Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Save the Bees

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Elijah Zarlin, CREDO Action" <act@credoaction.com>
Date: Jun 25, 2012 2:40 PM
Subject: Save the Bees
To: "Daniel A. Stafford" <aquarianm@gmail.com>

Tell the EPA: Save the bees!
Clicking here will automatically add your name to this petition to the EPA:
"The EPA must take action to stop the alarming rate of bee die-offs. Please protect bees and our food system by immediately banning the use of the pesticide Clothianidin pending a full review of its safety."
Automatically add your name:
Take action now!

Learn more about this campaign

CREDO Action | more than a network, a movement.

Tell the EPA: Ban the pesticide that's killing bees

Dear Daniel,

In the next week, the EPA is expected to issue a decision on the pesticide Clothianidin — which scientists believe is a major factor in this alarming decline in U.S honey bee populations, known as Colony Collapse Disorder.

Since 2006, one third of U.S honey bee populations have been dying off yearly. One third. Every year. That's a terrible rate of species destruction on its own, but it's also a serious threat to our food supply. Honey bees play a crucial role by pollinating 71 of the 100 most common crops, which account for 90% of the world's food supply.1

More than 125,000 CREDO Activists joined the Pesticide Action Network and other groups this March in urging the EPA to suspend its approval of Clothianidin.

The EPA is about to respond, but if the agency doesn't actually act, it likely won't review Clothianidin again until 2018 — and by then it could be too late for the bees.

Tell the EPA: Bee die-offs are an emergency. Ban the pesticide that's killing bees. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

While the causes of Colony Collapse disorder are complex, studies are increasingly pointing to the role played by pesticides like Clothianidin.

Produced by the German corporation Bayer CropScience, it is used as a treatment on crop seeds, including corn and canola, and works by expressing itself in the plants' pollen and nectar. Not coincidentally, these are some of honey bees' favorite sources of food.

Shockingly, Clothianidin was approved without any independent study verifying its safety. The Pesticide was conditionally approved for use in 2003, and then fully approved by the EPA in 2010, on the basis of only one test conducted by Bayer, which EPA scientists later said was unsound and not sufficient to be the grounds for unconditional approval of the pesticide.2

Tell the EPA: Ban the pesticide that's killing bees. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Clothianidin has already been banned in France, Italy, Slovenia, and Germany — the home of Bayer — but it continues to be applied to over 100 million acres here in the U.S., at the peril of bees and our ability to produce foods like apples, blueberries, almonds, pumpkins and dozens of other vital crops.

For the EPA to take action and suspend the use of Clothianidin it must declare bee die-offs to be an "imminent hazard." And with massive continuing die-offs of the species that is a cornerstone of our crop production, it's clear that is the case.

For too long, the EPA has turned a blind eye to the problem, trusting a sham study by pesticide makers over the mounting evidence that Clothianidin is not safe for our food system. It's time for the EPA to ban Clothianidin and save the bees.

Click below to automatically sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=6902377&p=bee_decision&id=42313-2914033-Po1q2ax&t=10

Thanks for defending the bees.

Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets


1. "Pesticides and Honey Bees: State of the Science," Pesticide Action Network North America
2. "Leaked document shows EPA allowed bee-toxic pesticide despite own scientists' red flags," Grist, 12/10/10


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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Unbelievable, even for the Bureau of Land Management

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Josh Nelson, CREDO Action" <act@credoaction.com>
Date: Jun 23, 2012 8:46 AM
Subject: Unbelievable, even for the Bureau of Land Management
To: "Daniel A. Stafford" <aquarianm@gmail.com>

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: Stop fueling global climate change!
Clicking here will automatically add your name to this petition to the Bureau of Land Management:
"Cancel the North Porcupine tract lease auction and stop the multi-billion dollar giveaways of publicly owned coal to big coal companies. Subsidizing climate change is not in the best interest of the nation."
Automatically add your name:
Take action now!

Learn more about this campaign

CREDO Action | more than a network, a movement.

Tell BLM: Stop Thursday's multi-billion dollar, dirty coal giveaway.

