Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet
Sierra Club Currents - End the Addiction! Quote of Note: "This is all bogus, because we won't have an economy if we destroy our environment." -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) refuting claims that protecting the environment would hurt the economy. (1) Take Action: End the Addiction! (2) Take Action: Keep Gender Bending Chemicals Out of Our Water! (3) Go Green: "Cool Counties" Launch Major Initiative (4) China Drying Up: Is the U.S. Next? (1) Take Action: End the Addiction! In the next two weeks, Congress will debate energy legislation that will determine whether we put smart energy solutions to work to curb global warming, lower energy bills and create new jobs now or whether we continue to rely on polluting and dangerous sources of energy. We have the technology today to accomplish these goals by raising mileage standards for new vehicles and setting a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) of 20% by 2020. Don't let your Representative promise change while continuing to support the same old dirty sources of energy. Call your Representative today and urge him/her to support a clean energy future. (2) Take Action Keep Gender Bending Chemicals Out of Our Water! Male fish with eggs? Cases of such "intersexed" fish have now been documented from the Potomac River to the Pacific coast. Yet the EPA has not taken sufficient action to protect our waters and our health from these gender bending chemicals. Many countries and private companies have already taken action and switched to safer alternatives. It's time the EPA followed suit. Tell the EPA to keep gender bending chemicals out of our water! (3) Go Green: "Cool Counties" Launch Major Initiative Counties from across the country joined the Sierra Club yesterday in the announcement of a new Cool Counties initiative to reduce global warming emissions. The counties -- led by King County, WA, Fairfax County, VA and Nassau County, NY pledge to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 -- an achievable 2 percent a year. The counties are urging the federal government to follow their lead and fix our badly broken energy policy. Learn more about how the Sierra Club is working with communities to fight global warming. (4) China Drying Up: Is the U.S. Next? A new study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found that global warming is drying up China's waters and wetlands, reducing waterflows on two of China's largest rivers -- the Yangtze and the Yellow. According to the study, over the past 40 years, wetlands on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, considered by many to be an indicator of the world's climate health, have shrunk by more than 10 percent and more than 17 percent of the lakes at the Yangtze River's origin have totally disappeared. Learn about the importance of protecting wetlands and waters here at home. |
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Currents is the Sierra Club's weekly e-mail update providing you with facts, stories, quotes, and "take action" features. |