1. Ask the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US CITES representative, to support Indonesia's proposal to protect ramin at the CITES meeting starting October 2, 2004.
2. Stop selling cribs made from ramin wood.

Pledge to fight global warming, and call on your elected officials to join the fight by passing the Climate Stewardship Act.

Higher temperatures threaten dangerous consequences: drought, disease, floods, and the loss of precious endangered species. And amid the threat from rising oceans and extreme weather, global warning's effects have already begun.

But solutions are in sight: We know where most heat-trapping gases come from: power plants and vehicles. And we know how to curb their emissions: modern technologies and stronger laws.

The Climate Stewardship Act is the first step forward in Countering the Climate Crisis. This is a bill that makes sensible and affordable reductions in greenhouse gas pollution, and provides flexible solutions as a way of curbing costly environmental, public health, and economic damages.

To make sure it is passed, we need your help.

Lonnie and Eric are doing what they can to counter the climate crisis - and you can too!

Take the Pledge to fight global warming and we'll take your message - Counter the Climate Crisis! - to Congress
Take Action]]> The second phase of Canada's commercial seal hunt began on April 14 in Newfoundland. Of the over two hundred thousands seals already slaughtered, 95% are under three months old. IFAW monitoring teams just back from the ice report many pups are clubbed and left in agony while hunters move quickly onto the next seal while countless others are shot, but escape and die a slow death under the ice.

The Canadian seal hunt is bigger now than it has been in 50 years. This year alone, the government is allowing the methodical slaughter of 319,500 helpless seals purely in the name of profit. Many more will die that go unaccounted for.

Sealers count on the fact you won't speak out against them. The biggest advantage sealers have in their favor is the lack of awareness by the rest of the world that one of nature's greatest wildlife spectacles is being systematically destroyed by a virtual killing machine.

Please speak out today and tell the Canadian Parliament that the seal hunt is cruel and unacceptable!
More...]]> Remember: All registered voters of any party, including independent voters, may vote on the “Growing Greener Bond Question,”

Keep in mind: No new taxes or fees are authorized in the ballot question.

So look for the question that says: Do you favor authorizing the Commonwealth to borrow up to $625,000,000 for the maintenance and protection of the environment, open space and farmland preservation, watershed protection, abandoned mine reclamation, acid mine drainage remediation and other environmental initiatives, and Vote Yes!

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy urges you to take the time on May 17 to go to the polls and cast a vote for conservation.

Keep Pennsylvania growing greener!!
Take Action]]> Governor Edward Randell said, "Voters made it absolutely clear that they want this investment to address some of the state's most pressing environmental problems and help us win the race for new development and job creation,"

For more on this story: Voters OK open-space spending, Philadelphia Enquirer (reg. req.)
More...]]> The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered large whales in the world, with only about 300 individuals left of the species. We cannot afford to lose a single whale because of human causes. During 2004, 17 whales, including six North Atlantic right whales, were entangled when they encountered fishing gear in their ocean habitat along the U.S. East Coast.

Solutions exist to protect these whales from being entangled, injured or killed, in fishing gear, but they need to be more aggressively utilized.

In an effort to eliminate potentially deadly entanglements, the National Marine Fisheries Service (the agency responsible for protecting whales) is taking public comments on proposed alternatives to improve the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan-a strategy required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

With three of the species of whale affected by fishing gear listed as endangered, especially the extremely endangered North Atlantic right whale, we cannot afford anything less than a 100 percent effective plan to protect these magnificent animals from fishing gear encountered in their habitat.

Act Now! Ask NMFS to strengthen the protection of whales by requiring modifications to fishing gear proven to prevent whales from becoming entangled.
Take Action]]> Visit The Ocean Conservancy online for more information on right whales.
More...]]> Our ability to save the Supreme Court from President Bush could hang in the balance...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is hatching a plan to allow President Bush to pack the courts with extremist judges. Frist wants to take away pro-choice Democrats’ most powerful line of defense against extremist judges: the filibuster.

Called the "nuclear option" because of the explosive consequences it would have in the Senate – Frist’s plan would allow anti-choice Republican leaders to change Senate rules to prevent the filibuster of judicial nominees.

During President Bush’s first term, senators used the filibuster carefully and selectively. The Senate confirmed more than 200 of President Bush’s judicial nominees to lifetime appointments, and used the filibuster to block only 10 of his most controversial nominees. Clearly, this is not a Senate rule that is being abused.

