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Stop Spraying Pesticides in State Marine Waters

12/28/2016 Nativegrl77

CHP Washington State Banner

Don’t let large corporate shellfish growers poison our marine waters with the pesticides Imazamox and Imidicloprid!

As Washingtonians, we all enjoy having salmon, waterfowl, diverse marine life and bees as part of our world.

Large corporate shellfish growers’ efforts to spray pesticides in our marine waters to increase unsustainable shellfish production threatens a myriad of aquatic life.

Both, protected native and non-native eelgrass will be eradicated, migratory waterfowl food sources will be eliminated, salmon smolts will lose important cover and bees will be exposed to a destructive neurotoxin that has been blamed for colony collapse disorder all over the world.

Send a message to the Washington Department of Ecology today: “Do not approve the spraying of Imazamox, Imidicloprid or any toxic chemicals in Washington marine waters.” We need to protect our marine life and human health. The proposed spraying will add to the chemical burden of years of spraying the pesticides Glyphosate, Imazapyr and Carbaryl on Willapa Bay shellfish areas. The WA State Attorney General already referred to Willapa Bay as “chemical soup” in a 2012 motion for summary judgment.

Your comments will lend a voice to prevent destruction of wildlife that cannot speak for itself. The Dept. of Ecology will take note if thousands of citizens tell them we noticed and care about their actions.

Thank you for all that you do for Washington’s environment and human health.

Dorothy Walker, Sierra Club
Washington State Marine Ecosystem Campaign

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The pallid sturgeon has plied Earth’s waterways for 78 mil years …they need our help!

12/28/2016 Nativegrl77

Your voice can make a difference for one of the planet’s last living dinosaurs.

It survived the asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs, but if we don’t act quickly, it won’t survive us.

The pallid sturgeon has plied Earth’s waterways for 78 million years. But a century of dam building has led to habitat changes that may mean the end for this amazing fish. Biologists estimate that only 125 wild-born pallid sturgeon remain in the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. What’s worse, none have successfully reproduced in decades because too many dams now block their path and destroy their habitat.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation have the chance to change that, but they have recently released a plan that, far from helping these fish, will likely doom them.

The clear way to save the pallid sturgeon and spend taxpayer dollars wisely is to restore the Yellowstone River by removing the irrigation dam that blocks the path of these fish and to deliver water to irrigators via pumps or other means.

But current government agency plans promote a different solution that Montana fish biologists – and even the government’s own scientists – say won’t work: an even larger concrete dam and two-mile long artificial fish bypass channel. This flawed alternative may have profound effects on the entire fishery of the lower Yellowstone River, not just the pallid sturgeon.

Your voice can make a difference. Tell the agencies involved that you oppose the construction of a new, more permanent dam and that you believe that federal funding for the project should be spent on restoring the Yellowstone River, not on building a bigger dam.

These fish cannot wait. They need our help now.

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Steve Forrest
Rockies and Plains Senior Representative
Defenders of Wildlife

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The climate denier playbook – by Union of Concerned Scientists

12/28/2016 Nativegrl77

UCSLOGO here’s their plan:

First, harass climate scientists and politicize their research. Next, denounce lawmakers who call for climate action. Then slash funding for climate science—because it’s too “politicized.”

Those are the words of Trump senior adviser Bob Walker, head of the NASA transition team. He wants to eliminate NASA’s funding for earth science and research.¹ Yep, you read that right.

Even forgetting climate change, NASA’s earth science research is crucial to billions of dollars of economic activity, improving weather forecasts, helping farmers measure soil moisture, helping predict the spread of disease, and more.² Gutting it would have permanent implications.

This disregard for science is visible throughout Trump’s transition team. That’s why we need to be more ready than ever to fight back—to protect science, to advocate for scientists, to defend the victories we’ve won together.

We’ve set a goal of raising $2.065 million by December 31st, and we’re still $365,000 away. Please, renew your support with a year-end donation.

Thank you,

John Mace, Membership Director

1. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth -donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/opinion/earth-the-final-frontier.html

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“Washington State’s water quality standards are not protecting you”

12/28/2016 Nativegrl77

EPA, Washington State Department of Ecology: Reject Increased Cancer Risk Level; Approve New Fish Consumption Rate

Seattle Human Rights Commission (SHRC)
Seattle, Washington

Sign the petition

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ClearWaterProject: Building a movement for clean water & cultural survival

12/27/2016 Nativegrl77 2 Comments

“Without clean water, we cannot survive,” Emergildo Criollo told me recently. See How We Work

You may have heard of Emergildo. An indigenous leader of the Cofan Nation in Ecuador’s northern Amazon, he has been a relentless advocate for his people, speaking out about oil giant Chevron’s toxic legacy in his territory. But today, even as he continues the fight to hold Chevron accountable, Emergildo isn’t waiting for a cleanup that seems always on the horizon.

Emergildo is taking matters into his own hands, helping to bring clean water to thousands of indigenous people who have suffered without for decades. And today, I want to ask you to support Emergildo, and the other indigenous leaders who are part of an effort that Amazon Watch is deeply proud to support:

It’s called The ClearWater Project.

Established in late 2011 by long-time Amazon Watch campaigner Mitch Anderson, ClearWater was a response to Emergildo’s clarion call for clean water, where access to this basic necessity can be a matter of life and death.

ClearWater began with a big goal: provide safe, sustainable access to clean water for every indigenous family in the region, whose ancestral waterways have been poisoned by oil production and ensuing industrialization.

In just two years, ClearWater has installed more than 500 family-sized rainwater harvesting and filtration systems that serve thousands of people in communities who have long suffered an epidemic of cancer, birth defects, and other illnesses that numerous health studies in the region blame on a lack of access to safe sources of water for drinking, bathing, and cooking.

And our efforts have been able to make this impact because from the beginning, ClearWater has been a collaborative partnership between the five indigenous nationalities here – the Cofan, Siona, Secoya, Kichwa, and Waorani – and international supporters, such as water engineers, humanitarians, activists, philanthropists, and people like you.

ClearWater believes in collaborative, integrative, community-led solutions, where someone like Emergildo is coordinating amongst the different indigenous nationalities to install new water systems, local youth are using GPS to map their biological and cultural resources, and frontline leaders are learning new media techniques to broadcast their concerns to the world.

Clean water, health, and dignity. From this foundation, Emergildo and the indigenous people of Ecuador’s northern Amazon, are building a movement for rainforest protection and cultural survival.

I’m proud that Amazon Watch is a founding partner in this project, and I hope you’ll join us too.

In solidarity,

Han Shan
Amazon Watch Advisory Board Member

P.S. Explore ClearWater’s impact by navigating around this cutting-edge interactive map designed by another Amazon Watch family member, Gregor MacLennan, now Digital Democracy’s Program Director.