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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
November 1
"We must be alert to the health benefits, including less stress, lower blood pressure, and overall improved physical and mental health, that can result when people live and work in accessible, safe, well-designed, thoughtful structures and landscapes." -Dr. Richard Jackson, Director of the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Environmental Health, who authored a report released today documenting the negative public health impacts of suburban sprawl.
[1] SPRAWL: Centers for Disease Control Report Documents Health Effects of Sprawl
[2] GLOBAL WARMING: Is Ford Steering in a Green Direction?
[3] WILDLANDS: Another Rollback in Wilderness Protection, This Time in Arizona
[4] ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Victory Over Contaminated High School
[5] TAKE ACTION: Forest Service Catches Fast-Track Fever
[1] SPRAWL: Centers for Disease Control Report Documents Health Effects of Sprawl
As if we didn't have enough reasons to oppose sprawl, the Sierra Club released a report today by the Centers for Disease Control that links sprawling communities to a host of public health problems. According to the health experts who wrote the report, sprawling development has led to a rise in asthma, obesity and pedestrian-auto traffic accidents.
They attribute these correlations to the fact that Americans who live in suburban sprawl are dependent on their cars for transportation. This dependence on cars increases the pollution that triggers respiratory disease and discourages daily walking that can help keep people fit.
The authors conclude that urban planners must take public health into consideration, and plan communities around people, not cars. In other words, those sprawl folks over at Sierra Club? They ain't lyin'!
For information on Sierra Club's Stop Sprawl campaign, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/
For a full copy of the report, go to: https://www.sprawlwatch.org/health.pdf
[2] GLOBAL WARMING: Is Ford Steering in a Green Direction?
Environmentalists tentatively celebrated some good news on Wednesday when self-proclaimed environmentalist Bill Ford, Jr. was named CEO of Ford Motor Co., the second largest auto manufacturer in the world. Ford, who is the founder's great-grandson, has been active in Earth Day projects and volunteered for water and land cleanup projects.
Daniel Becker, head of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program, told the Washington Post, "He's not a protest in the streets and lobby Congress environmentalist. He's more of a hike in the woods and fishing environmentalist. But he gets it."
Now let's hope the rest of the company gets it, and fast. Ford has been one of the biggest obstacles to closing the SUV fuel efficiency loophole, and continues to promote gas-guzzlers like the Ford Excursion, which won the company Sierra Club's prestigious "Exxon Valdez Environmental Achievement Award."
For the full Washington Post article on Bill Ford, go to: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14684-2001Oct30.html
For more info. on the Valdez Award, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/cleancars/cafe/ford.asp
Sierra Club gave the hybrid Toyota Prius, an "Excellence in Environmental Engineering," to check out this alliterated gem, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/cleancars/prius.asp
[3] WILDLANDS: Another Rollback in Wilderness Protection, This Time in Arizona
Gale Norton's Department of the Interior continues to roll back environmental protections come hell or high water. Ignoring a lawsuit by the Sierra Club, Norton has decided to OK cattle grazing and road building in Arizona's Arrastra Mountain Wilderness Area.
Peeples Canyon, the centerpiece of the Arrastra Wilderness Area, has been described as "one of the wonders of public land in Arizona," and an example of "the rarest and most productive wildlife habitat" in western Arizona. Now the bulldozers and backhoes that will be brought into Peeples Canyon will almost surely impact the fifteen different threatened, endangered and sensitive species that live in the region.
For a description of the Canyon by Arizona State Univ. Law Professor, Joe Feller, go to: https://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/2001/specas01.html
[4] ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Victory Over Contaminated High School
Environmental Justice Organizer Jessy Cadenas and members of the Belmont community in Los Angeles won a major victory this week for the health of their children. For years, the local school district has tried to force through construction of a high school on a site contaminated with potentially explosive methane gas and toxic hydrogen sulfide. This week Gov. Gray Davis signed Assembly Bill 1301 to ensure a speedy environmental assessment so steps can be taken to stop the dangerous project.
And since education isn't limited to the classroom environment, Sierra Club Inner City Outings recently took children in Los Angeles to Topanga State Park. To see some of their drawings and comments, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/ico/stories/topanga.asp
For more information on Inner City Outings, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/ico/
[5] TAKE ACTION: Forest Service Catches Fast-Track Fever
The Bush Administration apparently has fast-track fever. First they wanted fast-track trade, now they want to fast-track logging on national forests.
