“Reintroduce No Child Left Inside ACt ”


 BREAKING NEWS:
BI-PARTISAN NO CHILD LEFT INSIDE ACT TO BE INTRODUCED
JOIN SENATOR REED AND CONGRESSMAN SARBANES FOR AN EXCLUSIVE UPDATE

This Thursday, July 14, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD) will reintroduce the No Child Left Inside Act into the 112th Congress. 

You can encourage your local media outlets to cover the bill introduction and locally effective environmental education programs by customizing the attached press release template to your organization and region.

Senator Reed and Congressman Sarbanes continue to demonstrate tremendous vision in championing this critical and historic legislation. We are grateful to them for all that they are doing to make environmental education an integral part of every American child’s education. Once again, many members of Congress have agreed to co-sponsor the NCLI Act, including Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), whose leadership provides a critical bipartisan boost.

To celebrate this exciting next step towards our collective goal, and to hear from Senator Reed and Congressman Sarbanes about what we as a Coalition can do to support their efforts, please join a No Child Left Inside Conference Call with Mr. Reed and Mr. Sarbanes on Tuesday July 19 at
3:00pm EST.

Dial-in: 1-712-432-3066
Passcode: 354022
You may submit questions you would like the Senator and Congressman to address by emailing sbodor@cbf.org before 8:00pm EST on Monday July 18.

Our progress to date would not be possible without the commitment and passion of our 2,071 member Coalition. Thank you to each and every one of you for all you do. We have much more work ahead, but please take a moment to celebrate today!

 

“Toads come on it’s spring!”


Spring has sprung across most of the USA  now and flowers are everywhere. My roses abound after the freeze gave them a rest this winter in the Tucson desert. So much beauty and so little time in the desert to enjoy spring.

Time to invite those frogs and toads to the party of insects beginning to emerge in and around your garden. In Tucson generally we see lots of Colorado river toad around monsoon time in the summer, but where it is cooler frogs and toads will be heard croaking through the spring and  summer into the fall.

Happy spring everyone. Remember to plant those flowers that the pollinators love to visit like the herbs, flowers, and flowering trees and bushes.

Gardening with the family helps the whole family and the planet.

Video courtesy of  youtube.com and  Cindy Hoffman of Defenders of Wildlife

Toads just love to eat plant-destroying insects, making them a great addition for any garden. In this video, Defenders’ Cindy Hoffman demonstrates how to attract these amazing amphibians to YOUR backyard.

Image courtesy of   http://bit.ly/gZJxPP

“Chromium 6 in city water health risk”


Dear Nature’s Crusaders Readers,

Take action today!

In December, Environmental Working Group (EWG) published the first national investigation of the suspected carcinogen chromium-6 — also known as hexavalent chromium — in drinking water in 35 cities around the country. Recently, Senators Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced Senate Bill 79, the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011.

The Boxer/Feinstein bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency to act within a year to set a safe limit for chromium-6 in drinking water. Your senators need to hear from you today that clean, safe drinking water is crucial.

Click here TODAY to tell your senators to co-sponsor the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011, introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

EWG supporters like you submitted tap water samples from their communities. This groundbreaking, people-powered report detected chromium-6 in 31 of the 35 city water supplies tested. Even though this report stirred controversy, our findings were confirmed by a number of water utilities’ own testing. Within hours of its release, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a new plan to help local utilities assess chromium-6 in drinking water nationwide. That’s a good first step. But EPA must go further.

Last week, I testified on our chromium-6 report before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by Senator Boxer. And I am going to tell you what I told them: we were heartened by and support EPA’s announcement following the release of our report and by its decision to regulate perchlorate, but it is not enough. The Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011 will make sure there is a safe legal limit on chromium-6 in drinking water.

I have had the opportunity to testify in front of Congress many times, but this was the most gratifying. I was able to stand with the EPA and others concerned with ensuring that all Americans have access to safe, clean drinking water. This hearing — and this bill — are a direct result of EWG’s research. “Keep on doing what you’re doing,” Senator Boxer said to me in her concluding comments at the hearing.

We need to keep the momentum going. I’m counting on you to help us — and everyone else who drinks water.

Click here TODAY to tell your senators to co-sponsor the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011.

Safe, clean drinking water is vital to EWG supporters like you. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Take action today.

Sincerely,

Ken Cook
President, EWG Action Fund

“Save public radio and TV”


With the recent changes in congress, the Republicans just released their budget proposal, and it zeroes out funding for both NPR (National Public Radio) and PBS (Public Broadcasting Stations)–the worst proposal in more than a decade. We need to tell congress that cutting off funding was
unacceptable last time they were in charge, and it’s unacceptable now.

