choke-point-reckoning

On March 22nd, World Water Day 2017, Pope Francis will inspire a global conversation. His address from the Vatican will help shift how the world values and understands its single most precious resource: water. Immediately following the Papal address, at 10:30 a.m. CET, 400 thought leaders from around the world will convene at WATERSHED. These policy makers and academics, together with students, artists, business leaders and men and women from the most at-risk populations will begin an unprecedented dialogue around the value and values of water.

The conference is co-hosted by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture and the Club of Rome.

Collaborating partners include Circle of Blue, with input from the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on the Environment.

Please look out for World Water Day in 2018 – Nativegrl77

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Sonny Perdue:The Agriculture Secretary Nominee to Put Healthy Food and Farms First

03/25/2017 Nativegrl77

Help Give Healthy Food a Place at the Table

Sonny Perdue’s confirmation for secretary of the US Department of Agriculture is likely to occur without a fight, so we need to move fast to put our vision for a better food system on the table. Take action now to demand he put healthy food and farms first.

Add your name to the petition.

ACTION ALERT
Tell the Agriculture Secretary Nominee to Put Healthy Food and Farms First

Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue is President Trump’s nominee to lead the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA plays a vital role in our food system, a system that right now is fueling chronic health problems, damaging farmland, and spewing chemical runoff into our waterways.

You can bet Governor Perdue is hearing from the usual agribusiness lobbyists working to keep the status quo, and he has a history of siding with them. Because he is likely to be confirmed after his hearing this week without much of a fight, we need to ensure the first thing he hears upon assuming office is a demand for smarter public investments to make healthy foods more affordable, to improve children’s health and well-being, and to encourage farmers to adopt science-based, sustainable farming practices.

Add your name to our petition telling the USDA Secretary nominee Sonny Perdue: put healthy food and farms first.

We’ll be hand-delivering the message within the first week of his confirmation.

Sincerely,

Leslie Morrison
Senior Outreach Coordinator
Food & Environment Program
Union of Concerned Scientists

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FDA Approved? and Why – U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

03/25/2017 Nativegrl77

How can you know for sure what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates? FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by regulating human drugs and biologics, animal drugs, medical devices, tobacco products, food and animal feed, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.

Here is a guide to how FDA regulates products —and what the agency does (and doesn’t) approve.

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Put the US banks on notice: DO NOT fund Keystone XL!

03/25/2017 Nativegrl77

trump’s State Department has approved the permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

By reversing course on the controversial Keystone XL project, Trump has put the desires of fossil fuel companies before the rights of our communities. This pipeline will pollute our heartland, contaminate our clean air and water, and tread on the on the rights of Indigenous people and private landowners. This pipeline will be an absolute disaster — but you can help stop it.

The pipeline it still faces obstacles and one of the biggest is funding. TransCanada, the energy giant behind Keystone XL, will need major support from their banking partners if they want to complete their gigantic tar sands project. That why we’re asking you to put the US banks on notice: DO NOT fund Keystone XL.

Tell Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, TD Bank and Bank of America they must NOT provide any financial services to TransCanada that could help construct the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Keystone XL pipeline will carry 800,000 barrels of tar sands oil daily across the US, to be refined, exported and burned, and this pipeline will have devastating effect on our climate and set the stage for increased fossil fuel dependence for years to come. Financial institutions can no longer get away with funding climate chaos.

Banks funding highly controversial pipeline projects like Dakota Access have already drawn the resistance of tens of thousands of people and protests around the world. Any financial institution associated with bankrolling the Keystone Pipeline should expect to meet similar scrutiny, reputational risk, and opposition every step of the way.

Sign the petition now demanding Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, TD Bank and Bank of America honor their climate commitments and NOT provide any financial assistance for Keystone XL.

The Keystone XL pipeline was stopped the first time round by a powerful alliance of Indigenous communities, ranchers, farmers, and climate activists. Millions of people, like you, friend, made phone calls, sent emails and letters, and spoke up to friends and neighbors, and I know we will come together again to do everything in your power to stop any attempt to restart this project.

Please join me in telling US banks they need to say NO to financially supporting the Keystone Pipeline and protect our communities and our planet. This movement is powerful and we will resist this project — with our allies across the country and across borders — and we will continue to build the future the world wants to see, one without fossil fuels.

Keep resisting,
Diana Best
Senior Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace USA

P.S. We can’t continue to let the banks ignore their climate and human rights commitments. The time is now to call them out and let them know we mean business. Demand the US banks commit to absolutely no financial services for the Keystone Pipeline.

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Please act to save our lives in Aleppo

03/24/2017 Nativegrl77

Petitioning Angela Merkel

World leaders: Please act to save our lives in Aleppo

Petition by Dr. Hamza Al Khatib

Aleppo, Syrian Arab Republic

693,283

Supporters

Sign Dr. Hamza’s petition

I am one of the very last doctors serving the remaining 300,000 citizens of eastern Aleppo.

Atrocities are being committed every day. The Syrian regime and Russian aircraft are systematically targeting civilians and hospitals across the city.

We have seen no real effort from President Obama, Chancellor Merkel or Prime Minister May to prevent the criminal attacks against civilians and our hospitals.

That is why I’ve started this petition. World leaders are not listening to my voice alone. Will you join me and make a call so loud they can’t ignore us?

For five years, we have borne witness as countless patients, friends and colleagues suffered violent, tormented deaths. For five years, the world has stood by and remarked how ‘complicated’ Syria is, while doing little to protect us.

Last month there were 42 attacks on medical facilities in Syria, 15 of which were hospitals in which my colleagues and I work. At this rate, our medical services in Aleppo could be completely destroyed in a month, leaving 300,000 people to die.

What pains me and my fellow doctors the most is choosing who will live and who will die. Young children are sometimes brought into our emergency rooms so badly injured that we have to prioritise those with better chances, or simply don’t have the equipment to help them. A few weeks ago, four newborn babies gasping for air suffocated to death after a blast cut the oxygen supply to their incubators. Their lives ended before they had really begun.

Despite the horror, we choose to be here. We took a pledge to help those in need. We have a duty to remain and help. All we ask now is for Obama, Merkel, May and other world leaders to do their duty, too.

We do not need their tears or sympathy or even prayers, we need them to act. We need them to prove that they are the friends of Syrians.

Please join us in our call. Ask world leaders to save the people of Aleppo.