From the Natural Resources Defense Council, two new alerts for Californians:

Californians: Help clean up dirty diesel pollution

California officials have two opportunities to reduce harmful diesel pollution throughout the state — tell them to clean up off-road diesel construction equipment and to adopt a strong program to reduce pollution from the dirty diesel trucks that service California’s ports.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts nrdc natural resources defense council California diesel trucks off-road vehicles pollution

Via the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Tell Mexico’s President Thank You for Defending Whales

Help us applaud the courage and vision of Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón for designating 109,000 acres of federal land around San Ignacio Lagoon for conservation.

Combined with the 140,000 acres of private and communal lands we’ve already protected, 249,000 acres are now off-limits to industrialization forever. We’re closer than ever to our ultimate goal of protecting one million acres around the world’s last untouched gray whale nursery!

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts nrdc Natural Resources Defense Council mexico conservation wildlife whales Felipe Calderón San Ignacio Lagoon gray whales gray whale nursery

UPDATE, 7/3/07, via the Wilderness Society:

Thank Your Congressperson for Protecting the Tongass National Forest

Thank you is a word we probably don’t say enough, but now is the time to do just that.

Please write your Congressional Representative today to thank him or her for voting yes on an amendment the House approved for the Interior budget. The Andrews-Chabot Amendment stops wasting taxpayer dollars building new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest, America’s largest intact rainforest.

U.S. Representatives Robert E. Andrews (D-New Jersey, 1st) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio, 1st) lead the bipartisan floor effort and deserve an additional thanks.

To let your representative know how much protecting the ecological integrity of the Tongass and the quality of life for southeast Alaska communities means to you, write your member of Congress [here].

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UPDATE, 6/12/07:

Looks like the Sierra Club wants in on the action too:

Take Action: Save Wild Alaskan Forests!

Known as America’s Rainforest, the Tongass National Forest is our nation’s most significant tract of old-growth forest and provide abundant habitat for a diversity of fish and wildlife species, many of which have declined substantially in the lower 48 states. Now the Forest Service is planning new logging roads and timber sales in this wild roadless forest, despite the fact that the Forest Service typically loses an average of $40 million each year logging this area. It’s time for Congress to take common sense action to eliminate these destructive practices.

Urge your member of Congress to stop subsidies for logging in the Tongass!

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Two more enviro alerts, this time in regards to upcoming Congressional votes that concern funding for federal lands and agencies.

First, from the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Tell your representative to protect the Tongass and other national treasures

The House of Representatives will vote this week on two critical appropriations bills that will determine how much to spend on
our most important environmental programs, including those that protect the Tongass National Forest and other public wildlands.

One important amendment would stop the Forest Service from spending our tax dollars to build logging roads through pristine
forestlands in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. For decades American taxpayers have been forced to subsidize nearly a billion dollars worth of clearcut logging in the Tongass — our country’s largest national forest and the world’s largest intact coastal temperate rainforest. Now the Forest Service has proposed increasing logging to five times current levels — and building thousands of miles of new roads at a cost of tens of millions of dollars every year. The Andrews-Chabot amendment to the Interior appropriations bill would end these harmful subsidies and protect the Tongass.

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Get right with D-O-G!:

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UPDATE, 6/12/07:

…and the Sierra Club weighs in….

Take Action: Support Energy Efficiency Standards!

Incandescent Light BulbIn order to achieve energy independence and curb global warming we must increase energy efficiency. We need an energy efficiency standard that will move America toward the 80% reductions in greenhouse gases that scientists say are necessary to avoid the worst consequences of global warming. By making better use of the electricity we already produce, we can not only save 300 million metric tons of global warming causing carbon dioxide by 2020, but consumers can also save a total of $26 billion.

Urge your Senators to support Energy Efficiency Standards!

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I’m running late, so I though I might take a shortcut and consolidate all of today’s climate change/fuel efficiency/general enviro alerts into one big link farm post.

(In fact, climate change is such a “hot” topic* right now that I may even do a link roundup post every day or two.)

So, yeehaw.

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UPDATE, 6/29/07:

Another alert, this one from the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Tell the EPA to reduce pollution from dirty trains and ships now

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a series of new standards that would help reduce the dangerous air pollution created by diesel ships. The EPA is accepting comments on its proposal through July 2nd, so send a message right away urging the agency to implement these improvements.

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Via Environmental Defense:

Support Cleaner Ships and Trains

Trains and ships are major sources of air pollution. Nationwide commercial ships and trains emit about 20% of the smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution and about 25% of diesel soot pollution from the transportation sector.

That’s why the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rules to clean up the pollution from trains and ships. And you have the chance to comment on their plan!

Take action! Voice your support for cleaner trains and ships - and ultimately healthier air. Comments are due by July 2nd so take action today!

