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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Endangered Species Day Events Endangered Species Day — the third Friday every May (this year, May 17th) — isn't exatly a day to celebrate . . . in the usual sense of the word. That is, how can we take joy in the fact that unique animals and plants across the globe are going extinct every day — and that we face the vast challenge of saving them? But the fact that we can rise to that challenge — and that we so value the beautiful, balanced intricacy of the web of life these species make up together — is definitely something to celebrate. And the species themselves, from the Arctic's great white polar bear to Florida's tiny Miami blue butterfly, are worthy of a lifetime of honors. Endangered Species Day simply kicks off another year full of action to defend our wildlife, wildlands and climate from destruction. This year, in honor of Endangered Species Day, the Center for Biological Diversity is partnering with the Endangered Species Coalition for a variety of celebration events — this month and beyond. Check out a list of these events to see which you can join us at and get more tools from the Endangered Species Day website and the Center's Endangered Species Act Take-Action Toolbox. Then learn more about the Endangered Species Act, the most successful U.S. legislation protecting imperiled animals and plants — which is turning 40 this year — and how you can help celebrate that milestone, too.
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• May 4–June 9: Endangered Species Day Events (nationwide) Democratic Governors Association Rally Learn more about the Center's fight against fracking. Climate Reality Check Coalition Conference Call Join us this month for the next Climate Reality Check Coalition conference call to help strengthen community organizing on climate: Corporate Canpaign to Save the Cliamte. Our movement is challenging climate change on every front — the president, Congress — in front of bulldozers. Some groups are going straight to the corporations who are making a profit off of our atmosphere’s demise. Major corporations, particularly oil, coal, gas, utilities and the banks that support them, are heavily responsible for the climate crisis. We’ll be joined by Todd Zimmer, with Rainforest Action Network, an organization that has been doing climate-oriented corporate campaigning for a decade, and Alisa Simmons of Global Trade Watch, speaking about organizing against the Trans Pacific Partnership, a dangerous, under-reported "free trade" deal that can override domestic environmental, health, safety and labor laws. Where: Everywhere you have a phone When: 3 p.m. Eastern / 2 p.m. Central / 1 p.m. Mountain / 12 noon Pacific time If you have any questions please contact Rose Braz, Center for Biological Diversity, rbraz@biologicaldiverisity.org To be removed from this list, please email Rose Braz. Thank you. Climate Reality Check Coalition has a Facebook group. Click here and join the group. Postcard Party: Save Bristol Bay From the Pebble Mine We can help preserve the world’s largest wild salmon fishery. We can help stop Alaska’s proposed Pebble Mine and protect Bristol Bay and all the species that depend on it — not just salmno, but also species that eat it, like the Iliamna Lake seal. So this May, decision makers must hear from us. When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Where: Ecotrust, 721 NW Ninth Ave. Cost: Free; open to all View and download the postcard party invitation, which also gives more information about the event as well as background on the mine's impacts. Visit and share the event's Facebook page. Chicago Tells Obama: No KXL, Forward on Climate! President Barack Obama will be in Chicago for a big fundraiser — and activists like you will be there to push him to keep his climate promises and block the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Contact Jessica Eckdish at Jessica.eckdish@sierraclub .org or 202-548-4598 for more information and go to the Facebook page for a map to the event location. Learn more about the Keystone XL Pipeline. Press Conferences and Rallies to Launch Californians Against Fracking Coalition If you live in California, you can help make history with the Center when we join in launching Californians Against Fracking, a statewide coalition working to ban fracking in California. Fracking poses a direct and immediate threat to California's drinking water, air, food, health, wildlife, climate and economy. While the state prides itself on being a leader in the fight against climate change, oil companies are gearing up to frack the estimated 15 billion barrels of oil in the Monterey Shale. This area is home to some of the state’s most productive farmland, critical water sources, important wildlife habitat and communities from the Salinas Valley to the Los Angeles Basin. In both Los Angeles and San Francisco, more than 60 labor groups, farmers, public health professionals, environmental and environmental justice organizations and