Ecology

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June 25, 2011 - Hands Across the Sands
Coming to a Beach near You


Source: Andrews McMeel Publishing Calendar, www.andrewsmcmeel.com



If you are interested in having a fishing and timber future, why then do you ignore the possibility of global warming? If you think the dramatic increase in heat waves, air pollution, storms and floods, droughts, mass migration and crowding are just a coincidence and that things will return to normal on their own, while we are still inhabitants of this earth, and you're willing to be your children's lives on it, then, I guess, doing nothing is one way. I guess I'm not interested in sitting around to see if you might be right.

Requests for This Year's Activities
How the West was Lost
Erotic in Nature

Newsbytes

Books
Resources Earthshare , How to Start a Recycling Program in Your Home or Community www.earth911.org


Requests for This Year's Activities

In celebration of Earth Day 2006, I'm asking you to do three things to help tackle the greatest environmental challenge of our day: global warming.

WATCH the terrific new HBO documentary "Too Hot Not to Handle" on the impacts of global warming in the United States. Produced by NRDC Trustee Laurie David, the film includes commentary from leading scientists and shows how businesses, local governments and citizens are joining forces to reduce global warming pollution. (Saturday, April 22nd, 7:00pm Eastern/Pacific times, 8:00pm Central time on HBO)

JOIN the Virtual March on Washington at www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_partner.asp?376 This is a great chance for you to raise your voice with hundreds of thousands of other Americans and demand that governments, corporations and politicians act now to stop global warming.

SIGN our pledge to Move America Beyond Oil and help support a practical, concrete plan to curb global warming by slashing our nation's fossil fuel consumption. Go to www.nrdcactionfund.org/beyondoil/action.asp?step=2&item=53292

We hope you'll take some time this Earth Day to wander outside, enjoy the spring weather and get energized.

Newsbytes

How Old will You Be in 2037?

That's less than 35 years from now. Well, if you're lucky(?) enough to still be alive, that is the year that it is estimated that all known oil reserves will have been depleted. That from U.S. Congress's own Office of Technology Assessment. Better buy that new, bigger SUV while you can still get enough gas to drive it. Better yet, how about getting a hybrid. Or, even an all electric or solar car? Be the first on your block.

The White House Goal - Increase Pollution - Act Now!

From Robert Redford:

Americans voted for many things this past Election Day, but one thing we did not vote for was a sweeping attack on our environment. Yet President Bush is already acting as if we did.If you don't have time to read my letter, then please go straight to the BioGems website at www.savebiogems.org/takeaction.asp and send messages to your U.S. senators and representative telling them to stand up in defense of our environment.

Barely two weeks after the election, the Bush administration repaid big corporate campaign contributors with a massive new loophole in the Clean Air Act that will allow them to dramatically increase air pollution and harm the health of millions of Americans.Days later, it was the timber industry's turn to cash in. On Thanksgiving eve, the administration proposed new rules that would allow it to put all 155 national forests on the chopping block for logging and other commercial activities without having to take public input or study the devastating impacts on wildlife.It's no accident these special interest handouts were announced after Election Day. They are a radical departure from the values of conservation that most Americans hold dear.

But the worst is yet to come. The White House has signaled clearly that the sacrifice of our clean air and national forests is only the leading edge of a much broader attack that will come early this year. It will be a determined and systematic effort to dismantle our nation's entire framework of environmental protection. Last year, the U.S. Senate was the firewall that saved us from President Bush's most destructive raids on the environment. Not any more. Key Senate committees in the new Congress will be chaired by stalwart allies of polluting industries who are flat-out hostile to our environmental laws.

Industry lobbyists are already circling, ready to plunder the public treasures they have coveted for so long: the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Alaskan rainforest, the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and many more of our last wild places. No one voted for these environmental disasters on Election Day, but they will come to pass if we don't unite right now to prevent them.

The president's campaign to undermine our environmental laws could be derailed instantly if millions of Americans would hold Congress accountable for its upcoming votes. The fate of our natural heritage will be determined by a handful of moderates, Democrat and Republican. Senators on both sides of the aisle won close races this past Election Day by promising to protect the environment. It's time to make them keep their word.

Please go to the BioGems website at www.savebiogems.org/takeaction.asp and send electronic messages directly to your U.S. senators and representative. Tell them to defend 30 years of bipartisan environmental progress by putting a stop to the Bush administration's assaults.

And if you want to do even more for the environment, please forward this message to as many people as you can. Remember, the White House can continue this sweeping attack on our environment only if Americans remain silent. Thank you for speaking out.

Sincerely, Robert Redford, Board of Trustees, Natural Resources Defense Council

Waste

Fact: If every house hold in America replaced just one package of virgin-fiber paper products with 100% recycled versions, this is what we would save:

1 roll 1-ply bath tissue: 469,000 living trees or 1.2 million cu. ft. of landfill space, enough to fill 1,700 garbage trucks and 153 million gallons of water, a year's supply for 1,300 families.

