home of the wildlife conservation environmental
and freedom activist
Environment Action
Alerts for June , 2005


P. New Guinea Forest Minister
Sells Citizens into Slavery 		Endangered Species
in the Spotlight 		Tell Congress: Don't Slash
Ocean Protection Funding

Protect the Wild West
from Oil and Gas Outlaws 		Help Amnesty Build
Momentum for Investigation 		Dolphins and Whales
Need Your Help

Birds, Big Business &
Your Chance to Help







from Forests.org June 2, 2005
ACTION ALERT   FORWARD WIDELY!

Papua New Guinea Forest Minister Sells Citizens into Slavery 
by the Malaysian Timber Mafia

By Forests.org, a project of Ecological Internet, Inc.
June 2, 2005

TAKE ACTION
Ask that the Forest Minister be sacked, the Malaysian Timber Mafia be
expelled, and the industry be transitioned to eco-forestry and carbon
offset payments    

http://forests.org/action/alert.asp?id=png

Rainforest policy in Papua New Guinea (PNG) - the Earth's third largest
rainforest expanse - has recently gone from bad to worse.  The current
Forest Minister is completely corrupted, and Malaysian timber interests 
- acting more like a timber mafia than legitimate foreign investors - 
have a stranglehold on the government.  The Prime Minister and his Forest
Minister have refused to act on overwhelming evidence that many logging
companies are operating outside the law.  The Forest Minister has 
failed to investigate human rights abuses including slave like labor 
conditions, and has failed to implement recommendations found in government reviews
and compliance audits.  He has issued new permits to logging companies
with very poor performance records and continually misleads regarding 
the economic importance of the logging industry - when in fact log exports
provide only 4% of government revenues.  Local groups have stated that 
in effect he has sold local populations and timber workers into slavery.  
It is critical that PNG's Prime Minister sack the Forest Minister, commit 
to expelling criminal logging enterprises such as Rimbunan Hijau - details 
to be determined through a Commission of Inquiry, and transition all 
forest management to community based eco-forestry supplemented with carbon
offset payments. Please ask that he do so at:

http://forests.org/action/alert.asp?id=png

Networked by Forests.org, gbarry@forests.org









from Defenders of Wildlife June 3, 2004





HELP SAVE OUR ENDANGERED SPECIES















What You Can Do:



Help us raise $20,000 
in the next 72 hours so we can continue to run ads in the home 
districts of key members of Congress who will decidEndangered 
Species Act: 




Congratulations!  Thanks to you, over 104,000 people have now taken action to save our endangered species from extinction.  With your help, we're putting full-court pressure on Congress.  Now we're moving ahead with our national public education campaign to protect the Endangered Species Act.
 

And we've enlisted a little star power in this critical effort!
 

That's right. U.S. Gold Medal Swimmer Amanda Beard and wildlife expert/ television personality Jeff Corwin have joined forces with Defenders in two new television public service announcements about the importance of saving endangered species and protecting the Endangered Species Act from those who would weaken its protections. (To view the new ads, click here.)
 

You may know Amanda Beard is a star in the swimming pool, but when she's not competing for gold, she's a strong advocate for imperiled wildlife. Amanda helped us before on the issue of dolphin-safe tuna and jumped at the chance to speak out for the Endangered Species Act.
 

Jeff Corwin is best known as the host of the popular "The Jeff Corwin Experience" on TV's Animal Planet channel.  From his work, you know he feels strongly about protecting wildlife.  What you probably didn't know is that he is also a member of the Defenders of Wildlife Board of Directors.
 

The television ads have already been aired in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Sarasota, Houston, Minneapolis, La Crosse, WI, and Boise, ID.  
 

With your help, we can also run these ads in the home districts of key members of Congress who will decide the fate of the Endangered Species Act. Please help us raise $20,000 in the next 72 hours so we can target these important swing votes.
 

Please make a special donation today at http://www.saveesa.org to help us expand our effective public education campaign where it can matter most.    
 

Thanks for all you do to save endangered wildlife and the habitat it needs to survive.
 

