Action Alerts

American Freedom Campaign (AFC): Tell Congress: No More Warrantless Wiretapping!
Tell Congress to reverse its decision to grant President Bush more unchecked power to wiretap without a warrant.

In Defense of Animals (IDA): City of Vallejo Sells Elephants to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
“Take Action” to tell Washington Redskins owner to stop fumbling the ball when it comes to elephants’ lives

In Defense of Animals (IDA): House Votes to Temporarily Ban Horse Slaughter
Urge Senate to shut U.S. horse slaughter plants down now and forever

In Defense of Animals (IDA): Tell National Wildlife Refuge to Curb Consumptive Recreation
“Take Action” to urge Fish and Wildlife Service to ban hunting, fishing, and trapping at Lake Umbagog

Oceana: Thanks ERCO!
ERCO Worldwide, the number one mercury polluter in Wisconsin, announced that it would go mercury-free

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Action Alerts

Audubon: Final Push for Renewable Electricity
Please ask your Representative to support the Udall-Platts amendment

Center for Biological Diversity: Keep Mercenary Training Camp Out of San Diego Backcountry!
Blackwater has proposed establishing a military training camp in eastern San Diego County

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS): Help Pass the Dog Fighting Prohibition Act
Urge your reps to co-sponsor and support passage of S. 1880/H.R. 3219, the Dog Fighting Prohibition Act, and any legislation to crack down on dogfighting

In Defense of Animals (IDA): Urge USDA to Move Maggie to Sanctuary Before Winter
The Alaska Zoo Board Has Made Its Decision to Move Maggie; Please help make it happen before winter–write the USDA

In Defense of Animals (IDA): Survival of Wolves in Northern Rockies Jeopardized
“Take Action” by Aug. 6 to protect them from hunters

In Defense of Animals (IDA): Thank California retirement community for sparing deer
California Retirement Community Chooses to Spare Deer; Thank The Villages for using humane methods to manage wildlife

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In honor of World Ocean Day (which is today, for those at home keeping score), I bring you a few ocean-themed action alerts. Hey, they’re more useful than beads and less fattening than cake.

The Ocean Conservancy: Stop Climate Change and Save the Ocean

Today is World Ocean Day—it is a day for each of us to celebrate our relationship with the ocean. The ocean provides us with food, a prosperous economy and inspiration for all who come near it. But, the effects of global climate change are steadily taking their toll on the health of the ocean.

The ocean and coast are expected to be heavily impacted by climate change. Increased ocean warming, acidification, rising sea levels, and unprecedented changes to the distribution and abundance of fish and wildlife are among some of the feared results. These results will only intensify over time—unless we stand together and do something about it.

Oceana: Tell the United Nations to officially declare June 8 as “World Ocean Day!”

World Ocean Day was created in 1992 at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, put on by the United Nations. Ever since, thousands have celebrated the oceans’ importance and their personal connections with them. But unfortunately, for the past 15 years this honorary day has remained an unofficial celebration because the UN has failed to formally designate June 8 as World Ocean Day every year.

Oceans provide us with food, they regulate climate and generate oxygen, so it doesn’t matter if you reside on the coast or farther inland; the ocean in some way impacts your everyday life.

Sign our petition today!

The Ocean Project: HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR OUR OCEAN PLANET!

I endorse a United Nations resolution to declare June 8 as WORLD OCEAN DAY as a means each year to celebrate the world’s ocean and its rich diversity of life; highlight global ocean awareness, education and action programs to promote a healthy and productive ocean; and remind nations, governments, businesses, and individuals of their responsibility to protect the world’s living ocean and conserve its resources for present and future generations.

I join the initiative locally, nationally and internationally to celebrate and recognize World Ocean Day each year.

Photo via vanallensb

Happy World Ocean Day!

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts holidays observances world ocean day oceans water conservation climate change global warming pollution united nations oceana the ocean conservancy the ocean project the petition site june 8 petitions flickr water

Via Oceana:

Tell your congressman to VOTE YES on House Resolution 94

President Bush just declared June National Oceans Month. And now, the House of Representatives is voting on a resolution which would urge the Administration to become an international leader in ending overfishing subsidies.

Please contact Congress and ask your Representative to vote YES on the resolution (H. Con. Res. 94) to help eliminate harmful fishing subsidies! This bill will be voted on early next week so please contact your member of Congress today.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts oceana fish fishing overfishing fisheries subsidy subsidies water oceans wildlife conservation National Oceans Month overfishing subsidies

Via Oceana:

Ask Your State Consumer Protection Office To Inform Shoppers About Mercury

Taking a cue from Oceana’s campaign that urges grocery stores to post mercury warning signs at seafood counters, the Department of Consumer Protection of Westchester County, NY announced last week that it had gotten almost all of its local grocery stores to post these signs. Ask your state’s consumer protection office to post these signs!