local residents will come together to call for a ban in California on the dirty and dangerous practice of fracking. We'll take our message directly to Governor Jerry Brown as we deliver tens of thousands of signatures on petitions to ban fracking at rallies in front of the his offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Los Angeles rally will feature an appearance by Academy Award-nominated film maker Josh Fox, writer and director of the film Gasland, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2011, and the just-released Gasland 2, landmark films that have helped expose this dirty and dangerous oil and natural gas extraction technique. When: Noon Where: Please email Rose Braz to let us know if you can attend, if you want your organization to join the coalition or if you can help with outreach. Californians Against Fracking will be cosponsoring special screenings of Gasland 2 with Josh Fox on May 29 in Sacramento, May 31 in Santa Barbara, June 1 in Monterey and June 2 in Oakland. Please let Kristin Lynch know at Klynch@fww.org if your organization would also like to cosponsor one of these showings. Learn more about California fracking. Science Matters Special Program: Fracking Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” has been used as an effective technique for tapping gas or oil reserves, which have been typically considered costly to extract. However, this activity — involving the injection of massive amounts of water mixed with chemicals — may result in groundwater contamination and air pollution. How does “fracking” work, and what are its potential impacts on our communities? Do the economic benefits of this practice outweigh its health and environmental risks? The Center's Kassie Siegel, director of our Climate Science Institute, will be one of the event's distinguished panelists. When: 1– 2:30 p.m. Where: Donald P. Loker Conference Center, California Science Center, 700 Exposition Park Dr. Cost: Free; register online at http://goto.californiasciencecenter.org/sm or by phone: (213) 744-2420. Views the event flier. Learn more about California fracking. Panel Presentation: Food, Farms and Fracking in California
Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is a highly controversial process for extracting oil and gas that has raised serious environmental and public health concerns across the country. Unknown to most, fracking has been happening in California, the nation’s leading farm state, for several decades without clear regulatory oversight. Now, the next generation of fracking — involving more chemicals injected at higher pressure and creating more pollution and risk — has come to California. Some of the biggest oil and gas companies are quickly buying up water and oil rights, with more than 17,000 acres of oil leases on California public land auctioned off by federal land managers at the end of 2012. This will be discussed at a June panel in San Francisco, showcasing many speakers including Kassie Siegel, Senior Counsel and Director of the Center's own Climate Law Institute. Please join us after the panel for a reception and resource fair. Enjoy farmers market refreshments sponsored by CUESA and Bi-Rite Market, and connect with organizations working to educate the public about the risks associated with fracking. When: From 6 to p.m. Where: Port Commission Hearing Room, Ferry Building, Cost: $5 (no one turned away) RSVP here, where you can also find a map to the event location. Read more about California fracking. Global Amphibian BioBlitz: Saving Amphibians Through Social Networking Amphibians around the world are disappearing, and nearly a third are threatened with extinction. To better understand and conserve these animals, scientists need more information on their locations. And what better way to get the right info from around the globe than through people like you? After growing up amongst Louisiana's oil refineries and watching his own family suffer from pollution-related cancers, in 1997 activist and filmmaker Josh Tickell took off in his biodiesel-powered "Veggie Van" on an epic road trip to make the film that would win the 2008 Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award for Best Documentary. FUEL, with appearances by a huge cast of notables including Jimmy Carter, Willie Nelson, Julia Roberts, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tracks the rise of Big Oil from Rockefeller's strategy to halt Ford's first ethanol cars to Dick Cheney's petrochemical company-sponsored legislation. But FUEL not only exposes America's debilitating addiction to oil — it also describes a gamut of intriguing solutions to "repower America," offering hope for a sustainable, oil-independent future. It received 11 standing ovations at Sundance, was shortlisted for the Oscars, and earned the Writers Guild of America's nomination for best documentary writing. |
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Penguin photo by Michael Van Woert; polar bear photo courtesy Flickr/AnsgarWalk |
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