Dear Daniel,

As climate change bears down on us, you'd expect our government to cut back on burning our dirtiest fuels, like coal. Instead, we're just giving it away to coal companies.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to give Peabody Energy the rights to 721 million tons of publicly owned Wyoming coal for about $1 a ton,1 just so Peabody can sell it in Asia for $80 a ton, unleashing a massive amount of climate-change causing carbon pollution in the process.

Coal companies get a huge windfall, the U.S. government gets a pittance in revenue, and climate change gets worse for all of us.2 Yet unbelievably, this lose-lose scenario is standard operating procedure for BLM. That needs to change.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: Stop the dirty coal giveaways and stop subsidizing climate change. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

BLM's coal leasing decisions are supposed to be made "in the best interests of the nation,"3 but fueling climate change by heavily subsidizing dirty coal that will be sold to China isn't in anyone's interests.

Sadly, the BLM has been doing this for decades, turning a blind eye to the fact that it is making dirty coal artificially cheap, skewing domestic and international energy markets in favor of energy sources that heat the globe and make people everywhere sick.4

The federal coal leasing program has been coming under increasing scrutiny for its role in fueling global climate change and its failure to serve the best interests of the American people.5 Now it's time to turn up the pressure.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: Stop the dirty coal giveaways and stop subsidizing climate change. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Realizing that dirty coal use in the U.S. is in a steep and permanent decline,6 big coal companies want to build massive coal export terminals in the Pacific Northwest for shipping American coal to Asia, where environmental rules aren't as strict.

Grassroots activists in the Pacific Northwest have blocked the proposed coal terminals so far, persuading dozens of elected officials and cities to oppose the projects,7 but the BLM's shameful dirty coal giveaways are tipping the scale in favor of big coal.

If the BLM truly wants to do what is in the "best interests of the nation," it will put an immediate moratorium on coal leasing and undertake a comprehensive review of the federal coal leasing program's role in contributing to climate change.

Click the link below to automatically sign the petition telling the Bureau of Land Management that fueling climate change is not in the best interests of the United States:
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=6902637&p=blm_climate_change&id=42232-2914033-fDhNISx&t=10

Thank you for being a part of the fight against dirty coal.

Josh Nelson, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. The BLM's Corrupt Coal Leasing Program: Billions In Subsidies To Peabody, Gigatons Of Carbon Pollution For The Rest Of Us, Think Progress, 6/22/12
2. Why are U.S. taxpayers subsidizing coal mining?, Grist, 5/7/12
3. Federal Coal Leasing, Bureau of Land Management
4. How the U.S. could influence China's coal habits — with exports, Washington Post, 5/1/12
5. Letter from Rep. Ed Markey to U.S. Government Accountability Office, Office of Rep. Ed Markey, 4/24/12
6. The rage of a dying dinosaur: coal declines in United States, Daily Kos, 6/21/12
7. Statements, Letters and Resolutions, Power Past Coal


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To remove yourself (Daniel A. Stafford) from this list, please visit our subscription management page at: http://act.credoaction.com/s?i=42232-2914033-fDhNISx

To change your email address or update your contact info, please visit: http://act.credoaction.com/subscrip/coa.html?id=42232-2914033-fDhNISx

Friday, June 22, 2012

Urgent: Save Rio, Save the Planet

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Iain Keith - Avaaz.org" <avaaz@avaaz.org>
Date: Jun 21, 2012 9:48 AM
Subject: Urgent: Save Rio, Save the Planet
To: "aquarianm@gmail.com" <aquarianm@gmail.com>

Dear friends,



Over a million people have called on world leaders to end fossil fuel subsidies at the Rio Earth Summit, but our leaders have so far failed to deliver. Now, the only chance to save the talks from disaster rests with Brazil's Dilma -- sign this urgent petition calling on her to emerge a planet hero and end the polluter payouts!
Over a million people have called on world leaders to end fossil fuel subsidies at the Rio Earth Summit -- a no-brainer policy that could take one trillion tax dollars from Big Oil and reinvest it in green energy. But they've failed to deliver -- even with the backing of the EU, the US and most G20 countries! The talks end in 48 hours. Now is our chance to save them and the planet's future.

