
of national forest land to logging projects, under
the guise of forest fire management.  

An effective wildfire policy would address the problem
where it exists, in forest communities and neighborhoods,
not in remote forest wildlands. Under his plan, President
Bush will allow his friends in the timber industry
access to large, old trees -- which happen to be the
most fire resistant trees -- located in the remote
backcountry, miles away from the nearest community.

Essentially, the President is suggesting that the best
way to protect our forests is to log our forests.

We believe that Senators Larry Craig and Pete Domenici,
long time friends of the timber industry and foes of
NEPA, will introduce a version of President Bush's
plan as soon as the Senate returns from the Labor Day
holiday. Time is short, and we know many of you are
on vacation, but we need to hear from you today! Please,
join me right now in telling your Senators that we
need responsible forest fire management. Because once
our last wild forests are gone, they're gone forever...

As always, thanks and best wishes.

Jane Danowitz, Director
Heritage Forests Campaign

You can take action on this alert either via email
(please see directions below) or via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/healthy_forests/ibsxwb4z78xie7

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about
this.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/healthy_forests/forward/ibsxwb4z78xie7

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/healthy_forests/ibsxwb4z78xie7  

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

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Your Senators  

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

I strongly oppose President Bush's "Healthy Forests
Initiative." This cynical, industry backed plan will
not protect communities from fire, but rather will
allow timber companies to extract old, large trees
from any national forest area deemed a fire "threat"
by industry-friendly administration officials. Forest
fire fighting and prevention should be concentrated
in communities and neighborhoods where people would
be most affected by fires, not in remote forest areas
many miles away from the nearest community.  

The Administration's plan also calls for "streamlining"
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for thinning
projects that are considered an "emergency." NEPA is
the backbone of environmental protective legislation
and serves a crucial role by providing federal decision-makers
the proper scientific and cultural information needed
to make an informed decision about public lands projects.
NEPA also allows the public to participate in public
lands decisions, which I consider of vital importance.
Furthermore, procedures already exist within NEPA for
expediting emergency federal projects.  

President Bush's plan for reducing wildfires does not
protect communities or forests and is a simple case
of "the cure being worse than the disease." We can
protect homes and communities without sacrificing the
health of our forest ecosystems.  

Science, and many policy makers, agree on this point.
In fact, the administration endorsed the landmark,
collaborative, science-based fire management strategy
crafted by the Western Governors' Association last
May. All parties who signed the plan, including Secretary
of Interior Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Ann
Venemann, agreed that fire risks could be reduced without
any change to existing law.  

A version of President Bush's "Healthy Forests Initiative"
is expected to appear as an amendment on the Senate
Interior Appropriations bill shortly after the Labor
Day recess. I urgently ask, for the health of our national
forests and the safety of communities near forests,
that you oppose this amendment and any other legislative
attempts to rollback NEPA protections for our national
forests.

Thank you for your time and careful consideration on
this very important issue.

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

from Natural Resources Defense Council August 29, 2002
Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,

Once again, the Bush administration is seeking to reward its friends
in the oil industry at the expense of one of America's most
endangered BioGems: Utah's Redrock country. Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/redrock/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=1320
and send an official comment urging the administration not to drill.

The Bureau of Land Management is fast-tracking a "seismic exploration
project" that could have devastating effects on more than 1.9 million
acres of the beautiful Book Cliffs region of northeastern Utah. The
search for oil would entail, among other methods, 50,000-pound trucks
criss-crossing the fragile desert floor, stopping periodically to
drill 60-foot holes and set off explosive charges. This destructive
and polluting intrusion would take place in pristine landscapes that
would be protected under the Redrock Wilderness Act that is now
pending in Congress. At stake are endangered plants, animals, and
irreplaceable Native American cultural sites.

Please speak out now against this latest plan to drill in our most
treasured places no matter what the environmental cost. The BLM is
accepting comments on its proposed plan until September 10th. Please
go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/redrock/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=1320
*today* and tell the agency to protect, not destroy, our Redrock
natural heritage.

Sincerely,

Johanna Wald
Director, NRDC Land Program

BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
from Environmental Defense August 29, 2002

  
  
         

August 2002

***************************
Action Network from Environmental Defense
finding the ways that work
***************************

    NEW THIS MONTH:
  • TAKE ACTION NOW - New Mega Resorts Threaten Sea Turtles and Manatees in Puerto Rico; Reduce Air Pollution From Snowmobiles
  • ACTION NETWORK AT WORK - Bush Administration Blocks Support For International Family Planning Programs
  • FEATURES - General Motors is Global Warmer Number One
  • SOUND OFF - Feedback from email activists

  TAKE ACTION NOW!

