• BP
• Castrol Oil products
• Arco
• AM/PM
• Amoco
• Safeway Gas

I understand that most BP gas stations are privately owned, but there is no other way to hit BP hard in the pocket.  I have this list in my car and will do all I can to avoid buying gas from these stations.  We must make BP, and their friends, pay for this disaster.  We must not let them get away with this as easy as Exxon did years before.  We must stay on our weak kneed politicians to enforce retribution.  Don’t let big investors and supporters of big oil tell you this won’t work.  This is one of
our only options to show our support for the environment and to show our dislike for BPs actions.

Follow this link to join the Boycott BP Facebook group

As a hiker I try to do simple things like taking trash with me and not leaving it at a camp site, staying on the trail to prevent erosion, carpooling to the trailhead, and supporting outdoor gear companies that give back to the environment that provide them with their business.

As a parent I’m teaching my little boys to recycle, to plant trees, and to protect what is going to be even rarer in their lifetime. My parents pulled themselves out of poverty and gave me a better life than they had. Now I’m going to do something equally important and teach my kids love and protect the earth in ways society forgot in the struggle for better lives.

I think as we become more aware of the damage we’re doing to the environment the more important Earth Day will become. Christmas is important to many of us because it’s a time to spend with family and a reminder of our right to worship as we choose. Fourth of July is important to Americans as a reminder of the freedom our ancestors fought for and that we continue to fight for and develop. And now Earth Day may become just as important as we begin to appreciate how fragile our planet is and how important the fight is to protect her.

The $32.24 billion package signed into law on Oct. 31 funds the Department of Interior for 2010 and will give Georgia a green boost by providing:

• $3.1 million to purchase land along the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in north Georgia. The park was created in 1978 to protect the watershed, provide opportunities for river and land recreation, and conserve important tracts in the river’s floodplain. The park extends along the river for nearly 50 miles from Buford Dam at Lake Sidney Lanier to the entrance of Peachtree Creek tributary in Atlanta. The beloved park that receives some 2.75 million visitors a year faces increasing danger from population growth and development. Part of the funds will also be used to help acquire more land at the historic Hyde Farm in Cobb County, where conservationists hope to provide window into the tradi¬tional farming culture that has largely disappeared from the area.
• $1.2 million to purchase land in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in central Georgia. These funds will help protect a critical ecological area while providing drinking water to area residents while also enhancing opportunities for people to hunt and fish.
• $1.2 million to buy land for the Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, located along the Ocmulgee River in Bibb and Twiggs counties. The popular destination for hikers sits six miles south of Macon also provides habitat for a broad array of wildlife ranging from migratory birds to the largemouth bass.

“Protecting these lands is a tremendous investment in the health of our environment and our communities,” said Frank Peterman, a Georgia director for The Wilderness Society. “It’s good to see tax dollars coming back here and doing the right thing.”

Now that Obama has approved the funding, nonprofit organizations such as the Trust for Public Land will work with the federal government to acquire the land.

“We’re thrilled to see the Department of Interior treat the Georgia projects as such a high priority,” said Helen Tapp, the Georgia director of the Trust for Public Land. “The effort to save the Hyde Farm will ultimately create a time capsule that educates people about a way of life that’s nearly gone. The Bond Swamp initiative will help save wildlife and expand a greenway that that will be a treasure of people and animals alike.”

The Interior appropriations bill President Obama signed also provides $200,000 to Morehouse College to preserve the papers of Martin Luther King Jr.

“Conserving the work of great Georgians as well as Georgia’s great lands honors what residents of our state are about as a people,” said Peterman, a Morehouse alumni. “We care about preserving both the fabric of our past and the public lands that we will rely on in the future.”

Carl Pope claims that “after years of fighting to keep our towering Sequoia trees safe from the timber industry’s saws, we have finally won.” For Mr. Pope to say that “we have finally won” is far from the truth.

Just because the timber mill withdrew one lawsuit is not, as Pope falsely claims, “preventing them – once and for all – from logging in the Giant Sequoia National Monument” or “putting an end to the pillage of these iconic trees.”

Mr. Pope is obviously also incompetently unfamiliar with how the Monument is managed by the US Forest Service, or he would tell the public the truth: we have not won!

In addition to other harmful projects, the Forest Service’s “Schedule of Proposed Actions” for the Giant Sequoia National Monument lists so-called “community protection,” “hazard tree,” “thinning,” and “fuel reduction” logging projects in the Monument. Funding for these projects has been generously provided by Congress.

Congress is now considering funding the Forest Service with millions of dollars in the 2009 budget which could be used to log in the Giant Sequoia Groves, the Grove influence zones, and elsewhere in the Monument. The battle to protect the Giant Sequoia National Monument is not over; indeed, the battle to protect the Monument is just getting underway. And where is the Sierra Club in this battle in the halls of Congress – no where to be seen?

Ara

Ara Marderosian
Sequoia Task Force
Conservation Chair
Kern-Kaweah Chapter
Executive Committee
(760) 378-4574

And

Mr. Ara Marderosian,
Executive Director
Sequoia ForestKeeper
P.O. Box 2134,
Kernville, CA 93238
(760) 376-4434
www.sequoiaforestkeeper.org
ara@sequoiaforestkeeper.org

Dear Scott,

I am delighted to share with you some very exciting news about a giant victory for Sierra Club and the Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Just a week ago we saw the end to the Sierra Club’s three year long battle with the timber industry, preventing them – once and for all – from logging in the Giant Sequoia National Monument.

The win came at the 11th hour, as the Sierra Club legal team prepared to appear in the Ninth Circuit court to argue the last case standing, a last-ditch appeal by the timber industry, regarding commercial logging in the Monument. But on the eve of the hearing, they abandoned and withdrew their appeal – putting the final nail in the coffin of this very drawn out case - and putting an end to the pillage of these iconic trees.

This was a major victory for the Sierra Club – and it would not have been possible without the support of our committed Members and Supporters. Thank you.

Beginning in 1901, when John Muir lobbied for the expansion of Sequoia National Park to encompass the entire range of the giant sequoia, the Sierra Club has advocated for the protection of giant sequoia ecosystems in their entirety. And after years of fighting to keep our towering Sequoia trees safe from the timber industry’s saws, we have finally won. Thanks to this hard-earned victory, our children and grandchildren will be able to stand in awe of these noble giants for generations to come.

Thank you again for your contribution to this critical victory – it never could have happened without your support.  

Sincerely

Carl Pope

“More than half of the remaining groves — located in Giant Sequoia National Monument— are in jeopardy because, despite being rebuked by the federal courts, the Bush Administration is refusing to back off its plan to log this irreplaceable ancient forest.

Without these protections, loggers would be permitted to cut down trees of any species 30” in diameter or larger — a size that normally takes two centuries or more to grow. In addition, timber companies would be entitled to take 7.5 million board feet of lumber from Giant Sequoia National Monument each year — enough trees to fill 2,500 logging trucks — that’s a truck almost every three hours!

Your signed petition to Abigail Kimbell will put the U.S. Forest Service on notice that the American people won’t stand by as commercial logging damages this fragile ecosystem and threatens our remaining Giant Sequoia groves. And with your backing we will work to extend permanent protections to these magnificent and imperiled trees — by transferring management of the Giant Sequoia National Monument to the National Park Service.”

Follow this link for contact info for Chief Kimbell