Please sign the petition to save NPR and PBS.

You can join us at this link.
below?

http://pol.moveon.org/nprpbs/?r_by=-18541164-tKJL2fx&rc=mailto

Thanks!

“Sotheby’s heirloom veggie auction”


The exclusivity of Sotheby’s Auction House items is well known. They auction the rarest and best items from current history to antiquity. Everything from jewels to rare pieces of china and furniture to “The Tales of Beedle the Bard ” is a collection of wizarding fairy-tales of special significance manuscript within “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. ”, but now they have green revolution in the making!

The benefit, titled “The Art of Farming,” is the first of its kind by Sotheby’s and is being held in the auction house’s Manhattan showroom, the auction is part of a Sotheby’s benefit featuring vintage varieties of heirloom vegetables.

Turkish Orange Eggplant

Sotheby’s will be auctioning a crate of heirloom vegetables. Not your average heirloom of course, but the crate  will include Turkish Orange Eggplant, Lady Godiva Squash and Pink Banana Pumpkin.

Lady Godiva Squash

The asking price: $1,000 a crate.Pink banana squash
Sotheby’s benefit auction on September 23, 2010 will featuring heirloom vintage varieties of vegetables the taste, color, freshness and uniqueness cannot be duplicated in commercial vegetables sold in the local grocery stores today.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  http://bit.ly/cLMTtT

Image 1. courtesy of   http://bit.ly/aIvlGr

Image 2. courtesy of   http://bit.ly/a8vJHl

Image 3. courtesy of http://bit.ly/aLs78L

“Safe to eat Gulf fish Feds smell test says yes”


Now,  this is the ultimate in scientific testing. the fish taken  from the Gulf are now declared “safe to get”. Why, because they smell almost fine.

Last week, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fishers (LDWF) in partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ordered an emergency reopening of commercial fishing areas closed due to the BP oil spill. Commercial fishing reopened specifically for finfish and shrimp in portions of state waters east of the Mississippi River in Orleans, St. Tammany, St. Bernard Parishes and in Plaquemines.

These reopenings were ordered following the completion of comprehensive testing by the NOAA in consultation with the FDA. The FDA advised that following extensive sensory testing by NOAA’s sensory experts
and analytical chemistry results, the fish samples tested from previously closed areas are safe for consumption.
Reminder: There is no test developed yet that measures the amount of dispersants in the fish. The smell test will not work as a detection tool much less a confirmatory test, because these toxic chemicals have little to no door. The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) also opened oyster areas 1, 4, and 6 last week. These areas are also east of the Mississippi River, but away from the Chandeleur Sound area.

Louisiana continues to push for the FDA to reopen crab fishing in these newly opened areas as well. Feds told the state that testing crabmeat takes longer than the tissue samples of shrimp and finfish.

On July 21, 2010, Dr. Sylvia Earle, ocean explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society; Dr. Carl Safina, president of Blue Ocean Institute; Dr. David Gallo, oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Dr. David Guggenheim, marine biologist and conservationist; Dr. Edith Widder, president of Ocean Research & Conservation Association; and Dr. Wallace Nichols of the California Academy of Sciences reported

“Herring and whale sharks indiscriminately feed on those oil globules… In oiled areas like Louisiana’s Barataria Bay, bottom-feeders have been decimated. They said big fish like amber jacks, tuna and grouper and marine mammals are exposed to oil and dispersants by feeding on contaminated fish. Skin contact with COREXIT and oil can cause ulcers and burns to eye and mouth membranes… dispersed oil can enter the marine food chain at many points, and can bioaccumulate in animal tissue, potentially impacting marine ecosystems over many years and over a broad geographical area.”

Kevin Kleinow, an LSU professor of aquatic toxicology, said he is laying off Gulf seafood until the government releases more specifics about the testing it conducted, including exactly what species are being monitored and what levels of toxic substances are being found.
He said he is also concerned that a smell test won’t sniff out dispersants.

So picture this. Oil is still washing up daily on the beaches of these coastal areas, the shrinp, crab and oysters are bottom feeders. So if it smells fine then eat those toxins. Yumm!