1 roll 2-ply bath tissue:  423,000 living trees. 1 million cu. ft. of landfill space, enough to fill 1,600 garbage trucks and 153 million gallons of water, a year's supply for 1,200 families.

180 sheet paper towels: 1,450,000 living trees or 3.7 million cu. ft. of landfill space, enough to fill 4,100 garbage trucks or 526 million gallons of water, a year's supply for 4,100 families.

That's not much to ask, is it?

The Feds Won't Act, So California Does

California Governor Davis signed a new, first-in-the-nation, law limiting global warming pollution from new cars and light trucks. The new law -- known as AB 1493 or the Pavley Law -- will also save consumers money at the gas pump, through increased fuel efficiency. This new state law could lead to cleaner cars not just here in California, but nationwide, according to a Washington Post article (below). California is leading the country in the right direction.

California Takes Lead on Auto Emissions

California today will enact legislation that for the first time will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases coming from the tailpipes of all passenger vehicles sold in the state, even the beloved SUV, in a move that could change the kinds of cars Americans drive in coming years.

The new law, to be signed today by Gov. Gray Davis (D), is the first in the United States to directly affect consumers and to enlist American drivers in reducing the potential of global warming. The law addresses not the gases that cause smog but the invisible, odorless emissions that scientists say appear to be contributing to slow but risky heating of the planet.

Although the new regulations will grant engineers wide latitude for design solutions, the new greenhouse gas emission standards for California will affect drivers nationwide, because California, with its 35 million residents -- more than Canada -- represents 10 percent of the national car market.
Source: William Booth, Washington Post. See the full story at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41533-2002Jul21.html

The Fight Against Global Warming

Both houses of the California Legislature have just passed a law that strikes a major blow in the in the fight against global warming, reaffirming the state's worldwide leadership in pollution safeguards and clean vehicle technologies.

Assembly Bill 1493 requires automakers for the first time to limit carbon dioxide and other global warming pollutants from new cars and light trucks. It also will reduce other pollutants, and save consumers money at the gas pump.

The measure is the first of its kind anywhere in the world, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. It cleared the Assembly last night by a vote of 41-30. The State Senate passed the bill on Saturday. It's now up to Governor Davis to sign it. He has not yet taken a position on AB 1493, though he has expressed support for the concept. Please call him now:

Governor Gray Davis: Sacramento: 916-445-2841, Los Angeles: 213-897-0322, San Francisco: 415-703-2218, San Diego: 619-525-4641, Riverside: 909-680-6860, or Fresno: 559-445-5295

Resources: The Natural Resources Defense Council has good information at: www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/fcacars.asp Also, a recent study, showing that global warming will have devastating effects on California's water supply because of severely reduced snowpack, is at: es.ucsc.edu/~lcsloan/GRL_CACLIM.pdf

Roll Your Own Black Out the First Day of Summer

Participate: In protest of George W. Bush's energy policies and lack of emphasis on efficiency, conservation and alternative fuels, there will be a voluntary rolling blackout on the first day of Summer, June 21 at 7 pm - 10 pm in any time zone (this will roll it across the planet).

It's a simple protest and a symbolic act. Turn out your lights from 7 pm -10 pm (your local time) on June 21. Unplug whatever you can unplug in your house. Light a candle for the Sun, kiss, make love, play games, tell ghost stories, do something instead of watching television, have fun in the dark.

Copy this and e-mail it as widely as possible, to your friends, to your government representatives and environmental contacts. Let them know we want global education, participation and funding in conservation, efficiency and alternative energy efforts -- and an end to over exploitation and misuse of the Earth's resources.

Vanishing Wildlife: White House plan denounced as ‘invitation to extinction'

The Bush budget would severely weaken the Environmental Protection Act by letting Interior Secretary Gale Norton decide which animals and plants should be protected. And it would render meaningless a provision of the law that allows citizens to directly petition the government to protect wildlife. Citizens could still go to court, but the budget would bar the federal government from spending any money to enforce the results of the lawsuits. Defenders' Schlickeisen called the proposal "an invitation to extinction." He told the Los Angeles Times, "The idea that she would be given discretion to decide which species, and when they would be listed, would be to invite a total emasculation of the act." Added Congressman Edward Markey of Massachusetts, "If American citizens can't sue to assure the federal government protects endangered species and their critical habitats, who will? The animals?" Defenders of Wildlife

Mounting Danger: Watch out Mother Earth!