If you value balance and moderation on our courts, and believe the Senate should carefully review judges who are being considered for lifetime appointments, then you need to take action to stop Senator Frist today!
Take Action]]> The U.S. Senate is gearing up for a showdown vote on the nomination of William Myers III, a former mining industry lobbyist, to be a senior federal judge. Myers is being nominated for a lifetime appointment to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ninth Circuit decides legal disputes over the use and conservation of some of the most wild and sacred areas in the United States, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. Hundreds of millions of acres of public lands, Indian reservations, and sacred sites lie in this area.

The Senate rejected Myers' nomination last year due in part to his extreme anti-environmental record, but Bush has re-nominated him in the 109th Congress, betting that a greater Republican majority will enable him to be approved this time around.

There's no denying that Myers is an extremist, having called parts of the Clean Water Act "unauthorized federal regulation of land use," and, as the top lawyer at Bush's Interior Department, consistently siding with oil industry lobbyists and other major corporate polluters.

Your action is urgently needed – Myers' nomination has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee and is expected to come up for a full Senate vote any day now.

Tell your Senators to reject a lifetime appointment for Myers! If Myers is confirmed, he'll likely be undermining U.S. environmental laws for decades to come.
Take Action]]>
In an important environmental victory, the House barred the EPA from adopting a policy that would have permitted the blending of partially and fully treated sewage into our water supply after heavy rains and snow melts. At the same time, lawmakers rejected amendments to increase spending for specific EPA programs dealing with wastewater and Superfund cleanup.

We could not have achieved this victory against "sewage blending" without the huge outpouring of letters and comments from concerned citizens like you. A heartfelt thank you to all who spoke out against this outrageous policy proposal that threatened our drinking water!
More...]]> The Bush administration is proposing to allow commercial trade in endangered species for the first time in over thirty years. This radical proposal would dramatically weaken the protections for over 550 foreign species - including jaguars, elephants, and orangutans - now covered by the Endangered Species Act.

The Bush administration's proposal supports the idea of killing species in order to save them, and endorses the importation of endangered animals and body parts to benefit their conservation. But this proposal includes no standards to verify that any of the money spent on importing endangered animals or body parts actually goes to conservation, and is so vague that it practically invites fraud and illegal trade.

The illegal international trade in wildlife and wildlife products is worth billions of dollars annually. And legal trade in wildlife body parts invariably leads to increased illegal trade and poaching, creating a market for previously illegal wildlife. This proposal could lead to a resumption of the ivory trade in Africa; the capture of Asian elephants for U.S. circuses and zoos; and the importation of endangered wild parrots for the U.S. pet industry.

Please stand up for endangered species today! Tell Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and President Bush that you oppose their proposal to allow importation of endangered species.

Take Action]]>
On June 3, a Russian helicopter evacuated Arctic explorers Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen from the ice and returned them to the safety of land.

Sadly, a "perfect storm" of adverse conditions - a seemingly endless field of giant pressure ridges; a relentless southward ice drift that negated much of their northward progress; half-frozen leads with ice that was too thick for them to launch their canoes, and too thin for them to ski over; 16 inches of fresh snow that made the going tremendously difficult - forced Lonnie and Eric to abandon their quest to become the first people to ever make a summer crossing of the Arctic Ocean.

But their expedition was about more than just being the first people to cross the Arctic Ocean in summer. The impetus for the expedition was to bring attention to global warming, and to inspire Americans to act. Despite the fact that they were not able to succeed in making it across the ice, their attempt inspired thousands to take action to protect the climate.

If you have not already done so - join the thousands in demanding Congress take action to stop climate change at www.care2.com/go/z/24481

Or consider making a donation to Greenpeace to support their efforts to expose global environmental problems, and promote solutions that are essential to a green tomorrow!


More...]]> In the U.S., more than 100 million cell phones are taken out of service each year. Most of these discarded phones end up in landfills, leaking toxic metals and chemicals into the ground.

For competitive reasons, many cell phone companies today force consumers to pay for a new phone when switching service providers. This practice is both financially unfair to the consumer and bad for our environment!

Even worse, some cell phone companies that use compatible technology have installed "software locks" to prevent consumers from using their phones on competitors' systems.

Tell the Federal Communications Commission that you want to protect the environment, save money and keep your cell phone when switching companies!