Sign the Petition: Tell the FDA to Come Clean About Gulf Seafood
The safety of the Gulf’s seafood is in question because of the prolonged use of chemical dispersants on oil flowing out of the Deepwater Horizon oil well.
A study from Imperial College in London earlier this month revealed that oil spills can block the ocean’s natural ability to filter arsenic out of seawater. As these levels rise, the poison can enter the marine ecosystem and become more concentrated as it moves up the food chain. And samples of crab larvae from the area tested positive for hydrocarbons.
Consumers deserve to know the safety of the food they eat and what the FDA is doing to regulate the safety of seafood from the Gulf.

Please let your voice be heard on seafood safety. Please sign the Petition

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of   http://bit.ly/aQ9cYc

Excerpts courtesy of   http://bit.ly/cJkmOV

Excerpts courtesy of  http://bit.ly/a2pc3h

Image courtesy of   http://bit.ly/9Jmllk

“Nothing says “I love you and thanks for all your help like formaldehyde”


About 120,000 trailers with such high levels of formaldehyde that the government banned them from ever being used for long-term housing  after Katrina are now on there way to the Gulf again. Cheap housing is needed for the growing number of cleanup personnel needed in the Gulf. Several cleanup contractors hired by BP have purchased trailers at bargain-basement rates. Why bring these formaldehyde soaked trailers?  Buddy Fuzzell, an executive with one of those contractors, Cahaba Disaster Recovery, succinctly explained the appeal of the trailers: “The price was right.”

Endangering workers lives to pad the bottom line-hummmmm such a familiar theme.

Hang safety and concern for life and health.

Health Risks Dangers
Formaldehyde poses a number of health problems if inhaled at a high concentration at close range. It can cause nasal cancer and advanced respiratory problems, and has been linked to some forms of leukemia.
Many housing materials contain some quantity of formaldehyde, but the cheap wood that the feds used to construct the trailers contained dramatically higher levels of formaldehyde.

The acute effects of formaldehyde exposure include soreness and rawness to the eyes, the nose, the throat and skin rashes that can cause scarring.  Other complications  can include coughing and some trouble breathing may also be present until the individual is removed from the area where the formaldehyde is in use. However, as exprosure continues the respiratory may be impaired causing pain when breathing.and eventual development of lesions in and possible permanent lung damage.

From prolonged exposure to formaldehyde the incidence of lung and nose cancer appears to be significantly higher among people who regularly come in contact with formaldehyde. This has led many countries to establish guidelines that set what is considered a maximum amount of exposure on a daily basis.
In some cases, formaldehyde exposure can lead to death. Professionals who make use of the substance as part of their work often wear protective clothing, including breathing masks, in order to safeguard against this possibility. Installing air qualitydevices in these toxic trailers might help these workers know when unsafe levels of formaldehyde emissions may be present and  airing the space maybe in order.

The gift of these trailers reminds me of the witch’s apple to Snow White in the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Resources

Excerpts courtesy of    http://yhoo.it/aTebiy

Excerpts courtesy of     http://bit.ly/ar8scE

Image courtesy of        http://bit.ly/dDahri

“Help cool Mother Nature with your garden plants + trees this year!”


Cool our climate by planting a garden this year.

Use garden tools and products that decrease your carbon foot print:
1. Weed, prune and rake leaves by hand
2. Use an electric or push lawn mower.
3. Use home made/organic compost and natural pest-control methods.
4. Avoid peat, using compost or peat-free potting and seed-starting mixes instead.

Plant trees and shrubs that fit your climate zone :
1. Plant trees and shrubs that have a long life span and plant them on the east, west or south side of their home.
2. Position new trees where they will shade your home in summer or provide protection from winter winds.

3. Trees help beautify the community, shade buildings to conserve energy thereby reducing carbon emissions resulting from energy production.

4. Trees provide habitat for wildlife and  trap air pollutants.

5. Trees control stormwater runoff.

6. Trees block soil erosion.

7. Trees transpire moisture from their leaves which absorbs heat and helps cool air temperatures at the hottest times of year and reduces the urban heat island effect.

8. Plant trees and plants that fit your hardiness zone. Check with the beautification council in your city for trees best for your area. Avoid trees that are susceptible to insect infestations.

Compost-recycle yard clippings and food waste ( not meat, dessert or processed food scraps.
* Make compost bin to reduce heat-trapping methane emissions from landfills.
* Use compost in the garden to increase carbon sequestering in the soil.

Green up your lawn.
* After mowing the grass on your lawn by leaving the grass clippings to fertilize the soil, reducing the need for added fertilizer and increasing carbon storage.
* Minimize watering, which has been linked to increased emissions of heat-trapping nitrous oxide from lawns.
Install a drip system and harvest your rain and grey water for garden use.