The Forest Service has issued a proposal that will make it easier to fast-track destructive logging projects while avoiding environmental review and public comment. Sound like a sham? It is. Comments are needed to the Forest Service by November 21, 2001!
To submit a comment, or for background information, go to: https://whistler.sierraclub.org/takeaction/wildlands/index3.jsp
"I was for radical energy conservation, getting rid of gas-guzzlers and reducing oil imports before Sept. 11 - but I feel even more strongly about it now." -New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman in Today's New York Times Article, "Drilling for Tolerance," available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/30/opinion/30FRIE.html
[1] TOUR DE STENCH: Annual Tour Exposes Factory Farms
[2] HUMAN RIGHTS/MINING/WILDLANDS/ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Decision to Mine in American Indian Religious Sites Manages to Affront Just About Everyone
[3] ARSENIC: Urge the Administration to Support Tougher Standard
[4] SPECIAL PLACE: New Website, Tell Us About Your Favorite Special Place
[5] CALENDARS: Are in! Come & Get' Em
[1] TOUR DE STENCH: Annual Tour Exposes Factory Farms
Well it sure isn't the Tour de France, but there are heroes. Kentucky Organizer Aloma Dew held her second annual Tour de Stench, visiting individuals living next to water-polluting corporate chicken and hog factories.
Dew and guests visited with Norma Caine, who lives next to a 24 hour factory farm operation, which leaves piles of manure uncovered. Norma, who is working to regulate CAFOs, recently had her house burned down, but is very motivated to continue fighting. They also heard from Howard McGregor, who owns a craft and fruit store near two chicken feeding operations. The mice from the CAFO have invaded his store, and flies attracted by the chickens have killed many of the bees thereby ruining his honey business.
For more information on the Tour de Stench, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/tour_de_stench/
[2] HUMAN RIGHTS/MINING/WILDLANDS/ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Decision to Mine in American Indian Religious Sites Manages to Affront Just About Everyone
In an announcement this week, the Bureau of Land Management, under Gale Norton, made it easier for mining corporations to drill in culturally historic and environmentally sensitive land.
This decision will have a distinct impact on the Quechan Indian Nation of California, who have worked with the Sierra Club to defend their sacred land from gold drilling by the Glamis Imperial Corporation. Glamis is pushing a project that would, in the words of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, "be so damaging to historic resources that the Quechan Tribe's ability to practice their sacred traditions as a living part of their community life and development would be lost."
The Sierra Club Human Rights and Wildlands teams are currently arguing over who is more offended by the decision. For a Sierra Magazine Bulletin on our work with the Quechan, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/199803/bulletin.asp
[3] ARSENIC: Urge the Administration to Support Tougher Standard
Current guidelines for arsenic in our drinking water are based on data from 1942. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences recommended that the government reduce the standard for allowable arsenic in drinking water "as promptly as possible." Yet the Bush Administration has refused to implement a new level set by the Clinton Administration, in spite of millions of dollars worth of research pointing to evidence that arsenic causes cancer, heart disease and diabetes (and that's just the start).
Send a comment to EPA, urging them to implement a standard at least as protective as the Clinton standard. Comments must be received by Wednesday, October 31, 2001, so act today. Please visit https://whistler.sierraclub.org/takeaction/cleanwater/index7.jsp for more information and to send a comment. Comments may also be submitted electronically to ow-docket@epa.gov. In your email, please include: W-99-16-VI Arsenic Comments Clerk, Water Docket (MC-4101).
[4] SPECIAL PLACE: New Website, Tell Us About Your Favorite Special Place
Spending time in nature is always important - especially so in times of stress. As former Sierra Club president Chuck McGrady said, "Each of us has a special place that heals us, that quiets our confusion and helps us to hear our own voice again."
In that spirit, the Sierra Club website has added a page dedicated to members' special places. Tell us about your favorite natural place, or just check out what other members have to say.
https://www.sierraclub.org/specialplace/
[5] CALENDARS: Are in! Come & Get' Em.
