Thurs. 4/26 – War on the Poor – Part 2 – Cutting their food…

The Farm Bill, H.R. 2, is a GOP trifecta. It hurts the poor, it helps big business and it harms the environment.

#1 – It hurts the most vulnerable amongst us.

This guy looks like a dry speaker, but this video is pretty riveting.

We will be dealing with real hunger and the health and social issues that chronic malnutrition brings. The 2018 Farm Bill, HR2, cuts close to $20 billion from SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs). Close to two-thirds of SNAP participants are children, elderly, or disabled, while the remainder, mostly low-wage workers, are more likely than other workers to experience periods of unemployment or see their monthly earnings drop. Proposed changes enforcing stricter work requirements will be devastating to veterans, teenagers aging out of foster care, the chronically homeless and the mentally and physically disabled who will need to “prove” they are unable to work in order to eat. The work requirement age limit will also increase from 50 to 60, despite the AARP’s warning that this group has difficulty getting meaningful work. Those who violate the work requirements would become ineligible for SNAP benefits for a 1 year, with subsequent violations resulting in a 3-year loss of benefits. In addition, over a quarter million young children will lose their free school lunches. Anti-hunger groups and others say will lead to 1.6 million people losing the essential but extremely modest safety net that currently provides about $1.40 per person per meal. American citizens will be going hungry, in the richest nation in the world. (If you haven’t read it yet, take a moment to read the Poor People’s Campaign’s “Declaration of Fundamental Rights“.) Continue reading “Thurs. 4/26 – War on the Poor – Part 2 – Cutting their food…” →

Mon. 4/23 – Deadline TODAY for these comments on our environment!

Illustration from Science – “Evidence builds that dirty air causes Alzheimer’s, dementia”

#1. – LAST DAY (4/23) Dirtier Air Courtesy of Trump’s EPA.

The Trump Administration has been determined to rollback and unravel the hard fought for rules protecting our air, water and soil from pollution. With strong support from the oil and fossil fuel industry, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has proposed to withdraw from the Control Techniques Guidelines (CTGs) that assist states in controlling air pollution from the oil and natural gas industry, and trigger related clean air planning requirements in many areas with ozone smog problems. Withdrawal of these guidelines would mean that, as a practical matter, much uncontrolled or under-controlled oil and gas industry equipment in impacted areas would continue to emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a group of chemicals that react in the atmosphere to form ground-level ozone (smog). Let EPA know we support keeping these guidelines and oppose allowing pollutants to dirty our air.

Deadline for comments to the EPA is TODAY – Monday, April 23. Comment here.
Read other comments here.

We have been reviewing comments already submitted. There are a number of conservative comments, including letter/attachments from energy companies eager to improve their profit margins, like this one…

So get your comments in right away. They do NOT have to be long. There are currently only 14,642 recorded comments.

Sample Written Script: Pick some of these points and mix and match. More information on air pollution issues here. If your health or someone you love has health issues from pollution, make it personal. Continue reading “Mon. 4/23 – Deadline TODAY for these comments on our environment!” →

Tues – 4/17 – Bookmark this – Environmental comments and calls!

However, these kids are schooling them now.

A trial date, Oct. 29th, has been set for the Kids’ Climate Lawsuit! (EcoWatch). If you haven’t been following this, 21 plaintiffs between the ages of 8 and 19 are suing our government, alleging that their constitutional and public trust rights are being violated by the government’s creation of a national energy system that causes dangerous climate change.

But we need to do our part. Make your calls! Make your comments!

Continue reading “Tues – 4/17 – Bookmark this – Environmental comments and calls!” →

Postcard Pizza Party for California Congressional District 25 on April 25th!

We will be joining a statewide effort to get out the vote in California Congressional District 25!

When: Wednesday, April 25th at 11:00AM – 2:00 PM
Where: Santino’s Pizza Parlor – 4321 Telegraph Rd, Ventura
Fun! Pizza will be provided! (A little cheese grease goes a long way toward making our postcards have that special “homey” touch!)

