Via the Union of Concerned Scientists:

Urge ExxonMobil to Take the Next Step

For years, ExxonMobil has been undermining science and casting doubt on the facts about global warming—just like the tobacco industry tried to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking.

Earlier this year, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a report documenting how ExxonMobil funneled millions of dollars to climate contrarian groups and worked to delay meaningful action on global warming.

Our report received widespread media coverage, prompted Congress to hold a hearing about ExxonMobil’s actions, and has generated new pressure on the corporation. Faced with public outrage, ExxonMobil launched a campaign aimed at softening its image and recently agreed to stop funding several of the 43 climate contrarian groups highlighted in the UCS report.

But this is not enough! By withholding funding from just a handful of groups and continuing to support the rest, ExxonMobil is simply trying to improve its image while it continues to deceive the public and undermine legislation to reduce global warming pollution.

Send the letter [here] to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and VP of Public Affairs Ken Cohen urging them to take real action to address global warming.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts UCS Union of Concerned Scientists global warming climate change energy oil exxon exxonmobile pollution

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Apr 19, 2007 1:39 PM
Subject: ACTION/ Louisiana: Ban Chicken Blood Sport Now

Kinship Circle Primary – PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN
(Please do not delete identity/disclaimer information)

**You do NOT need to be a Louisiana resident to write. Activists from any state or country are encouraged to send comments.

4/19/07: Louisiana – Ban Chicken Blood Sport Now
KINSHIP CIRCLE ACTION CAMPAIGN

www.KinshipCircle.org

A cockfighter attaches a gaff, a needle-like weapon to his gamecock before a fight in July. Other weapons include the long and short knives. Advocate file photo by Richard Alan Hannon.
www.2theadvocate.com/news/7030982.html

Louisiana Ban on Cockfighting
Bill Number: LA S.B. 39
State Bill Status: Pending
Legislature Status: In Session
Last Action: 3/22/07: Prefiled.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

Laura Maloney, Chief Executive Officer, Louisiana SPCA
laura [at] la-spca.org, www.la-spca.org/

Cockfighting in Louisiana may be banned

Rep. Salter backs bill to phase out cockfighting

Bfleb2 [at] aol.com

(More below the fold…)

Here’s the TOC from IDA’s 4-18-07 newsletter.

Click on the links to take action, or read the whole newsletter online.

IDA Action Alerts

Florida Manatees Could Face Fatal Downlisting; Feds seek to weaken vital protections despite record manatee deaths in 2006

Support the Pet Safety and Protection Act; Urge your members of Congress to prevent abduction of animal companions for use in experiments

Oppose Bill to Allow Slaughter of California Sea Lions; Urge House Committee members to reject legislation that ignores environmental laws

Campaign News & Updates

IDA to Air Jane Goodall Anti-Vivisection Ad During WWAIL; TV spots to play on MTV, VH1, and Animal Planet between April 22nd and 28th

Helping Dogs and Cats in the Dominican Republic; IDA’s Connie Durkee participates in pioneering spay/neuter program

Menu Foods Recall Update; Sources indicate that nearly 40,000 animals ingested contaminated food *

An archive of past IDA eNews newsletters is available here.

* Please be sure to pay particular attention to this last item. In addition to offering an update on the recall, IDA also urges readers to:

- Contact the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and politely urge them to push the federal government to form an equivalent to the CDC for cats and dogs so that future foodborne illness outbreaks among animal companions can be more closely tracked and more quickly contained.

AVMA
1931 North Meacham Road, Suite 100
Schaumburg, IL 60173
Tel: (847) 925-8070
Fax: (847) 925-1329
E-mail: avmainfo [at] avma.org

More info here.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts ida in defense of animals florida manatees endangered species esa endangered species act wildlife conservation Pet Safety and Protection Act dog canine cat feline pet companion animal pet theft bunchers, animal research animal testing vivisection class b dealers California Sea Lions World Week for Animals in Laboratories WWAIL jane goodall Dominican Republic spay neuter menu foods pet food recall capitalism cdc

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: API Newsletters – donotreply [at] apiforanimals.org
Date: Apr 18, 2007 8:01 PM
Subject: Stop Prairie Dog Poisoning & more

National: Stop Prairie Dog Poisoning on National Grassland

The National Forest Service is currently seeking input on a prairie dog management plan for the Thunder Basin National Grassland. The current management plan allows the extermination of prairie dogs only in cases where the animals are overrunning cemeteries and buildings. The proposed amendment would expand the use of poisoning and other lethal means of control to the entire National Grassland — even in areas designated for the reintroduction of the endangered black-footed ferret.

