EarthAction

ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA: A TIME FOR HOPE IN EL SALVADOR (?) & AROUND THE WORLD?

Photo by Meghan Maloney

For a lot of US citizens, Tuesday November 4th was a night of pride, relief, and above all hope.  While I share in a lot of these feelings and I am truly personally touched by Obama's election, I really identified with a reflection of Salvadoran women that was sent to me by Rights Action.   Rosa Anaya is the daugher of Herbert Anaya Sanabria, a Salvadoran human rights lawyer and leader who, on October 26, 1987, was assassinated - gunned down in front of his home in San Salvador, in front of his children.

ROSA ANAYA Writes From El Salvador:

I (do indeed) Love Mountains.org!

If you too are a mountain lover I highly encourage you to check out www.ilovemountains.org, a comprehensive site where you can find all the latest news on mountain top removal in the United States.  You can see how you are connected to the devastating coal extraction method, watch videos of "America's Most Endangered Mountains,"  read stories of the people MTR most affects, join a blogger's challenge, and learn about what else you can do.

Here at EarthAction we've been campaigning for REPs, Renewable Energy Payments (also known as feed-in tariffs.)  Clean renewable energy is an utmost priority for this nation, and we believe that REPs are one of the quickest and surest ways to stimulate the growth and development of renewable energy.

For more information on REPs, click on the "Power to the People" Icon to the left under Current Campaigns, or go to The Alliance For Renewable Energy. Together, we can put an end to harmful practices like mountain top removal!

(The photo is of my friend Lauren and I loving the mountains in Colorado.)

Trick-or-Treat?

A choice as tiny as the candy we purchase for Halloween can be extremely significant. The chocolate we buy at the supermarket has probably contributed to terrible labor conditions in other countries. Just one tiny example from the Global Exchange: "In 2000, a report by the US State Department concluded that in recent years approximately 15,000 children aged 9 to 12 have been sold into forced labor on cotton, coffee and cocoa plantations in the north of the country." However, there is an alternative. Take the time this Halloween to purchase Fair Trade chocolate! Find a place where you can purchase fair trade chocolate.

Or, you can take it one step further, and join Global Exchange in its Reverse Trick-or-Treating campaign! Have your kids hand out fliers and fair trade chocolate to the adults who answer the door, and raise awareness in a unique and thought-provoking way. Learn more.

UPDATE: There was local news coverage here in Massachusetts concerning this campaign. Read more!

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user minato, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Save the Alaskan Old Growth Rain Forests!

From the National Geographic:

"A strange, soft storm of white flakes is floating out of the summer sky, drifting past tall mountainside evergreens onto the nets of golden lichens hung from their boughs, onto the bushes colored by salmonberries and blueberries, onto the bear-tracked shores. This is not an unseasonal snow squall, not a flurry of wind-borne seeds. It's a fall of molted feathers from bald eagles converging on the waterways by the hundreds, bright heads and tails gleaming like beacons all along the dark woodland slopes. A high tide of flesh surges inland from the sea: Every river, every stream, quivers with salmon thrashing upcurrent to spawn like rapids running in reverse. If any more flowing juices and beating hearts crowded in here, the place might start moving around on its own."

So begins a lyrical, moving piece about Alaska's Tongass National Forest, which contains one of the world's largest rain forests not located in the tropics. The Tongass is an old growth forest, making it an extremely valuable carbon sink, according to this study. However, the Tongass is in grave danger of being destroyed by subsidized logging.