Take Action]]> media reports indicate that Japan is now seeking to resume commercial whaling of humpbacks, defying international agreements and sanctuaries under the guise of "scientific research."

Using a loophole that allows whales to be killed for scientific study, more than 25,000 whales have been killed since a worldwide ban on commercial whaling was passed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986. Yet it's unnecessary to kill whales in order to study them, since non-lethal alternatives already exist. What's worse, some whales remain alive up to an hour after a harpoon explodes inside them. These cruel methods, first employed over a hundred years ago, are still used today.

At the International Whaling Commission meeting beginning July 20th, the world will vote on Japan's outrageous proposal to hunt humpback whales. Several countries remain undecided and are very sensitive to external opinion. With a little pressure, they can be swayed to protect the whales and stop Japan from slaughtering them.

That's why it's critical we tell the Swiss, Danish, Chinese and South Korean Ambassadors in our countries to oppose Japan's plan to kill endangered humpback whales - before it's too late.
Take Action]]> Public Comment Period Opened - Save Corals and Sponges

Oceana's fight to defend deep-sea corals from the destructive fishing practice known as "bottom trawling" has reached a critical moment -- we have petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to put regulations in place protecting corals and sponges from bottom trawling, and they have opened the issue up for public comment.

This is your chance to tell NMFS that protecting fragile, ancient coral and sponge habitats is important to you!

The comment period ends August 13, 2004, so don't wait! Take action -- tell the Director of NMFS' Office of Habitat Conservation to support Oceana's petiton and protect corals and sponges from bottom trawling!
Take Action]]> West Coast Seafloor Protected from Bottom Trawling

In an historic move for our nation's fisheries, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously today to adopt Oceana's Approach to managing the seafloor off of Washington, Oregon, and California.

Three years and more than 40,000 public comments later - with over 10,000 of these comments from Care2 and ThePetitionSite members - the Fisheries Service will finally be required to protect the corals, sponges and other similar living seafloor habitat of the Pacific from senseless destruction. The Council action will protect more than 250,000 square miles of seafloor, including much of the lush living corals and sponges of Monterey Bay, from destructive bottom trawling.

The Council's action follows three years of intense collaborative work coordinated and lead by Oceana, and including environmental organizations of Natural Resources Defense Council, The Ocean Conservancy, and Environment California; recreational fishing groups United Anglers and Coastside Fishing Club, and commercial fishing group Pacific Marine Conservation Council.

The Oceana Approach identifies locations of corals, sponges, and other living seafloor animals and applies management actions to minimize the detrimental effects of bottom trawling on this lush and productive habitat. In addition to freezing the bottom trawl footprint to prevent expansion into pristine areas, the Approach protects known areas of biogenic habitat within the footprint, protects special areas such as seamounts and canyons, and calls for ongoing research and monitoring.
More...]]>
On a strong majority vote, member countries of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) today rejected a proposal put forward by the Government of Japan to resume commercial whale hunting, which has been banned by the IWC since 1986. 29 countries voted against the Japanese proposal, 23 countries voted for it and 5 countries abstained from the vote.

A new Japanese proposal to increase "scientific" whaling also failed to gain majority support from the IWC. A resolution introduced by the Government of Australia, sharply critical of the Japanese proposal, was passed by a vote of 30 to 27 with one abstention by the Pacific Island nation of Solomon Islands. Japan has killed more than 8,000 whales under the guise of science since the commercial whaling ban.

Over 23,000 activists recently expressed their outrage to IWC member nations through ThePetitionSite.com at Japan's proposal to resume commercial whale hunting - and world leaders heard us, loud and clear. We still have work to do to end commercial and so-called "scientific" whaling, but this vote is a decisive victory for whales.

Read more about this victory for whales here!
More...]]> The Bush administration has asked for $8.5 million in the 2006 budget for research on a "Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator" (RNEP). This new nuclear weapon, also known as the nuclear "bunker buster," is being promoted as a useful tool in attacking deeply buried command centers or underground stores of chemical and biological weapons. But numerous scientific critiques, including one by the National Academy of Science, find that in many cases such a weapon would be ineffective. In addition, the nuclear blast and radioactive fall-out could kill millions of innocent people in surrounding areas. A single "bunker buster" would be nearly 100 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

In the coming weeks, the Senate will consider funding for this new nuclear weapon. Please tell your Senators to reject all funding for the dangerous nuclear "bunker buster."