New Mega Resorts Threaten Sea Turtles, Manatees in Puerto Rico
Major international hotel chains want to develop some of Puerto Rico's last undisturbed tropical coastline, home to sea turtles, manatees and rare tropical birds. Your help is urgently needed. Urge the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International, Scotiabank and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya not to build more unnecessary tourist resorts. Tell the island's government to protect the area as a nature reserve. Take action!

Reduce Air Pollution From Snowmobiles In Our National Parks
Snowmobiles can release as much harmful pollution in seven hours as one car driven 100,000 miles. Promote cleaner air in our national parks and wild lands, where snowmobile use is booming. Urge the EPA to adopt strict emission standards for snowmobiles, which have never before been regulated. Take action!

For more urgent alerts from Environmental Defense Action Network, visit our Action Center .

   ACTION NETWORK AT WORK! SUCCESS STORIES AND UPDATES:

Bush Administration Blocks Support For International Family Planning Programs
Just before the world convened in Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Bush Administration announced that next year it will withhold annual financial support from the United Nations Family Planning Agency (UNFPA) . The UNFPA provides vital health, family planning and education services to women, children and families around the world. This comes despite an alert from the Population Action Net

FEATURES:

General Motors is Global Warmer Number One
New Report Measures U.S. Automaker's Global Warming Pollution
You might already know that the United States is the world's largest greenhouse gas polluter - sending a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) out into the atmosphere, where it and other greenhouse gases form a heat-trapping blanket around the earth. But what you might not know is that American cars and light trucks alone emit more carbon dioxide than almost every other nation on earth, with GM's cars leading the pack. Find out more in Environmental Defense's new report: Automakers' Corporate Carbon Burdens. Click here!

You can help! Take the Clean Car Pledge

   SOUND OFF:

Do Your Action Letters Have an Impact?
E-mail activists sometimes ask if the e-mail or fax letters you send to key decision-makers influence the decisions they make about the environment.

"Dear Environmental Defense Action Network:
I recently heard from a friend that e-mail opinions to politicians are almost ignored, or taken much less seriously than other types of citizen letters. Is there any truth to this and how can we be sure that e-mail petitions and letters are registered in a powerful way?"
- Tony from Brooklyn, NY

YES, CITIZEN ACTION LETTERS DO INFLUENCE DECISION-MAKERS:
Our 5 years of experience running Environmental Defense Action Network indicates that government officials, business leaders and other decision-makers are influenced by your e-mail and fax action letters. In fact, many of you often send us copies of the letters you receive in response to your e-mail and fax action letters. Plus, your action letters have helped us achieve many victories for the Earth, for example:

...30,000 emails to CA Governor Gray Davis helped secure landmark global warming victory.  More!

...Oil drilling plans off Florida coast were scrapped after 2,000 activists contacted Governor Jeb Bush.  More!

...Letters from nearly 500 DC activists helped convince city officials to switch to clean air buses.  More!

YOUR LETTERS GO DIRECTLY TO YOUR 0WN REPRESENTATIVES:
Our online activism tool ensures that your letters are personalized and delivered directly to your own representatives in Congress or your state's legislature. This reduces the number of letters Representatives receive from non-constituents, helping ensure that they read your letters. Find out who your Representatives are.

EDITING YOUR LETTER HELPS IT GET NOTICED:
Each action alert letter you receive is personalized and editable. Taking the time to edit your action letters increases the impact these letters have on decision-makers. Read copies of your action letters.

UPDATING YOUR PROFILE REGULARLY MAKES SURE YOUR LETTER GOES TO THE RIGHT PLACE
Changing your mailing or e-mail address?  Edit your profile.  Having the correct info means that your letter will reach its intended audience and achieve its desired effect.a href="http://actionnetwork.org/pvtm/index.tcl?nkey=wk8bxn4278xie3" target="_blank">Edit your profile.

ONLINE ACTIVISM IS JUST ONE TOOL IN OUR ACTIVISM TOOLBOX. 
PLEASE GIVE A GIFT TODAY
Our e-mail activist network is an important component of our environmental campaigns, but it is just one tool in Environmental Defense's activism toolbox and should be just one in yours too. Environmental Defense also employs scientists, economists, doctors, and attorneys -- experts in their field. We produce reports, testify before Congress, and appear on television as well as radio and are quoted in newspapers, all tools we employ to protect the Earth. How do we do this? With the generous support of people like you who contribute what they can, $10, $25, $50 or more.

Click here to make your gift today.

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT ACTION NETWORK:

Invite your friends and family to join over 190,000 people around the world taking action online with Environmental Defense Action Network.  Click here!

For more information about Environmental Defense, visit our website.

       
  
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