With over 100 local residents, I attended the public meeting this week where the EPA discussed its proposed settlement with billionaire Matty Moroun's Crown Enterprises over the former McLouth Steel site along the Detroit River. While I'm thankful something is being done to finally clean up the site, and I'm fully supportive of a local group of residents who are pushing that the site be cleaned up to federal residential standards rather than industry standards, at least one thing came to light during the hearing that I believe we all need to push harder on, and we only have until September 13th when the comment period closes to do it. The EPA itself acknowledges that highly toxic chemicals, including PCBs and heavy metals, are currently leaching into the Trenton Channel from the McLouth Steel site. Under the proposed settlement and "covenant not to sue" the EPA is giving Crown Enterprises a full 18 months to "assess and report" on what to do about the pollution that's currently going into the river, let alone doing anything about it. Knowing billionaire Matty Moroun, we'll be lucky if anything is ever done about it. Pressed at the hearing about this chief negotiator for the EPA Steve Kaiser admitted that he prioritized the tearing down of the former McLouth Steel buildings over pollution into the river. 18 months is too long to wait before action is taken to stop toxic chemicals from going into the river. The downriver area relies on this river for so much of our livelihood and well-being, toxic chemicals polluting the river from the McLouth steel site should be treated like the emergency that it is. We still have until September 13th to put our comments in. Sign, share, and write a note on this petition before then and I'll make sure your comment gets in before the deadline.

FAA must REVERT back to pre NextGen flight paths and procedures now! That is the fastest, and least expensive fix. Stop lying to us! For decades Congress has been passing aviation ACTS that sound great to the uninformed, but do nothing to protect the public from the negative health impacts of repeated exposures to very loud and extreme jet noise and it's associated chemical residues which people breathe. Pleas for help have largely fallen on deaf ears though President Trump made a point of working to limit the exposures over his Florida property. To our knowledge, only Gov. Larry Hogan has stood up for his people, and only one major city - Phoenix has taken the FAA to task gaining a roll back to former operation paths. Please ADD your voice and comments now. We need to collect 100,000 more signers in order to demonstrate to Washington that this is a serious matter. This is not about rich people seeking to dump their share of noise on their poor neighbors. This is about all of us getting a fair break instead of the new jet highways - which often are right over lower-income neighborhoods. Going to court is difficult, and can cost $1M. We'd rather Congress just fix what they broke! REVERT - STOP Jet Noise NOW! America

I am very very upset about the waste and the over use of plastic bags. It is time for Wal-Mart to take the initiative to remove plastic bags from its stores or charge for them.

There are at least four schools/daycares in our neighborhood. Our kids are subjected to germs, K2 smoke, and all other forms of poisonous activities every morning on their way to school and every evening on their way back home. This is not safe for our kids or elders who need a safe/healthy environment to thrive in.

“If you know you’re dying, it gives you that extra push. You can’t just die for nothing.” Those words were spoken by Dewayne “Lee” Johnson in a recent TV interview with CBS News. Johnson was interviewed after a jury in San Francisco found that Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer. Until he became too sick to work, Johnson was a school groundskeeper. His job required him to spray Roundup on school properties, including on playgrounds. Please tell the National School Boards Association: Monsanto’s Roundup and other toxic agro-chemicals must be banned on school grounds, and school lunch programs should stop serving foods contaminated with glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. The jury in Dewayne Johnson v. Monsanto Co. awarded Johnson $289.2 million. Monsanto has vowed to appeal the verdict. Johnson knows that by the time his case finally makes it through a protracted appeals process, he may not be alive to collect the money Monsanto owes him. Johnson’s family could use that money to pay off medical expenses. But what’s more important to this terminally ill father of two, is that something good, something bigger than a monetary award, result from his David v. Goliath battle. We all owe Dewayne Johnson a huge debt of gratitude for standing up to Monsanto. What better way to thank him, and to honor his sacrifice, than by joining the movement to rid schools of Roundup and other toxic chemicals.