Take Action]]> 50 million buffalo once roamed the Great Plains. But at the end of the 19th century, after millions were slaughtered, only 23 wild buffalo remained. These survivors found refuge in Yellowstone National Park, are the ancestors of America's only remaining wild herd.

But after escaping extinction over 100 years ago, the wild buffalo, an icon of the American West, is under attack again.

Facing pressure from the cattle industry, government agencies are spending millions in taxpayer money to kill the numerous wild buffalo that wander outside of Yellowstone National Park onto public grazing lands used by cattle ranchers. These buffalo executions are justified by the excuse that the buffalo present a disease threat to domesticated cattle. This excuse is widely thought to be a thinly veiled justification for keeping buffalo off public grazing lands, which ranchers rely on for profits, by any means necessary - including killing.

Please urge your Representative to support the Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act (HR 2428), which proposes more humane, science-based programs to manage Yellowstone buffalo.
Take Action]]> approve funding for research into "bunker buster" nuclear weapons, as part of a $31.2 billion spending bill for energy and water projects. The full spending passed on a vote of 92-3. Care2 and ThePetitionSite members sent close to 10,000 letters to their Senators through this petition urging them to vote "no" on this funding. The vote was close, however, and the full bill now goes into negotiation between the House and the Senate over differences between them. In the House, David Hobson, a Republican from Ohio and chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the nuclear weapons budget, once again eliminated ALL funding for these weapons. Last year the House version prevailed and all funding for bunker busters was eliminated--the Union of Concerned Scientists is working to ensure that the same happens this year.

Find out how your Senators voted here.

Find your Senators' phone number here and let them know how you feel about their votes!
More...]]> "Dirty Fishing" Bycatch Fishing Destroys Ecosystems

Every year and estimated 300,000 marine mammals, including whales, manatees, and dolphins are killed in "dirty fishing" practices. Additionally, 16 billion pounds of sea life is needlessly destroyed each year.

"Dirty fishing" refers to unsustainable commercial fishing practices such as bottom-trawling and indiscriminate netting. These unselective fishing practices bring up untargeted sea life, also know as bycatch, which is thrown back either dead or dying. For instance, shrimp trawling results in up to 10 pounds of bycatch for every pound of shrimp caught.

"Dirty fishing" is devastating the marine environment. Not only are millions of sea animals needlessly dying each year, but a significant amount of sea-floor habitat, such as deep sea corals and sponges, are destroyed, lessening the capacity of our seas to support life. This waste threatens the health of the entire ocean ecosystem and the coastal communities that depend on it.

This needless destruction can be mitigated. The President has submitted his budget for the next fiscal year to Congress including roughly $25 million in funding for National Marine Fisheries Service’s observer programs and the Bycatch Reduction Initiative. This level of funding is far from adequate to significantly reduce the environmental damage that commercial use of unselective fishing techniques does to marine mammals, fish, sea turtles, sea birds, and marine habitat.

Care2 Members are urging Congress to increase the amount of funding available to these programs. If you would like to help, please sign our petition to Congress at http://www.care2.com/go/z/25909

Healthy farm animals are routinely fed antibiotics to promote growth and compensate for unsanitary conditions, particularly at crowded factory farms. This "nontherapeutic" use of antibiotics in healthy pigs, poultry, and beef cattle constitutes an estimated 70% of all antibiotics used in the United States.

S. 2508 will phase-out the nontherapeutic use of eight types of antibiotics in animal agriculture that are also used in human medicine, or are so closely related to human use drugs that they trigger cross-resistance. By targeting the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics, the bill properly allows sick animals to receive necessary treatment.

The act also bans the use in poultry of Cipro-like drugs called fluoroquinolones. In October 2000, the FDA proposed to ban poultry fluoroquinolones because their use undercuts the effectiveness of Cipro and related drugs in treating certain forms of severe food poisoning in humans.

The American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the World Health Organization and other leading health organizations are on record opposing both the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.

Add your voice and press for fast action on this vital legislation. Send a letter now to your Senator and ask him or her to stand for public health and safety by cosponsoring and supporting S. 2508, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Human Treatment Act.
Take Action]]>
This action is the first time that FDA has ever withdrawn an agricultural antibiotic from the market because of concerns about antibiotic resistance affecting human health. The ban was proposed in October 2000, but took nearly five years to finalize because of numerous procedural delays created by drug manufacturers.