CD25 is Steve Knight’s district which includes part of Ventura County, Santa Clarita, Lancaster, and Palmdale. We Venturans can’t vote Knight out, but we can help our neighbors rid themselves of him – and help ourselves by removing one of the 24 Trump minions needed to turn the House blue! We are not endorsing a candidate, just advocating power to the polls.

Our appeal will be directly to the voters in CA25 – NOT mass political mailings, because all of our cards will be handwritten. Each will be a message from one voter to another. We are simply asking Americans to do that most American thing — VOTE!

Here are some tidbits from about Steve Knight to inspire us:

Let us count the ways Steve Knight has betrayed us: He votes with Trump 98% of the time. He voted against our healthcare. The National Rifle Association gives him an A rating. He voted for the #TrumpTaxScam. He’s Continue reading “Postcard Pizza Party for California Congressional District 25 on April 25th!” →

4/6 – Bookmark this and be a commenter! – Deadline updates.

Picture of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Learn more about this amazing place here.

Be an environmental protector!

Be a hero to our land and wildlife without even having to go outside!

Take a minute to bookmark this and watch the dates. There’s a comment deadline today (4/6)!

Spend 5 minutes of your lunch hours writing comments. They can be just a few sentences each. The more, the better!

If we’ve missed an important deadline, please contact us and we’ll update this list.

#1. LAST DAY! (4/6 deadline) to comment on extraction industry leasing next to Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park.

In one of the latest installments of the Trump administration’s move to open up federal lands for energy development, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) now plans to lease more than 18,000 acres east of the park for oil and gas drilling — an area about as big as 14,000 football fields within a quarter mile of this amazing nature preserve. This could threaten air and water quality upstream from the Sand Dunes, in addition to introducing light and noise pollution to a place considered one of the quietest and possibly also one of the darkest in the country. Locals will also have to deal with the health hazard from the polluting side effects of oil and gas development, which studies have shown to send chemicals into the air.

Comment here on the Sierra Club’s page, or email the BLM directly here.

Continue reading “4/6 – Bookmark this and be a commenter! – Deadline updates.” →

Tues. 4/3 – Part 2 – Comment now on the BLM’s proposed “land use” plans, due 4/11 and 4/13.

The Valley of the Gods was included in Bears Ears but not in Shash Jáa. | Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management

You’re saying, “Hey, didn’t we just comment on this? Why are we having to comment AGAIN?” Let’s take a quick moment to review.

Native Americans spent years campaigning to protect Bears Ears, a distinctive site where Navajo believe their people rose from the earth. A coalition first tried congressional initiatives, which were blocked or ignored. They then appealed directly to Obama and then- Interior Secretary Sally Jewel, using the “Antiquities Act“. On December 28, 2016, President Obama designated 1.4 million acres containing ancient cliff dwellings and an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites as “Bears Ears National Monument”.

Grand Staircase/Escalante, designated as a national monument in 1996, is a 1.9 million acres area rich in unique rock formation scientific, ecological, and paleontological resources.

Unfortunately, all these treasures are sitting on top of the country’s largest coal deposits. And uranium. And oil.

Continue reading →

Tues. 4/3 – Part 1 – Say “NO” three times.

“Together, we will usher in a bright new future of wonder and wealth.”

– Donald Trump, Dec. 4th, 2017

When Trump destroyed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase/Escalante in favor of the ranching and extractive industries with his heart-monitor signature, he became part of a repeating cycle of American history. A history of genocide of native peoples, of the casual taking and destruction of natural resources, and the disrespect for non-european cultural heritage and science.

What he did on Dec. 4th, however, wasn’t legal. If it were, the three bills proposed by Utah’s GOP congresspeople wouldn’t be necessary. HR 4532 and HR 4558 intends to codify and retroactively legalize Trump’s executive order to reduce Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by nearly half. HR 3990 modifies the Antiquities Act to effectively prevent any president from establishing significant national monuments while allowing them to abolish existing monuments with little restriction.

If we all work together, we can stop the three bills that would legitimize this corporate land grab.

Take time this Spring Break week to organize your relatives and friends in red states to inundate their legislators with one simple call to say “NO” three times. Continue reading “Tues. 4/3 – Part 1 – Say “NO” three times.” →

Mon. 4/2 – Californians – Ban the pesticides that are killing our wildlife. Comments by 4/3.