Sierra Club's 2002 calendars are in. This includes not only the wall calendar but also the engagement book. As former president Robbie Cox says in the beginning of the book - "Engagement is described as the condition of being in gear... This new Sierra Club Engagement Calendar, then, can be seen as a timetable of promises and involvements, as a tool to help us 'be in gear' with the larger world around us." And being in gear with breathtaking photos to help remind us of why we all work so hard for clean water, clean air, and preserving America's wild heritage is pretty darn sweet.
To order, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/books/calendars/
"Politicians are like weather vanes. Our job is to make the wind blow." --David Brower
[1] GLOBAL POPULATION: World Population Awareness Week 2001
[2] POLITICS: Sierra Club Urges Congress to Stimulate Economy & Protect Environment
[3] ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Valley of the Chiefs: Sacred Site for Native MT Tribes or Oil Field?
[4] ACT UP: Tell EPA to Reduce Pollution from Off-Road Vehicles
[1] GLOBAL POPULATION: World Population Awareness Week 2001
World human population in 1830 reached 1 billion. In October 1999 it was 6 billion. Today it is 6.1 billion... And still growing. The Sierra Club is joining over 200 family planning, environmental, educational, community and service organizations from 65 countries in celebrating the 17th annual World Population Awareness Week from October 21st-27th.
World Population Awareness Week 2001, "Population and the Urban Future," spotlights the urgency to address the impact of rapid urbanization as a result of population growth. Feel overwhelmed by this massive issue? Take a small step and send a letter to your local newspaper informing people about global population. Use our sample letter or submit your own.
For a sample letter, go to: https://www.sierraclub.org/population/population_letter.asp
Check out Sierra Magazine's story, "A Smaller but Better Future: A trip through Mexico and Guatemala, where family planners learn to practice the art of the possible," at: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/199907/population.asp
[2] POLITICS: Sierra Club Urges Congress to Stimulate Economy & Protect Environment
On Wednesday, the Sierra Club participated in a press conference with the Campaign for America's Future opposing the House Economic Stimulus Package. Legislative Director Debbie Sease joined Rev. Jessie Jackson, and the Presidents of groups like the AFL-CIO, and National Organization for Women, in order to make sure an economic stimulus package doesn't turn into a tax giveaway for some of the nation's wealthiest corporations.
Sease urged Congress to look instead for ways to both stimulate the economy and protect the environment. Some suggestions included rehabilitating urban water and wastewater treatment systems, creating a modern rail transportation system, investing in public transit, and accelerating the development of more fuel-efficient vehicles. Supporting these four projects would not only create jobs, but clean our environment and make us more energy independent.
Sease in 2004?
For more information on yesterday's press conference, go to the Campaign for America's Future website, at: https://www.ourfuture.org/readarticle.asp?ID=1099
[3] ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Valley of the Chiefs: Sacred Site for Native MT Tribes or Oil Field?
The Valley of the Chiefs in southeastern Montana must be having an identity crisis. For hundreds of years, local tribes such as the Crow, Comanche, Sioux and Blackfeet, have called the area a sacred site and used it for vision quests and prayer ceremonies. Spiritual drawings that are over a thousand years old testify to the cultural and spiritual significance of this precious place.
But recently, oil billionaire Philip Anschultz, has been trying to demote the area to little more than an oil field. Anschultz exploration company has plans to drill for oil in the valley. The Sierra Club has joined local tribes and the National Trust for Historic Preservation in an attempt to protect the area from exploration.
To help, urge your Representatives to sign onto HR 2085, "Valley of Chiefs Native American Sacred Site Preservation Act of 2001." Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to talk to your Congressman's office.
For information on the campaign to protect the Valley of the Chiefs, go to: https://montana.sierraclub.org/weatherman.html
[4] ACT UP: Tell EPA to Reduce Pollution from Off-Road Vehicles
Many off-road vehicles still use "two-stroke engines," a dirty engine that dumps nearly 30% of its fuel right into the environment, and produces as many smog-forming particles in 7 hours as a car does after being driven 100,000 miles.
Tell the EPA that you support stricter regulations that would phase out two-stroke engines, require emissions labeling for engines and address noise pollution. Send comments to: Margaret Borushki (Docket No. A-2000-01) US EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality 2000 Trabverwood Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48105
You can also email letters to nranprm@epa.gov.
For more information and a sample letter, go to: https://whistler.sierraclub.org:8080/takeaction/index.jsp
To find out more about the EPA's proposed regulation, go to: https://www.epa.gov/otaq/nonroad.htm
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