I'm a beekeeper so I am deeply concerned that neonicotinoid pesticides and systemic genetically modified organism acting as honey bee killers are not being properly regulated. If we aren't yet smart enough to protect our food system by protecting nature's best pollinator -- the honey bee -- then I hope we are smart enough to eliminate our local supermarkets as the end-user delivery system for pesticides in our food. Pesticide traces in the urine of children eating conventionally grown produce? Unacceptable. Pesticide traces found in fetal umbilical fluid? Unacceptable. We need GMO labeling laws now. This is the first step in recognizing that the problem of pesticides is a major health threat to human beings, too. I am reaching out to my representatives Senator Leanna Washington and Senator Shirley Kitchen to support a GMO labeling initiative in Pennsylvania. GMO labeling laws in Pennsylvania now.

Flowing from the high snowfields and glaciers of Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, and the Twin Sisters range in the North Cascades, the Nooksack River system is one of the rare gems of Washington state. The Nooksack is home to all five species of Pacific salmon, steelhead and bull trout, bald eagles, black bears, cougars, elk, and many other fish and wildlife species that rely on intact wild places like the Nooksack to survive. Cold rushing waters, incredible mountain views, and old-growth forests provide world-class whitewater boating, hiking, camping, and other recreation opportunities. Yet incredibly, the majority of the North, Middle and South Forks of the Nooksack River and its major tributaries remain unprotected. This Keep the Nooksack River Wild petition is targeting relevant Members of Congress to champion Wild and Scenic River legislation which, if enacted, would permanently protect the free-flowing nature and excellent water quality of the upper forks of the Nooksack River. A Wild and Scenic designation would also support salmon, steelhead and bull trout recovery efforts, promote sustainable recreation, and require transparent and collaborative management of the river. If you would like more information about the river and how it supports the local communities, visit: http://www.americanrivers.org/nooksack-river.

The taxpayers voted for Prop A, which provided grant funding from L.A. County for cities to improve existing park facilities and for the purchase of open space land. Now our local officials want to take that open space land and turn it back into an oil field. The oil companies and City of Whittier were sued by the Mountain Recreation Conservation Authority (MRCA), L.A. County, and Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy (SMMC). The MRCA, which is part of the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy (SMMC), won the lawsuit against the oil companies and the City of Whittier. The judge stopped the oil project. Now the MRCA has sold out to Matrix Oil by settling with them. The SMCC will get royalties of up to $11.25 million a year to buy land in wealthy communities like Malibu, and the residents of Whittier will be sickened from oil drilling. How can they say they protect open spaces when they now exploit them? The Mountain Recreation Conservation Authority (MRCA) has opened a Pandora's box regarding land use changes with this settlement. Their decision has implications for the entire state of California. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors can stop this. Please e-mail both Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Mark Ridley-Thomas and tell them not to settle. They need to protect people and the environment.

Oak Hills Park is a city park in Norwalk, CT occupied primarily by an 18-hole golf course. Approximately 7-10 acres of natural woodlands are located within the park's boundaries behind the restaurant parking lot. The Oak Hills woodlands comprise hundreds of mature trees and are situated on a steep slope including a rock ledge and bordered by a wetland, forming habitat for many species of wildlife. In 1999 and again in 2012-2013, the woodlands were threatened by Oak Hills Park Authority's plan to construct a golf driving range on this site. At its August 15, 2013 meeting, Oak Hills Park Authority voted unanimously to *NOT* pursue the driving range proposal in this location, and to work instead with a developer proposing a driving range on existing golf course acreage near the first tee. While we applaud Oak Hills Park Authority's decision not to destroy the woodlands at this time, we don't want to have to fight this fight again. Therefore we call upon Norwalk's Mayor, Common Council, Oak Hills Park Authority, and other governing bodies to designate the woodlands in Oak Hills Park as permanent open space, to preserved, conserved, and protected from development in perpetuity. The League of Women Voters of Norwalk voted on September 16 to advocate protecting the woodlands as permanent open space. This position is in accord with the LWVUSA position on land use and open space.

