Minnesota Goes Green, Really Green

Minnesota takes steps toward becoming the U.S.'s most environmentally progressive place, after New York and Maine.



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A Welcome Recasting on Renewable Energy

Increasing political will to take action against global warming has resulting in new laws in Minnesota to reduce emissions and to invest in alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydro-power. Maine and New York are also congratulated for their high standards.



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Worries over global warming to boost use of renewables

Governments around the world are trying to invest in alternative sources of energy.



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35 Point Action Plan Revealed to Congress to Reach 25x’25 Energy Goals

An Action Plan was presented to Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill this morning, containing 35 specific recommendations that would cost just five percent of what America spent on imported oil in 2006 and would result in a dramatic increase in new jobs and economic activity, along with significant reductions in oil consumption.



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An Inconvenient Truth - A Global Warming Cartoon

I Need to Wake Up! by Melissa Ethridge

Make a Call to Help Fight Global Warming

From USPIRG Legislative Director, Anna Aurilio

As you no doubt know by now, "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary about global warming, won two Academy Awards on Sunday, a fitting tribute for a film that has single-handedly shifted the national debate by educating millions of Americans about the science and dangers of global warming.But as the former vice president said in accepting the award, "We need to solve the climate crisis. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act. That's a renewable resource--let's renew it."

You can get started by calling your representative in Congress and urging him or her to cosponsor the Safe Climate Act, legislation that would set the science-based pollution limits needed to prevent the worst effects of global warming. (Below is a list of representatives who have already cosponsored the bill.

If your representative is listed, be sure to call and thank them for their leadership.)If you don't know who your representative is, that's OK. Just call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121, tell the operator where you live, and they will connect you.

Here's a sample message you can leave: "Hello, my name is ____ and I live in _____. I'm calling to urge Rep. _____ to cosponsor the Safe Climate Act, legislation that will prevent the worst effects of global warming by implementing solutions like renewable energy and energy efficiency."

Then, please report your call so we can keep track of how many are being made.

To report your call, please click here .

Background

Global warming is starting to change weather patterns. Scientists predict that these changes will accelerate in the future and say that we can expect:

* Extreme weather. Scientists expect hurricanes to become more intense and say that the hurricanes that hit the Gulf states in 2005 may be an indication of what's to come.

* Public health risks. Scientists also expect heat waves to become more dangerous, causing more people to suffer heat stress and stroke. Other impacts include the spread of infectious diseases.

* Less snow, less water. Many of the rivers and streams that we rely on for our water supply are fed by mountain snow. But warmer winters are starting to cause less precipitation to fall as snow, which may cause serious future water shortages.

Most global warming pollution comes from burning oil, coal, and natural gas in our power plants, cars, SUVs, and factories. Power plants are the single biggest source, responsible for about 40% of U.S. global warming pollution. Because there are no federal limits on global warming pollution, industry can pump unlimited amounts of the pollution into our skies.

The good news is we can reduce global warming pollution by using existing technology to make power plants and factories more efficient, make cars go farther on a gallon of gasoline, and shift to cleaner technologies, such as hybrids, biofuels, and wind and solar power.

These are win-win solutions because they also will reduce our dependence on oil, reduce air pollution, protect pristine places from oil drilling and mining, and bring many other benefits.Rep. Henry Waxman has introduced the first-ever science-based bill to stop the worst effects of global warming. The bill requires nation-wide reductions of global warming pollution of 15% by 2020 and 80% by 2050, the level of reductions the best science says are needed.

Current cosponsors of the bill are:

Raul Grijalva (AZ)
Howard Berman (CA)
Susan Davis (CA)
Jane Harman (CA)
Mike Honda (CA)
Tom Lantos (CA)
Barbara Lee (CA)
Doris O. Matsui (CA)
Adam Schiff (CA)
Brad Sherman (CA)
Pete Stark (CA)
Ellen Tauscher (CA)
Maxine Waters (CA)
Diane Watson (CA)
Lynn Woolsey (CA)
Christopher Shays (CT)
Robert Wexler (FL)
Neil Abercrombie (HI)
Luis V. Gutierrez (IL)
Jan Schakowsky (IL)
Ben Chandler (KY)
John Yarmuth (KY)
William Jefferson (LA)
Stephen F. Lynch (MA)
Ed Markey (MA)
Jim McGovern (MA)
Martin Meehan (MA)
John Olver (MA)
Tom Allen (ME)
Michael Michaud (ME)
Elijah Cummings (MD)
Chris Van Hollen (MD)
Keith Ellison (MN)
Betty McCollum (MN)
Russ Carnahan (MO)
William Lacy Clay (MO)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO)
Paul Hodes (NH)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH)
Frank Pallone (NJ)
Donald M. Payne (NJ)
Steve Rothman (NJ)
Albio Sires (NJ)
Maurice Hinchey (NY)
Carolyn B. Maloney (NY)
Mike McNulty (NY)
Jerrold Nadler (NY)
Anthony Weiner (NY)
Allyson Schwartz (PA)
Joseph Sestak (PA)
Earl Blumenauer (OR)
Steve Cohen (TN)
Lloyd Doggett (TX)
Jim Moran (VA)
Peter Welch (VT)
Jay Inslee (WA)
Adam Smith (WA)
Tammy Baldwin (WI)

You can help add more cosponsors by calling your representative in Congress and urging him or her to cosponsor the Safe Climate Act, legislation that would set the science-based pollution limits needed to prevent the worst effects of global warming.


http://www.USPIRG.org

Project Green: This eco-friendly house

In honor of An Inconvenient Truth winning the Oscar, I'd like to submit this story on how one newly married couple worked to make their home more environmentally friendly.



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How the U.S. is failing its War Veterans

The United States government is abandoning its Iraq War and Afghanistan War veterans when they come home after service.



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Iraq War Protests Greet Cheney's Australia Trip

Dick Cheney is greeted with protests during his visit to Australia. Thanks, Aussies!!!!!!



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Genetically Altered Salmon

This morning I heard on CBS radio something about a company trying to get FDA approval to sell genetically altered salmon. I haven't been able to find any more updated information on the story, although I was able to find this article from The Union of Concerned Scientists which expresses concern about genetically altered fish. The idea of genetically altered food is very scary to me. If you want to read more about it read Harvest of Hope by Jane Goodall, which you can order via amazon.com on a link below. A documentary that is also really informative about the food industry is The Future of Food. It is important to remember that before the progressive era meat packing companies were mixing string and other crap into meat to reduced costs and increase profits. It is really important for the FDA to do its job and protect the public by making sure our food is safe. Unfortunately, government regulators under the Bush Administration seem to favor industry over the public and profits seem to win out over our safety, which is why we as the public need to continue to lobby, write, and call our government officials to advocate for safer food. To write against genetically altered fish, check out this link.



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Maybe We Deserve to Be Ripped Off By Bush's Billionaires

Rolling Stone Columnist Matt Taibbi compares the winners and losers of Bush's budget: If the Estate Tax were to be repealed completely, the estimated savings to just one family -- the Walton family...would be about $32.7 billion dollars over the next 10 years. The proposed reductions to Medicaid over the same time frame? $28 Billion.



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Is Your Lipstick Safe?

A new California law promises women the truth about personal-care products

by Anuja Mendiratta
Ms. Magazine

That lipstick or nail polish you may be wearing—are they a danger to your health? How about your deodorant, toothpaste, body lotion, soap?
Seemingly innocuous personal-care products contain a host of largely unregulated chemicals and toxic ingredients. Some of those chemicals— phthalates, formaldehyde, petroleum, parabens, benzene and lead—have been variously linked to breast cancer, endometriosis, reproductive disorders, birth defects and developmental disabilities in children. Read more in Ms. On-line...

Tell OPI to Make Safe Nail Polish!

Tell OPI That One Is Not Enough! OPI Products, Inc. is the largest manufacturer of nail polish and nail treatment products in the world. In response to pressure from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in August 2006, OPI agreed to remove dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a known reproductive toxin from its nail products. However, several OPI products still contain toluene and formaldehyde—chemicals linked to cancer, nervous system disorders and liver and kidney damage.