Encourage climate-friendly organic farms in your area.
* Support farmers who adopt climate-friendly agricultural practices such as cover cropping and crop rotation and who reduce their use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides.
Buy local climate friendly organic produce.

Help cool Mother Nature with your garden this year!


To show your support for Climate-Friendly Gardens 
click here

Resources
Excerpts
courtesy of   thepetitionsite.com/takeaction

Image 1. courtesy of  http://bit.ly/chapyX

Video courtesy of  YOUTUBE.com

Image 2. courtesy of  peocom.com/tree.gif

Map courtesy of  accuracyproject.org/PlantZoneMap.jpg

“Is Big Oil running this world amuck?”


Who runs the  degradation of the planet?

This madness of excessive oil disasters around the world is the responsibility of us all. Why?  We have trusted that big oil will take care of our way of life and our modern life style and industry, but time to rethink that belief.  Here are of few examples of why we need a new director of modern life.

Climate:

Saudis block call for warming report on June 11, 2010.  Saudi Arabia a call by vulnerable island states at climate talks for a study into the impact of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming.

Why?

The appeal came from the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), gathering low-lying islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific, which is lobbying hard for the UN climate arena not to abandon the 1.5 C target.
The goal is receding as emissions of greenhouse gases rise and political problems for tackling climate change multiply.
AOSIS, supported by the European Union (EU), Australia and New Zealand, called for a technical report on the cost of reaching the 1.5 C target and the consequences of breaching it.
But it was thwarted by Saudi Arabia, with support from Kuwait and Qatar, under the UN’s consensus rule,because they argue that action on carbon emissions control to decrease global warming will hurt their revenues as fossil-fuel consumers switch to cleaner energy

So what if small island states could disappear from sea level rise due to global temperature rise to be kept below 1.5 C.

Where was the US and other countries backing for this bill? Who did not support it were conspicuous by their absence.

Water

From the BP oil from the Gulf gusher, Exxon Valdez and the pipe breaking on the Alaska pipeline, BP has learned that they are so well insulated that no matter the size of the disaster their insurance picks up most of the tab.  People forget and profits get better. People, nature and the environment are only around to help them increase profits.

BP got away with paying only 3% of the bill for the Exxon-Valdez mess. They  had assured the people of Alaska and the state and federal agencies, they could contain all accidents, but never bought the equipment or trained people to operate containment equipment, because it would have cost them about 1 million to complete their end of the bargain. They saved their money instead.   Is this why their logo is green?

Gulf of Mexico

They are required to have safety equipment the rubber skirts to contain oil and the ships to draw up the spillage on site, but had none and have never brought any in.  People will forget.

Cut costs  1 bill while increase production off shore and took difference out of safety budget.

BP claims to be picking up the bill for this disaster, but their is a cap on how much they have to pay-75 million liability limit.  Guess who will pay?  People will forget.

Since the blackening blanket began spreading across the Gulf of Mexico, the cost of oil per barrel has risen by $2.5 dollars a barrel. BP made 4 million dollars  a day before the crisis,  now it makes 10 million  per day.  Why should they worry about containment. People forget and go back to work on those rigs.

BP has mastered making money iearned cheap to cheep out on safety and repair; it saves my bottom line.  They are getting away with it again.

Land+ SEA  Africa

Seismic tests over the past 50 years have shown that countries up the coast of East Africa have natural gas in abundance and suggest the presence of massive offshore oil deposits. Those finds have spurred oil explorers to start dropping more wells in East Africa, a region they say is an oil and gas bonanza just waiting to be tapped, one of the last great frontiers in the hunt for hydrocarbons.

“The question is not if any hydrocarbon deposits exist, but where they are.” 

It doesn’t help that the region is so geologically complex with lots of fractures and offshore oil deposits likely deep underground. The countries with  large potential deposits regularly go to war and unrest and leaders that cannot lead. Somalia remains a no-go zone, and Ethiopia’s eastern Ogaden region is beset by a violent rebel insurgency. And while Mozambique’s civil war may have ended in 1992, it has taken years for the country to recover.

The west African countries where big oil has set up shop have had their local way of life destroyed. The oil companies have polluted their waters and made may coastal areas and river banks uninhabitable from the trash and water pollution left behind.

Oil in Africa — from the Gulf of Guinea to northwestern Sudan — lies at the heart of questions of good governance and development, as oil prices and revenues soar but fail to bring better living standards for millions of poor.

There is no person or group powerful enough to regulate these amoral oil giants to hold them accountable for responsible care of the planet much less to demand they improve  the quality of life everywhere they drill.

