Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

80% of energy is wasted


3:28 PM (10 minutes ago)
to me

Dear Friend,

Every year, we waste more than 60% of the energy we generate in the US. In fact, the amount of energy wasted in the US in 2012 could power the UK for 7 years!

Simply put, we need to become more energy efficient. That’s why the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency bill is so important. The bipartisan Shaheen-Portman bill would promote energy savings and efficiency upgrades in commercial and industrial buildings, helping to dramatically reduce the amount of energy we waste.

Tell your Senators that you support the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency bill!

The bill enjoys widespread support from environmental advocates and businesses, alike. It will save energy, reduce costs for businesses and the federal government, and save taxpayer dollars.

It seems like a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the bill has been stalled in Congress for several months. We can’t afford to keep waiting. Energy efficiency is too important—both for our environment and for our economy.

Contact your Senators today! Urge them to support energy efficiency and vote for the Shaheen-Portman bill!

Thanks for your support,

-The Earth Day Network Team
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Major vehicles victory!


Cleaner air and healthier communities are on the way.

We Did It!

ShareUCS supporters like you helped push new standards for cleaner gasoline and cleaner cars over the finish line. Share the great news for cleaner air on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

Take a deep breath of (cleaner) air! Thanks to UCS supporters like you, we can all celebrate a major victory in the fight for cleaner air and healthier communities.

The White House just finalized stronger standards to reduce sulfur from our gasoline and pollution from our tailpipes. Implementing these standards, known as Tier 3 standards, will help prevent thousands of premature deaths and asthma attacks each year by ensuring our gasoline burns cleaner and our tailpipes spew less pollution.

Stronger standards for cleaner fuel and vehicles will also put the United States back on track with global efforts to reduce the sulfur in gasoline. And they will help us all breathe easier—especially the vulnerable communities living near high-traffic roadways or refineries.

We celebrate cleaner air today—despite the oil industry and their allies trying to block progress every step of the way—with the tens of thousands of UCS supporters who sent comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), stood up against congressional attempts to derail Tier 3, and wrote letters to their local papers to share their personal stories about the dangers of dirty air.

We want to say thank you for pushing these standards across the finish line with all you do to support UCS.

Along with a coalition of public health, environmental, faith-based, state, labor, and industry groups, we’ll be keeping an eye on Congress and the courts for additional attacks on Tier 3 in the coming months. We’ll also keep you informed on ways to defend these standards and advance other solutions to clean up our transportation fleet—there’s lots of work left to cut oil use, global warming emissions, and air pollution from our cars and trucks.

But today we want to say thanks to UCS supporters like you for your dedication to building a cleaner transportation future that works for all of us.

Learn more about this victory and share the great news on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

Sincerely, Rachel Cohen Rachel Cohen National Field Organizer Clean Vehicles Program Union of Concerned Scientists
P.S. For more on the benefits of this important program, see our Tier 3 webpage.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

50th Time’s the Charm?


By 

House Republicans Are Still On Another Planet

CongratsGOP

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

While that quote has been misattributed to everyone from Albert Einstein to Mark Twain, it’s a pretty apt description of House Republicans and the Affordable Care Act.

Today, House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 50th time since the law was passed in 2010. The repeal bill they passed this afternoon would result in a million additional uninsured Americans just this year alone.

President Obama took a shot at these endless GOP games last week: “You know what they say: 50th time is the charm. Maybe when you hit your 50th repeal vote, you will win a prize. Maybe if you buy 50 repeal votes, you get one free.”

Meanwhile, in the real world, the Affordable Care Act continues to generate results. More than 4 million people have obtained private health coverage through the new marketplaces, millions more have gotten cover through Medicaid (more on that in a second), and three million young people have been able to stay on their parents’ insurance.

A government report released yesterday detailed how the U.S. economy is already benefiting from the law: by driving up personal income and consumer spending. Between Medicaid expanding to cover millions more low-income people, and families who bought private insurance on the exchange and took advantage of the law’s generous tax credits, the ACA contributed a $33.9 billion jump in personal income for January alone.

Think about that for a second — a $33.9 billion jump in personal income in the first month of the law’s full implementation.

The report also found a bigger than expected increase in consumer spending as well — about $45.2 billion total for the month. The Wall Street Journal looked at the report and said that about three-quarters of this surprisingly positive growth came from those benefiting from the ACA.

States are also taking important steps to protect their citizens and make sure affordable coverage is available for everyone. In Arkansas, the House of Representatives, which in recent weeks voted to kick 96,000 people off their health insurance, finally wrangled the votes to extend the state’s “private option” for Medicaid expansion for another year. In New Hampshire, the State Senate is expected to follow suit with a similar plan, using federal money to help low-income residents enroll in private insurance coverage.

Unfortunately, other Republican governors and lawmakers around the country continue to reject expanding Medicaid, denying health coverage to millions of their fellow citizens solely because of partisan politics. Thousands of these people will die as a result. Really.

BOTTOM LINE: The Affordable Care Act is working, It is providing quality, affordable health coverage to millions of Americans and a boost to our economy. Even some red state Republicans are starting to see the light and understand the benefits of the law. With today’s 50th vote to repeal the law, Congressional Republicans made clear once again that they are quite simply living on another planet.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Michael Bell Team : Plea for a Change


The Wisconsin State Assembly unanimously voted in favor of external investigations of officer-involved deaths.  Officers who take a life will no longer be solely investigated by their coworkers.