Tell OPI to get serious about protecting women’s health and remove all harmful chemicals from its nail products! »

From: The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

Looking at the Bottle and What's in It

New York Times
February 15, 2007

By Natasha Singer

Concerns about chemicals in cosmetics have prompted some consumer groups and researchers to conduct their own lab tests on beauty products.

Last month, Consumer Reports ShopSmart magazine published a report about eight consumer fragrances the company had tested for the presence of phthalates, a group of chemicals used as plasticizers in many consumer products. A few of these chemicals have been found to have a hormonal effect on lab animals; one chemical, DEHP, is banned from cosmetics in European Union nations. Read more...

Should You Trust Your Makeup?

New York Times
February 15, 2007

By Natasha Singer

For decades, companies that make everything from after-shave to lip gloss have conducted safety testing on grooming products and shipped the cosmetics to stores to be sold to consumers, all with very little government involvement. And over the years, there have been few health or safety problems associated with the myriad grooming products and cosmetics on the market.

Nonetheless, momentum has been building for greater oversight of the chemicals in everyday products, with the European Union and California taking the lead in imposing new rules for monitoring what is in the perfumes, creams, nail polish and hair sprays that are sold.
The California Safe Cosmetics Act, which took effect on Jan. 1, requires cosmetics companies to tell state health authorities if a product contains any chemical on several government lists covering possible cancer-causing agents or substances that may harm the reproductive system.
Read more...

Are Our Cosmetics Giving Us Cancer?

From MSNBC.MSN.COM:

An environmental oncologist argues that myriad tiny amounts of cancer-causing agents in our environment—and even in our shampoo—can make us sick...

Our chances of getting cancer reflect the full gamut of carcinogens we're exposed to each day—in air, water and food pollution and in cancerous ingredients or contaminants in household cleaners, clothing, furniture and the dozens of personal-care products many of us use daily.

Of the many cancer risks we face, shampoos and bubble baths should not be among them. The risks of para-dioxane in American baby soaps, for instance, could be completely eliminated through simple manufacturing changes—as they are in Europe. To remove such carcinogens, however, would require intervention by the federal government, but the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act allows the industry to police itself. Europe has banned the use of para-dioxane in all personal-care products and recently initiated a recall of any contaminated products.

There’s a problem with the way the United States and other countries look at toxicity in commercial agents. Regulators nowadays often won’t take action until enough people have already complained of harm. This makes little sense. Scientists can seldom discern how the myriad substances, both good and bad, that we encounter in our lives precisely affect our health. We need to be smarter about using experimental evidence to predict and therefore prevent harm from happening.

A few decades ago, people accepted the fact that cigarette smoking was harmful, even though no scientist could explain precisely how this happened in any particular cancer patient. If we had insisted in having perfect proof of how smoking damaged the lungs before acting to discourage this unhealthy practice, we would still be questioning what to do.

By the same token, we now have to get used to the idea that scientists are unlikely to be able to say with certainty that a trace chemical in shampoo accounts for a specific disease in a given child. But if we're to reduce our cancer risk, we need to lower our exposures to those agents that can be avoided and find safer substitutes for those that can’t. Read more.

dixie chicks not ready to make nice

Thank God for artists who are willing to speak out for what they believe!

Congratulations to the Dixie Chix for their well earned and well deserved grammy!

Jane Fonda's speech at D.C. Peace rally - January 27, 2007

Jane thanks crowd and tells them that silence is no longer an option.

What a Beautiful Day for a Peaceful Revolution…

By Audra Volpi

A few years back, my vision for the future changed, as did my registered party of choice. I began to realize the importance of a nation of unity instead of a nation of discrimination. “One Nation under God, Indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all”. Words that have been challenged in this country as of late by a President and his party who has a difficult time listening to its people. A party who stands for “justice” constantly disappoints us with mindless rhetoric.