Over the last 150 years, prairie dog populations have declined by more than 95%. Scientists say that if this downward trend continues burrowing owls, black-footed ferrets, and other wildlife will disappear along with the prairie dog.

Please send comments to the National Forest Service in opposition to this amendment by April 30, 2007.

To find out more and take action on this alert, go to www.api4animals.org/actionalerts?p=1193&more=1.

Thank you for protecting prairie dogs and other prairie wildlife!

California Residents: Improve Conditions for Captive Elephants

(More below the fold…)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Apr 18, 2007 5:07 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: Washington Post on tasty vegan cuisine and NY Times on uncrated veal. 4/18/07

There are two food items of interest to animal protectionists in major papers today, Wednesday, April 18. The Washington Post includes “Can Vegetable Biryani Satisfy Mr. Meat and Potatoes?” and the New York Times has “Veal to Love, Without the Guilt.”

The Washington Post article is today’s “Chef on Call” column by David Hagedorn. He explores a couple’s attempts to spice up their vegan menu.

He opens:

“When Sandra Gaffigan of Columbia read T. Colin Campbell’s ‘The China Study,’ it persuaded her to switch to a vegan diet. Her husband, Jim, was not so sure — especially once she started cooking.

She wrote “Chef on Call” and asked, “Do you know a chef who can seduce his palate with tantalizing vegan meals?”

They set up a session with Chef Nilesh Singhvi of the Bombay Club as “Vegetarianism is, after all, a mainstay of Indian cooking, and veganism, which avoids all animal products, is only one step further.”

(More below the fold…)

UPDATE, 6/1/07, via Ecological Internet:

VICTORY: Amerindians Force Samling to Stop Some Illegal Logging in Guyana

Yet another stunning victory for Ecological Internet’s (EI) Earth Action Network and partners, as Amerindian Villages in Guyana where Barama/Samling has been logging illegally have thrown Samling out of those communities. Or depending upon how you spin it, Samling withdrew after being told in no uncertain terms that the residents and Council did not want the logging company there. If only every community with ancient forests undergoing logging on their lands (legal or illegal) that they do not desire were to be given the choice of just saying no. Most of the tropical timber industry would be shut down tomorrow, WWF and Greenpeace would be without a forest conservation program, and prospects for global forest and ecological sustainability would increase dramatically.

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Via Ecological Internet / The Rainforest Portal:

Stop Malaysian Samling Group – Global Leaders in Rainforest Destruction

In the South American state of Guyana, the Akawini Amerindian Village has asked the Government to help end an agreement with a Samling-subsidiary. Their council has said that the villagers were threatened with court action unless they signed an agreement allowing logging on their lands by Guyanese Samling subsidiary Barama Co. Ltd. “As soon as the agreement was signed we saw heavy duty machinery such as bulldozers, logging trucks and excavators come onto our village lands.” The Amerindians fear the destruction and loss of their forest resources through the Samling subsidiary’s activities that they were coerced into approving. Barama’s Forest Stewardship Council certification partially paid for by WWF on 570,000 hectares of tropical forest was suspended because of such landowner swindles in the Northwest Region of Guyana, further making a mockery of “certification” of sustainable ancient rainforest logging.

Please send the email [here] targeting the banks funding Samling; Credit Suisse, HSBC and Macquaries Securities Ltd., asking them for a public statement to withdraw their support to Samling and refund of IPO profits. Let these rainforest destroying banks, Malaysian tourism and business, and Malaysian government know that globally all remaining large and intact rainforests must be permanently protected from industrial development; and they can expect boycotts and further protests should the barbarous Malaysian industrial timber industry not be disbanded.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts EI ecological internet the rainforest portal logging Guyana Akawini Amerindian Village Amerindian Samling sustainable logging forests conservation

Via Audubon:

Tell Congress to Act on Global Warming NOW!

Scientists say that we need to take action on global warming within 10 years or we will reach a tipping point when it will be too late to prevent the worst effects of global warming pollution: rising sea levels, an increase in intensity and length of extreme weather events, the proliferation of infectious diseases, and massive extinctions. Carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases linger in the atmosphere for decades or centuries, meaning that additional pollution will create an almost irreversible warming effect for centuries to come.

We still have time to turn around the global warming crisis.

