Our health is at stake. Leaf blowers are deleterious for many reasons: the horrendous noise, the carcinogenic emissions, and, the stirred -up particulate matter. There is a reason why many communities around the country are banning leaf blowers, and, not other landscaping equipment. In November, 2015 the Newton Aldermen will be voting on an ordinance to limit the use of leaf blowers. It is crucial that citizens sign this petition and write their Aldermen, now!

Residents of the small town of Franklin, NY are the latest eminent domain victims of the natural gas pipeline companies. This will be the fate of many more small communities across the state and the nation. Please watch our YouTube video. CUT AND PASTE THIS LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXbPhy8Gh2Y and sign a petition to Governor Cuomo to enforce the Clean Water Act to stop the pipeline from using eminent domain for corporate gain.

One of our best hopes in the fight against climate change is the massive explosion of rooftop solar, which has more than tripled since 2010! But multi-billionaire, Warren Buffett, has launched a full scale attack on the rooftop solar market in Utah. Buffett, through Rocky Mountain Power — a utility that his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns — is urging the state’s Public Service Commission (PUC) to add a range of fees on homeowners who qualify for the state’s net metering program. The PUC rejected the proposal last year, but Rocky Mountain Power is now pushing for a reconsideration of Utah’s net metering program and claims that regulators should not consider environmental benefits of the program, despite the fact that Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s climate pledge states exactly the opposite. Public hearings just occurred and the Public Utilities Commission is deliberating now -- a final decision is currently pending. Rocky Mountain Power claims that net metering raises costs for other users, even though studies have shown exactly the opposite. But Buffett’s real reason is much more self-centered: rooftop solar cuts into the profits of his utility. If the changes Buffett seeks go through, they would destroy the solar market in Utah, costing thousands of jobs and slowing the fight against climate change.

Dangerous precedents are being set. Trucks are hauling redwoods out on an hourly basis, day and night in California. Wineries are intruding where we need erosion control. They are in direct conflict with the health of the Gualala River with their toxic runoff, as well as other watersheds north of the bay area. Redwoods are an endemic species, that is, found growing no where else naturally but California. If the redwoods interfere with vineyards, vineyards can go somewhere else, anywhere nearly, and grow grapes. California is a great asset to the states, and to the world at large.

In their rush to extract every last drop of gas from the shale fields of West Virginia, Dominion and their allies have kicked off a race to build four new pipeline projects across the Blue Ridge and Appalachian regions of Virginia and West Virginia. Each of these projects would trigger more fracking, destroy our neighbors’ lands, require dangerous new compressor stations, and unleash a new pulse of greenhouse gas pollution. Together, these projects -- Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the Appalachian Connector, and the WB Xpress Project -- would be an absolute disaster for our climate and communities. That’s why the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, alongside allies like the Appalachian Mountain Advocates, the Virginia Sierra Club, the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, and dozens of local groups, is calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to complete a single, comprehensive regional review of the impacts of ALL FOUR fracked gas pipelines. Left to its own devices, we know that FERC will evaluate these pipelines in a vacuum. But the only way to understand the true cost of these dangerous projects is to evaluate them together. In fact, FERC has a legal obligation to do a single, comprehensive review of ALL related projects in a single geographic region. Dominion filed its federal application to build the 564-mile, $5.1 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline in mid-September. A joint venture of companies led by EQT Partners filed their application for the second major pipeline, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, in mid-October. We need to speak out now. This is our chance to hold FERC accountable, and derail an unprecedented expansion of fracked gas infrastructure across our beautiful region.