Uphold Oregon statute ORS 634.322 (6) (c) which states, in part, that the State Department of Agriculture “is authorized to establish limitations and procedures deemed necessary and proper for the protect of…pollinating insects, bees” by making permanent the 180 day temporary ban on systemic neonicotinoids which are implicated worldwide in colony collapse in a mounting body of scientific evidence.

The Fukushima disaster is not only far worse than you've been told; it's very likely going to be worse than you could ever imagine. The radiation leak isn't plugged, in other words, and another explosion -- which many experts believe might be imminent -- would release thousands of times more nuclear material into the open environment. Ultimately, the entire Northern hemisphere has been placed at risk by a bunch of corporate bureaucrats who thought building a nuclear facility in the path of a sure-to-happen tidal wave was a fantastic idea. Instead of acknowledging the problem and working to fix it like a responsible person would, our world's top politicians and ass-coverers have decided it is in their best short-term interests to play along with the TEPCO fairy tale which ridiculously pretends that radioactive leaks can be controlled by wishful thinking.

Genetically engineered food has not been proven to be safe for human consumption. The American Medical Association stated last year that testing of genetically engineered food is not comprehensive nor appropriate, and that no GE food product should be grown or sold until appropriate tests are developed.

For too long, The Washington Post has misled readers by publishing climate denial alongside accurate science, like consistently publishing op-eds that claim that climate change is an elaborate collectivist plot and that there is no evidence that the planet is warming — but all of that could change this year. The founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, just bought The Washington Post, and he’s looking to make big changes that could revolutionize the dying newspaper industry. What’s more, Bezos has made it clear he intends to listen to his audience; he wrote, “Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about – government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports – and working backwards from there.” Bezos’ plan to reinvent the news industry based on readers is an incredible opportunity to make honest climate coverage an essential part of the modern newspaper. But there needs to be a strong demand from the public to convince him to not go down the same path of the old Washington Post and continue publishing climate denial. Bezos proved at Amazon.com that he’s focused on consumers and what they want, which is why we’re sending our message directly to him. Jeff Bezos: readers demand accurate climate coverage.

I recently sold my house in Glenwood Springs because it sits on the edge of the lower Roaring Fork River, threatened by possible hydraulic fracturing in the Thompson Divide. My property value plummeted since the doubling of oil and gas development around my home in the past ten years. Spills of "hydrocarbons" around Parachute Creek are still producing measures of benzene in that creek. I'm calling on President Obama to halt the industry's practice of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas, until it can be done WITHOUT toxic chemicals. Since moving to Colorado in 1991, I've seen the public lands I used to swim, bike, hike, and backcountry ski closed to me. No longer can I hike in areas off Grand Mesa or bike outside of Paonia due to gates erected to keep me out of the public lands my taxes support. I don't swim in the North Fork of the Gunnison for fear of water contamination from hydraulic fracturing in areas whose creeks feed this river. I used to lead my students through the back roads and trails of Grand Mesa, on skis, bikes, and on foot. The vistas were spectacular as we hiked the Crag Crest Trail or rode our bikes out to Lands End. Now, the industry's heavy equipemnt and haul trucks create bottle-necks along I-70 and county roads. As a DJ on my community public radio station, KDNK, in Carbondale, Colorado, I played Woodie Guthrie's song, "This Land is Your Land" on the 4th of July this year. I dedicated the song to all my listeners, and to all the politicians who have lost sight of what democracy means. It inspired me to start this petition. President Obama is about to issue his first major policy on fracking. The Bureau of Land Management has issued draft rules for fracking on 600 million acres of public and Indian lands, like those near me in Colorado. Unfortunately, these rules are straight out of the oil and gas industry's playbook. The provisions on disclosure of the toxic chemicals used in fracking were written by ExxonMobil and taken straight from model bills peddled by ALEC, the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council. And the draft rules do nothing to protect watersheds that provide drinking water to millions of people. Close to 1,000,000 comments were submitted on August 23 to the Bureau of Land Management, and on August 22, anti-fracking leaders hand-delivered our comments to the BLM in Washington, D.C. Keep this petition moving! Share your voice.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, I cherish the mountain ranges that surround me. Not only are they a gorgeous backdrop to my city, but they provide a unique way of life. I have fond memories of hiking with my family, cliff jumping into deep pools of icy water with friends, and taking long drives through the Angeles National Forest on the CA-2. President Obama wants to increase fracking on federal public lands as part of his climate solution, but that plan would only create more problems. In California, this would open up the Angeles National Forest, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and the Los Padres National Forest to fracking, and could impact Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. The fracking industry will destroy our roads and infrastructure, clear our forests and habitats, threaten wildlife and increase air pollution. Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," injects millions of gallons of fracking fluids — a mixture of nearly 600 chemicals, water and sand — into a well to create pressure that cracks open rocks underground, releasing natural gas and oil. Help protect California's national parks and open spaces from fracking.

