Current Actions

• Stand up for forests

  The National Association of Music Merchants, which represents businesses that manufacture, distribute or retail musical instruments or products, is having its trade show in Anaheim, California this weekend. Unfortunately, NAMM has been supporting the RELIEF Act, a bill that would weaken protections against illegal logging of forests. If enacted, forests, wildlife and communities would be in greater danger. Stand with Friends of the Earth, musician Razia Said and others to ask NAMM to stop lobbying against forests.

  Sign the petition to urge NAMM's President and CEO Joe Lamond and Chairman Kevin Cranley to reconsider their support for the RELIEF Act.

• Thank President Obama for rejecting Keystone XL

  The Obama administration stood up to big oil corporations and rejected the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. This dangerous project would have made climate change worse and imperiled the health of people all along its route from Canada to Texas.

  Please send a message of thanks to President Obama for taking this stand for people’s health and livelihoods and for a safe climate.

• Halt the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys

  A private company called Oxitec wants to release potentially harmful genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys as early as late spring of this year, in what would be the first-ever U.S. release of these engineered bugs.
  
  There are too many unanswered questions about the ecological and health impacts of these mosquitoes. State and federal agencies have yet to fully study them and there are no laws on the books to properly regulate the release of these bugs into the wild. Furthermore, we found that Oxitec was concealing evidence from the public about how many of its engineered mosquitoes could survive.

  An outpouring of public opposition from Floridians is our best shot at stopping Oxitec's plans.

  Please use the form below to tell the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that Floridians should not be used as field experiments.

• Halt the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys

  A private company called Oxitec wants to release potentially harmful genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys as early as late spring of this year, in what would be the first-ever U.S. release of these engineered bugs.
  
  There are too many unanswered questions about the ecological and health impacts of these mosquitoes. State and federal agencies have yet to fully study them and there are no laws on the books to properly regulate the release of these bugs into the wild. Furthermore, we found that Oxitec was concealing evidence from the public about how many of its engineered mosquitoes could survive.

  An outpouring of public opposition from Floridians is our best shot at stopping Oxitec's plans.

  Please use the form below to tell the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District and the Florida Department of Agriculture that Floridians should not be used as field experiments.

• Tell Obama: Keep your promises on Keystone XL

  On November 10, the Obama administration hit the reset button on the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, announcing it would explore a new route and seek a new environmental review.

  Oil industry beholden Republicans in Congress then refused to pass a payroll tax extension deal unless it forced President Obama to make a decision on the pipeline within 60 days.
  
  With the deadline of February 21 looming, the president has only one option: He must reject Keystone XL -- and he needs to know we will hold him to that.

  Please send this message to President Obama: A fast-tracked deadline -- and the great harm this project would cause -- means you must reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

  Take action now using the form below.

• Help stop cruise ship dumping in all of Puget Sound

  On December 1, we achieved a ban on cruise ship sewage dumping in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

  Now you can help protect human health and all of Puget Sound's marine resources from cruise ship pollution.

  The Washington State Department of Ecology, the Port of Seattle and the regional cruise industry association have agreed to consider our probosal to ban cruise ship wastewater dumping in Puget Sound -- and the deadline for comments in support of the ban is February 13.

  Please use the form below to express your support for a ban on wastewater dumping.

• Tell the FDA to Just Label It!

  There are no laws in the U.S. requiring labeling of genetically engineered foods, even though 93 percent of Americans believe they have a right to know. Friends of the Earth and a coalition of more than 300 groups are working to change this through the “Just Label It!” campaign.
  
  Our friends at the Center for Food Safety have filed a petition calling on the Food and Drug Administration to require labeling of all genetically engineered foods, which studies show pose serious risks to our health, wildlife and the environment.
  
  Help us flood the FDA with comments about the importance of food labeling so consumers across America will know what they are buying.

  Send a public comment today to tell the FDA to Just Label It!

• Tell Congress: Get behind a carbon tax

  

  A carbon tax would make polluters pay for the damage they inflict on people and the planet and help head off the worst impacts of climate change -- all the while raising hundreds of billions in revenue to protect crucial programs like Social Security and Medicare.

