Big Oil wants to explore the Atlantic Ocean using seismic airguns. This activity could kill over 100,000 helpless dolphins and whales -- including some of the last North Atlantic right whales, "the American bison of the sea"! These airguns would blast for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Matthew Huelsenbeck, a marine scientist at Oceana, puts that in perspective: "Imagine dynamite going off in your living room or in your backyard every ten seconds for days to weeks at a time." It's up to folks like you to raise your voice and shut down Big Oil's threat to dolphins and whales once and for all!

Illinois Senate Bill 1666 which would require GMO labeling in Illinois was heard in committee this session but was not brought for a vote. GMO labeling supporter Senate President John Cullerton can still allow a vote this year. Big Ag has been spreading false propaganda that GMO labeling would increase the price of food so high that people would no longer be able to buy food. We know that these claims are absurd, but not everyone is well educated on this issue. IL Senator William Delgado actually reversed his position in support (co-sponsorship, even) of the bill after receiving industry misinformation. We need our leaders in the Illinois Senate to stand for common sense and what is right, NOT be cowed by bogus claims from Big Ag. Sign this petition to Illinois Senate President John Cullerton asking him to allow a vote on Illinois GMO labeling bill S.B.1666 and show the Agriculture industry that they will not succeed by spreading lies about our food.

With Governor Martin O’Malley at the helm, Maryland has become a national leader in fighting climate change and promoting clean energy. Governor O’Malley has championed bills for cleaner cars, greater energy efficiency, and—most recently—offshore wind power. This is the kind of leadership America urgently needs, especially as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that we need to switch to clean energy much more rapidly over the next 15 years to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Unfortunately, the Maryland state legislature recently passed a harmful and unnecessary anti-clean energy bill that would significantly undermine Maryland’s progress towards a clean energy economy, while setting a damaging national precedent that could stymie land-based wind power development across the country for years to come. The bill, HB 1168, would establish a moratorium on land-based wind energy in over 40 percent of the state and nearly 90 percent of Maryland’s most viable wind development areas. The bill was ostensibly written to address concerns about interference with military radar facilities in southern Maryland. But those concerns have already been addressed in an agreement negotiated between the U.S. Navy and developers of the most mature wind farm set to begin construction on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In solidarity with Maryland’s major environmental groups, Governor O’Malley vigorously opposed this anti-wind power bill during the state legislative session. The governor explicitly urged state lawmakers not to undermine wind power development. But with ferocious lobbying from special interests and their political allies, the bill passed anyway. Now Governor O’Malley—whose 8-year stint as Maryland’s governor ends this year—can leave office with perhaps his most heroic action yet on climate change: vetoing a harmful bill for the sake of clean energy in Maryland and across the country.

According to the National Resources Defense Council, an average of 100 billion plastic shopping bags are consumed—and eventually trashed—annually in the US. These bags require over 12 million barrels of oil to produce (Wall Street Journal), and are only used once or twice, while they pollute our rivers and oceans, clog our storm drains and persist in our landfills forever. In 2009, Washington, D.C. implemented a $0.05 fee on disposable plastic bags, and, five years later, continues to reap great rewards from that bill—including money awarded to community-based organizations and private firms seeking to clean and protect DC’s waterways, as well as continued outreach and environmental education. According to the District Department of the Environment, these efforts have resulted in over 75% of DC residents using fewer single-use bags than before the disposable bag fee. The team at Reuseit.com believes a plastic bag fee would likewise help raise awareness of the costs of producing and cleaning up after these plastic bags in Charlottesville (and across Virginia), as well as encourage shoppers to examine their own throwaway habits, make the switch to reusable shopping bags and engage in a culture of reuse overall. Starting with our backyard in Charlottesville, Virginia, we’re encouraging our neighbors and local city council to change the way we think, act and make purchases. Sign this petition to express your support for the City Council's vision of making Charlottesville a leader in innovation and environmental sustainability by instating a 5-cent single-use bag fee. Let's reduce disposable plastic waste and protect our environment.

As college students of SUNY Fredonia we are personally contributing to the waste created by plastic cups from local bars. Help us convince the village of Fredonia to recycle.

Duke Energy continues to violate clean water rules and to pollute our state's groundwater and rivers. The resulting coal ash disaster has been mismanaged, showing fundamental flaws in Duke Energy's fiscal and institutional integrity. The Nathan Cummings Foundation and 20 other major investors have called on Duke Energy's board to conduct a prompt internal investigation of the coal ash disaster. The second recent breakthrough was a call to action from both CalPERS, (the California state pension fund), and the New York City Retirement Systems to dismiss the members of Duke Energy’s Regulatory Policy and Oversight Committee. The four board members of this committee have responsibility for environmental compliance, yet they do not have expertise in that field. Moreover, they have failed to live up to their public responsibilities.

