Tag Archives: Washington

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

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According to a new groundbreaking report from Harvard, coal is costing Americans up to an extra HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS every year.

But it’s what’s behind the dollar amounts from the report that really matters. We’re talking about kids with asthma, mothers taking time off of work to take care of sick relatives, communities turning into cancer clusters, climate change…the list goes on and on.

Back in Washington, however, our elected leaders are being pressured by the deep pockets of the coal industry to take away the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate coal-fired power plants. Saying it will cost Americans too much money. Nothing could be further from the truth. Coal will cost us even more if the EPA loses this ability.

That’s why we are going to personally deliver a copy of the Harvard report to both of your Senators along with signatures from the people they’re elected to represent in Washington. We won’t let them ignore or pretend they don’t know about the extra half a trillion dollars coal is costing all of us every year or how their constituents feel about it.

Pleas join us by adding your name to our petition right now and we’ll make sure it is included in the delivery to your Senators. http://us.greenpeace.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=775&s_src=taf  

This report marks the first time ever that all of the effects during the lifecycle of coal — from mining to burning in coal-fired power plants — have been accounted for and the results are staggering. The hundreds of coal-fired power plants across the country are driving these effects. Which is why Greenpeace is launching a new campaign this year that will take the fight directly to these dirty polluters.

Bridgeport, Connecticut is home to one of these plants. And Greenpeace activists were there today to send a simple message — “Shut it down. Quit coal.” It’s a message we’ll be repeating over and over again at plants everywhere. It’s the same message we’ll be delivering to your Senators along with the report. Sign the petition today and let’s make sure the Senate defends the EPA’s ability to protect us from the true cost of coal.

Quit coal,

Kelly Mitchell

Greenpeace Coal Campaigner

P.S. We’re going to collect these petitions up until March 1st. So be sure to forward this around and get your friends involved.

http://us.greenpeace.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=775&s_src=taf

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Senator Patty Murray responds to pending legislation in the Senate:the Gray Wolf


 Thank you for writing to me regarding the priority you place on the protection of the gray wolf. It was good to hear from you.

 I have consistently supported robust laws to protect endangered species, including efforts to protect Pacific salmon and Puget Sound orcas. Rest assured, I oppose rolling back important environmental protections like the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and support funding to protect endangered species and enhance habitat in Washington State. Thank you for alerting me to legislation regarding endangered species currently pending before the Senate.

 Throughout my tenure in the Senate, I have been a strong supporter of protection for endangered species and their critical habitats. Please know that I will work with my colleagues in the Senate and as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to see that endangered species programs obtain proper funding, and as the Senate addresses issues related to conservation and protection of wildlife during the 112th Congress, I will keep your thoughts in mind.

 If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my weekly updates at http://murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=GetEmailUpdates. Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.

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 Sincerely,

A

Patty Murray

United States Senator

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Sincerely,

Patty Murray

United States Senator

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Tell Congress: Stop wasting taxpayer money on bottled water


During and after the State of the Union last Tuesday, President Obama and Congressional Republicans waxed poetic about the need to cut wasteful spending in Washington. Here’s an easy place to start:

According to Corporate Accountability International, Congress spent nearly $200,000 on bottled water in just three months last year. Recent studies estimate that bottled water costs almost 2,000 times more than tap water – even though the two types of water often come from the same sources.

Besides being a waste of money, bottled water is terrible for the environment: The energy needed to produce the plastic consumption is enough to fuel three million cars for a year. Nearly one million tons of plastic bottles are discarded as litter each year, ending up in landfills, lakes and streams. What’s more, public water infrastructure in DC and around the whole country needs all the support it can get— especially from Congress.

Tell Congress to stop wasting our money and end its use of bottled water. www.change.org

To sweeten the deal, DC Water (a local utility) has even offered to provide every member of Congress with a reusable water bottle as well as free water quality testing systems for Congressional office buildings.

When members of Congress complain about wasteful spending, they should curb their own bad habits first.

Sign this petition today to tell Congress to end its use of bottled water:

www.change.org 

Thanks for taking action,

Judith and the Change.org team

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Do you want to know about progressive culture and the arts?


 

 

The creative juices of artists, and the energy of the larger universe of culture offers us some positive messages at a time when many of us feel very frustrated about the state of the world.

As we at AlterNet tell stories of America and the changes we want to make, we invite you to sign up for AlterNet’s new Culture and the Arts newsletter, launching this week.

We all know the power of art. As our Washington editor and jazz singer Adele Stan writes: “In most successful movements for social change, artists are in the vanguard. In many cases it is their soundtrack, their visual sensibilities, their literature that comes to define a particular movement in the popular imagination. Think of the civil rights movement and the role played by music. Recall the anti-war movement of the 1960s, propelled by rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic art.”

What should you expect in our expanded coverage? As our cultural editor, and savvy music writer and critic Julianne Escobedo Shepherd tells us: “We’ll critique and celebrate the important ways our political views manifest in the larger scheme of film, music, visual art, books, performance, television and beyond.” We know that a well made documentary can capture a powerful reality and be profoundly moving. And even a You Tube clip at the right moment can mobilize tens of thousands to a cause they care about.

Now more than ever we need to direct a laser-sharp focus on the culture and the arts that reflect, define and forge our progressive views into the future. AlterNet has always covered culture, but not with the emphasis it deserves. Now, we are going the extra mile.

We’re sure you will appreciate the diversity, breadth and depth of or future coverage, so please sign up for our newsletter, which will feature the best of our coverage from week-to week.

Cheers,

Don Hazen

Executive Editor and Publisher, AlterNet

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Urgent Petition to: Attorney General Holder and Rob McKenna – No free passes for Wall Street –


No free passes for Wall Street

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and a number of state attorneys general — including Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna, who is on the negotiating team — are close to signing a deal that would let the Wall Street banks most responsible for the subprime mortgage crisis off the hook.

That’s wrong, and we need your help to stop it.

Use the form on this page to add your name to my urgent petition to Attorney General Holder and Rob McKenna — tell them not to let Wall Street off the hook for running our economy off the road.

Click on the link below …

http://action.jayinslee.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8187&tag=20111215_em_signers

Thank you for all that you do

In Solidarity