Duluth's unique Chester Bowl Park is under attack by corporate interests. In spite of public outcry, Duluth City Officials recently ordered the demolition of the historic Big Chester Ski Jump to make way for Sprint to erect a 75' stealth Mono-pole (cell tower). A 'Special Use Permit' is required since structures with high frequency radio magnetic emissions are forbidden in city parks! We strongly object to the city further desecrating our treasured Chester Bowl Park by issuing Sprint or any commercial entity permission to infringe on the health, safety and beauty of our public parks!

Facts: Bottled water costs 300 to 2,400 times as much as tap water; 1 bottle costs as much as a year of tap drinking water; bottles are petroleum products; producing bottled water consumes up to 2000 times more energy than tap water and produces annually as much CO2 as 475,000 cars; 80% of the bottles go to landfills. We should discourage the purchase of bottled water.

EPA issued a Final Rule to ban and phase out asbestos in 1998. Two years later the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned EPA's ruling. Every year for the past 10 years there has been a bill introduced to Congress that calls for a ban on Asbestos. It never makes it through the House of Representatives. It is time to act. We simply can no longer allow 10,000 more Americans to die this year.

On Sept 21st, the historic People's Climate March in NYC drew the line - the climate scientists have told us that 80% of the known carbon reserves must stay in the ground or it is "game over" for the planet. The fracking industry is the new carbon polluter in town. Please say "no" to their oily and gassy plans for Illinois. JCAR, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, can block the fracking industry for up to 180 days by prohibiting the rules for fracking at their next meeting, Oct 14th. (Prohibiting means the rules will go back to the IDNR for further work.) The rules for fracking are NOT going to keep Illinois residents safe. They are inadequate on many levels, but particularly insufficient for: induced earthquakes, radioactive waste water and debris, carcinogenic air pollution including silica sand, water contamination, and the industry's chemical "secrets". Also the fines for violations are a pittance. The frackers are gutting the rules right now in closed door sessions. We say, "No to back room deals - bring the rules out to the light of day and start public hearings - listen to the scientists and not the profiteers!" You can do 4 things to block fracking in the next 2 weeks: 1) Call all 12 JCAR members - you do not have to be their constituents - all calls are helpful. Please tell them, "No back room deals with the frackers! Protect the planet, and the people, animals, land, air and water of Illinois over the profits of the oil and natural gas industry - please prohibit the rules for fracking." http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/member.pdf (If you cannot open this pdf for any reason, please go to https://www.facebook.com/FrackFreeIllinois to see the top post with all phone numbers and emails addresses.) 2) Join us on Sat, Oct 11th to send a message to Sen. Don Harmon of Oak Park in person, for details and RSVP go to: https://actionnetwork.org/events/il-global-frackdown-defend-the-shawnee 3) Attend a press conference and the JCAR meeting on Tues, Oct 14th at -10:30am - press conference in front of the building -11:30am - meeting, Rm 600 C. MICHAEL A. BILANDIC BUILDING, 160 North LaSalle St., Chicago , IL 4) Sign and pass this petition, if you are a member of an environmental / community / business / not-for-profit organization, please have your organization sign onto it as well. Please spread the word and bring your friends and family to these events. It is up to us to demand our freedom from carbon pollution, and to kick start our renewable energy renaissance. More details below - thanks! Frack Free Illinois A) It is too dangerous to frack in the active earthquake zones! The rules for hydraulic fracturing should be prohibited because the rulemaking for seismicity constitutes a threat to the public interest, safety and welfare. The rules for seismicity are not protective against the proven threat of induced earthquakes from horizontal drilling and deep injection well disposal of waste water in the active earthquake zones of the New Madrid and Wabash Valley. We urge prohibition of these rules for seismicity. JCAR could then take the time to host public hearings where independent seismologists could testify as to the threat of this extreme extraction in the active earthquake zones. Fracking induced earthquakes are real and proven, they have been experienced in OK, AR, NM, OH, TX and other states where fracking has already taken place. Per recent polling in Southern Illinois, approximately 40% of the population fear the threat of induced earthquakes. Prohibit the rules for seismicity. B) Fracking accelerates climate change! The rules for hydraulic fracturing are a threat to the public interest, safety and welfare of all Illinois residents because they will accelerate climate change by facilitating the extraction of carbon emitting oil and natural gas. The climate scientists from around the world have been calling the alarm about the ever growing threats of climate change. Their dire predictions and warnings of collapsing ocean ecosystems, severe storms, droughts, food shortages, public health emergencies, forest fires, rising seas, and wars for resources are coming true. They are begging the industries and the governments of the world to leave 80% of ALL known carbon reserves in the ground to stave off run away global warming. JCAR members - pay attention to the proven planetary threat of climate change. Please vote to Prohibit the rules for fracking because they will open the door to the inevitable emissions of CO2, methane, volatile organic compounds and other green house gases associated with fracking, all of which will accelerate climate change. C) Back room deals undermine the public's interests and process. We ask that the rules for hydraulic fracturing be prohibited because the rulemaking process has now been taken behind closed doors, out of the sight of the public, undermining the largest public response on any issue in the history of the IDNR. Negotiations over these rules are now being conducted between IDNR, JCAR staff, and the Industry. The Industry has over 60 points of contention with the rules; we believe that they are targeting the few protections that the IDNR added to the rules since receiving well over 30,000 public comments. We, the residents of Illinois, deserve that this rulemaking process come back out under the watchful eyes of the public. Prohibit the rules and proceed to public hearings where all of Illinois can bear witness to the the Industry's comments and requests for changes. A public process is the only way for the residents to appropriately respond to the many dangerous issues that are associated with fracking.