  We must start injecting this progressive, pro-environment solution into budget debates. By signing this petition, you will show your representatives -- and our  progressive allies in Congress -- that there is public support for this win-win solution.

  Show your support for a carbon tax by signing this petition to Congress today.

• Don't let Iowa raise electric rates to subsidize new reactors

  [Photo by Edibobb via Wikimedia Commons]

  The nuclear industry’s dirty secret is that it cannot afford to build new reactors without public handouts. This is why it is trying to increase electric rates for proposed nuclear reactors in Iowa now, even though the power would not come online for years -- if ever. If construction stops or MidAmerican Energy cancels the projects, consumers would still be stuck with the rate increases.

  The Iowa legislature is considering a bill that would allow MidAmerican to charge consumers for these unbuilt reactors. Under similar legislation in Florida, families have seen their rates rise substantially, as cost estimates continue to increase for a plant that still isn't constructed. It is unfair for the Iowa legislature to allow MidAmerican -- a private utility company -- to make Iowans responsible for the financial risks.

  We successfully stopped this bill from moving forward last year, but MidAmerican has lobbied to bring it back for this session.

  Use this form to ask your state senator to oppose the rate increase and stand up for Iowa consumers. Enter your zip code to get started.

• Stop the frankenfish!

  Before the FDA can approve genetically engineered salmon, Congress is taking action to stop frankenfish in its tracks. Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) have introduced bipartisan legislation in Congress that would ban genetically engineered fish entirely. Or, if that fails, an alternate bill would require companies to at least put a sticker on any product that contains frankenfish to let Americans know what they are eating.

  Please write your members of Congress and urge them to co-sponsor the anti-frankenfish bills (or say thanks if they already have).

• Call for a halt to reactor construction and ultimately, an end to nuclear power in the U.S.

  The nuclear disaster at Fukushima is a heartbreaking reminder of the dangers inherent to the nuclear industry. Radioactive contamination has turned up everywhere from school yards to food crops. And clean up of the crippled reactors could take decades. More and more people in the U.S. are learning that no reactor -- new or old -- is safe.

  Take action today. Tell your representatives that Americans want to move away from nuclear power and the first step is a moratorium on new construction.

• Tax Wall Street greed to fund global needs

  As a top climate polluter and the world's largest economy, the United States owes the world a whole lot when it comes to climate change. The Investing in Our Future Act (H.R. 755) introduced by Representative Pete Stark (D-Calif.) would create climate and health funds to help developing countries by taxing Wall Street greed.

  By placing a tiny levy on an untaxed financial market, the Investing in Our Future Act could raise $5 billion in urgently needed funds for climate change and health programs in impoverished countries, while reducing the budget deficit here at home.

  We need your help to build momentum for this important piece of legislation.

  Please urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor the Investing in Our Future Act today.

• Faraway fantasy fuels or immediate solutions?

  Tell Energy Secretary Chu to invest research funding in technologies that can help solve global warming now

  In a 2009 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said, “I’m hoping that the American people will wake up” and face the challenge of global warming. Since then, Chu has been taking a nap of his own. His Department of Energy has spent hundreds of millions of dollars investing in so-called “advanced” biofuels that, at best, are decades away from production and will likely never be commercially-viable. in the meantime, existing technologies that need just a little support to succeed, like wind, solar, and energy efficiency projects, have been left in the dust.

  Secretary Chu says he understands the need for immediate solutions, but he has been focusing research money on expensive, dirty and even dangerous biofuel fantasies.

  Tell Secretary Chu to stop wasting money on false solutions and to direct resources to feasible alternative energy before we run out of time.

• We can't afford another ocean disaster!

  Ask President Obama: “What about the other disaster in the Gulf?”

  After the Gulf oil disaster, President Obama began publicly espousing his support for the biofuels industry and even advocated greater U.S. funding for dirty, polluting corn ethanol.
   
  Yet corn ethanol production is driving another massive pollution disaster in the Gulf. A Massachusetts-sized “dead zone” where no aquatic plants or animals can thrive is growing and is caused largely by chemical runoff from corn production.
  