Now we must get Wisconsin Senators on board.

You’ve gotten us this far.  Will you please take just a moment to encourage your Wisconsin Senator to support Assembly Bill 409?

Here is where you can find your Senator’s email address: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/pages/waml.aspx  and, here’s an example of what you could write to them:

Dear ___________,

The fatal use of force is the ultimate life or death decision that law enforcement officers should hope to never have to make. However, in the instance of an officer-involved death, we believe that the internal investigation into the incident shouldn’t be run by police officers from the same jurisdiction.

Assembly Bill 409, passed with unanimous through the State Assembly on Tuesday, February 18.

This bill, quite simply, requires at least two investigators from outside the law enforcement agency in which the death occurred.

This bill, authored by Rep. Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay) and Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison), brought families and loved ones of those impacted by an officer-involved death together with law enforcement to address their concerns. The result is a bill that would insert more independence into the investigation, reassuring families while protecting the rights of law enforcement officers.

Wisconsin is on the precipice of becoming the first state in the nation to mandate and independent investigation into officer-involved deaths.

This bipartisan bill is supported not only by families who have lost loved ones, but also multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Wisconsin Professional Police Association.

As such, I’m writing to encourage you to vote in favor of Assembly Bill 409, when it comes before you.

Sincerely,  Your Name  Address  City, State Zip

This message was sent by Michael Bell Team : Plea for a Change using the Change.org system. You received this email because you signed a petition started by Michael Bell Team : Plea for a Change on Change.org: “Protect Wisconsin Families and Honest Police: Support Fair Investigations.” Change.org does not endorse contents of this message.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Head & Shoulders has a dirty secret


#ProtectParadise

I wanted to check that you saw my email last week. Procter & Gamble — the maker of Head & Shoulders shampoo — is pushing endangered animals like the orangutan and Sumatran tiger closer to extinction by supporting rainforest destruction.
In just one week, supporters like you have sent over 185,000 messages to Procter & Gamble’s CEO, demanding the company to take forest-destroying palm oil out of its products. But P&G is trying to ignore the public and the evidence linking its products to deforestation.
That’s why it’s time to turn up the heat. Right now, nine Greenpeace activists are protesting at P&G’s global headquarters. Or more accurately — on the walls of P&G’s global headquarters. Today, Procter & Gamble won’t be able to shut out the message that it is on the hook for deforestation.
Let P&G know that your concerns aren’t going away.

Tell Procter & Gamble to make its products forest friendly now.
Thanks for all you do,  From: Joao Talocchi, Greenpeace

Procter & Gamble’s products — like Head & Shoulders — are tied to Indonesian rainforest destruction.
Act now to stop rainforest destruction! The  company must cut the link between its products and extinction. Demand that Procter & Gamble commit to forest-friendly palm oil now.
take action today

A rainforest that’s home to 10-15% of all species on earth — including the last remaining 400 Sumatran tigers — is being methodically destroyed in Indonesia.
Yet, despite this terrible fact, I’m optimistic. I’m not writing to tell you about extinction or catastrophe. I’m writing because I believe we’re on the verge of a historic moment that could change everything. To get there, I need your help.
Greenpeace launched a new global campaign this month demanding that big name brands cut their links to dirty palm oil — the leading cause of deforestation in Indonesia. And the pressure is working — new companies are announcing No Deforestation policies almost weekly.
But a few key corporate holdouts are stalling the progress. If we get these companies to commit, we can transform the palm oil industry in Indonesia for good.
Procter & Gamble — the company that makes Head & Shoulders — continues to buy dirty palm oil tied to forest destruction in Indonesia. Send the company a message now demanding that it use only forest friendly palm oil in all its products.
With every person who speaks out and every new company that commits to a No Deforestation policy, it gets harder and harder for companies like Procter & Gamble to continue with business as usual.
In the two weeks since we launched, over 220,000 supporters like you have demanded that brands they use commit to using only tiger and forest friendly palm oil. The results speak for themselves.
L’Oreal, Hershey, even supermarket Food Lion have joined multinational companies like Nestle and Unilever over the last two months in committing to cut their links with forest destruction.
This is huge. Change is happening faster than we ever could have hoped for. But to truly tip the balance in favor of the forests, corporate leaders like Procter & Gamble must commit to stop contributing to deforestation. Tell Head & Shoulders’ owner Procter & Gamble that it’s time the company cut the link between beauty products and extinction. Demand that the company commit to forest-friendly palm oil now.
Changing corporation’s palm oil policies won’t just help protect Indonesian rainforest. When major brand start demanding no deforestation palm oil, suppliers around the world will have to stop cutting down forests to keep their customers. This single campaign could protect forests across the globe from destruction for palm oil plantations.
We are at the tipping point to utterly transform the entire palm oil industry. Do that, and we’re well on our way to achieving our goal of zero deforestation globally by 2020.
Tell Procter & Gamble: Stop using dirty palm oil now. We won’t let up until it makes the change.
With hope,
Joao Talocchi Greenpeace USA Palm Oil Campaigner

P.S.

Tell Procter & Gamble — the maker of Head & Shoulders — to stop using palm oil linked to deforestation because washing away dandruff shouldn’t wipe out tigers.