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts ED environmental defense epa environmental protection agency trains ships pollution black smoke clean air nrdc Natural Resources Defense Council

Via the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Save Tahuamanu Rainforest

In a major advance in our campaign to halt Peru’s export of endangered mahogany, Congress and the Bush administration have agreed to include key protections against illegal logging in the U.S.-Peru trade agreement. Each year, loggers cut down thousands of majestic mahogany trees, laying waste to the lush habitat of the squirrel monkey and threatening the survival of indigenous peoples. More than 80 percent of this tropical timber — much of it illegally harvested — is bound for the United States. Congressional negotiators also insisted on measures that would prevent illegal mahogany from passing through U.S. Customs. Now, we must keep the pressure on the Peruvian government to ensure that all export mahogany is logged legally and sustainably.

» Tell the Peruvian government to do its part to curtail illegal mahogany exports.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts nrdc natural resources defense council wildlife conservation Peru Tahuamanu Rainforest rainforest mahogany endangered mahogany logging illegal logging

From the Natural Resources Defense Council, three new national action alerts:

Tell the Bush administration to let us bring cleaner cars to America’s roads

The EPA is accepting comments through June 15th on its long-overdue decision to allow California to limit global warming pollution from passenger vehicles. Send a message right away urging the EPA to allow California to implement this landmark law.

Tell Congress to say No to huge subsidies for the liquid coal industry

The coal industry is pushing Congress for huge subsidies and mandates for liquid coal production, even though it is inefficient, expensive and produces large amounts of global warming pollution. Urge your senators and representative to oppose any legislation that promotes liquid coal fuels.

Urge your representative to co-sponsor an important ocean protection bill

Decades of overfishing, pollution, aggressive invasive species and severe habitat loss are threatening our oceans, yet we have no comprehensive national law to address these problems. Tell your representative to support a bill that would protect and restore our oceans and the economies that rely on them.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts nrdc natural resources defense council California epa environmental protection agency global warming climate change coal liquid coal ocean overfishing pollution wildlife conservation

Via the Natural Resources Defense Council, four new alerts for Californians:

Californians: Help protect the state’s environment and wildlife

Speak out to protect California’s delta smelt, urge state legislators to support important global warming and water conservation bills in the Assembly and clean air legislation in the Senate, and tell officials to create a state budget that protects California’s environment.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts nrdc Natural Resources Defense Council California clean water water global warming climate change state budget delta smelt air clean air legislation

Via the Natural Resources Defense Council, two federal action alerts:

Tell the EPA to protect children from rat poisons

The EPA has proposed important safety measures to protect children from rat poisons, but the chemical industry is fighting these safety precautions. Comments are due May 18th, so send a message urging the EPA to adopt these measures now.

Urge Congress to help bring clean drinking water to the world’s neediest children

More than one billion people don’t have access to safe drinking water, even though cost-effective solutions to the problem are available now. Urge Congress to include funding in upcoming appropriations bills to help ensure safe drinking water throughout the world.

and three California alerts:

Speak out to protect California’s environment and wildlife

Urge your assemblymember to safeguard Allensworth State Park from polluting mega-dairies, tell Gov. Schwarzenegger to veto a dirty offshore gas project, and speak out to protect Morro Bay’s coastal ecosystem.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts NRDC Natural Resources Defense Council rat poison children public safety public health EPA water drinking water clean water California Allensworth State Park dairy farms pollution factory farming drilling offshore drilling gas Morro Bay wildlife conservation

UPDATE, 5/15/07:

See also: Support the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act, from the National Wildlife Federation.

Tiny Violin alert: If you do use the NWF’s sample letter, there’s one reference to fishing that you’ll want to edit out.

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Via the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Tell Congress not to let polluters weaken the Clean Water Act

Since the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972, we have made great progress in cleaning up our nation’s waters. But polluters have tried repeatedly to use the courts to cut back on the law’s protections, and last year their efforts paid off when a Supreme Court decision left significant doubt about what kinds of water bodies remain protected by the Clean Water Act.

Now a number of small streams and other waters are in legal limbo. This uncertainty is enormously dangerous — 20 million acres of wetlands and nearly two million miles of streams are at risk of pollution or destruction if they lose their Clean Water Act protections. In response, concerned members of the House and Senate will soon introduce the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act to thwart polluters’ attacks by specifying the kinds of waters that the law must cover.

Americans need these water bodies to be protected — the small and seasonal creeks, brooks and streams that make up over half the river miles outside of Alaska contribute to the drinking water of roughly 111 million people. In addition, wetlands purify water, reduce the risk of flooding and provide important wildlife habitat.

Send a message urging your senators and representative to co-sponsor the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts NRDC Natural Resources Defense Council water pollution clean water clean water act Clean Water Authority Restoration Act congress 110th congress nwf National Wildlife Federation