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Pledge to Boycott Any Oil
Company That Drills in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Hit the Corporations Where
They Feel It Most: Their Bottom Lines
By a
heartbreaking two votes, the Senate approved drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- that pristine Alaskan
wilderness area called the "American Serengeti," a living
monument to the vast beauty of our planet. But the struggle
in Congress is not over by a long shot, and there are other
avenues available to protect this wildlife refuge.
Senator
Barbara Boxer and others are organizing a consumer boycott
of any oil company that drills in the Arctic Refuge. If by
using our pocketbooks we can convince these companies to do
the right thing, we can protect the Arctic Refuge from
destruction.
If you want to inform BP, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips,
ExxonMobil, and Shell that you will boycott their gas
stations unless they pledge not to drill in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge (see the text of your message
below), just click "Reply" and "Send" in your email program.
If this was forwarded to you, or you'd like to edit the
message, just click
this link:
http://truemajority.kintera.org/anwr
Imagine if
millions and millions of us, young and old, progressives and
conservatives, make it clear to these companies.
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Sustainability:
A Personal Toolkit
By Sarah James
Translated into practical terms, questions related to
creating a framework for a sustainable society give rise to a set of
answers that can guide us - in whatever situation we find ourselves
- in changing from unsustainable to sustainable practices.
How can my household/business/town/region
1. Reduce its dependence upon fossil fuels, underground metals
and minerals?
Examples: Conserve energy; heat/cool/power with renewable energy;
walk/bike instead of drive; use rechargeable or solar-powered batteries
instead of cadmium ones; avoid phosphate detergents; develop
pedestrian-oriented transportation; develop wind power.
2. Reduce dependence upon chemicals and synthetic compounds?
Examples: Use non-chemical cleaners, natural building materials or
materials with low/no toxicity; engage in organic gardening and
farming.
3. Reduce encroachment upon nature?
Examples: Preserve open space and trees; rely on natural
landscaping; reduce and/or recycle water; develop greenhouse sewage
treatments; re-use existing sites and buildings before building new
ones; recycle rather than use landfills and incinerators.
4. Meet human needs fairly and efficiently?
Examples: Build affordable housing for a diversity of
occupants; create year-round local jobs and businesses; encourage
local food production; use recycled materials before new ones; favor
businesses that use by-products of others as raw materials for their
own processes - an emerging practice sometimes called
"industrial ecology."
Through redirecting our activities in these four ways, we can
contribute to the transformation of unsustainable trends into
sustainable and eventually restorative ones.
Successes and benefits
Companies such as the multi-national Interface Corporation and
Skandic Hotels have reoriented their business operations toward
sustainable practices using these four objectives as their guide,
and saving millions of dollars in the process.
More than 60 towns and cities in Sweden - 20 percent of all
municipalities in that country - have reoriented planning and
operations using this framework, substantially reducing costs in
areas such as energy and solid-waste management, and revitalizing
depressed local economies.
We can do it
In asking questions such as those above, and devising our own
strategies to move toward the answers in our households, businesses,
and communities, we can begin to redirect our journey toward the
right direction from whatever place we currently find ourselves in
society.
In doing so, we will also be addressing the "root causes"
of the trends that are converging upon us globally and locally -
addressing "upstream" causes rather than arguing about
downstream effects. In doing so, we will be taking the road to
sustainability - a livable future.
"I am 1 plus my surroundings
and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself."
Jose Ortega Y Gasset 1883-1955, Spanish Essayist, Philosopher |