Monthly Archives: August 2013

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Pledge to slay your energy vampires


Help power a billion more Acts of Green

A Billion Acts of Green® has been a huge success. We are now well on our way to collecting two billion Acts of Green. Thank you for all your contributions!

Over the next several months, we will be unveiling new actions to help you reduce your carbon footprint and live more sustainably. Stay tuned each month for new ideas about how you can make a difference!earthdaylogo

Today, we are proud to introduce our first action of the series: Slaying Vampire Energy. Even when appliances are turned off, they still consume electricity, called “Vampire Energy.” Each year, vampire energy is estimated to cost US consumers $11 billion. Since the majority of electricity is produced by fossil fuel power plants, vampire energy is also responsible for millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year!

Fortunately, there are several easy steps we can take to cut down on vampire energy. Unplug appliances and chargers when they are not in use, plug appliances into power strips, which can be easily turned on and off with one button, or replace old appliances with energy efficient models.

Make the pledge to reduce the amount of electricity wasted in your home today! Tell your friends! And be sure to engage with us on Twitter: #ActOfGreen. Together, we will form an active network of people striving to live more sustainably.

— The Earth Day Network Team

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get Ready to ride … Ian Duff, Greenpeace


  On Sunday, September 15, 2013 we’re organizing the biggest event in defense of the Arctic in history. In cities around the world, we’re going to fill the streets with people riding bikes in support of the Arctic. We’re planning some big surprises and will send you more information later on, but for now add it to your calendar.
         Click here to find out more, and sign up for the Ice Ride!
Last month, when six young women took the world’s breath away by climbing a skyscraper in protest against Shell drilling in the Arctic, they asked: “What will YOU do to save the Arctic?”
This is your chance to answer that call, to speak out for the polar bears who have no voice of their own, to defend one of the world’s last pristine sanctuaries from the ravages of dirty oil companies. 
Mid-September is usually a heartbreaking time for the Arctic, because the sea ice is melting in free fall, reaching new record lows every year. But this year, we’re going to mark it with a celebration instead. Our movement of millions has taken the first steps to protect this incredible place. We will continue fighting and growing — and we will succeed.
If you believe, like we do, that making a change in this world is still possible, then add your name to the Ice Ride. Let’s show Shell and the whole world that we care about saving the Arctic, for all of us.
Click here to tell us you’re in, and forward this email to family and friends so they can reserve their places too.
See you there!
Ian Duff          Arctic Campaign          Greenpeace

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Progressive Radio NorthWest, PRNW ~~~ the Other Washington


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Our small Progressive Radio Seattle Team is expanding with new people bringing new ideas and options to the table.

For starters, the Team decided on a name change: We are now Progressive Radio Northwest (PRNW). We’ve heard from enthusiastic progressive radio listeners from every corner of the region and wanted our name to reflect the scope and intensity of the public commitment to bring progressive talk BACK to free public airwaves and beyond.

Here are some activities coming up where you can help spread the word about PRNW: (and have some fun):

· Hempfest (http://www.hempfest.org/) is this weekend and it would be great to have a team of progressive radio enthusiasts on hand to pass out some oversized postcards we’ve created headlined, “Don’t let progressive radio go up in smoke!” We need someone to coordinate the effort and folks to hand out the cards on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Let us know your preference. Respond to the progressiveradionorthwest email below with “Hempfest” in the subject line if you can participate.

· Northwest Progressive Institute Tenth Anniversary Picnic, next Thursday, August 22.

Celebrate NPI’s first decade as you enjoy games, music and some serious picnic eats. King County Executive Dow Constantine and Port Commissioner Courtney Gregoire are scheduled to speak. You do not need to bring your own food, but bring lawn chairs or blankets or whatever you’d like to be comfortable. Thanks to all who already signed up to volunteer at the PRNW table – we’ll be handing out information about progressive radio.

 EVERYONE is welcome to come enjoy the picnic: Thursday, August 22, 4:30 to 7:30 pm, Perrigo Park, 9011 196th Avenue NE, Redmond, Washington 98053. For information: http://www.nwprogressive.org

Our web site is almost ready: Thanks to the hard work and talents of our volunteer webmeister, Rennie Sawade, an area software engineer and web developer, our web site is almost ready for prime time. Check out Rennie’s Twitter feed @ProgressiveGeek or visit http://www.progressivegeek.com/

Please send your responses and comments to: Progressive Radio Northwest Team, progressiveradionorthwest@gmail.com

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Art Takes Paris : The Art World’s Finest, be a part of it ~~ 4 days left to register


Calling all creatives! Submit your best work and be guaranteed to have your work seen by some of the hottest names in the art world. We’re searching for the next great artist in Art Takes Paris. It could be you

PARIS IS CALLING YOU.

Every single entrant will be reviewed by our strongest jury panel yet.

$10,000 Cash Grant  |  Feature Exhibition in Paris this Fall  |  Luxury Hotel Stay
Jurors from The Met, The Andy Warhol Museum, Lisson Gallery, and Marianne Boesky Gallery will select one creative as the GRAND PRIZE award winner, receiving a  solo show in Paris this November. Learn more >>

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From Bad to Worse

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GOP’s August Woes Continue

From birther eruptions to lonely diatribes against immigration reform to doubling down on their anti-science climate denialism, things are just not going very well out there for Republicans this August.

Here’s the latest news on Republicans’ long, hot August:
•GOP can’t turn off the climate science crazy: Salon’s Brian Beutler writes, “Going into August recess, GOP leaders were really hoping its members of Congress wouldn’t yield to a shared tendency to talk about climate science…To no one’s surprise, though, that’s a bit like hoping the scorpion won’t sting the frog. Already this month, several House Republicans have given in to their nature.”
•GOP Congressman calls for government shutdown unless Congress ‘defunds Obamacare this year’:
During a town hall meeting in a tony suburb outside Sacramento on Tuesday, McClintock brought up the upcoming continuing resolution, which is necessary to keep government open but which many conservatives are targeting as a venue for another showdown over Obamacare. McClintock told the audience that he will vote against the continuing resolution — and thus for a government shutdown — unless the bill “defunds Obamacare this year.”
•Rand Paul: ‘I don’t think there is any particular evidence’ of black voters being prevented from voting: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a tea party senator with a long history of opposition to civil rights laws, told an audience in Louisville, Kentucky on Wednesday that there is no evidence of black voters being excluded from the franchise.
•GOP Congressman argues against multiculturalism: ‘There’s only one race here, it’s the American race’: Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) took a strong stand against multiculturalism at a town hall meeting, arguing that immigrants need to shed their culture, become “the American race,” and if they’re unwilling to do so, “reevaluate” whether they want to be in this country in the first place. Fielding questions about immigration reform, McClintock told the audience on Tuesday evening that he worries current generations of immigrants aren’t assimilating like in the past but instead retaining the culture from their native land. “There’s only one race here, it’s the American race,” he implored to constituents.
•Rep. Steve King says Latino immigrants are from a ‘violent civilization,’ will bring ‘more violence’ to America:
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) launched a vicious tirade against individuals from Latin America, claiming that the population gets more violent as one moves further south in Latin America
•Huge crowd turns out to pressure House GOP leader to back pathway to earned citizenship: A crowd of at least 1,000 people turned out today at a town hall meeting in the district of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the third-ranking GOP leader in the House of Representatives.
•Almost nobody shows up at Steve King’s anti-immigration reform “rally”: Rep. Steve King (R-IA) held a rally on Monday to oppose the immigration reform effort taking place on Capitol Hill, but no one, it seems, felt like going.
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CREDIT: Politico’s @seungminkim