"With your knowledge and support, the world will have clean air and water, healthy fish and wildlife, and beautiful places to visit forever.”
-- Earth Day Founder Senator Gaylord Nelson
In this issue
1) The Big Picture: Help Obama Build Our Clean Energy Future 2) Take Action: World's Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break 3) Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining: Activist Wins Top Environmental Prize 4) Tune In: Poisoned Waters
1) The Big Picture: Help Obama Build Our Clean Energy Future President Obama sees the Big Picture. He and his administration understand that by shifting to clean energy, and cracking down on the corporations that pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe, we will create economic prosperity, reduce our dependence on oil and coal, while tackling global warming at the same time.
That's why the EPA has just issued a finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases represent a significant threat to public health and welfare.
Please join us in thanking the EPA for taking this historic step in addressing global warming.
2) Take Action: Cut global warming pollution and stimulate auto sales Last month, President Obama asked Congress to deliver a "cash for clunkers" bill that gives consumers who turn in an old, inefficient vehicle a cash voucher to help buy a more efficient vehicle.
The Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act (ARIVA) does just that, and even goes further to offer consumers a choice to get a voucher for transit.
ARIVA will stimulate auto sales, reduce our dependence on oil and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Ask your representative to cosponsor HR 520, the Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles (ARIVA) Act!
3) Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining:: Activist Wins Top Environmental Prize For years activist Maria Gunnoe has worked to fight the mountaintop removal coal mining practices that ruined her West Virginia home site. Her outspoken activism has made her a target for coal industry intimidation, even death threats, but Maria continues to speak out for cleaner energy practices. In recognition of her work, Maria has been named a 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner.
"Maria's well-deserved winning of the Goldman Prize points to the courageous work that she and many other coalfield residents do to protect their communities," said Bill Price, a Sierra Club Environmental Justice organizer who works closely with coalfield communities. A top environmental honor, the Prize is given to one person on each continent who is leading the fight against government and corporate interests and working to improve the environment for people in their communities.
Sierra Club congratulates all of this year's Goldman Prize Winners.
4) Tune In: Poisoned Waters For over 35 years, the Clean Water Act has broadly protected our Nation's streams, wetlands, rivers, and lakes from pollution. Now these waters are facing new threats -- new sources of contamination and a loss of vital protections. Tune in tonight from 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET, as PBS FRONTLINE investigates the current risks to our waters and delves deeply into how these risks affect some of our Nation’s most iconic waterways, the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound.
Watch the trailer and take action to tell Congress to protect our rivers and lakes from pollution.
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