Please return to this page occasionally to get new action alerts from White Violet Center for Eco-Justice.
July 8: Challenge the Corporate Control of Our Food System
Right now just a handful of companies like Monsanto, Cargill, Tyson and Smithfield influence most of the food we eat. Decades of bad farm policy and unchecked corporate mergers have left massive agribusiness giants with too much power over the food system. This is bad news for both farmers and consumers. Now, after years of government looking the other way, some in the Department of Justice seem to realize there's a problem. Please sign this petition to the Department of Justice.
July 8: Urge Congress to Protect Drinking Water by Co-Sponsoring HR 2766/S 1215 to Protect Drinking Water
The "Halliburton Loophole" exempts hydraulic fracturing, an oil and gas production method that has been linked to water contamination, from Safe Drinking Water Act regulations. Urge your senators and representative to co-sponsor legislation to repeal the Halliburton Loophole by clicking here to send a message.
July 8: Ask the House to End Oil Addiction and Co-Sponsor the Livable Communities Act
The BP oil disaster in the Gulf is a tragic reminder that America must end our oil addiction. Every day our sprawling communities lead us to burn millions of barrels of oil in our cars and trucks. By creating transportation choices besides driving, we can end our dependence on oil and create more convenient, livable communities. The Livable Communities Act would work to lower housing and transportation costs by promoting people-friendly development, including affordable living, public transit, and walkable and bikeable "complete streets." Click here to send a note to the House.
June 29: Call to end methyl iodide as pesticide on strawberry fields
California is on the verge of approving a dangerous carcinogenic gas for use on strawberry fields and other food crops. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation is on the verge of approving its use in the fields. They are doing this despite their Independent California Scientific Review Committee issuing a report which found that this would have a significant adverse impact on the public health.
Methyl iodide is a known neurotoxin, disrupts thyroid function, damages developing fetuses, and has caused lung tumors in laboratory animals. California already classifies it as a human carcinogen. Fumigating fields with the gas, even with the strictest regulations, would no doubt still result in unacceptable exposures to farm workers and nearby communities.
The outcome of California's decision may prompt an Environmental Protection Agency review of methyl iodide nationally. They should be finding safer, healthier ways to produce strawberries — not allowing more toxins into our bodies and our environment.
Please visit this Food & Water Watch web page to make your voice heard by signing a petition against the use of methyl iodide on our strawberries.
June 29: Ask your Senator to Co-Sponsor the Livable Community Act
Livable communities reduce the need to drive while encouraging economic development and helping to clean up the air we breath. Ask your Senator to help end our dependence on oil by co-sponsoring the Livable Communities Act (S.1619.) by sending this message from the Sierra Club Web site.
June 28: Tell Congress to Increase Funding for Global Clean Water
Safe drinking water is essential for human health and economic development, but dirty water causes disease and death around the world, especially in children. Tell your senators and representative to increase funding for global clean water projects. Click here to send the message.
June 28: Urge your representative to co-sponsor the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act
Polluted stormwater runoff threatens water quality across the nation, but we can put rain water back into the ground where it falls by increasing natural systems like trees, green roofs and rain gardens. Urge your representative to co-sponsor the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act (H.R. 4202).
Click here to send a message.
June 18: Time to embrace a cleaner energy future
The Environmental Defense Fund has provided a Web page with a letter to Senators asking them to lead us in a new cleaner energy direction. On this page you can also view a powerful video of the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf. Click here to go to the page and act.
June 18: Hoosier Environmental Council Invites Indiana Residents to Urge Support for Conservation Funding
Contact your congressman and Senators Lugar and Bayh and urge them to support a $1.6 million appropriation for land acquisition for the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge for fiscal year 2011. This funding would allow the refuge to seek the purchase of an additional 1,070 acres on six tracts, which contain seven lakes, a half-mile of the historic Wabash and Erie Canal, rolling grasslands, natural unmined forested bottomlands, and reclaimed mineland. These are valuable properties due to their size and habitat diversity, and may be lost to other buyers if not acquired soon.
It is important that Congress hear from Hoosiers about their support for refuge acquisition funding. Please email or fax (regular mail undergoes long delays for security reasons) your comments to:
Sen. Richard Lugar
(202) 228-0360 fax
Click here for e-mail contact form
Sen. Evan Bayh
(202) 228-1377 fax
Click here for e-mail contact form
June 10: Letter to Senate about protecting Indiana lakes
http://www.rallycongress.com/hoosier-environmental-council/3179/tell-state-chemist-to-let-town-protect-their-lakes/
June 10: Indiana Wildlife Federation Campaign for phosphorous free lawn fertilizer
Our natural species and habitats can be preserved if people: 1. Use phosphorus-free lawn fertilizer in any application unless a soil test indicates the need for supplemental phosphorus; 2. Promote sustainable lawn care practices; 3. Educate others about the problems phosphorus poses to water quality. Learn more here.
June 10: Climate and energy legislation
In the wake of the ongoing oil catastrophe in the Gulf Coast and recent coal mine explosion in West Virginia write to urge President Obama and Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Policy, to make passage of climate and energy legislation a top priority. Go to: https://secure3.convio.net/ucs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2519&s_src=wac&s_subsrc=website
June 8: Urge senators to vote "no" on Murkowski Amendment
A vote is scheduled for June 10 on Senator Lisa Murkowski's (Alaska) Joint Resolution (S.J. Res 26) to weaken the Clean Air Act by limiting the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases. Please ask senators to vote NO on this resolution by sending your message through the Natural Resource Defense Fund. Click here.
June 2: Tell your senators to oppose Sen. Murkowski's attack on the Clean Air Act
The Senate may soon vote on a measure sponsored by Senator Murkowski (R-AK) that would dismantle the Clean Air Act as a tool for combating global warming. Urge your senators to oppose and vote No on Senator Murkowski's attack on the Clean Air Act (S.J. Res 26). Click here to learn more from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
April 30: Protect our honeybees
There is growing evidence that the neonicotine-coated seeds for crops are linked with the demise of the honeybee population. The EPA has yet to take action. Congress needs to hear from you to push this issue.
Click here to send a message from the Sierra Club Web site.
March 15: Protect Our Clean Water from Mine Waste Dumping
Mining companies have taken advantage of a 2002 rollback of a Clean Water Act rule that allows them to use America’s streams and lakes as dumping grounds for untreated mining wastes. Send a message to to protect our clean water from mining waste.
Click here to send a message from the Sierra Club Web site.