The Pentagon says climate change is an immediate national security threat, yet key political leaders refuse to accept this reality – including Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK). It's bad enough that Sen. Inhofe calls global warming "a hoax" even though scientific consensus exists. But for the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services Committee to blatantly disregard such dire warnings from military leaders shows how deep Sen. Inhofe's denial runs. Americans hate this type of ideological fervor. If enough of us speak out, Sen. Inhofe will see how out of step he is with the mainstream when it comes to climate change. MORE INFORMATION "Pentagon Warns of Immediate National Security Threats From Climate Change," VICE News, 10-14-14 http://bit.ly/1CvuZVb

Factory farms house thousands of animals and can generate as much waste as a small city — waste that too often ends up in our rivers, lakes, and streams.

Right now, we're calling on Gov. Pat Quinn to step up and protect Illinois from this dirty gas drilling. But if state officials will not protect us from fracking, then we need Congress to close the loopholes exempting fracking from our nation’s bedrock environmental and public health laws, and we need to convince federal officials to keep Shawnee National Forest — and all of our treasured places — off limits to dirty drilling.

Maui County is ground zero for GMO and associated pesticide experimentation and it is making people sick. Monsanto claims it is a farming ban although only 1% of farms use GMOs. They claim they'll lay off their workers although they have extensive nonGMO seed operations. They claim that GMOs are safe but they are afraid that the study will show they are not. They claim that backyard gardeners will be subject to arrest but the initiative only punishes DELIBERATE planting of GMOs. Any plant in the ground can go through harvest and be replanted with nonGMO. They claim it hurts farmers but they're the only ones growing GMOs except for a tiny number of coffee, squash and corn that is GMOs. In fact, THEY have harmed local farmers by their claims because now people are avoiding local nonOrganic produce because they are under the misapprehension that local produce is all GMO.

We cant afford 2 billion gallons of water wasted each day by the fracking industry. Our mountains are full of water that will be needed by future generations. We can live without gas but not water.

Governor Brown himself is a person of faith and well understands that the world is in peril because of pending climate catastrophe stemming from the burning of fossil fuels. Brown has even taken action to stop climate change, however, his permissive policies in regards to fracking undo his positive steps, not to mention threaten communities across California. Ultimately, Jerry Brown, to be a true climate leader, needs to do more than take half-steps around climate change and therefore needs to stop permitting all toxic forms of unconventional fossil fuel extraction techniques like fracking in California and move us to a 100% renewable energy economy. Climate leaders don't frack, and understand the imperative to protect present and future generations.

Two major publishers have drafted new social studies textbooks for K-12 students in Texas that are filled with misinformation about climate change. Since Texas is the nation’s second largest buyer of textbooks, books produced for the state are often sold nationwide. The Texas State Board of Education is reviewing these books now, and will decide at its November meeting whether to approve them. Among other egregious errors, the draft textbooks from publishers McGraw Hill and Pearson assert there is an active dispute among scientists about the primary cause of climate change. The climate change-denying Heartland Institute is given equal footing with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which integrates the work of thousands of credentialed, peer-reviewed scientists. The publishers are responding to pressure from climate deniers on the Texas State Board of Education, who are determined to stop students from learning the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change -- that it is happening now and caused by human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels. Unless McGraw-Hill and Pearson correct the many factual errors about climate change before its books are presented to the Board next month, students across the country will be denied accurate information about the biggest global challenge their generation will face. It’s crucial that we send a strong message right away that censoring climate science in order to sell books is unethical and an unacceptable disservice to students, and must be corrected.

The Bottle Bill places a refundable nickel deposit on beer and soda bottles, and those containers get recycled 80% of the time. Other drinks like bottled water, juice, and sports drinks don't have the deposit and only get recycled 23% of the time. These containers are the ones that end up as litter in our parks, beaches, and ballfields, and we shouldn't tolerate it. Vote YES on 2 to keep Massachusetts beautiful.

The soda industry has spent 1.675 million dollars (over $21/voter) to date in an attempt to kill this community-driven initiative. Berkeley vs. Big Soda is a David vs. Goliath story about a grassroots children's health movement struggling against a massive corporate-backed campaign of disinformation whose only goal is protecting profits. Not only do we want a win at the polls on Nov. 4th, but we want to inspire other communities to take on this giant - show it can be done. Berkeley is an early adopter of social change. It was one of the first cities to voluntarily desegregate its public schools, offer domestic partner benefits, institute curb cuts in sidewalks, and ban styrofoam containers. What happens in Berkeley doesn't stay in Berkeley. Please visit BerkeleyvsBigSoda.com for more information.

Labeling how much CO2 we produce will raise personal awareness and increase personal efforts to reduce fuel use. This is a nearly free way to help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and address global warming. A typical 16 gal. gas fill-up would note that "303 lbs of CO2 will be emitted to the atmosphere."

The wetlands adjacent to South Pond serve as one of the last remaining habitats of the critically imperiled Dukes’ Skipper butterfly. These wetlands are threatened by a plan that would plop 73 McMansions, built by billionaire developer William Pulte, onto a newly deforested plateau adjacent to the wetlands. The effluent from their massive, chemically treated lawns, would discharge into the wetlands only feet from where the Skipper has been sighted. In order to gain access to the planned development, the developer has applied to the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for a permit to build a road through the wetlands. The City of Ann Arbor’s Natural Areas Preservation (NAP) remains opposed to this road because in part because “The proposed road would be built very close to areas where rare plant and animal species have been documented, including Euphyes dukesi (Duke’s skipper), which is state-threatened and legally protected, and Carex trichocarpa (Hairy-fruited sedge), which is a species of special concern Michigan. It is likely that construction activities so close to the wetland will have negative impacts on these species and their of its impact on these sensitive wetlands.” The developer has applied for the wetlands permit even though a reasonable and prudent alternative, which has no direct impact to the wetlands, exists. This alternative, which provides better access to the development, has been vetted by the City of Ann Arbor Planning Staff and has been recommended for approval. We call on the MDEQ to refuse to grant this permit simply because a reasonable and prudent to this wetlands destruction exists. We also call on the developer to abandon this destructive plan and donate the wetlands and surrounding land to the Ann Arbor Parks Dept. as the developer had originally proposed. See southpondnature.org for more information and beautiful pictures of the area. Please help a tiny butterfly fend off a big developer and sign our petition. Thanks!

Delisting the redbelly has significance far beyond a single species… More important is the precedence of the corrupt process itself. Here we have Department Secretary Robin Jennison agreeing with biologists that the redbelly is seriously threatened but proposing delisting to appease legislators threatening to entirely repeal Kansas’ endangered species law if Commissioners do not do it for them. In reality, bowing to threats by politicians inevitably leads to “administrative repeal species by species” of our endangered species law as more truly threatened/endangered plants and animals are delisted when they become inconvenient to developers. So, we fight to ensure a healthy natural environment and species diversity for future generations of Kansans.