Tag Archives: Program director

As you know, Tripa rainforest is in a state of emergency.
The Tripa forest of Sumatra, home to Indigenous communities and critical to the survival of endangered Sumatran orangutans, is still in peril from the landclearing fires started by palm oil companies in March.
U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill—trader of 25% of the world’s palm oil—can make a difference by adopting the safeguards necessary to guarantee that rainforests, communities and critical habitat for endangered species are not destroyed through its palm oil business.
Cargill clearly needs a wakeup call. Can you commit five minutes of your time to give it to them?
Applying the kind of pressure required for Cargill to take a stand for the local people of Tripa, the survival of Sumatran orangutans, and the 130 million year old rainforests that they call home is no small task, but it’s a worthy one.
Are you ready to do what it takes to transform the destructive behavior of a corporate giant? Cargill needs to hear from you, and hundreds of other rainforest advocates like you, to be moved to action at this critical moment.
Let’s give this sleeping giant a wake up call today to save Tripa!

		For the forests,
		Lindsey Allen Forest Program Director Twitter: @probwithpalmoil #savetripa

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Who’s America’s biggest funder of dirty coal?

07/28/2011 Nativegrl77

Over the last few weeks, I’ve told you about toxic aging coal plants in Chicago, mountaintop removal mining threatening Kentucky’s highest peak, and coal export terminals proposed in the Pacific Northwest.

What do you think all these destructive coal projects have in common?

Follow the money—deep into Appalachia’s majestic mountains, through neighborhoods crowned with filthy smokestacks, and into homes of people affected by skyrocketing asthma rates—and you’ll land at the doorstep of America’s largest financier of coal: Bank of America.

No more dollars for dirty energy

Bank of America provided over $3.9 billion in financing to the coal industry in 2010, despite the fact that coal is responsible for polluting our air, damaging our climate, and seriously threatening our health.

Bank of America has a responsibility to end its support for the ultimate subprime investment: coal. BofA wreaked havoc on America’s housing market, and its prolific financing of carbon-heavy coal is a continuation of this reckless, shortsighted behavior.

No more dollars for dirty energy

We cannot grow the clean energy economy essential to healthy communities and climate if the country’s leading financial institutions continue to bankroll the coal sector.

We are going to need your outrage, your voice and your passion. No more dollars for dirty energy

It will take all of us, but this is a fight we can and must win.

		For a clean energy future,
		Amanda Starbuck Energy & Finance Program Director Twitter: @DirtyEnergy

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Chicago is sick of coal plants …Amanda Starbuck, Rainforest Action Network

07/21/2011 Nativegrl77

The Fisk and Crawford coal plants, owned by Midwest Generation, are located right in the heart of Chicago. Combined these two ancient plants have been spewing pollution directly into the Windy City‘s bustling neighborhoods for over 150 years.

“Every class I teach has four to seven students who suffer from horrifying respiratory illness,” says Chicago public school teacher Gloria Fallon. “I can no longer sit back and watch my students and my community being sacrificed for dirty coal.”

The asthma hospitalization rate in Chicago is nearly double the U.S. national average. In some neighborhoods, over 25% of the children under twelve suffer from asthma.

Midwest Generation must be stopped.

Tell Bank of America, Citi, and Chase to pull funding from Midwest Generation, so these coal plants will finally be shut down.

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) and the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO) have been working for many years to demand that Midwest Generation stop poisoning their communities with 45,000 tons of pollution every year. Join them.

Stand with LVEJO and PERRO for environmental justice. Wake up the financial institutions that fuel U.S. polluters today.

Air pollution from Fisk and Crawford causes more than 40 deaths, 66 heart attacks and 720 asthma attacks every year. Big banks enable devastating coal projects like these to continue hurting communities in Chicago and all across the United States.

Enough is enough. Americans deserve clean air and healthy communities. It’s time for U.S. financial institutions to take responsibility for their actions, pull financing from dirty fossil fuel projects and start banking on clean, sustainable energy.

Demand that Bank of America, Citi, and Chase support clean energy projects instead of dirty, deadly ones.

For a clean energy future,

Amanda Starbuck
Energy & Finance Program Director

Twitter: @DirtyEnergy