DAILY ECO NEWS Defending the Environmental Agenda
To: Sierra Club Leaders From: Bruce Hamilton, Conservation Director Today the Board voted to endorse Al Gore for President and to embrace specific steps to clean up American politics. Below is the Club press release followed by the Board resolutions, and a comparison of Gore and Bush. Thanks to all of you who participated in the helpful internal process. FYI 39 Chapters supported a Gore endorsement and 1 supported a Nader endorsement. The Political Committee voted unanimously to support a Gore endorsement. These actions led up to the Board action this weekend detailed below. For Immediate Release Media Contact: July 22, 2000 Allen Mattison, 202-675-7903 SIERRA CLUB: ELECT AL GORE; CLEAN UP AMERICAN POLITICS WASHINGTON - The Sierra Club today endorsed Vice President Al Gore to be the next President of the United States. The Sierra Club Board of Directors also voted today to clean up American politics by: including serious third party candidates, including Ralph Nader, in the Presidential debates; getting big money out of politics by closing loopholes in current campaign-finance laws; establishing effective spending limits; adopting public financing for Senate and congressional candidates; and supporting the free-television-time proposal developed by the Alliance for Better Campaigns. "The Sierra Club endorses Vice President Gore because he is committed to cutting air and water pollution and protecting our nation's treasured forests and wildlands," said Dr. Robert Cox, Sierra Club's volunteer President. "As Vice President, Al Gore helped strengthen clean air health standards, sped clean up of Superfund toxic waste sites, reduced automobile tailpipe pollution, and protected America's spectacular landscapes. This is the kind of leadership the American people are seeking in our next President. "Governor Bush, on the other hand, has said that if he's elected, he will weaken toxic-waste clean-up standards, allow oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge, and increase logging in National Forests," Cox continued. "When it comes to protecting our environment, Al Gore is by far our best shot at a President committed to a sustainable future, tested as a political leader, and qualified to lead America into the next century." The Gore endorsement capped a 6-month process in which the grassroots organization surveyed each of its chapters and thousands of its volunteer leaders. Thirty-nine chapters, representing 413,854 members, favored a Gore endorsement; one chapter, with 3,006 members, supported an endorsement for Ralph Nader; 16 chapters, with 138,236 members, did not respond. "When the Sierra Club asked our local chapters and thousands of volunteer leaders whether to endorse a Presidential candidate, the response was overwhelming: They want Al Gore in the White House, protecting America's environment," Cox said. "Our members believe that a vote for Gore is the best way to protect our families from pollution and safeguard our nation's landscapes for future generations to enjoy." The Sierra Club Board of Directors recognized consumer-advocate Ralph Nader's record of work for the environment, but emphasized the urgency of defeating Texas Governor George Bush as an additional reason for endorsing Vice-President Gore. "Our members looked at the records of all the candidates," said Cox. "We looked at their positions, their records, and their experience. Al Gore is our overwhelming choice." The Sierra Club, with over 600,000 members, is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. The Board voted to endorse Vice President with 12 in favor, two against, and one abstention. Resolution endorsing Gore: "The Sierra Club endorses Al Gore for President of the United States. We will do everything in our power to help Mr. Gore win the presidency. Mr. Gore has a long history as an advocate for the environment and we look forward to his Presidency and a new beginning for strong environmental protection in this country." Resolution on cleaning up politics: "Working on the current election is not enough. The single-round, winner-take-all political process has problems. We support alternative electoral methods that better reflect the diversity of public opinion. We need to get big money out of politics by closing loopholes in current campaign finance laws, establishing effective spending limits, and adopting public financing for Senate and congressional candidates. We support the free television time proposal developed by the Alliance for Better Campaigns. It is unrealistic to believe that such changes can be accomplished in this election, which will be over in a few months. It's too large a job, and the time is too short. "Important issues relating to globalization, trade agreements, democracy and the environment have been raised in a substantive way by Ralph Nader. Sierra Club supports many of Mr. Nader's environmental and campaign finance reform proposals. While the Sierra Club does not endorse Ralph Nader in this election, we believe that serious third party candidates, including Mr. Nader, should be included in presidential debates." # # # COMPARISON OF VICE PRESIDENT GORE AND GOVERNOR BUSH ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES _________________________________ ISSUE: TOXIC POLLUTION GORE · Expanded Community Right to Know program requiring companies to report toxic chemical emissions. · Sped up and increased Superfund cleanups. BUSH · Seeks to weaken Superfund cleanups. · Texas leads the nation in injecting toxic waste into underground wells, disposing 60% more toxic waste into injection wells than any other state. _________________________________ ISSUE: CLEAN AIR GORE · Strengthened soot and smog clean-air health-standards, fighting legal challenges to those protections. · Adopted strictest ever emissions standards for cars, SUVs and light trucks. · Required elimination of 90% of