Write to your U.S. Senators and Representative today and tell them to take action on global warming now.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts Audubon climate change global warming Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007

Via Oceana:

Save Happy Feet

Destructive practices such as overfishing and the fishing of forage species are nothing to get happy about. Though emperor penguins may star in their very own movie, they are at risk because commercial fishing in Antarctic waters places increasing pressure on food chains and availability.

Fishing for krill, tiny shrimp-like organisms, and small fish that are the primary food source for many larger animals in the ecosystem is risky business. Management that considers the importance of these forage species in the ecosystem is vital for the healthy future of our oceans.

At the rate we’re going, by the year 2048 oceans could be home to nothing more that some jellyfish and a bunch of seaweed! Do your part to stop the destruction today! Make your voice heard by sending a message to President Bush.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts oceana happy feet penguins emperor penguins overfishing krill wildlife conservation

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Apr 17, 2007 10:45 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: NY Times on chimps –”Almost Human, and Sometimes Smarter.” 4/17/07

The Tuesday, April 17, New York Times has an interesting article on the cover of the Science section (page F1), by John Noble Wilford, on the intelligence of chimps. It is headed “Almost Human, and Sometimes Smarter.”

It tells us that certain similarities between chimps and humans “go beyond expressive faces and opposable thumbs.”

It says:

“Chimps display a remarkable range of behavior and talent. They make and use simple tools, hunt in groups and engage in aggressive, violent acts. They are social creatures that appear to be capable of empathy, altruism, self-awareness, cooperation in problem solving and learning through example and experience. Chimps even outperform humans in some memory tasks.”

It discusses researchers having “found that chimps as social animals have had to constrain and alter their behavior in various ways, as have humans.” That phenomenon is compared to human morality. It notes that chimps use tools.

(More below the fold…)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] brick.net
Date: Apr 17, 2007 2:18 PM
Subject: Animals In Katrina-Wasted Area Need Way Out

KINSHIP CIRCLE ANIMAL DISASTER RELIEF – PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST

4/17/07: [GULF COAST] Animals In Katrina-Wasted Area Need Way Out

www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters/default.html

This is Baby Noah

Isn’t he gorgeous? Baby Noah adopted me during Kinship Circle’s animal-aid trip to New Orleans in February. He is Katrina’s offspring, a no-name kitten left at P.A.W.S. (Plaquemines Animal Welfare Society) — along with an endless stream of others like him. Baby Noah’s name reflects the flood imagery of Plaquemines — a region bounded by the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico. Katrina’s winds struck at over 150 mph. Levees crumbled on both banks and water gushed in at 20 feet or higher.

Help Animals Like Baby Noah In Plaquemines

4/15/07, from Ramona Billot, ramonabillot [at] yahoo.com — P.A.W.S., the only no-kill shelter in Plaquemines Parish, is COMPLETELY FULL. They seek OUT-OF-STATE, no-kill shelters that can take animals in. Depending upon location, P.A.W.S. can assist in transport to a safe place.

As long as P.A.W.S. remains full, animals go to the pound, where they are killed.

(More below the fold…)

Man, and I thought King of Queens was on hiatus. $#%&^^%

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Apr 17, 2007 10:20 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: Doug goes veggie for an episode of “The King of Queens” 4/16/07

The Monday, April 16 episode of the hit CBS series “King of Queens” presented some wonderfully animal friendly material.

I will share the plot, and some of the lines, below:

The lead character, Doug, who is a delivery man, almost runs over a chicken. He is relieved to see the animals is ok. But then he sees a man looking for the chicken, coming out of a restaurant that has dead chickens in the window. Doug grabs the chicken and makes a run for it.

We see him driving along with chicken in the front seat, making his deliveries and trying to find the chicken a home. He finally drives many miles to deliver the chicken to a small farm where it seems the animal will be well looked after.

When Doug gets home, his wife, Carrie, pulls a big roasted chicken out of the oven.

As the sweet romantic song, “Just the two of us” plays, we flash back to scenes of Doug driving along chatting with the chicken and then leaving the farm after giving the animal one last pat and a look of love.

We then flash back to the kitchen where Carrie is pulling a leg off the roasted animal on the table. Doug yells, “Stop it!” and runs outside.

(More below the fold…)

UPDATE, 4/18/07, via In Defense of Animals:

Today you received an alert asking you to call your Congressperson and Senators asking them to support IDA’s citizens petition to the USDA calling for enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act at zoos holding elephants.

A number of people have called to request contact information for the Secretary of Agriculture and the Chairs of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, who we suggested your federal representatives call in support of the petition.