Spectra Energy’s plan to build the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion represents an attack on our community. Spectra has proposed a 42 inch, high pressure shale gas pipeline that would run within 100 feet of Indian Point nuclear facilities. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has continually ignored the calls of citizens and elected officials for independent health and safety assessments of the massive Algonquin Pipeline Expansion - giving Spectra Energy notice to proceed with construction, while blocking attempts by citizens to reverse their decision. Noted nuclear and pipeline safety experts have testified that the pipeline poses a serious risk to Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, on which many depend for employment, and within the evacuation zone of which millions live and work. Pipeline construction will necessitate Spectra/Algonquin to forcibly take private and public lands by use of eminent domain (or the threat of such action). Construction will snarl traffic, damage roads and infrastructure, and leave local taxpayers to foot the bill. It will clear cut thousands of trees and destroy acres of public park lands. Under normal operating conditions, the massive pipeline left behind will spew pollution into the air we breathe, contributing to already poor air quality, diminishing property values, and harming our way of life. In the worst case scenario this pipeline will place thousands at risk should it rupture in our densely populated communities. The pipeline will be only 400ft from Buchanan-Verplanck Elementary School's 300 students. Our first responders will be expected to risk their lives to respond to an accident. Finally, We recognize that expanding the delivery of fracked gas in any form commits us to a future that not only destroys our health, food sources, and landscape, but threatens sustainable jobs, locking working families into ever escalating home-maintenance expenses that will crush the average budget. *Signers of this petition will also be asked to join others in our communities, and engage in acts of civil disobedience to protect the land, water, and land by directly stopping this proposed pipeline expansion project. We make this pledge for all who are living today, as well as for all future generations.

Do not allow yourselves to be bullied by the NRA's support for continuing the gun range. The Park District has allowed operation for over fifty years of an outdoor Gun Range in Anthony Chabot Regional Park—which is otherwise made up of over five square miles of hills and streams, open space and wildlife habitat, trails and campsites. It provides an experience of nature to the masses of people living near San Francisco Bay—except for the gun noise and lead pollution which often shatter their peace and quiet. Dramatic population growth in the San Francisco area in the last fifty years and the central location of this regional park have led to thousands of people seeking an experience of nature here. They are often cheated out of that experience by the explosive sound of rapid gunfire. The Gun Club lease expiration at the end of this year provides a natural endpoint for operation of the Gun Range. Recent independent professional studies commissioned by the Park District reveal that the buildings and other facilities used by the Gun Range will need to be replaced soon and drainage reconstructed, at a cost of about $1.5 million. This is on top of the cost of complying with current State and Federal environmental regulations and reducing the gunshot noise pollution, which will cost about another $1.6 million. Add the two costs together, and you get over $3 million, and that is not even counting the $2.5 million to $20 million it will cost to remove the lead contamination from the soil. The Park District receives $40,000 net per year from the Gun Club, but if the Gun Range were to continue to operate, required cleanup would cost between $62,000 and $166,000 every year, which would require the taxpayers to subsidize the operation. This is unthinkable. Live up to the Park District’s Mission Statement, which says it will provide open space, parks, trails, safe and healthful recreation and environmental education. Let the many other gun ranges in the San Francisco area meet the need for gun training and practice. Restore this park to the thousands of hikers, horse and bicycle riders, campers and other nature lovers, who need it as a place to retreat into nature, to maintain their quality of life and their sanity–end the Gun Range operation.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush just announced that he opposes renewing the Voting Rights Act (VRA) -- saying “I don't support reauthorizing it as is.” Governor Bush needs to get his facts straight. Because of a 2013 Supreme Court decision that gutted one of the law’s crucial protections against discrimination at the polls, restoring the VRA “as is” isn’t even an option. Instead, there’s a bipartisan bill before Congress right now, the Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA), that’d update the VRA for the discrimination voters still face today and stop laws that block us from exercising our rights. Any candidate who wants our votes - all eligible Americans’ votes - should work to protect and strengthen the right to vote. Jeb Bush should call on Congress to pass the VRAA, and encourage his fellow presidential candidates to do the same. Tell Jeb Bush: if you think the VRA needs to be modernized, then call on Congress to get it done!

I have been a resident bordering Wharton State Forest for 34 years. Ever since Rob Auermuller tried to push the original MAP through without transparency, I have lost all trust in his judgments; I feel as if I cannot trust his involvement in the stakeholder meetings. The current "circle the roads you feel should be opened" process should be reversed to where Rob explains to us on a blank piece of paper what areas should be closed to motor vehicle access due to environmental data pertaining the certain area. We are the OWNERS of the forest and our permission should be asked for.

As a lover of the outdoors, open space, and wildlife, I want to see our lands preserved, protected, and expanded for future generations!

Protect the last of America's Native Wild Horses and Burros from being sent to slaughter in Mexico, Canada, and Japan.

As the oil and gas industry seeks to expand fracking on public lands across the country, including near our national parks and areas that provide critical drinking water for millions of Americans, now is the time to call on our elected officials to take a stand against dirty drilling. The Protect Our Public Lands Act would ban fracking on all federal lands, protecting our most special places from fracking's dangerous and destructive impacts.