Contact info for each state’s consumer protection office, as well as a sample letter, is available here.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts oceana fish mercury

UPDATE, 6/29/07, via Oceana:

It’s official - and unanimous. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to protect from bottom trawling some 180,000 square miles of previously unexploited ocean floor in the Bering Sea, particularly in the North. […]

The Council chose Alternative 2, advocated by Oceana, other organizations and local communities to essentially “freeze the footprint” on bottom trawling, allowing trawlers to continue operations in areas where trawling currently occurs and establishing a boundary to prevent further damage to seafloor habitats. The Council’s decision now goes to the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is responsible for putting into operation the actual regulation for in-the-water protection based on the advice they receive from the Council.

This decision was the result of years of campaigning by Oceana and others. WaveMakers like you made your voices heard throughout the campaign, with thousands of public comments to the council on this issue.

This decision is a great victory for the whales, walrus, seabirds and other animals in the Bering Sea. Thanks so much for being a part of it.

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Via Oceana:

Trawl Boats Need Turtle Excluder Devices!

Even 30 years after legislation passed requiring shrimp trawl boats be equipped with escape hatches called turtle excluder devices, sea turtles — all of them either threatened or endangered — are still drowning in trawl nets. This is because the U.S. government allows other trawl fisheries in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico to operate without the turtle excluder devices.

Turtle excluder devices, commonly known as “TEDs” are proven to reduce the mortality rate of sea turtles caught in trawls because when the turtles are captured they strike the grid bars on the TED and are ejected through the opening. This allows the turtles to surface and breath rather than being held underwater in the trawl net to drown.

Even trawls with TEDs still pose a threat to sea turtles because being slammed out of the TED after having been held under water for even a short time is physically stressful on the turtles. NMFS should ban trawl fishing in areas that are known to be key habitat areas for turtles.

It is time for the government to take the Endangered Species Act seriously and require the use of TEDs in all trawl fisheries without exceptions. The TEDs required must be of the proper size to allow all ages and species of turtles to escape. In addition, the government needs to prevent trawling from occurring in the most vital areas for sea turtle foraging, reproduction and migration.

Write to the National Marine Fisheries Service and tell them to stop letting so many turtles be injured or killed in trawl fisheries! The comment period ends May 18, so be sure to pass along your input today!

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts oceana trawling sea turtles fishing seafood esa endangered species act endangered species trawl nets wildlife conservation turtle excluder devices TEDs turtles National Marine Fisheries Service

Via Oceana:

Designate HAPC Habitat

The New England Fishery Management Council and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council have proposed a set of special areas in the ocean to be designated as “Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC).” These seafloor areas are recognized for their ecological importance and their sensitivity to outside forces. They are sometimes rare and often subjected to stress.

Send a letter now to help ensure that these areas are recognized as important habitats and get the special designation they deserve, to make way for proper future management. Hurry! The comment period closes May 21.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts oceana water wildlife conservation ecosystem HAPC Habitat Areas of Particular Concern New England Fishery Management Council Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council fish

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

Via Oceana:

Ask the Pope Not to Lent Sea Turtles Onto the Menu

Easter marked the close of this year’s Lenten season, and a day of celebration with family and friends was observed by millions. Spring has officially sprung, and with it a unique opportunity to protect threatened and endangered sea turtles. Due to a common misconception, an estimated 10,000 sea turtles were eaten in observance of the “no fish on Fridays” Lenten tradition and as part of Holy Week celebrations.

Oceana has partnered with Grupo Tortuguero to educate the public about sea turtles, whose already endangered status is made worse by this misunderstanding. Though they live in the ocean, sea turtles are not fish; they’re reptiles in the same way that lizards and snakes are reptiles, more closely related to dinosaurs than fish. Sea turtles are slow-growing and long-lived. Each individual creature impacts in the future of the species.

Sea turtles are indicators of our ocean’s health, which we depend on for our own survival. And, unfortunately, all six sea turtles species found in U.S. waters are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

That’s why Oceana is working across the world to encourage governments and others to pass policies that treat turtles like the ancient, threatened and endangered creatures they are. In February 2003, we scored a major victory when the U.S. government passed new rules to require larger turtle excluder devices (TEDs) on shrimp trawl nets in the Gulf of Mexico — saving more than 60,000 sea turtles a year.

In order to protect these gentle giants from this latest threat, we’re asking his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to intervene. Send your letter to the Holy See today, and ask the Pope to officially announce that sea turtles should not be eaten by Roman Catholics on Fridays during Lent.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts oceana Lent turtles sea turtles fish Catholic Catholicism the Pope Pope Benedict XVI Holy See ESA endangered species act endangered species wildlife conservation people suck