By Dave Lindorff

Listening to the endless stream of cars passing my house every day,
and knowing, from watching them from my mailbox, that they are almost
all carrying just one person, either commuting to work or running some
kind of errand, I know we are headed for disaster.

Two days ago, there was a report by Agence France Presse
about the ongoing destruction of the world’s remaining wetlands (60
percent have already been destroyed by man over the past century), and
how they contain within them an amount of stored carbon equal to all
the carbon currently in the atmosphere. Global warming and property
development are drying out those remaining wetlands, causing the
release of that carbon, which will more than negate even the most
radical efforts at reducing carbon emissions from power plants,
factories and automobiles.

Johnson Must Go Coalition
http://johnsonmustgo.org

In a move that has become increasingly rare among her Congressional colleagues, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) took public her call for the removal of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson if he continues stonewalling Congress, saying,

"Today, I am announcing a number of actions.
1) I am asking EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to release every document related to the Agency's finding that global warming poses a danger to the public, including bringing the endangerment e-mail back to earth.
2) EPA s hould also immediately release a strong advance notice of proposed rulemaking on global warming emissions.If Mr. Johnson refuses to do these two things -- if he does not have the strength to do them -- he should resign. The American people need the head of the EPA to be an independent advocate for their health and their environment."

We need to take action against oil drilling before too late

Reply to: see below
Date: 2008-06-21, 6:18PM EDT

Folks, We need every Floridians voice to stop this.

I just sent the email below to the Governor of our great state. I'm extremely concerned that political expediency is clouding the debate over an issue that is so important to Florida - keeping oil rigs off our shores. The bottom line is that no amount of drilling will reduce gas prices, and politicians shouldn't be giving people this false hope.

Please read my email and help me get the truth out about drilling by writing a letter to the editor of your local paper today.

Governor Crist,

Please Join Us in Demanding the Resignation of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson

Johnson punishes whistleblowers, stonewalls Congress, and devastates the environment.

A coalition has formed to demand his resignation that includes the No Fear Coalition, AfterDowningStreet.org, Democrats.com, Friends of the Earth, the Black Leadership Roundtable, the Hip Hop Caucus, the Federally Employed Legal Defense Fund, the Congress Against Racism and Corruption in Law Enforcement, the Backbone Campaign, OpEdNews, World Prout Assembly, Code Pink, Why Not News, the Black Commentator, the Urban Journal, and the National Whistleblower Center.

Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy, Member of Congress 1971- 1991, and Chair of the National Black Leadership Conference, has drafted an open letter demanding Johnson's resignation. You can read and sign the letter (which will add to a petition count and send an Email to your representative and two senators), and read much more about Stephen Johnson, at: http://johnsonmustgo.org

Please sign the letter right away:
http://johnsonmustgo.org

Please forward this message far and wide!

By Dave Lindorff

Okay. Enough about race.

We've got a bigger problem here than how to get along with each other, as important as that may be, and that's how to make sure that any of us--or our children and grandchildren--are around in another hundred years.

Fast on the heels of reports about the increasingly, and unexpectedly rapid melting of Greenland's giant ice sheet, come even more scary reports about accelerated glacial melting in Antarctica, where there is a whole lot more ice.

By Dave Lindorff

With a viral campaign underway via email, right-wing radio, and on the street suggesting that Barack Obama is a black “Manchurian Candidate,” secretly trained as a Muslim fanatic who will insinuate himself into the White House, thence to undermine all that we hold dear, perhaps it is time to look at the Manchurian Candidate we already have in the White House, who, together with his handler over in Blair House, has pretty much done all the damage already.

George Bush came to office in 2001 promising a new era of integrity, civility and “compassionate conservatism,” an era of humble American foreign policy, and a bi-partisan approach to government.

What did we actually get?

By Dave Lindorff

While Democratic candidates for the presidential nomination debate and compete over whose healthcare reform plan is best, and over whether or not it’s okay to talk with “America’s enemies,” and while Democrats and Republicans lob attacks over whose foreign policy is more muscular, there is a lengthening list of global catastrophes all of which are simply being ignored.

Let’s look at that list:

This is in direct defiance of the international ban on whaling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7084319,00.html

TOKYO (AP) - Humpback whales are in the cross-hairs again. Japan's whaling fleet will leave port soon for the South Pacific with orders to kill up to 50 humpbacks - the first known large-scale hunt for the whales since a 1963 moratorium put them under international protection.

The Fisheries Agency has refused to release the fleet's departure date. But the lead whaling ship's operator, Kyodo Senpaku Ltd., said the fleet was scheduled to set sail from the southern city of Shimonoseki on Sunday.

I have some great news to share and a request to make for your help. I just passed through the House of Representatives with broad Democratic and Republican support, a package of common-sense proposals to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and to increase our usage of clean, renewable energy. For the first time ever, national energy policy will require all electric utilities to acquire 15% of their power from wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources by the year 2020. I sponsored or cosponsored important provisions in the energy bill that will provide funding for climate change research, surface owner protection, funding for research into carbon capture and storage, and protection of the Roan Plateau. But the fight's only begun, and I need your help right away.

By Van Jones, ColorLines

The driving force behind the country's new green economy is almost entirely white. But people of color have much more directly at stake in the greening of America.

In response to mounting ecological crises, the United States is going through its most important economic transformation since the New Deal. Unfortunately, the vital process of change along more eco-friendly lines is moving ahead with practically zero participation from people of color.

Hundreds of mayors and several governors are bucking the Bush administration and committing themselves to the carbon-cutting principles of the Kyoto treaty on climate change. The U.S. Congress is debating an energy bill this year that could be a watershed for alternative energy sources.