Powerful special interests have unprecedented support in the White House. The latest evidence: The just-released Bush budget. The air we breathe, the water we drink, our natural wonders and wildlife – all are threatened by the spending plan for fiscal year 2002. It slashes spending for all natural resources and environment programs by $2.1 billion or 7.3 percent. The Congressional Budget Office saysthat's actually 11 percent below what's needed to maintain purchasing power after accounting for inflation. According to the respected Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in fact, Bush's plan would leave environmental and natural resources programs nearly $45 billion short of the amount needed to maintain services over the next decade. "It's very hard to conclude that the president's intent is anything other than hurting our environmental protection programs, emasculating our conservation programs, and doing it by defunding them through his budget," Defenders' Schlickeisen said. Defenders of Wildlife

What They're Saying: Environmental rollbacks earn rebukes

An Atlanta Constitution editorial said: "Bush and Cheney seem to be gearing up to push fuel consumption as though it were crack cocaine. This is terrible policy." The San Francisco Chronicle noted that the Bush budget "appears almost singularly focused on increasing production" of energy rather than on conservation. The Minneapolis Star Tribune pointed out that the budget shows "a stinginess quite at odds with the White House spin and a shortsightedness hard to justify at a time of large surpluses." And in the Baltimore Sun, Johns Hopkins University Medical School professor John Gartner wrote, "Mr. Bush has declared open season on our planet." Gartner added, "Though Mr. Bush seems unassailable, if he becomes known as the anti-environmental president, he could sink his career. But by then, half the planet could be under water after global warming has melted the polar ice caps." Defenders of Wildlife

Loud and Clear: E-petitions surpass 1 million to save Arctic refuge

E-petitions have topped the 1 million-mark from our Web site http://www.SaveArcticRefuge.org But despite that overwhelming show of support for protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Big Oil remains determined to drill inside America's greatest wildlife sanctuary. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that even employees of the British oil giant BP question the safety of new drilling technology that Big Oil touts as "environmentally sensitive." Those employees told the Journal that the technology has "the potential for a natural catastrophe." State of Alaska inspectors discovered last month that almost a third of the safety shutoff valves failed to close during tests at one drilling platform at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay. And secondary valves often fail as well, BP's own technicians say. On Sunday, 92,400 gallons leaked from a corroded pipeline at the Kuparuk oil field -- one of the largest spills ever on Alaska's North Slope. Defenders of Wildlife

Global Warming: Strongest evidence yet that humans are to blame

Two research teams working independently came to the same conclusion in new studies on global warming – greenhouse gases from human activity are causing ocean temperatures to rise. The scientists at the National Oceanographic Data Center and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography called their studies the strongest evidence yet that humans are to blame for global warming. The studies used computer models to show that increases in the temperatures of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans over the past 50 years are exactly what would be expected in relation to emissions of greenhouse gases over that period. Defenders of Wildlife

Take the Pledge: Join the Campaign to Defend America's Environment

Earth Day arrives Sunday (4/22/) with our environment facing its greatest threats in a generation. Since 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, there's never been a more urgent need for all Americans to renew our commitment to our planet's health. The wealthy special interests have mounted an unprecedented assault on environmental progress made over the past 30 years under both Democratic and Republican White Houses. It's a war that jeopardizes our quality of life, the wildlife we cherish and the wild places we enjoy. Big Oil, Big Timber and Big Mining want more and more profits, and after giving their largest-ever campaign contributions in last year's elections, they're lobbying the White House and Congress to roll back environmental protections. As the nation observes Earth Day, it's time for all of us to stand together to stop the special interests now.

That's why today the Campaign to Defend America's Environment has been launched. It's a partnership of concerned organizations determined to make the voices of all Americans heard in the halls of power. "The special interests now lobbying so hard to weaken our environmental protection laws have a huge financial advantage, and they've spent millions to influence politicians," Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen said. "But we've shown before that we can defeat the special interests if we work together and mobilize the vast majority of Americans who want to protect the environment for our children and future generations. This campaign will help us do both. It is a coalition of leading environmental groups and individuals joining together to make a difference."

Join today. As part of your Earth Day observance, go to our new Web site, www.DefendEnvironment.org and take the pledge to defend America's environment. Ask your family and friends to take the pledge, too. By doing so, you will join in sending the clear message that this land belongs to all Americans -- not the special interests. Defenders of Wildlife

Oil Drilling and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

An important petition to the President, Congress and Ralph Nader urging them NOT to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, our most magnificent wildlife sanctuary. Drilling would cause great harm to this wilderness area which is one of the few truly wild places remaining. Pass this on and add your name to the list at www.savearcticrefuge.org Or you can add your name by checking out a great cartoon animation at www.savearcticrefuge.org/video

Dead Weight

Black Men magazine reports that one issue of the Sunday New York Times uses between 60,000 and 75,000 trees. One more reason to use the Internet - if you don't use a tree or two printing out everything instead of reading it on line.

*    *    *
Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back. - The Lorax, Dr. Seuss

We have conquered the environment, and in our obsession for control, we no longer allow the environment to live in us. - Valerie Andrews

The world was not left to us by our parents.
It was lent to us by our children.
An African proverb

More than 45,000 pieces of plastic debris float on every square mile of ocean. FHM, 6/02

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