Sincerely,
Rodger Schlickeisen
P.S. If you haven't already, please send a message today to your Representative at http://www.saveesa.org urging a vote against the harmful Cardoza legislation (H.R. 1299).








Defenders of Wildlife is a leading national conservation
organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and habitat and known for its effective leadership on saving endangered species such as brown bears and gray wolves. Defenders advocates new approaches to wildlife conservation that protect species before they become endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with more than 475,000 members and supporters.
?Copyright Defenders of Wildlife 2005


Defenders of Wildlife
1130 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC  20036







from Oceana June 6, 2004

 

 
 
  
      
Tell Congress: Don't Slash Funding for Ocean Protection!
A key Congressional committee is about to slash the funding for an agency that's hugely important to ocean protection.  It's not too late to keep that from happening!  Take action today:
Here's the scoop.


The House Appropriations Committee is the committee in the House of Representatives that starts the process of deciding how the government's money gets spent each year.  They're looking this week at something important -- next year's budget for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.


When it comes to protecting the oceans, NOAA does tons of important work -- from scientific research to ocean management.  And the President's own Commission on Ocean Policy has said that we need to increase our investments for clean oceans before it's too late.  So naturally the thing to do is cut NOAA's budget for next year by half a billion dollars or so.


Wait.  What?
Yep -- the budget legislation currently before the committee would actually cut NOAA's budget by $496 million dollars for 2006.  That's about 13% of NOAA's budget getting chopped off, there.  Because, you know, it's not like the oceans need anyone looking out for them at the moment.


Now, the Appropriations Committee can change that budget before they send it along to the full House of Representatives for approval.  So it's not too late for them to fix this -- but they need to know it's important that they do so.
That's where you can help.  Your Representative sits on that committee.  You can help protect the oceans by letting them know that now is not the time to be hitting NOAA over the head with a two-by-four.
NOAA's work is critical to a future that includes healthy oceans for generations to come. Let your Representative know that so they can fix this budget legislation before it's too late!


Once again, thanks -- and if you have any questions, I'm an e-mail away at wavemaker@oceana.org.
 
For the oceans,
Jason Lefkowitz
Manager, E-Activism
Oceana
  


     
 
Take Action!

Instructions:
Click here to take action 
                              on this issue 
                                 
Take Action Button


What's At Stake:
In 
                              late May, a subcommittee of the House 
                              Appropriations Committee passed a bill to fund 
                              several agencies in the Departments of Commerce, 
                              Justice, and State, in addition to a few 
                              independent scientific agencies. In the bill, next 
                              year's budget for NOAA, an agency of the 
                              Department of Commerce, was targeted for severe 
                              reductions below this year's funding 
                              levels.
That 
                              bill will be under consideration this week by the 
                              full House Appropriations Committee. It proposes a 
                              drastic $496 million cut - a 12.6 percent 
                              reduction - from the current level of funding for 
                              NOAA. This proposal comes less than eight months 
                              after a high-level commission appointed by 
                              President Bush issued a final report on America's 
                              ocean policy that concluded our oceans are in 
                              severe distress. At a time when scientists, 
                              fishermen, conservationists, and others are 
                              calling on greater investments in oceans in order 
                              to restore their environmental and economic 
                              importance, the U.S. Congress is heading in the 
                              wrong direction.
NOAA 
                              is the agency in charge of several critical ocean 
                              and coastal research, management, and conservation 
                              activities. Critical efforts, such as reducing 
                              bycatch of marine mammals and sea turtles in dirty 
                              fishing gears, mapping and protecting deep sea 
                              corals, conducting ocean research, managing 
                              coastal areas, and setting fishing rules, are 
                              undertaken by NOAA. A cut of a half a billion 
                              dollars will make it much harder for the agency to 
                              ensure that its responsibilities for restoring our 
                              oceans and coasts succeed. 
Your 
                              U.S. Representative serves on the House 
                              Appropriations Committee which will consider and 
                              vote on this bill before it goes to the entire 
                              House of Representatives for a vote (probably 
                              later this month). Please consider sending a note 
                              to your Representative and urge them to speak out 
                              against drastic cuts to critical ocean and coastal 
                              protection programs and support all efforts to 
                              restore the funding cuts.
For 
                              more information, check out Oceana's public testimony on the 
                              NOAA budget. 
                              Oceana's Federal Policy 
                              Director submitted the testimony prior to the 
                              Subcommittee's action last month. The testimony 
                              highlights several key programs that Oceana 
                              recommends for receiving increased 
                              investments.                             