As a resident of the City of San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley, I believe there is NO benefit to having fluoride in our drinking water. Residents of this great city are not at all informed and many are horrified that this has not been made more public for a proper public response. At the very least, the ethical basis for exposing a whole population to a "therapeutic agent" without informed consent must be called into question. Santa Clara Valley Water District recently agreed to go ahead with fluoridation beginning this December: http://www.sanjoseinside.com/2016/10/25/south-bay-activists-threaten-to-sue-over-water-fluoridation/ "Seven decades since American cities began fluoridating public water supplies to prevent tooth decay, the South Bay remains something of a holdout. It’s the largest metropolitan region in the nation to not fluoridate its water. That’s about to change, but not without some pushback. Activists have threatened to sue the Santa Clara Valley Water District to prevent it from adding the mineral, which it planned to start doing this December." PER SCVWD: "Residents who have other dental or health related questions or concerns about fluoride should call 1-844-435-8420. For questions on drinking water safety, members of the public are encouraged to contact Drinking Water Toxicologist Bruce A. Macler, Ph.D., of the U.S. EPA, Region 9, at 415-972-3569. Comments or questions directed to Santa Clara Valley Water District can be submitted through our Access Valley Water system or by calling 408-630-2020."

The City of New Orleans generated approximately 302, 7261 tons of solid waste in 2013. This amount does not include the amount of solid waste during Mardis Gras alone, which is estimated to be as high as 8,000 tons.(2) Much of the waste generated annually and during Mardis Gras includes recyclable materials including glass, aluminum and cardboard containers . However, due to the limited free recycling program currently in place, too much of these recyclable materials ends up in landfills. Currently, only residential developments with four units or less and some small businesses are eligible to participate in the City’s free curbside recycling program.(3) Restaurants, Hotels and Bars as well as many commercial businesses are not eligible for participation.(3) During the 2010 Mayoral election, recycling was one of the top campaign issues. While measures have been taken since then, these measures do not go far enough and it’s costing the City environmentally and economically. For instance, due to the low rate of recycling, savings from landfill tipping fees are minimal -- approximately $150,000 per year. However, if recycling rates approached those of San Francisco, the annual savings on tipping fees would reach into the millions. Therefore, we the undersigned beseech the City Council to expand the City’s free curbside recycling program immediately. We urge the Council to increase eligibility of the program to include larger residential developments, restaurants, hotels and bars. And finally, we call on the Council to implement a special recycling program for the 12-day Mardis Gras celebration. New Orleans is a city of many great traditions; you can add a new tradition of sustainability and stewardship by acting now. Thank You 1. Based on EPA Solid Waste Generation Rate of 4.38 lbs/person/day: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm and an estimated 2013 population in New Orleans of 378,715 from the United States Buerau of the Census: http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml 2. Earth 911, Whose Taking Care of the 8,000 Tons of Trash From Mardis Gras, 2010. http://www.earth911.com/living/art-entertainment/whos-taking-care-of-the-8000-tons-of-trash-from-mardi-gras/ 3. http://www.nola.gov/sanitation/recycling/