If you would like to contact these individuals and ask them to make sure that the USDA moves swiftly on the IDA petition to force zoos to comply with the Animal Welfare Act by providing adequate space and conditions to elephants, here is the contact information:

Mike Johanns
Secretary of Agriculture
Tel: (202) 720-3631
Email: Mike.Johanns [at] usda.gov

Collin Peterson
Chair – House Agriculture Committee
Tel: (202) 225-8510
Email: agriculture [at] mail.house.gov

Tom Harkin
Chair, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
Tel: (202) 224-3254
Fax: (202) 224-9369
TDD: (202) 224-4633
Email: harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm

Thank you very much to everyone who is taking the time today to speak out for the elephants languishing in our nation’s zoos!

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals – takeaction [at] idausa.org
Date: Apr 16, 2007 5:42 PM
Subject: URGENT: APRIL 18TH DAY OF ACTION FOR ELEPHANTS!

URGENT: APRIL 18TH DAY OF ACTION FOR ELEPHANTS!

TELL CONGRESS: IT’S TIME FOR BIG CHANGES FOR ELEPHANTS IN ZOOS!

On Wednesday, April 18, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) will take to Capitol Hill for its “Congressional Leadership Day.”

This is a great opportunity for us to speak up and bring attention to the plight of elephants in zoos!

While AZA seeks increased federal support, let’s remind Congress that elephants are suffering in zoos and it’s just not right!

ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18TH, WE ARE ASKING EVERYONE TO CALL, FAX, OR EMAIL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS AND DEMAND THAT THE ZOO INDUSTRY MAKE BIG CHANGES FOR EARTH’S LARGEST LAND MAMMAL.

(More below the fold…)

Congress wants to know: Should Dogs Be Tax Deductible?

CITIZEN LEGISLATOR: Dogs (and Other Pets) Should be Tax Deductible Like Any Dependent

This week a citizen like you from Bayport, NY wrote to Congress to propose that dogs be tax deductible like children or any other dependent. Read their proposal. Do you think Congress should introduce a law to make pet costs tax deductible? Tell Congress. Preliminary results are 49% in favor of making pets tax deductible like dependents. One person says it will make us treat them better. Someone else replied that once they evolve to being potential taxpayers then maybe we can reconsider. One citizen told Congress pets are a choice like children and cost nearly as much. But one person opposed felt that some would get more dogs just for the tax break…like some do with children.

Uh, yeah, because that tax breaks you get for having kids more than covers their health care, food, clothing, edumakation, and housing, with oodles left over for all those welfare mommas to spend on crack. Not.

Anywho, click here to explain to your good Congressheeple why pets companion animals should, in fact, be tax deductible counted as dependents. Particularly if you’re involved in animal rescue and/or are a guardian to rescued animals. If you go this route, be sure to mention the government’s gross incompetence in caring for the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina, not to mention the ongoing problems in the area. Someone’s gotta untangle their clusterfuck, no?

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts congress.org congress 110th congress taxes tax deductions dog canine cat feline pet companion animal animal rescue dependents

Via United Poultry Concerns, I stumbled upon this article from (ahem) Lancaster Farming:

‘Real World’ Experience with New Poultry Depopulation Method

MANHEIM, Pa. — On April Fool’s Day, April 1, at 8:30 in the evening, University of Delaware Poultry Specialist George “Bud” Malone received a phone call. A turkey farm in West Virginia confirmed the H5N2 Avian Influenza (A.I.) strain on the farm. Could he please bring his equipment to foam the house for depopulation.

This was not an April Fool’s joke, but a chance for Malone and others to earn some “real world” experience with a new technology for depopulation — foaming a house.

At hand for depopulation were four houses — two with 10,000 birds, one with 3,000 birds and one with 2,000 birds. Through this experience, Malone said a lot of lessons have been learned for bringing this application to the real world.

Now, those familiar with bird flu and its consequences will pick up on the trigger words employed by author and poultry industry lackey Charlene M. Shupp Espenshade. Yet, those not schooled in the evils of factory farming and the threat of bird flu might not understand what exactly went down on that mystery West Virginian turkey farm. Charlene, much like Tony Snow, sure knows how to work the spin.

The words “killed”, “suffocated”, and “dead” aren’t used even once throughout the entire article; the closest Charlene comes to saying that 25,000 turkeys were murdered (due to shoddy industry practices, to boot) is the following impersonal statement: “With foam, consistency is critical to get the needed height to cover the birds and ensure death” – and this refers to the practice of foaming in a general sense, with no acknowledgment of the deaths of these 25,000 individuals.