Block Island’s groundwater supplies are finite, irreplaceable, and essential to the town’s quality of life and economic well being. Block Island also prides itself as a hub for forward thinking and preserving its robust ecosystems. The senseless use of lethal environmental toxins should be stopped in order to protect these irreplaceable resources that sustain Block Islands ecosystems and inhabitants. In recent days, San Francisco jurors ruled that Roundup - the most popular weedkiller in the world - from the same department as Agent Orange and the Terminator Gene in GM food, gave a former school groundskeeper terminal cancer. They awarded him $289 million in damages. This former groundskeepers victory could set a massive precedent for thousands of other cases claiming Monsanto's famous herbicide causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The significance of this case not only exposes the dangers of Roundup and other potentially dangerous (Glyphosate formulated) pesticides, herbicides and fungicides used on our gardens & lawns and in our GMO foods, but it is also an opportunity for the Block Island community to become more aware of its use at the expense of exposing these toxins to our children and pets, our neighbors, our water systems & soil microbiome, as well as to the insects that are vital to Block Islands ecological health. There are many studies that suggest that Glyphosate (alone) in is not dangerous, and there are many studies that suggest it is dangerous. Very few studies have been conducted using Glyphosate in formulations such as Roundup and the illustrate an even uglier toxic stew. Sadly, we cannot rely on the biases and pseudoscience of the studies being published. Monsanto (Bayer) and our government agencies are not our leaders in advocating for our health and the health of our environment. For example, most studies use Glyphosate (alone) in their experiments - You might find that you have this active ingredient that appears nontoxic - but that DOES NOT MEAN that the commercial formulation (co-formulants that fly under the regulatory radar) is also nontoxic. We all know that combining and mixing chemicals can make a toxic stew. Furthermore, other ingredients in products like Roundup are trade secrets and unavailable for inspection. According to the Journal of Entropy (Jan, 2013), Glyphosate (alone) enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins. The negative impact on the body is "insidious" and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body. There is growing evidence that GMO foods are the culprits in the destruction of our intestinal microbiome which leads to gut permeability. Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and a host of other autoimmune diseases. The Journal of Entropy also explains the documented effects of Glyphosate and its ability to induce disease, showing that Glyphosate is the “textbook example” of the disruption of homeostasis by environmental toxins. We need to stand up to to these companies and government agencies and say no to dumping poison into our systems and say yes to keeping the health of our soil and water systems as healthy as possible. We are asking that you place an island-wide ban on the senseless use of all Glyphosate containing formulas that gradually and inevitably destroys otherwise healthy systems. Links to understanding the damaging affects: https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/tag/glyphosate-map-lake-okeechobee/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808927/ Conclusion from this study: Up to now, endocrine-disrupting effects of pesticides have been studied mostly based on tests on their declared active ingredient. Here we report for the first time that, below their toxicity thresholds, the co-formulants, generally classified as inerts and kept confidential, act as endocrine-disrupting chemicals at levels up to several hundred times below the level at which the declared active ingredient demonstrates the same activity. Glyphosate is never used alone, but always with its co-formulants. Thus the physiological effects of co-formulants should be more thoroughly tested and declared. We also recommend that the calculation of the ADI for pesticides should be based on toxicity tests of the commercial formulations rather than solely the declared active ingredient. Countries that have banned or placed restrictions on the use of glyphosate: Germany France Belgium Bermuda Colombia Netherlands Sri Lanka El Salvador Saudi Arabia Kuwait Qatar Bahrain Oman United Arab Emirates Argentina Australia Brazil Canada Denmark England Greece Italy Luxembourg Malta Scotland Slovenia Switzerland In Connecticut: Branford Greenwich Manchester Cheshire Watertown Woodbridge Roxburg In Massachusetts : Marblehead Warwick Wellesley There's a saying -- If something is not eating something else in your garden, then your garden is not part of the ecosystem.

Use of single-use plastic bags have severe downstream impacts - affecting both human and marine life. Newtown is trying to pass its own single-use plastic bag ban, and without the support of the residents here, it would be hard to pass a ban.

The DNC just reversed course on banning donations from fossil fuel companies, turning its back on those living with the impacts of climate change and fossil fuel extraction every day — as well as the more than 950 candidates nationwide that our community recruited to sign the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge. DNC executives are keeping quiet about the Friday night vote — they know taking polluter money isn’t a good look for the Party — but resistance from DNC membership is growing and the press is beginning to take notice. By ringing the alarm now, we can hold the DNC accountable to its values, and force a new vote during the DNC’s Summer Meeting in Chicago in two weeks.

Only two months after banning fossil fuel donations, the DNC is considering reversing itself and is framing their position as an "all of the above" energy strategy. Tell them to get serious on climate. We're running out of time.

The southern resident Orcas are in dire need of food. The time is NOW to act. Governor Inslee's Task Force is working to take action by October, but we need to get the general public involved now to make a clear statement to BPA that they MUST breach the damns starting NOW.

My brother and I love Sonic slushes and have been visiting Sonics at least twice a week for several years. However, we have recently learned that the styrofoam cups the company uses aren't biodegradable and contain carcinogenic benzene, and the plastic straws used are polluting the world's oceans at an alarming rate. As a result, we will reluctantly forego our twice-weekly "fixes" of the company's delicious slushes until it starts serving them in paper cups like 7-Eleven, and converts to paper straws as McDonald's and Starbucks are doing. We urge others who care about human health and the environment to consider a boycott as well, and to sign this petition.

Every day, the news on Climate is worse. Extreme fires are burning in West threatening friends and family. Hurricane floods threaten my old home in Florida. Enough is enough. Bold action is so clearly needed, but Congressional Leaders seem distracted by Republican craziness and unwilling to act. If Democrats do win back Congress, we need to Stop Trump - but that's not enough. Democrats need to show real, positive leadership on Climate now.