In the past decade, protections for waters of the United States have been stripped away by the Supreme Court. Their EPA's rule, now under public comment, will restore Clean Water Act protections that have been lost for 55% of Illinois waterways. Clean water is necessary for public health, recreation, business, and for our children's futures.

When I put some grid connected solar panels on my modest Milwaukee WI roof a couple years ago, at the same time that I was trying to get our 30+ year old home to be as energy efficient as possible, I certainly didn't do it for the money. I did it as one tiny way to help the planet instead of hurting it. With our panels and other efficiency upgrades combined, our average WE Energy bills have been roughly half of what they used to be. I actually thought I might be helping WE Energies out as well, since I know sourcing more green energy is a goal for them. The current plan to raise fixed charges for all WE Energies customers, rich and poor, energy hogs and energy sippers alike, feels like a slap in the face, and is most frustrating since it will hurt low income and low energy consumers the most, take away financial incentives for both individuals and businesses to conserve energy, and is completely unnecessary, since by slightly raising the cost of energy consumed instead, they could not only meet their financial needs, but encourage conservation and green energy production at the same time.

A decision is brewing in Texas that could affect students across America. Texas Board of Education member David Bradley is trying to stop students from learning the facts about climate change. Bradley is pressuring fellow Board members to approve new social studies textbooks for K-12 students that deny the scientific consensus on climate change. Since Texas is the nation’s second largest buyer of textbooks, books produced for the state are often sold around the country. Therefore, if the Texas Board of Education approves scientifically inaccurate textbooks, students nationwide will be negatively impacted. Bradley said recently, "Whether global warming is a myth or whether it's actually happening, that's very much up for debate. Don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise.” The broad scientific community in the US and abroad links the burning of fossil fuels to climate change with the same level of certainty with which it links smoking to lung cancer. Communities across the country, including Texas, are currently confronting climate impacts including flash floods, extreme drought and heat waves. Students have a right to be taught accurate information about the causes and consequences of climate change, so they can help develop solutions to the biggest global challenge their generation will face. Tell the Texas Board of Education to refuse to consider any textbooks for adoption that deny or censor the scientific consensus on human caused climate change!

Prescription Bottles are generally made of #5 plastic, which most cities do not take by curbside recycling and it ends up in the garbage/landfill. Join me in asking major companies to continue showing environmental leadership by launching a program where customers can bring their prescription bottles back for recycling. An effort like this would be HUGE and would reduce the waste of the thousands of prescriptions being picked-up daily and around 4 billion prescriptions filled in retail U.S. pharmacies per year. Plastic #5 is also known as PP-Polypropylene and is highly resistant to photo degradation and will not decay for at least a few hundred years.

Here’s what Google Chairman Eric Schmidt recently told NPR’s Diane Rehm: “Everyone understands climate change is occurring. And the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. And so we should not be aligned with such people. They're just literally lying.” Schmidt was talking about Google’s better-late-than-never decision to disassociate from the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a far-right group that pushes polices benefitting dirty energy industries and undermining progress on climate change. But Google is still a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which – as the leading shill in Washington, D.C., for Big Business – does even more than ALEC to perpetuate polluters’ profits while humanity’s very survival is threatened by irrefutable climate change. If Google “should not be aligned with” ALEC, it should not be aligned with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce either.

Antibiotics are a pillar of modern medicine that can ensure a simple cut does not develop into a life-threatening infection, or so a cancer patient can undergo a full course of chemotherapy. Unfortunately, however, these ‘miracle drugs’ are becoming increasingly ineffective. Two million Americans get sick from antibiotic-resistant bacteria every year, and 23,000 die.