Rather than killed and suffocated, they were “depopulated” and “foamed”. Factory farmers and their groupies sure have a knack for create euphemisms, don’t they? Seriously, who talks like this? If y’all aren’t ashamed of what you do, then call it what it is: mass murder, genocide (specicide?), or cruelty of convenience. Please. An outbreak of bird flu necessitated the eradication of 25,000 birds housed in four (four!) structures, and yet the words “kill” (or even “destroy”, which I detest for its impersonality) and “suffocate” appear nowhere in the story. Talk about disingenuous.

Of course, you can bet that Charlene and her ilk have damn well heard the maxim about slaughterhouses with glass walls…

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare bird flu avian influenza West Virginia turkey factory farming rants foaming people suck euphemisms Lancaster Farming

Here’s the TOC from the 4/17/07 issue of The Sierra Club’s Currents.

You can read the whole newsletter online – just click here!

Sierra Club Currents – Protecting Kids from Toxic Toys
Volume VI, #60
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

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Quote of Note:

“What has allowed so many [psychopathic personalities] to rise so high in corporations, and now in government, is that they are so decisive. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they cannot care what happens next. Simply can’t. Do this! Do that! Mobilize the reserves! Privatize the public schools! Attack Iraq! Cut health care! Tap everybody’s telephone! Cut taxes on the rich! Build a trillion-dollar missile shield! F— habeas corpus and the Sierra Club and In These Times, and kiss my ass!”

Kurt Vonnegut
November 11, 1922 — April 11, 2007

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Table of Contents

(1) Carl Pope to Congress — Take Action: Increase Fuel Economy

(2) Victory: Protecting Kids from Toxic Toys

(3) Water: Nor’easter Floods Basements with Sewage

(4) Take Action: Protect Our Coasts

Also, much like the Rainforest Action Network, the Sierra Club is asking you to submit an Earth Day resolution – this time, in photo form:

IT TAKES 2

Two what, you ask? Scientists say we can curb global warming and its consequences if we take actions to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. That’s a do-able 2 percent cut a year for each of the next 40 years. We all need to pitch in — you, me, businesses, government. Send us a photo of what you’re doing to cut your carbon emissions, and we’ll post it here. Check out what other folks are doing. Don’t forget — It Takes 2.

So next time you cook up a nice juicy Boca Burger or order some vegan donuts to go, take a moment to snap a quick photo before (or, even better, while) digging in. Show the “green carni’s” (a contradiction if there ever was one) that the single best thing you can do for the environment is go veg.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts the sierra club club currents earth day photo toxic lead toys water pollution sewage oil gas drilling coasts ocs outer continental shelf Carl Pope fuel efficiency climate change global warming Markey-Platts Fuel Economy bill vegan veganism vegetarian vegetarianism meat

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: The National Anti-Vivisection Society – website [at] navs.org
Date: Apr 17, 2007 3:43 PM
Subject: Enter NAVS’ Art for Animals Classic

Express Your Compassion! Inspire Others! Win Accolades!

The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) is proud to announce the 18th Annual Art for Animals Classic. This annual art competition provides an opportunity for animal lovers and artists of all ages to give a voice to those who suffer silently in the name of science and to send a creative message about respect, justice and compassion for animals.

This year, more than ever, NAVS is reaching out to find the most compelling images, sounds and artistic expressions that today’s artists are creating. To that end, please feel free to pass this email along to interested friends and family (you can use the Tell-A-Friend feature here).

Your work of art could be chosen to illustrate NAVS’ publications, posters, cards, stationery, and website. And if that’s not enough motivation, there are also cash awards – NAVS recognizes 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in three age categories as well as Best in Show.

So if you’re an artist, photographer, painter, graphic artist, poet, musician, filmmaker, or just want to show you care about animals, start creating with compassion! The deadline for submissions is June 22, 2007.

Visit our website or download the Art for Animals Classic entry form here for complete details. You will need Acrobat Reader.

To receive an entry form via fax or mail, please call us at 800-888-NAVS (800-888-6287).

Thanks for all you do on behalf of animals!

The National Anti-Vivisection Society | 2004 © | 53 West Jackson Blvd. Suite 1552 Chicago, IL 60604
(800) 888-NAVS or (312) 427-6065 Fax: (312) 427-6524 feedback [at] navs.org

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts NAVS National Anti-Vivisection Society contest art artwork animal research animal testing vivisection

What’s your Earth Day Resolution? Rainforest Action Network wants to know!