January 27, 2007 was a day in history. Outdoors in the streets of Washington DC with my family and my peers, our day started out as a nice trip on the Blue Line Metro to find it full of demonstrators. Children being wheeled around in strollers displaying signs with anti-war messages. Teenagers holding signs ready to protest. Hippies, young and old ready to tell the world what they believe in. People coming from all walks of life to this one time, this one day and this one fight to regain our country. We exited at the Smithsonian stop walking up to the Mall. This was my first time at a demonstration such as this. I was not prepared to see the amount of people that waited before me, covering the Mall area with the Capital building in the background. Crowds of people, from what the conservative media said were only around 20,000 to what seems more like a few hundred thousand in person. Walking through these crowds towards the large speakers and a stage to where music was playing, speakers were talking of the plans for the day and how we need to get some semblance of sanity back in this country.

People everywhere displaying signs showing their individuality. "I have a Dream" was displayed on one person's backpack with a picture of Bush and Cheney behind bars. "I Don't Pay Taxes to Kill Civilians" was another. And then there was one that I thought was pretty powerful. "To our Soldiers, Thank you for your Blood, Sweat, Tears & Service – But It Is Time to Come Home. We Will Work to Bring You Home” You see, just because you are against the war, doesn’t mean you’re not patriotic and especially doesn’t mean that you don’t support our troops. I don’t believe our country is on the right track. I believe it is time to bring the men and women of this country home. I will support them while they are there, even though I don’t believe in the reason they are there. A similar feeling was displayed all over that Mall.

The feeling of patriotism was rampant. People who loved this country we live in. Proud to call ourselves Americans, even though we have fallen on hard and distrustful times. There was a semblance of hope. This administration is almost out and it was that hope of a new era to bring us out of the Dark ages that brought these few hundred thousand people to Washington DC this day. People came from all over the country. I was listening to this one woman who was on a bus for two days from California to come to this demonstration. It was a small sacrifice for her to make her voice heard. I saw children with their parents holding American Flags – waving them in the air. People holding signs from different towns in North Carolina, Colorado, New York, Florida, DC, New Jersey and so many other states representing the American Voice. Do I think it was heard by our president? No. Unfortunately, I don’t. I don’t think he’s capable of being as human as those that voted for him wished he would be.

Knowing that we are not being heard did not stop the few hundred thousand people this day from trying to be heard. As children, we try to persuade our parents to change their mind about making us go to bed early or not making us eat our vegetables. Where in our lifetime does it change, where as adults some just stand by and let the world pass them by without making their voice heard? Why do some just give up and not speak up. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “There Comes a Time When Silence is Betrayal”. How true this statement is at this time of this country’s history.

Leaving the demonstration and back on the Metro, I had a conversation with a gentleman standing next to me. He was amazed that I was able to stand still on this train that was stopping and starting so suddenly and wondered what my skill was and how he could get it. “Years riding a New York Subway” I responded and we chuckled. We discussed the march and my family’s role in it. I asked about him and his role and he proceeded to tell me an interesting story. Here was a man who was a US Marshall for a number of years leaving the demonstration. He had the day off and wanted to go. Not for work, but just to go. I found that fascinating. It takes all people from all walks of life to make this country what it is – and what it isn’t. But here was someone who I would have never thought would make his way to that demonstration for any other purpose than to police it. But he was there right along with the rest of us. It made me proud at that very moment to be an American.

For me – this experience was very overwhelming. Everywhere I looked I saw thousands of people. It was powerful to think that in this march, there were people who lost loved ones in this war. People who had their children, siblings or partners shipped overseas not knowing on a daily basis if they were going to get a knock at the door from a man or woman in uniform to deliver the news of their loss. I can‘t even imagine as a parent getting that knock. I have hope, though. Hope that even though this country has reached the bottom, it will be not long before we start climbing out to reach where we ought to be. The Light of day is coming closer. If I give in and don’t believe that – I will be like the countless Americans who have given up and accepted things for what they are, and not what they could or even should be. Don’t let that American be you. Stand up and be the voice of freedom that helps bring out troops home where they belong.

Where are the Democrats?

Alan.J.Singer@hofstra.edu writes:

I did go to Washington. Spirit was strong. Speakers were disappointing.
No leading Democrats. Their focus was on opposition to escalation, not
on withdrawal. The marchers overwhelmingly demanded withdrawal from
Iraq. Estimates of crowd size varied widely. I don't think it was more
than 30,000. Only the first quad on the mall was full and the parking
lots were definitely not crowded. This was the start, not the finish, of
the campaign.