Take action to save this beautiful national treasure! Tell the Bush administration to protect this lovely piece of nature.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Neil Clement, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

10 Reasons Why Offshore Drilling is a Bad Idea

From Greenpeace:

10. Offshore oil drilling won't impact gas prices today, and it won't have a significant impact on gas prices in the future.
9. This is nothing more than a money grab by the oil companies - who are already making record-breaking profits.
8. We burn 25% of the world's oil here in the U.S., but we have only 3% of the world's oil reserves. So even if all offshore oil magically came to market today, the vast majority of our oil would continue to be imported, and we wouldn't see price relief at the pump.
7. The current moratorium was put in place decades ago to protect us from the danger of oil spills along our coastlines and beaches.
6.  Burning fossil fuels like oil causes global warming, which causes stronger hurricanes, which will threaten the very offshore drilling rigs being proposed, which will contribute to even more global warming.
5. To avoid the worst impacts of global warming, we need to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy within the next 10 years. The billions of dollars that would be spent on offshore oil drilling just postpones the inevitable transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
4. Oil exploration requires massive seismic testing - which threatens whales and dolphins.
3. Oil prices are set on the global oil market, so American oil is no cheaper than Saudi oil. We won't get a discount for oil drilled in the U.S.
2. We can't solve the world's energy problems with the same drilling that created them.
1. Renewable energy is available now, so it's time to walk away from fossil fuels and toward a clean energy future.

Tell Congress to say no to offshore drilling!

(Image courtesy of Greenpeace.)

Give Children a Second Chance

One of EarthAction's past campaigns was for the United Nations' Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty to protect the rights of children around the world. Sadly, the United States is one out of merely two countries (the other being Somalia, which has no central government) that has failed to become State Parties to the Convention.

What does this mean? One example out of too many is the depressing fact that children in the United States can be sentenced to life without parole. A thirteen-year-old who cannot drive, vote, or join the military can - and has been - sentenced to a life in prison, with absolutely no second chance.

A recent fascinating Guardian article puts you in the shoes of these children (over 300 in the state of Michigan alone):

Dupure got life without parole, with no forensic evidence tying her to the crime and entirely on the strength of Blevins' testimony.

Dupure has just turned 21 but she still looks 17. She was told about life without parole for the first time when she entered prison - "You never go home." She spent much of her first year crying, she says. The prison doctor put her on Prozac but she stopped taking it; as she puts it, "I'm depressed because I'm in this place, not because I'm depressed." Instead, she sees the prison therapist once a month. She finds talking to the therapist helpful - she can't be open with other prisoners about her fears and despair, as it would be taken as a sign of weakness. In prison, "you have to pretend to be strong". Continue reading...

The ACLU of Michigan, in conjunction with Columbia University Human Rights Clinic, has filed a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, alleging violations of the human rights of juveniles sentenced to life without parole in the USA. That petition is still pending. Read the petition.

There are also movements in individual states to give children a second chance. Do a search to find out what your state is doing about this grave issue. You can also join the Facebook group and keep up with the latest events and news.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Bewdlerian, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Caving and the Environment

This past week I went caving for the first time.  I have been to a cave once before, but it was a commercial cave on a guided tour- much different than exploring by yourself.  So three of my friends and I got out our backpacks, headlamps, warm layers, and headed off on an adventure.

Caves are extremely delicate and fragile systems, home to endangered species and rare rock formations.  As a caver, you must take extra precaution to leave very little impact on the cave environment.  The National Speleological Society motto is: "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time."  This is a common thread that runs through most outdoor activities (or should), that we must leave as little impact as we can.  As cavers, backpackers, climbers, etc, we must respect that we are not here to exploit the earth for our entertainment, but work hard for its conservation so we can enjoy its beauty and its fruits. 

As a backpacker, I pick up every grain of rice that may spill out of my pot while cooking so I don't disrupt a fragile ecosystem.  As a person, I am looking for ways to maintain that attitude in my every day life, to protect our world environment.  Outdoor activities can help foster this connection (as well as being amazingly fun and uplifting!)  So here's an action you can take sometime this week: grab yourself, or your children, your parents, or some buddies, and head out for an outdoor adventure!  Walking, climbing, floating down a river... enjoy and respect the beauty of nature!

PS
Anybody else have fun outdoor adventures to share?  I'm all ears.