Brazil's President Dilma is hosting the summit and has the power to reopen discussions and demand a timeline for ending polluter payouts, but she is considering walking away with the weak language presented by a team of bureaucrats. We can stop her in her tracks.

Dilma has 2 days to emerge as a global climate hero. Sign this urgent petition now and forward to everyone -- at 500,000 signers, Avaaz will deliver it straight to Dilma's hands and run an urgent, hard-hitting ad in the Financial Times:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_rio_save_the_planet/?bqZPOab&v=15350

In the last 2 weeks, we've already made huge strides towards an end to fossil fuel subsidies. Together, we've:
  • Unfurled giant trillion dollar bills with our friends 350 on beaches in Rio and in Los Cabos that garnered the attention of major media across the globe and delivered a 1 million strong call to end harmful polluter subsidies. Trillion dollar bill image
  • Delivered a petition with over 750,000 signers directly to UK Prime Minister Cameron and the Mexican chair of the G20 summit.
  • Massively impacted the vote in a UN poll -- making fossil fuel subsidies the top priority for the Earth Summit. We won with over 66% of the vote!
  • Flooded the Mexican and New Zealand environment ministers with messages calling on them to push for an end to polluter payouts.
  • And our team on the ground in Rio and Los Cabos has tirelessly lobbied politicians -- attending dozens of meetings with high level officials from key countries.
The stage is set and Dilma has the perfect solution to turn the talks around: a clear and timely end to fossil fuel subsidies. We only have 48 hours for this final push to action --- click below to sign:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_rio_save_the_planet/?bqZPOab&v=15350

The movement to end fossil fuel subsidies is at a tipping point. Over 1 million of us signed petitions calling for action, from Rio and Delhi to London and Sydney. As we enter the 11th hour of the Rio Earth Summit, let's continue to push until we win!    

With hope,

Iain, Antonia, Jamie, Emma, Ricken, Diego, Pedro and the rest of the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION:

UN environment haggle runs into problems ahead of summit (France 24):
http://www.france24.com/en/20120618-un-environment-haggle-runs-problems-ahead-summit

Rio+20: anger and dismay at weakened draft agreement (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/19/rio-20-weakened-draft-agreement

#EndingFossilFuelSubsidies in Pictures, Video & Tweets: Why Rio+20 Needs to Act (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jake-schmidt/endingfossilfuelsubsidies_b_1607288.html

G20 Fossil Fuel Protest Video (Reuters):
http://in.reuters.com/video/2012/06/19/g20-fossil-fuel-protest?videoId=236062951&videoChannel=117460

Activists hail success of Twitterstorm (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/18/twitter-storm-fossil-fuel-subsidies?newsfeed=true

Update on #EndFossilFuelSubsidies Proposals at Rio+20 (350.org Blog)
http://www.350.org/en/about/blogs/update-endfossilfuelsubsidies-proposals-rio20

Negotiations text "an epic failure" (Greenpeace)
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/Greenpeace-comment-on-state-of-Rio20-negotiations-text-for-adoption/

Latest text of the Rio+20 conference
http://avaazpress.s3.amazonaws.com/295The%20Future%20We%20Want%2019%20June%202.45am.doc


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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Did your Senators Vote for Clean Air?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Heather Shelby, Environmental Defense Fund" <takeaction@edf.org>
Date: Jun 21, 2012 1:41 PM
Subject: Did your Senators Vote for Clean Air?
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>


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Environmental Defense Fund

Dear Daniel,

Find out how your Senators voted!

Yesterday, we achieved a huge victory for clean air.

A bipartisan majority of 53 Senators voted against Inhofe's toxic air bill, S.J. Res 37. That means they voted for cleaner, healthier, safer air for all Americans.

But how did your Senators vote? You can use our easy vote tracking tool to find out.

Then, please email your Senators to either thank them for supporting life-saving clean air standards… Or to express your disappointment with their toxic air vote.

This was a crucial clean air victory and proves that when we stand together, we can stand up to Senator Inhofe and his lavishly funded dirty air lobby.

I hope you'll continue to stand with us by letting your Senators know that you are paying attention to their actions and that you stand for clean air and strong environmental protections.

