Starting this week, I will post 3-5 important action items you can take for people and planet. Your voice counts!
Pick one or all—each takes only a minute. I know there are many, many more but these struck a chord with me. Have a cause close to your heart? Feel free to leave a comment and I may list it next time!
Urge President Obama to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
On November 6, 2011, more than 10,000 people from across the nation surged into Washington, DC to take a stand against the Keystone XL Pipeline. What an inspiration!
There’s still time to send a letter to President Obama telling him why to stop this project. Not sure why the pipeline is an issue? Watch the jaw-dropping video about the tarsands oil extraction process.
More points to ponder…
The Canadian oil and gas company TransCanada hopes to begin building a new oil pipeline that would trek close to 2,000 miles from Alberta, Canada (through America’s agricultural heartland, the Missouri and Niobrara Rivers, the Ogallala aquifer, sage grouse habitat, walleye fisheries and more) to Texas. If constructed, the pipeline, known as the Keystone XL, will carry one of the world’s dirtiest fuels: tar sands oil. Along its route from Alberta to Texas, this pipeline could devastate ecosystems and pollute water sources, and would jeopardize public health. ~ Friends of the Earth
A rupture in the Keystone XL pipeline could cause a BP style oil spill in America’s heartland, over the source of fresh drinking water for 2 million people. NASA’s top climate scientist says that fully developing the tar sands in Canada would mean “essentially game over” for the climate. ~ TarSandsAction.org
Send your letter to President Obama by clicking here.
Keep Coal Ash Out Of Our Waters!
It’s no mystery: coal ash is a dangerous toxic waste that poisons drinking water supplies all over the country. Send a message your senators to protect against this threat.
On October 14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2273, a bill that would block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to adopt the first ever federal regulation for coal ash disposal. Now, the newest threat is in the U.S. Senate.
Our elected officials are considering plans to cut any effort the EPA makes to regulate coal ash dumps and landfills and install important safeguards that protect our water and our health. Coal ash—the byproduct of coal-fired power plants—is filled with dangerous heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, lead, selenium and much more. Living near some unlined coal ash ponds puts nearby communities at a 1 in 50 risk of developing cancer—2,000 times greater than what is deemed acceptable! 140 million tons of coal ash are generated every year, and this waste is often dumped into unlined and unprotected ponds and landfills. Our household garbage is better regulated than toxic coal ash.
Please take a moment to contact your Senators and tell them to oppose any effort to scuttle federal regulations for coal ash. Coal ash has contaminated over a hundred sites across the country. In 2008, a massive coal ash dump in Kingston, TN, spilled over a billion gallons of coal ash, damaging a dozen homes and destroying nearby rivers and streams. There are dozens more sites just like this one, tragedies waiting to happen.
We can’t afford any more delay. Tell your Senators to oppose the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 and any effort to delay federal coal ash regulations today! (View additional information on coal ash that you can use to personalize your letter.) ~ EarthJustice.org
Find out if coal ash is blowing near your neighborhood by with this easy-to-use interactive map.
Protect Polar Bear Cubs in Their Arctic Refuge.
The Obama administration plans to allow Shell to drill just off the vital coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where polar bear mothers make homes and feed their cubs.
The risks that polar bear families face from drilling are incredibly high, especially for a species already struggling to survive climate change. In addition to the risk of a catastrophic spill, the disturbance of drilling alone could cause polar bear mothers to abandon their cubs, leaving them to starve and die.
But we have a phenomenal chance to stave off disaster if we can get the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge designated as protected wilderness.
Click here to help send 25,000 comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the November 15 deadline to save the lives of polar bear cubs and protect their homes in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for generations to come.
~ GreenPeace
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