My family lives in Pekin, Illinois, which is just downwind of the Edwards coal-fired power plant. I am the mother of two wonderful children who grew up here in Pekin, both of whom have respiratory ailments they have struggled with throughout their lives. My daughter’s terrible chronic asthma attacks started as a baby. As I would drive her to the Emergency Room I would wonder what I was doing wrong as a mother to cause her suffering. But after I learned more about the community I live in, I began to realize that the polluting facilities around me were likely what was causing her health problems, and I vowed to fight for clean air from this day forward. The Edwards coal plant has been operating in my community for 52 years and does not have modern pollution controls. Pollution levels in the county that I live in were documented by EPA as the highest in the state, causing the area to be designated as in “non-attainment” by USEPA last month. Yet, in the next few weeks, the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) is poised to give the plant’s future owner a permission to keep operating this out of date coal plant until 2020 without reducing its dangerous air pollution. I will no longer sit by as this coal plant makes my children and my community sick, and continues to receive permission to pollute from our state government. Enough is enough – please join me in urging Governor Quinn and the Illinois Pollution Control Board not to let Dynegy off the hook for polluting across Illinois. A Texas-based energy company called Dynegy is in the process of buying five dirty Illinois coal plants from Ameren, including the Edwards plant in my community. Dynegy has said publically that they will only buy these plants if they are guaranteed not to have to follow state pollution laws until 2020. As a mother, I see this like telling a car dealer I will only buy a car for my 15 year old daughter if they can guarantee she can disobey all traffic laws. This is irresponsible and wrong. The proposal isn’t only dangerous and wrong, it is also in violation of the IPCB’s own rules. The rules specify that variances can only be granted to the owners of the polluting facilities, but Ameren’s sale of five Illinois coal plants to Dynegy isn’t expected to be completed until the end of this year. The request Dynegy has filed with the IPCB asks for an exemption that would allow the coal plants to exceed state pollution limits for sulfur dioxide and other dangerous pollutants for the next five years. I, too, have developed chronic asthma and now know what it feels like to struggle for my next breath. I now carry an inhaler with me at all times. Governor Quinn's Pollution Control Board will soon choose between cleaner air in Illinois and the dirty profits of an out-of-state energy company. It is going to take strong grassroots pressure to persuade them to make the right choice. I hope you will join me.

Every year my own biorhythms get fouled-up by the twice a year changes to and from daylight to standard time. And in winter, when there's so little light compared to summer, why not save what little there is?! Let's eliminate standard time and save daylight all year long! The only argument I've ever heard for switching from daylight to standard is that schoolchildren need the extra daylight on winter mornings to be safe walking to school... Well, maybe it's time to start school an hour later and end an hour later instead. Schoolkids have biorhythms too; so, let's be kind to theirs as well to grownups and let them sleep an hour later.