-->
     		

 
If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Oceana Action Center.





from Care2 Alerts June 6, 2004



Bluffs and badlands, wildflower meadows, redrock 
canyons, and white water rivers. These beautiful and wild
western lands that are such an important part of our
American heritage are at risk!  

The Wilderness Society needs your help to protect
them. Please click the link below to take action now by
signing a petition asking Interior Secretary Norton to make 
conservation of these lands a top priority. 
http://www.care2.com/go/z/24484

Five years ago the National Landscape Conservation
System (NLCS) was created to protect and preserve America's
wild Western lands. Unfortunately, these wild and
historic places are currently protected on paper only due to
the fact that, ever since its creation, the NLCS has
suffered from lack of funding, lack of staff and lack of
vision. At a time when the Department of the Interior should
be concentrating on exploring the many wonders of this
new system, instead, it is pouring money into leasing
these western lands to companies for oil and gas
development!

That's why the National Trust for Historic
Preservation recently named the entire National Landscape
Conservation System as one of the country's 11 Most Endangered
Historic Places.

You can help The Wilderness Society change these 
misguided policies and ensure these "hidden
treasures of the American West" get the protection they need.  

Please click on the link below to sign The
Wilderness Society's petition demanding that Interior Secretary

Norton make conservation the top priority for the NLCS.
http://www.care2.com/go/z/24484

Once you've signed the petition, please forward this

message to your friends and ask them to join you.

Thanks for all your help,

Jenny M.
Care2 & ThePetitionSite Team



from Care2 and Amnesty International June 8, 2004



If you've seen the news over the last week, you know
about the release of our partner Amnesty International's george bush denying amnesty accusations concentration camps prisoners of war
Annual Report and their criticisms of human rights
abuses by the U.S. government in Guantanamo, Iraq,
Afghanistan, and other detention camps around the world.  You may
have heard Bill Schulz, their Executive Director, on NPR
or seen him on CNN, NBC, or Hardball.

Amnesty has exposed widespread abuses.  Now we're
asking you to help Amnesty build momentum for an
independent commission and appointment of a Special Counsel to
investigate fully what happened in these detention centers and
hold anyone responsible accountable.  Please click here:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/24673

Thank you!
Hilary S.
Environmental Activism Manager,
Care2.com

PS: Check out Amnesty's flash video here:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/24673

Thanks for signing up for Human Rights alerts from
Care2 and ThePetitionSite. If you learned something 
interesting from this newsletter, please forward it
to your friends, family and colleagues.

To stop receiving this newsletter, visit:
http://www.care2.com/newsletters/unsub/15/0/2364303/9031ba27
or send a blank email message to:
do-unsub-15-0-2364303-9031ba27@australia.care2.com 

Care2.com, Inc. - 275 Shoreline Drive, Suite 150 -
Redwood City, CA 94065">





from Oceana June 8, 2004


      
No Flip-Flop on Flipper!
       

Today is World Oceans Day, so it's a little disappointing that as we celebrate, we have to remind Congress of the importance of protecting marine mammals like whales and dolphins. But that's what I need to urge you to do today.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) is a key law that protects dolphins, whales and other marine mammals from becoming "bycatch" -- accidental casualties of fishing.  One of the major requirements of the MMPA is that federal fishery managers are supposed to significantly reduce this bycatch; setting a deadline helps make sure that this happens.  
Here's the problem, though:  the federal government missed the deadline.
Now, if you set a deadline by which the government was to have reached a certain level of progress, and it didn't make the deadline, what would you do?
I bet your answer would be to take even stronger steps to ensure the deadline is met.  But that's not what's happened.  Instead, a bill has been introduced that would, among other things, remove the compliance deadline from the MMPA.
The good news?  It's not too late for this bill to be fixed.
 