  Current studies show that even if we used all of our cropland to grow corn for biofuels, we’d only reduce oil imports by two percent. We need our elected officials to stop funding the corn ethanol industry in order to prevent more economic and environmental damage in the Gulf -- and to focus on real solutions.

  Hold President Obama accountable for the other pollution disaster in the Gulf -- tell him that we can’t substitute one dirty energy source for another.

• Biofuels: Driving up food prices and increasing poverty

  Tell USAID to stop supporting biofuel projects that make poverty worse.

  All around the globe, the rush for biofuels is driving up prices for land and food and pushing rural peoples even further to the margins.

  Recent studies show that biofuels are the primary economic driver behind inequitable land acquisitions in the Global South, in which corporations or private investors buy massive swaths of land and use them for crop production for biofuels. These “land grabs” displace marginalized communities and often increase rates of environmental degradation, hunger and poverty.

  Yet institutions like the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development are still promoting biofuels as a “sustainable development” solution. Palm and sugar cane plantations may result in "economic growth" by making a few big corporations and banks richer, but they also often result in the clearing of forests that are critical to people’s livelihoods, and the growth of crops for fuel to feed far-away automobiles instead of hungry people.  

  Tell USAID that you don’t want your tax dollars to fund biofuel crop plantations that increase world poverty.

• Congress -- Biofuels aren't cheap or green!

  The cost of dirty corn ethanol adds up.

  Did you know that the U.S. is projected to spend more than $400 billion to subsidize the corn ethanol and soy biodiesel industries from 2008 to 2022?  The U.S. government is using taxpayer dollars for everything from tax breaks to loans to mandates to subsidies -- and almost all of the money goes to big corporate polluters like Archer Daniels Midland and BP.
  
  Not only is the process of producing ethanol expensive for taxpayers, but ethanol actually has lower fuel efficiency than normal gasoline and can severely damage engines, making it even more expensive for the public.

  It’s time we let our representatives know they need to put the interest of the environment and the public  first -- we cannot afford to pay corporations to pollute our air, water and soil.

  Ethanol is not green, and it is definitely not a cheap alternative to oil.

  Tell Congress: No more federal support for dirty biofuels!

• No False Solutions!

  Tell Congress: Ethanol is a false solution to energy independence

  We need to end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels, but biofuels aren’t the answer. In fact, it’s impossible to make enough biofuel in the U.S. to end dependence on oil because there simply is not enough land to grow biofuels and support natural ecosystems and food production.

  We’d have to convert all of our farmland in America to grow corn for ethanol to replace even two percent of our oil imports. In fact, producing ethanol actually requires huge amounts of oil and petroleum to run the farm machinery and produce the pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals used during the growing cycle. Yet, lobbyists for the ethanol industry claim that biofuels will eliminate the need for foreign oil. That’s simply not true -- biofuels cannot not end our dependence on oil.

  Complete the form below to tell your members of Congress that ethanol is a false solution to energy independence.

• Biofuels hurt family farms!

  Tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to stand with family farmers -- not corporate corn ethanol producers.

  U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has shown leadership by working with the Department of Justice to investigate major agribusiness conglomerates like Archers Daniels Midland for possible antitrust violations. Yet at the same time, he’s pushing policies in favor of dirty biofuels that would transfer even more power and wealth to these same big corporations. More corporate consolidation of agribusiness means family farmers get squeezed tighter and tighter. 

  Tell Secretary Vilsack to stop promoting policies that are bad for the environment, bad for our food system and bad for family farmers.

• Pledge climate action

  Join Friends of the Earth activists in pledging to fight for climate solutions that protect people and the planet.

  I pledge to myself -- and to people and the planet:

• (No Title)

  Keep the Clean Air Act Intact

  The Clean Air Act -- the key existing federal tool to cut the pollution that causes global warming -- is under attack.
  
  Anti-environment, climate-change-denying politicians are aiming to roll back the Clean Air Act as a tool to reduce dangerous climate pollution. We need to remind our representatives that a clean environment should come before the greed of big oil and dirty coal.
  
  Please join us in the fight to save the Clean Air Act by sending your senators a message today. Just enter your zip code below to get started.