Governor Corbett has allowed his friends in the fracking industry free reign to pollute our water and air, mislead the public about its practices and lobby for unconstitutional legislation. For the next governor to truly fix the problems that Corbett created, we need a statewide halt on fracking. However, the current candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Corbett have yet to take the right position on fracking. That's why Food & Water Watch Fund has authored a Pledge to Halt Fracking, a commitment to halt any new fracking until this dangerous process is proven safe. We need to pressure the Democratic candidates for governor — Tom Wolf, Allyson Schwartz, Rob McCord and Katie McGinty — as well as the candidates for lieutenant governor to support the only policy that will truly protect Pennsylvanians from fracking. We need a halt to fracking.

This is some of the last pristine old growth forest in Ecuador and includes the traditional and titled homelands of seven indigenous nationalities that have repeatedly voted to reject oil extraction on their lands.

The 2030-40 idea is simple. Enact legislation and provide incentives to guarantee that the United States accelerates its transition from 'dirty' CO2 emitting power sources to clean, renewable energy. The United States ranks second only to China in total carbon emissions from power plants. Meanwhile, the European Union is to meet in 2014 and expand their highly successful renewable energy policies. In the pursuit of energy independence and in the face of rapid climate change, we must demand that the government set concrete and meaningful goals to reduce carbon emissions and foster the growth and global adoption of renewable energy.

All my children have attended public schools, which use Genetically Modified (GM) Food to feed them. Our children should not be fed GM products. Thousands of schools around the world, particularly in Europe, have decided not to let their kids be used as guinea pigs and have banned GM foods. We need to do the same.

Our planet needs humans to reduce their consumption of disposable materials. We are harming our environment, all species and ourselves.

Rates are not reasonable: Our service has not increased, our roads have fallen further apart, and we have nitrate problems that have not been addressed. The Carson Valley Utility Fund has been depleted since we were” consolidated” with the West Valley systems. We have been asked to pay more to improve the account numbers with no assurance that future requirements will not be funded out of the reserves. Our rates in the past, are the highest in the County. Those rates built the reserves, only to have the reserves used for purposes not fully explained. Once we were consolidated we saw a further erosion of the reserves. When the systems were consolidated, rates were raised again, and in fact showed an excess over forecasted reserves. As soon as the additional revenues were realized, as study was commissioned to deplete those additional revenues—a study that is supports a small area of the West side which did not have sufficient reserves to cover the expense. Rates are Subsidized. Rates in other county systems are subsidized. Within the County systems are subsidized both with general fund monies as well as individual tax districts for other systems. The East Valley Utility reserves and when combined with the West Valley systems actually subsidized those systems with inferior reserves. The combined resultant system was then not subsidized from any fund within the county and yet it is held to different standard when it comes to reserves and depreciation. Rates are Discriminatory: Specifically as concerns water, water Customers in the East Valley system pay usage fees, while others with the system and other county systems pay no usage fees. It is discriminatory to require usage fees of some customers, and not all customers. The East Side ratepayers rates are being increased to fund projects not involving the East side. There is no plan to solve the nitrate problem ( as detailed by the USGS nitrate study) or to provide service to the 917 homes in the Johnson lane area identified by the Master Plan who are on wells and septic, according to the Master Plan. There is no plan detailing through 2019 where the increased and what problems will be solved. All we know is the accounts our money goes into can be spent on any item (s) the Director of Public works decides on, and when more money is needed, simply raise the rates. Moreover, the increases planned for water, sewer and roads are discriminatory. While other County systems are either stable (GID’s and Towns) with no increases we are facing increases over five years of 41.25 %, and property taxes are forecast to increase another 15% over the same period for a total increase of 56.25% in charges to Carson Valley Utility Customers. Since the County has used our reserves to fund capital expenses and continues to use the reserves as savings account for capital expenditures for other systems, we are asking the County to provide: a. Freeze or cap rates for at least 3 years b. The County then has times to create a long range plan on how they intend: 1. Define what county utilities includes now and in the future 2. Create the current and future management systems for utilities. 3. That provides for physical consolidation of water and sewer systems and a county waste management system. 4. The problems the systems face and provide for solutions with a time line. 5. How they intend to build rates to solve the problems and depreciation 6. Provide for capital expenditures and when those would be needed 7. How they would build a depreciation account.