sulfur from gasoline. · Called on power plants to cut their air pollution and global warming emissions. · Proposed slashing sulfur levels in diesel fuel. BUSH · Texas leads the U.S. in toxic industrial air pollution, but Bush chose not to require outdated facilities to clean up. · Texas state officials sought to weaken Clean Air Act. · Houston passed Los Angeles last year as America's smoggiest city. · When came to office in 1995, cancelled auto emissions testing program in Houston. _________________________________ ISSUE: CLEAN WATER GORE · Expanded funding for clean water programs. · Proposed slashing arsenic levels in drinking water. BUSH · Proposed weakening Texas clean-water standards. · Texas leads the U.S. in violation of clean water discharge standards. _________________________________ ISSUE: PROTECT WILD LANDS GORE · Has a stronger position than the Administration on protecting roadless, wild areas of our National Forests. Called for an end to all logging in those unspoiled places and immediate protection for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. · Enacted the California Desert Protection Act, largest public lands protection bill ever in the lower 48 states. · Opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. · Created or expanded 10 new National Monuments to protect landscapes threatened by development. · Reduced logging in National Forests by 80% since 1993. · Extended offshore oil leasing moratorium in California and Florida for 10 years. · Proposed Lands Legacy Initiative. · Supports expanding the Land and Water Conservation Fund. BUSH · Seeks to increase logging in National Forests. · Would allow oil companies to drill in Arctic Refuge. · Aims to reverse President Clinton's plan to protect wild, roadless National Forest areas. · Opposes newly created National Monuments. · Supports funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. _________________________________ ISSUE: CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM GORE · Supports McCain-Feingold bill to ban soft-money donations to political parties. · Supports quasi-public financing of Congressional elections. BUSH · Opposes McCain-Feingold reforms. · Opposes public financing of elections."Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others. . .they send forth a ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
- Robert F. Kennedy
"If today is a typical day on planet Earth, we will lose 116 square miles of rainforest, or about an acre a second. We will lose another 72 square miles to encroaching deserts, as a result of human mismanagement and overpopulation. We will lose 40 to 100 species, and no one knows whether the number is 40 or 100. Today the human population will increase by 250,000. And today we will add 2,700 tons of chlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere and 15 million tons of carbon. Tonight the Earth will be a little hotter, it's waters more acidic, and the fabric of life more threadbare." - David Orr, In Context
"The key...will be a new public awareness of how serious is the threat to the global environment. Those who have a vested interest in the status quo will probably continue to be able to stifle any meaningful change until enough citizens ...are willing to speak out."
- Vice President Al Gore
- Earth in the Balance -
Eight inventions that make American life worse! "Sierra Magazine"
· Genetically Modified Crops -- Genetically altered foods already rear their heads in all-American staples such as Coca-Cola and breakfast cereals. The health consequences to humans are unknown, but genetically modified crops are already having the unintentional effect of killing monarch butterfly larvae.
· Styrofoam -- Non-biodegradable packaging adds bulk to our bulging landfills, and will languish for centuries.
· Jet Skis -- The engines on these noisy polluters pump up to a quarter of their fuel directly into our water.
· Remote Control -- The remote sent attention spans into freefall, and created a nation of "couch potatoes."
· Leaf Blowers -- Why burn fossil fuels when a rake gives you exercise and brings neighbors together to talk?
· Sport-utility Vehicles -- Guzzling gas more than three times as fast than many cars, huge SUVs spew tons of global warming pollution.
· Factory Farms -- Factory farms generate massive amounts of pollution, which too often flows untreated into nearby streams. Livestock manure has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states groundwater in 17 states.
· Soft Money -- The "soft money" loophole in election laws allow corporations to donate unlimited sums to political parties, wielding undue influence that tilts the balance of power toward polluters.
Question: What can I do, as only one person to help the environment?
John Denver: I suppose that's a question most often asked of me by people who would like to make a positive contribution towards a sustainable future and a healthy environment. There are so many things that need to be done that sometimes it seems overwhelming. I try to remind everyone that no one person has to do it all but if each one of us follow our heart and our own inclinations we will find the small things that we can do and together we will come up with enough to create a sustainable future and a healthy environment".
- A Partial Transcript of John Denver's AOL Live Center Stage Interview, 8/2/95
Urge your U.S. Congressperson to endorse the "Act the Save America's Forests"
Call toll-free at 1-800-962-3524
The Act to Save America's Forests would protect biodiversity in our federal forests, end the destructive practice of clearcutting, and promote sustainable logging.
EnviroHealth is a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Clearinghouse that functions as an easily accessible, free source of information on environmental health effects. ENVIROHEALTH E-MAIL: envirohealth@niehs.nih.gov
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