According to the Keep Antibiotics Working coalition, the FDA has shown that use of Baytril in poultry reduces the effectiveness of Cipro in treating Campylobacter, one of the most common causes of severe bacterial food poisoning. The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that resistance to Cipro in Campylobacter in humans has risen to 21 percent as of 2002; when Cipro-like drugs were first approved for use in poultry in 1995, such resistance was negligible.

The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. - about 25 million pounds annually - are routinely fed to poultry, swine, and beef cattle not to treat illness but rather to promote slightly faster growth and to compensate for overcrowded and unhealthy conditions in concentrated animal feeding operations. More than half of these drugs are identical or similar to antibiotics that are important in human medicine. Use of antibiotic feed additives spurs the development and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria in our food supply and the environment.
More...]]> This is it: the most important vote to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will take place in September - and we need your signature today.

The showdown vote to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- America's greatest wildlife sanctuary -- will occur in both the House and Senate in mid-September. A provision to open the Refuge to drilling is expected to be buried in the massive Budget Reconciliation Bill.

Please sign this petition to your Senators and Representative today to urge a vote against the Budget Reconciliation bill! The stakes for the Arctic Refuge have never been higher.
Take Action]]> The Great Bear Rainforest is the largest intact, unprotected coastal rainforest in the world. It is also home to one of the world's most mystical creatures--the pure white Spirit Bear.

In an historic effort, corporations and loggers have worked with environmentalists and local communities to create an agreement to protect the habitat of this magnificent creature. It’s called the Great Bear Rainforest Solution: a groundbreaking measure that outlines sustainable logging in British Columbia, Canada--and protects five million acres of rainforest from all logging.

It has taken eight years to craft this vital solution and gather support from a remarkably diverse coalition. But time is running out! The government must act to permanently protect the Great Bear by September 30, 2005--as it has promised!

Please urge Premier Campbell to ensure the survival of the rare white Spirit Bears, wild salmon, and 1,000-year-old cedar of the Great Bear Rainforest by supporting the Great Bear Rainforest Solution.
Take Action]]> some in Congress have chosen to exploit this national tragedy to renew their misguided calls for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"Sometimes it takes a crisis to realize we've got to be more dependent on our own resources," Rep. Capito told the Charleston Daily Mail.

Rep. Joe Barton, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was also quick to call for drilling in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, arguing that "We could be drilling in Alaska right now."

But short-sighted expolitation of the Refuge would do nothing to alleviate problems at the pump. Oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wouldn't hit the market for 10 years and even then would provide less than a one-year supply.

What drilling would do is devastate crucial habitat. The Arctic Refuge is such a special place because it is home to countless wildlife -- from the great predators like the polar bear to the Porcupine Herd, one of the largest caribou herds in North America.
More...]]> more). Hurricanes have increased in strength by 50% over the past 30 years, and unless we slow global warming, things could get worse.

Join Care2 in the Stop Global Warming Virtual March to let your US representatives know you think global warming is real and you want them to do something about it.
Take Action]]> Mercury is a toxic contaminant that is showing up in dangerously high concentrations in the fish we eat. An EPA scientist estimated that one in six American women has enough mercury in her blood to pose neurological risks to her developing baby.

This means that hundreds of thousands of newborns could be handicapped by mercury from the very beginning of their lives.

Instead of encouraging the posting of signs at seafood counters and on tuna shelves, the FDA began working to prevent the state of California from using the state's right-to-know law to educate its citizens about mercury in seafood.

Sign our open letter to FDA Commissioner Dr. Lester Crawford today and tell him that consumers need more information about the risks posed by mercury contamination in seafood, not less!
Take Action]]> Once again, the Bush Administration has launched an attack on America's natural heritage, this time going after our last remaining wild forests. Earlier this year, the Bush administration announced their plans to completely repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects over 60 million acres of unspoiled forests from oil drilling, mining, road building and other destructive development.

Woman and Companion in the Rock Gorge Roadless Area, Sumter National Forest, South Carolina. Photographer: Butch Clay.

Americans overwhelmingly support the protection of our wild forests. We need your help to send a strong message to the Administration that we will not be ignored! Please sign The Wilderness Society's Citizen's Petition to Protect Our Roadless Areas today!

Places like Tongass National Forest in Alaska, Colorado's San Juan National Forest, and the Tahoe National Forest in California are all at risk because of this reckless policy.