How long will we allow this arrogant blind greed to control and destroy our economy and world? Listen to what a life long biologist has to say as he flew over the Gulf of Mexico this weekend.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of   terradaily.com/Climate_Saudis

Excerpts courtesy of  time.com/time

Excerpts courtesy of  petroleumworld.com

Video courtesy of   YOUTUBE.com

Video courtesy of  youtube.com

Image 1. courtesy of   greenprophet.com/dubai-money

Image 2. courtesy of  cartype.com/bp

Image 3. courtesy of  time.com and Steve Allen/Getty

“Hundreds of US oil spills in 2010 alone-enough oil gods must fall”


Myopic vision, carelessness and poor information have allowed the US at all levels to become reckless with oil. Today I googled US oil spills in 2010 and found conservatively 70 pages of unique smaller oil spills(accidents) ranging from a few to many thousands of gallons of diesel or crude oil being leaked or spilled into streams, wetlands, groundwater, air and seas. This spill have barely been noticed by the people at large including myself until the Gulf of Mexico disaster. I view myself as a person who cares deeply about all of life, yet I ignored all these 700 to 900 occurrences as not involving me.  No wonder the oil companies have felt they could do anything they want and get away with it.

These spills have taken place from the Arctic and Alaska to the homes, businesses, national parks and highways even a hospital had a significant spill this year.

Each spill involves toxic clean up that effects all life touched by it, including the dedicated people that clean up the mess. The flammable nature of diesel fuel makes it necessary for communities and organizations to create a fuel spill action plan in the event a diesel spill occur in your area.

Environmental complacency and  focusing on quick cleanup without long term follow up has created this disaster and others to follow. Look at Louisiana’s  history as an example. They have not headed many wakeup calls from accidents in the past.

  • Jan. 23, 2010 Port Arthur, Texas: The oil tanker Eagle Otome and a barge collide in the Sabine-Neches Waterway, causing the release of about 462,000 gallons of crude oil. Environmental damage was “minimal” as about 46,000 gallons were recovered and 175,000 gallons were dispersed or evaporated, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
  • April 24, 2010 Gulf of Mexico: The Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible drilling rig, sank on April 22, after an April 20th explosion on the vessel. Eleven people died in the blast. When the rig sank, the riser—the 5,000-foot-long pipe that connects the wellhead to the rig—became detached and began leaking oil. In addition, U.S. Coast Guard investigators discovered a leak in the wellhead itself. As much as 100,000 barrels of oil per day are leaking into the Gulf threatening wildlife along the Louisiana Coast.
  • As many as 1,000 people and dozens of ships and aircraft were enlisted to help in the cleanup. BP (British Petroleum), which leased the Deepwater Horizon, is responsible for the cleanup, but the U.S. Navy supplied the company with resources to help contain the slick. Light oil reached the Louisiana shore on April 30, and today heavy crude as reached the wetlands.
  • Also today May 20, 2010 oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill appears to have entered the Loop Current, which could eventually send it up the East Coast.
  • Yesterday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal reported seeing heavy oil after taking a boat tour of Pass a Loutre, La.. According to Jindal, the oil he saw was thick and heavy, not the sheen or tar balls that have been reported on other occasions. The governor said more than 30 miles of the state’s coastline had been oiled.
  • The oil spill has the potential to reverse progress made in the last two years in preserving the state’s wetlands.  Shrimpers were rebounding and oyster fishermen were recovering and  coastal communities were rebuilding until now.

What has happened to the oil from the previous spills in the Mississippi River and the oil spilled during hurricane Katrina? The oilmen are petitioning to go back to work at their shallow water rigs in the Gulf without any more safety features built in to those rigs than the deep water ones have now.

Now the EPA has issued a dictum to BP that they may only now use dispersants preapproved by the EPA. Only the least toxic dispersants will be approved. No one knows the effects of these chemicals either. History repeats itself. How will their next accident happen and when?

Watch out east coast it is your turn next to share the oily mess from the Gulf thats to the Loop current.

We must stop polluting with oil on land, sea and air to save our world.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of epaosc.net/attdieselspill

Excerpts courtesy of  guardian.co.uk/environment

Excerpts courtesy of  infoplease.com/ipa
Excerpts courtesy of  adn.com/overfilled-tank

Excerpts courtesy of  ksbw.com/news

Excerpts courtesy of  newsinferno.com

Excerpts courtesy of  epaosc.org/attdieselspill

Video on Loop Current courtesy of   redlasso.com

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