Heather ShelbyThank you for taking a stand against dirty energy,
HeatherShelbySignature
Heather Shelby
Action Network Coordinator


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Study: Renewable sources could supply 80% of U.S. electricity by 2050 | The Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/21/study-renewable-sources-could-supply-80-of-u-s-electricity-by-2050/

As I've been trying to tell people for years now, modernizing our power grid is key.

Dan

Solar cell breakthrough taps previously unused energy source | The Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/21/solar-cell-breakthrough-taps-previously-unused-energy-source/

Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power

From: Google Alerts  
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 6:10 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power

 

News

2 new results for hydrogen, wind, power

 

Germany Expanding Hydrogen Network: Will US..
Green Car Reports
Energy company TOTAL is already active in hydrogen mobility research, and is currently looking into producing hydrogen from excess wind energy. So while ...
See all stories on this topic »

50 Hydrogen Filling Stations For Germany
Hybrid Cars News
Already, we operate five hydrogen filling stations in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. Since last year, we have partnered with the Brandenburg-based wind power ...
See all stories on this topic »


Hybrid Cars News

 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

E THIS WEEK

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "E - The Environmental Magazine" <karen@emagazine.com>
Date: Jun 20, 2012 10:27 AM
Subject: E THIS WEEK
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>

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EMagazine
E - THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE THIS WEEK
June 17, 2012
WHAT WE'RE FOLLOWING
New Arctic Forests Pose Climate Change Problems
tundra

Bringing forests back has long been though to help combat climate change. Trees absorb the most common greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, helping to pull the heat-trapping gas from the atmosphere, the logic goes. This is why forests are usually expected to act as carbon sinks.…

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The Reality of Rio
ecuador rainforest

International commitments toward environmental conservation could be on the horizon this week, with an estimated 50,000 people and over 130 world leaders set to attend the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Conference on Sustainability and Development in Rio de…

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FEATURED BLOGS
Awakening Awareness
The Clearwater Festival Is the Perfect Merging of Music and Environmental Awareness, Particularly for Kids

I had plans to sit and enjoy several bands at Sunday's Clearwater Festival, but my going-on-6-year-old had other ideas. Instead, we began at one of several playgrounds on site, enjoying the sounds of Balkan Beat Box rising over the hill as our infant daughter napped and…

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IN OUR CURRENT ISSUE
Spring Things
Stylish Totes, Picnic Picks and Better Bottles

PICNIC PICKS

Heading out for a spring picnic or packing a lunch for the office? We hope it's the former, but in either case, the U-Konserve collection from Kids Konserve has what you need to make your lunching simultaneously eco-friendly and stylish. Our favorites…

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By the Numbers: Livestock on Antibiotics
Overuse of Antibiotics on Hogs and Cows Could Pose a Serious Health Threat to Humans

That's how many pounds of antibiotics were administered to livestock in the U.S. in 2010, according to an annual report released by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimate that the amount of…

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Resistant To Change
Ocean Acidification Is a Product of Our Emissions, but There's Little Will to Change Our Ways

Rob Jackson, Ph.D., is the Nicholas Chair of Global Environmental Change at Duke University and a professor in the Biology Department. He is also a co-chair of the Carbon Cycle Science Working Group—a group of researchers who recommend carbon cycle priorities for the…

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Rising Waters and Political Wrangling
Virginia's Middle Peninsula is a Microcosm of Climate Change Impacts and Skepticism

Growing up on Virginia's Middle Peninsula, Lewis Lawrence remembers an island in the middle of the Ware River with tree trunks the size of five-gallon buckets. That island has long since vanished beneath the sea. The patch of six counties jutting into the Chesapeake Bay…

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EARTHTALK Q&A
EPA to Limit Pollution From Power Plants

Dear EarthTalk: I understand the Environmental Protection Agency recently took steps to limit pollution from power plants. What are the details?

—Maddie Samberg, via e-mail

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What Are Sustainable Communities?

Dear EarthTalk: The term "sustainable communities" gets bantered around quite a bit today. Could you define it for me?

—Holly Parker, Mechanicsburg, PA

Continue Reading »
May/June 2012
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