( from Jim Hines, Team Leader, Sierra Club California/Nevada Wildlife Team)

Greetings, Wildlife Activists.

As she walks along a path in the Santa Monica Mtns, a mountain lion spots a dying rat. Ah! Something to eat! So she does and before long the mountain lion is dead also.

This mountain lion and many others like her as well as other predator mammals has eaten a rodent poisoned by what are know as anticoagulant rodent poisons which can be purchased in any garden supply, farm supply or home and garden improvement store in California.

But now we have, after long efforts, a chance to restrict the sale of these predator-killing rodent poisons. And not just because we love animals… Birds of prey, mountain lions, bobcats, fishers, foxes, coyotes, and endangered species such as the northern spotted owl, pacific fisher, and San Joaquin kit fox, are an irreplaceable part of California’s natural ecosystems and play an important role in regulating and controlling the population of rodents, protecting our public health and welfare. The loss of these natural predators mean that we will be fighting the next generation of rodents alone.

And it’s not just wild creatures. Our pets are dying too. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reported earlier this year that rodenticides are the most common source of pet poisoning in California and 24 other states.

Continue reading “Mon. 4/2 – Californians – Ban the pesticides that are killing our wildlife. Comments by 4/3.” →

Wed. 3/28 – California’s not going back.

LOS ANGELES: Downtown highrise buildings are shown cloaked in dirty air shortly after sunrise September 11, 2002 in Los Angeles, California. Although air quality in Los Angeles has improved in recent decades, smog levels remain among the nation’s worst. Numerous wildfires in the region have also contributed to Los Angeles’ air pollution problem. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

The current administration wants to degrade the protections that keep our water and air clean and our population healthy.

Maybe they think we won’t remember how important these safeguards are, even as we watch the continuing nightmare in Flint, MI, and our own state’s rating as having the “highest ozone levels” and “worst smog levels” in the country.

So let’s do a quick historical tour of two of our nation’s greatest environmental protection acts. Each one is rooted in tragedies that cost human lives.

Update: (thehill) EPA’s Scott Pruitt is expected this week to declare that 54.5 mpg standard by 2025 is too strict for the nation’s auto fleet and lower the target, possibly eliminating California’s waiver. CA is committed to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent by 2030, a goal that would be in jeopardy if it cannot hold cars to a high fuel standard.

The Clean Water Act

(alleghenyfront) “June 22, 1969—the day the Cuyahoga River caught fire. In a way, this was nothing new: The river had burned at least a dozen times before, costing millions, and even killing five people.” “It was a river catching fire. I think the rest of the country looked at it and was just—that’s it. That’s over the top. Something has to be done.” – Elaine Marsh, environmental activist

What was done was the passage of the “Clean Water Act“.

Continue reading →

Wed. 3/28 – Stop the “collateral damage.”

“YES” on SB 1017 – Phase out drift net fishing off CA coastline
Deadline 4/13

(From Jim Hines – Sierra Club California/Nevada Wildlife Team Leader)

“What a sight, four humpback whales all breaching at the same time in the ocean waters off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA. Whales, dolphins, sea otters, sea turtles, sea lions and seals dazzle us and bring out a strong emotion of our love for marine mammals.

But sadly these same marine mammals are killed by the hundreds each year as they get caught up and entangled in nylon drift nets used in the commercial fishing industry.

But now we have a chance to speak up for these precious marine mammals in an effort to save them.

The California State Senate Committee on Natural Resources is considering legislation (SB 1017-Allen) which would phase out the commercial drift net fishery off the coast of California.”

We need to tell these members that this vote is important to us.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask State Sen. [___] to support SB 1017.

Members of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water:
State Senators Bob Hertzberg, Jeff Stone, Benjamin Allen, Ben Hueso, Hannah-Beth Jackson, Mike McGuire, Bill Monning, Henry Stern, Andy Vidak

Contact information here.

State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson: (SD-19): SAC (916) 651-4019, SB (805) 965-0862, OX (805)988-1940 http://sd19.senate.ca.gov/send-e-mail