Don't let the Bush Administration auction off our wild forests to the highest bidder! Our wild forests can't wait - sign the Citizen's Petition now.
Take Action]]> The U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote Thursday, September 29, on legislation (H.R. 3824) sponsored by Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA) that would gut the Endangered Species Act. Rep. Pombo's bill virtually eliminates the Act's habitat protection requirements, cuts wildlife experts out of the loop on key decisions, weakens the role of science, and makes it easier for greedy developers to dodge the Act's protections.

Your Representative needs to hear from you now - click here to visit www.house.gov, and enter your zip code to find your Representative's phone number. Or, call the House of Representatives switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be connected directly to your Rep. Urge your Rep. to vote NO on the misleadingly titled "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005" (H.R. 3824). THANK YOU!
Take Action]]> The House Resources committee voted on a new energy bill yesterday that authorizes oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge and opening our coastlines to offshore oil drilling.

This bill will now go to the House floor, and we're going to need all the help we can get to protect the Arctic Refuge from the devastation of oil drilling.

Congress is using every legislative vehicle it can to advance their unpopular energy policy initiatives by exploiting the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. But there is no compelling reason to drill in the Arctic Refuge other than oil industry greed. Geologists estimate that only a few months' supply of oil lies beneath the Refuge and it will take ten years before any reaches the market. But in the meantime, the effects of drilling on wildlife, including polar bears, caribou, and wolves, could be deadly.

We're now fighting a two-front war on the Refuge - the Budget Reconciliation Bill, which will be voted on next month, and Rep. Pombo's new energy bill. Last spring, the House passed their version of the budget bill by only three votes, and the Senate by only five. Big Oil, Vice President Dick Cheney, House Majority Leader Tom Delay, and Interior Secretary Gale Norton are pulling out all stops to again prevail.

Defenders of Wildlife has been working tirelessly to flood Congress with phone calls from citizens opposing drilling; run educational ads in Congressional swing states; and organize thousands of activists for last week's successful Arctic Refuge Action Day in coalition with other groups.

Help us stop this assault on Arctic wildlife: please make an emergency tax-deductible donation today to Defenders of Wildlife to protect the Arctic Refuge from toxic oil drilling.
Take Action]]> In an outrageous proposal for the House draft budget reconciliation bill, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-11-CA), Chairman of the House Resources Committee (the most influential House committee on public lands issues), has outlined a plan that includes: selling 15 national parks off to oil and gas industries and private developers; turning park vehicles and facilities into billboards for commercial advertising; and selling commercial naming rights for park buildings.

These 15 parks represent 23 percent of the total National Park System acreage - which is already only 2 percent of U.S. public lands.

Congress and the administration have a responsibility to protect our national heritage. Instead, Congressman Pombo seems prepared to put our American heritage on the auction block, insulting the American people and tarnishing the birthright of current and future generations.

Sign this petition today to urge your Representative to oppose Rep. Pombo's National Park give-away!
Take Action]]> Now the cod are nearly gone, and a centuries-old fishing tradition is ending because of overfishing.

Unfortunately, this story is not unique. A quarter of commercial fish species in U.S. waters are overfished or in danger of being overfished. Populations of popular seafood - tuna, cod, skate and grouper - are much smaller than they were decades ago. Ninety percent of large ocean predators - sharks, rays, swordfish and marlin - have been fished out of existence. Report after report has come out saying the same thing: our oceans are in crisis and the time to act is now.

Yet, the Bush administration, acting through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), proposes to weaken the standards that protect fisheries from overfishing. Once again, the administration is choosing short-term profits over long-term sustainability, jeopardizing our marine ecosystems and a way of life.

Take action! Tell NOAA to maintain their current overfishing protection standard, and to oppose any attempts to weaken our ocean protections.
Take Action]]> The production of just one gold ring produces 20 tons of mine waste.

Toxic chemicals such as cyanide and mercury that are used in producing gold have polluted drinking water supplies, contaminated farmland, and harmed the health of workers and communities. Gold mining operations can also leave a trail of social destruction, displacing communities from their homelands against their will and destroying traditional livelihoods.

This is the real price of gold.

Jewelers may not operate heavy equipment at mine sites, but more than 80 percent of gold mined each year is used to make jewelry. Jewelry firms are thus uniquely positioned to help make real change in gold mining practices.

