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.

The increase of factories and distilleries has caused undue yellow film on our cars, homes and gardens. There also has been increase of cancer and deaths. Please help enforce laws to reduce this horrific pollution.

New York banned fracking, but our fight against dirty oil and gas infrastructure isn't over. It's time for Governor Cuomo to take the next step against fracking and end our ruinous reliance on fossil fuels. Right now, New York faces an onslaught of dirty new fracked gas power plants. Governor Cuomo can stop these plants and move the state off fossil fuels, but he needs to hear from all of us to make it happen. Take action today.

The goal of these attacks on endangered wildlife is clearly to gut the Endangered Species Act in order to benefit fossil fuel interests and other Big Polluters. If they succeed, many endangered species could quickly end up on the path to extinction. We can’t let that happen.

Ellen Gerhart, a retired special education teacher from Huntingdon County, PA, has been in jail since late Friday afternoon. Four officers arrived on her property to arrest her because Energy Transfer Partners filed a motion with the Court of Common Pleas, claiming that, among other things, she had baited mountain lions and bears to go to the easement for the company's Mariner East 2 pipeline. The land was taken from the Gerhart family by the company via eminent domain. It's the part of the property where a pond, streams, and wetlands are located. As a longtime forest steward, Ellen has gone to court, shared her story with media outlets across the globe, and engaged in non-violent direct action to protect the land and the water that means so much to her. Ellen is refusing to talk to her jailors and is on a hunger strike. Please sign our petition calling on Judge Zanic to release her.

We are in a plastic pollution crisis. Now we are in a recycling crisis. Columbia Association does a great job proving water fountains for drinking and refilling water bottles. Non-recyclable cups are completely unnecessary and adds to a plastic pollution crisis that "Will be the largest health threat facing the public, if it hasn't already become so."