Biofuels are Bad

When I attended the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference back in March, I found myself perturbed by the schedule of events for the high-level "Ministerial" conference attendees. They had the option at any time to attend either a biofuel-related panel, a wind/solar/geothermal panel, or... Another biofuel panel. Having already learned about the high costs of creating biofuel, I found it puzzling that leaders from around the world were obviously being encouraged to embrace biofuels.

The Guardian just released a report that should convince even the most diehard biofuel fans that their devotion is misled:

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises.

Read the rest of the article.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Darwin Bell, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Stop the Spying

Last week, House passed a bill that grants telecoms immunity for the warrantless wiretapping they did in the past - and allows them to continue doing so in the future! From the Wired blog:

"The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation," said Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, the only senator who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001. "The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home."

The bill grants amnesty to the nation's telecoms that are being sued for allegedly breaking federal wiretapping laws by turning over billions of Americans' call records to government data-mining programs and giving the government access to internet and phone infrastructure inside the country. The bill strips the right of a federal district court to decide whether the companies violated federal laws prohibiting wiretapping without a court order.

Within the next few days, Senate will vote on this piece of legislation. If last week's vote in the House is any evidence, this vote will also be in favor of this gross piece of legislation that takes away our right to privacy - unless you do something about it. CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY - the Electronic Frontier Foundation makes it easy for you to find your senator and make sure your voice is heard. This five-minute phone call could make the difference for our nation - we need to protect our rights to privacy, and ensure that the Executive Branch of our government cannot flagrantly disregard the law.

If all that isn't enough to convince you, BoingBoing just quoted a fascinating piece by Salon's Glenn Greenwald. In part:

It is absolutely false that the only unconstitutional and destructive provision of this "compromise" bill is the telecom amnesty part. It's true that most people working to defeat the Cheney/Rockefeller bill viewed opposition to telecom amnesty as the most politically potent way to defeat the bill, but the bill's expansion of warrantless eavesdropping powers vested in the President, and its evisceration of safeguards against abuses of those powers, is at least as long-lasting and destructive as the telecom amnesty provisions. The bill legalizes many of the warrantless eavesdropping activities George Bush secretly and illegally ordered in 2001. Those warrantless eavesdropping powers violate core Fourth Amendment protections. And Barack Obama now supports all of it, and will vote it into law. Those are just facts.

The ACLU specifically identifies the ways in which this bill destroys meaningful limits on the President's power to spy on our international calls and emails. Sen. Russ Feingold condemned the bill on the ground that it "fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home" because "the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power." Rep. Rush Holt -- who was actually denied time to speak by bill-supporter Silvestre Reyes only to be given time by bill-opponent John Conyers -- condemned the bill because it vests the power to decide who are the "bad guys" in the very people who do the spying.

It's chilling to think that our presidential candidate supports this bill, especially when Barack Obama vowed to "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." MoveOn.org may support Obama as a candidate, but is appalled by his lack of commitment to this past promise. They encourage you to call Obama's campaign office and let them know how you feel about this frightening bill. So, after you call your senators, take another minute to call Obama and make sure your voice is heard.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user xirannisx shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Congratulations Grassy Narrows!

Exciting news is in the air!  From a press release from the folks at RAN: 

"Rainforest Action Network (RAN) praised the decision of logging company AbitibiBowater—the largest paper company in the world—to stop logging on the traditional territory of the Grassy Narrows First Nation. The logging company is the last to cease operations in the million-acre Whiskey Jack Forest that comprises Grassy Narrows traditional territory. Its decision comes in the wake of decades of lawsuits and peaceful protests by the people of Grassy Narrows, including the longest standing logging blockade in North America."

At the RAN blog, JB Forister, a Grassy Narrows member, has this to say:

"I’m very happy today. People need to hear about what we have done. Then people need to stand up and do something for themselves and for the land too. If Grassy can do it, so can you ."

Congratulations to the people of Grassy Narrows, and all the activists who have worked so hard on this issue.  It's uplifting to hear about such a hard-won and well deserved victory!

(Photo courtesy of Rainforest Action Network.)