Some prominent jewelry firms such as Tiffany & Co. have responded to requests from concerned people like you, and have staked out a leadership position on this important issue. Others jewelry companies are lagging behind and you can help them to catch up.

When you sign this No Dirty Gold Pledge, we will show jewelers that thousands of people want gold produced in ways that do not harm communities, workers, and the environment. There are some practices that are just too dirty to accept under any circumstances -- such as dumping mine waste directly into rivers or the ocean.
Take Action]]> killed hundreds of thousands of seals, otters, birds, fish and whales -- despite raking in a historic $25 billion profit in 2005.

It's time to hold ExxonMobil responsible for putting corporate profits over protection of wildlife and wildlife habitat. Join Defenders of Wildlife and other leading conservation groups in boycotting ExxonMobil. Sign our petition to let ExxonMobil know that you WILL NOT BUY ExxonMobil gasoline unless -- and until -- ExxonMobil takes meaningful action to curb global warming, to invest in renewable energy, and to pay for the damages done by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
Take Action]]> too many of her actions have further threatened America's wolves.

Last year, a federal court overturned Secretary Norton's attempts to reduce wolf protections in the lower 48 states. But just weeks ago, Secretary Norton transferred responsibility for wolf management in central Idaho from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over to the state of Idaho - a state that, in 2001, passed a memorandum calling for the eradication of wolves in Idaho "by any means necessary."

And for the past three years, Secretary Norton has pointedly refused to implement and enforce federal law to stop Alaska's barbaric practice of using airplanes to chase down and kill wolves.

Sign the petition below to stand up for America's wolves and urge Secretary Norton to do her job to protect and recover the gray wolf.
Take Action]]> The Bush administration recently announced its proposal to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forests and public lands to raise money for the federal treasury.

The land sales could total more than $1 billion and would be the largest sale of forestland in decades.

Forest Service officials say the sales are needed to raise $800 million over the next five years to pay for schools and roads in rural counties hurt by logging cutbacks on federal land.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called the plan a “terrible idea based on a misguided sense of priorities.” While increasing military funding by 6.9%, the Bush administration cut education spending by 3.8% in this FY2007 budget. And now it wants to sell our natural heritage to pick up the slack?

Selling public land to pay down the deficit would be a shortsighted and irresponsible shift in federal land-management policy. The monetary gains would be temporary, but the land would be gone forever. There are better ways to fund public schooling.

The public has until late March to comment on the sales. Sign the petition below to urge your congressional representatives to oppose this reckless effort.
Take Action]]> It's taken almost ten years of pressure, negotiation, tremendous effort and lots of help from you, but it's finally official: the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement has been approved by the government of British Columbia!

The total area protected from the chainsaw equals 5 million acres, twice the size of Yellowstone Park and equal to 6300 of New York’s Central Park. This total includes new and previous protection areas, plus special no logging zones.

ForestEthics, Greenpeace and Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter have worked toward this solution for almost a decade, using tactics that ranged from blockades to boycotts to boardroom negotiations, all in a bid to protect as much of the Great Bear Rainforest as possible.

This agreement represents hundreds of thousands of hours of dirt-under-the-fingernails work by one of the most unexpected alliances in Canadian history. It included a blue-ribbon science panel supported by governments, environmental groups and logging companies that developed specific recommendations to change logging practices.
More...]]> The Bush administration has launched yet another stealth attack on America's most treasured wild places - our National Parks.

Grand Canyon National Park. Photo courtesy of the National Parks Service

Their plan would dramatically reduce protections for our parks, which could lead to increased off-road vehicle use, additional commercialization, smog and other forms of degradation.

These changes could erode the look and feel of places like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. We only have until February 18 to weigh in on this outrageous proposal.

Take action today by signing The Wilderness Society's petition to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Be sure to include a personal statement about why our National Parks matter to you - your own thoughts will make your comment much stronger!
Take Action]]> Our Beaches at Risk From Drilling - You Can Help

Every summer American families flock to our nation's beaches. In addition to the natural beauty and escape that our coasts provide, these beloved vacation spots are the backbone of our strong coastal economies that generate billions of dollars through tourism, recreation and commercial fishing.

Right now, some in Congress are considering lifting the 25-year-old moratorium that protects our Atlantic and Pacific coasts and waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico from new oil and gas drilling.

Sign this petition to urge Congress to support the current moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling, and to do everything in their power to protect America's beaches for families to enjoy for summers to come.