Some tips to getcha started:

● Go local – The average meal travels 1,500 miles to get to our plates!

● Grow your own – Get out in your yard and start digging or get together with some neighbors and start a community garden. Now we’re talkin’ really local.

● Go organic – 40 percent of energy used in the food system goes toward the production of artificial, petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides.

● Go veg – Cow manure releases 18 percent of the Earth’s carbon monoxide. Reducing your meat intake even a little bit can help.

● Go car free – The average driver uses two gallons of gas a day; ride your bike or take the bus to go to the store!

● Turn off the lights – Do better than fluorescent bulbs, go for candles this Earth Day. You’ll like the atmosphere. While you’re at it, switch out those old fluorescent bulbs once and for all.

Speaking of going veg, take a moment to check out the PB&J Campaign, which is

working to combat environmental destruction and improve animal welfare by reducing the amount of animal products people eat. The PB&J Campaign approaches positive change one meal at a time by illuminating the differences one single dining decision can make.

Though the site is geared towards animal welfare as opposed to animal rights, if a yummy PB&J sandwich can convince the meat-n-potatoes omni’s out there to opt for a cruelty-free meal…just once, anyway…then that’s just fine by me. Baby steps, people.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts RAN Rainforest Action Network earth day resolution meat vegan veganism vegetarian vegetarianism PB&J Campaign

* Related: Check out the Vegan Shoe group on Flickr. 70 pairs and counting!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Apr 16, 2007 10:38 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: “Style Goes Vegan” — 4/16/07

After recommending a film on Saturday (Year of the Dog) that has lots of great stuff in it but unfortunately makes vegans look a bit like nerdy fruit loops, how nice to find a lead story (pg C1) in today’s News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) headed, “Style goes vegan; New materials and cheap chic mean those who avoid animal products have better choices.” It is by Samantha Thompson Smith.

It notes that “only a few high-end designers — among the best-known, Stella McCartney — are conscious about not using animal products in the shoes, jackets and handbags they design. That’s a problem for strict vegans, who don’t eat anything that’s a byproduct of an animal, including meat, fish, eggs or milk. They also try to stay clear of shoes, handbags, jackets and belts made of animal products such as leather, suede, shearling, wool, fur and cashmere.”

But it continues:

“Now with the rise of cheap chic — the trendy designer knockoffs that have been driving sales for stores such as Target, H&M and more recently Payless — there are more options than ever for vegans to find trendy shoes and accessories.

Photo via Rain Rabbit *

(More below the fold…)

Via the Center for Biological Diversity:

S.O.S.! Save Our Squirrel!

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove the West Virginia northern flying squirrel from the endangered species list, taking away all federal protections from this rare mammal.

The de-listing plan is based on a flawed review of the squirrel’s habitat and faulty models of what would be required for permanent protection for this species.

Please write to the Service by April 23, 2007 to encourage them to scrap the de-listing proposal. Follow the link to take action, or send your comments to:

Assistant Chief
Division of Endangered and Threatened Species
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Northeast Regional Office
300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, MA 01035
wvnfscomments [at] fws.gov
Fax: 413-253-848

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts Center for Biological Diversity wildlife conservation endangered species esa endangered species act flying squirrel West Virginia

UPDATE, 5/23/07:

See also: Tell the Bush Administration to Protect the Last 300 Beluga Whales in Alaska’s Cook Inlet!, via the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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UPDATE, 5/18/07:

See also: Take Action – Beluga Whales Need Your Help to Survive, via the Ocean Conservancy.

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UPDATE, 4/22/07:

See also: Protect Alaska’s Beluga Whales by the Center for Biological Diversity. FYI: the action alert was released 4/20, so it appears that a decision was not yet reached as of Friday. Additionally, CBD gives an Campaign Expiration Date of June 19, 2007 – so get to it!

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Via Defenders of Wildlife:

Belugas on the Brink!

The Cook Inlet once teemed with up to 1300 beluga whales — a genetically distinct population of these white whales. But sadly, their numbers have dropped to around 300 — and they could vanish forever within our lifetime unless we act now!

Federal officials will decide soon whether to list the Cook Inlet belugas as an endangered species. But they need to hear from you.

Urge the National Marine Fisheries Service to list Cook Inlet belugas as “endangered” and protect these creatures for future generations. A decision could come as early as April 18th — so please take action today!

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts defenders of wildlife wildlife conservation whales beluga whales cook inlet NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service endangered species alaska esa endangered species act center for biological diversity nrdc Natural Resources Defense Council