We're asking you to write to your Member of Congress and urge him or her to contact the bill's sponsor, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (MD-1), and ask Rep. Gilchrest to fix the bill before it comes to a vote on the House floor.  As the sponsor, Rep. Gilchrest can do that; and by doing so he'd be doing a favor to lots of dolphins and whales.
With your help, we can ensure that as this bill moves toward becoming law, it does so without the provisions that threaten marine mammals.
Thanks -- and remember, if you have a question, just shine the Batsignal at wavemaker@oceana.org!
 
For the oceans,


Jason Lefkowitz
Manager, E-Activism
Oceana
 

      
 


Take Action!
Instructions:
Click here to take action     on this issue    
Take Action Button


What's At Stake:
Legislation to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), H.R. 2130, is scheduled for markup by the full Resources Committee. Oceana is supportive of some of the concepts proposed in this legislation, but overall, we are unable to support this bill.
The following provisions, which represent a step back in marine mammal protections, are the reasons why:
Zero Mortality Rate Goal:
H.R. 2130 amends the Zero Mortality Rate Goal (ZMRG) of the MMPA by eliminating a key deadline for attaining this important bycatch reduction goal. By not providing any deadline for compliance, this provision would remove the only action-forcing mechanism for achieving ZMRG for most stocks of marine mammals killed or injured in commercial fisheries. Oceana recommends that this provision should instead restart the clock and require achieving ZMRG "as quickly as possible, but no later than seven years after the date of enactment of this section."


Take Reduction Team Process:
H.R. 2130 would remove a critical deadline in establishing a Take Reduction Team.  Take Reduction Teams are established to help rebuild marine mammal populations that are in significant trouble due to their interaction with certain fishing gears.  These teams prepare Take Reduction Plans to reduce the impacts of commercial fisheries on marine mammals.  Current law requires that the Secretary, after receiving the final stock assessment that shows populations are impacted at higher than threshold levels, establish a Take Reduction Team within 30 days.  This bill strikes the 30 day deadline, thus giving the Secretary discretion in convening the Take Reduction Team at the "earliest possible time." Oceana recommends that this language regarding the 30 day deadline be maintained in the Act.
In addition, the bill extends several deadlines associated with the Take Reduction Team process. The extensions proposed could prolong the process for up to seven months and delay the requirement to reach the goal to reduce mortality and injury by another three months. Oceana recommends striking the language that would extend these deadlines.


 
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from Defenders of Wildlife June 30, 2004


Dear DEN bird advocate:

Did you know that nearly half of all North American
bird species call Canada’s Boreal Forest home for some
portion of their lives? Sadly, corporate logging is literally
flushing much of this crucial habitat down the toilet. 

Instead of using recycled fiber for most of its
disposable tissue paper products, including Kleenex brand
facial tissue and toilet paper, the Kimberly-Clark Corporation now
uses trees cut from old-growth forests. And they’re
clear-cutting many of these trees from the Boreal Forest. 

The billions of birds that fly to the Boreal Forest
each spring to breed and to take care of their young need your
help. Boreal habitat is vital to the survival of many of
the U.S. and Canada’s species of waterfowl, shorebirds,
waterbirds and landbirds. Please take action now.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

The Kimberly-Clark Corporation needs to hear from
you! Go to the DEN Action Center at http://www.denaction.org
and send a message today urging Kimberly-Clark to stop
destroying Canada's Boreal Forest and to use post-consumer
recycled materials for its tissue paper products.


___________________________________________________________

To SUBSCRIBE to DENlines, visit Defenders' website
at:
http://www.defenders.org/den or send an e-mail to 
DEN@defenders.org and put the word SUBSCRIBE in the 
subject line, and your name and address in the text
area.



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