Earthjustice

Campaigns

• Reject the Next Generation of GMO Crops and Pesticides

  The USDA is poised to allow farmers to plant 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) resistant corn and soy. This would allow farmers to plant these crops wherever they please without any government oversight, disregarding the harms they will cause. 2,4-D is a toxic herbicide associated with serious health impacts. Dow AgroScience created these 2,4-D resistant crops so farmers could spray the herbicide without killing their corn and soy. But when the same herbicide is sprayed on a field repeatedly, a few naturally resistant weeds survive, reproduce and eventually take over. Because farmers did this with Monsanto’s Roundup-resistant crops, fields across the U.S. are now choked with Roundup-resistant weeds. Industry’s solution is to genetically engineer crops to resist a different, more toxic herbicide, to kill those resistant weeds but not the crops. But make no mistake, these GMO crops will, like their predecessors, lead to much greater use of even more dangerous chemicals, the development of more herbicide-resistant weeds, destruction and genetic contamination of neighboring crops, and severe economic impacts on other farmers. USDA projects approval of these crops will result in an up to 600 percent increase in 2,4-D use on crops, to as much as 176 million pounds per year, while independent scientists believe much greater increases are likely. Drifting 2,4-D already causes more crop injury events to neighboring farms than any other herbicide. Please tell the USDA to deny approval use of these crops.

  56,387 of 75,000 Signatures

  Created by Paul Achitoff, Earthjustice
• Save Bees from a Highly Toxic Pesticide

  Bee populations are plummeting! Yet the Environmental Protection Agency recently sided with Dow AgroSciences to approve a new, highly toxic bee-killing pesticide called sulfoxaflor. And now the EPA is considering expanding the number of crops this pesticide can be sprayed on to include corn, alfalfa, oats, and several other significant and widely grown crops. Will you help us fight back? Tell the EPA to deny Dow AgroScience’s application to expand the registration of the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor now. Nearly one-third of our crops—including many vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds—depend on bees for pollination. But bees in our country are dying at unprecedented rates, and scientists are pointing to pesticides like sulfoxaflor as a cause. A world without bees is unimaginable. Earthjustice is doing everything we can to fight back, using the law and the power of the courts. But we need your help to stop this latest proposal. Help us ensure that sulfoxaflor does not become the final straw for bees. Take action now to save bees!

  41,873 of 45,000 Signatures

  Created by Greg Loarie, Earthjustice
• COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED: Oppose the largest crude oil-by-rail terminal ever proposed in North America

  THE COMMENT PERIOD FOR THIS ACTION IS CLOSED However, you can still sign this petition to express your support for this issue. It only took a few sentences on page 1,865 of the massive 2016 budget bill to repeal a decades-old ban on domestic crude oil export. This move will lead to more drilling, more climate-disrupting emissions, and more reckless transport of oil. The oil industry has set its sights on the Pacific Northwest as a gateway for transporting more and more crude oil, and we’re fighting its plans on several fronts at once. Tesoro-Savage’s unprecedented and reckless proposal for an oil terminal in Vancouver, WA has drawn broad opposition, with Columbia River Tribes, a local longshoremen’s union, firefighters, business leaders, health professionals, climate activists, neighborhood associations, faith leaders, the City of Portland, the City of Vancouver itself, and a clear majority of local voters already speaking against it. By itself, Tesoro-Savage’s proposed facility would ship over 360,000 barrels of crude oil per day—almost half as much as the Keystone XL Pipeline. This “pipeline on rails” would bring four or more mile-long trains carrying explosive crude oil across western states, through Spokane, along the Columbia River, and into Vancouver every day. We must stop it. When these oil trains derail, they can spill, explode and ignite. We’ve already seen these devastating accidents across North America. When oil tankers crash and spill, fish and wildlife die, the harm lasts for decades, tribal economies and cultures suffer, and local river and fishing jobs are lost. Let’s work together to make sure this doesn’t happen. Washington’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council just released its draft environmental review. Comment now to make sure this project—the largest oil-by-rail terminal proposed in North America—is rejected.

  12,496 of 15,000 Signatures

  Created by Kristen Boyles, Earthjustice
• TAKE ACTION: Get these hormone-disrupting chemicals out of our food!

  No matter how careful you are about what you eat, your food could be loaded with toxic chemicals called phthalates. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering a petition, filed by Earthjustice and several partner organizations, asking the agency to withdraw its approval of all 30 phthalates currently allowed as food additives. Please tell the FDA that phthalates don’t belong in our food. Phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are a class of hormone-disrupting chemicals that have been linked to severe genital birth defects in baby boys and to other reproductive health problems. They’re also linked to deficits in child IQ, developmental delays, and other learning disabilities. It’s hard to avoid phthalates because they’re used in many of the materials that come into contact with our food—from the plastic gloves that food workers wear to plastic equipment used in processing food to the plastic packaging our food is sold in. Phthalates leach out of these materials and seep into our food, ending up in all of our bodies. Despite powerful scientific evidence of the harmful health effects of these chemicals, the FDA still allows the use of 30 different toxic phthalates as “food additives,” meaning that they can be used in food-handling equipment and food packaging. Please tell the FDA to keep toxic phthalates out of our food!

  22,608 of 25,000 Signatures

  Created by Eve Gartner, Earthjustice
• Protect Northwest Orcas

  The critically endangered population of Pacific Northwest orcas has been reduced to only 84 individuals. Now, they face a new threat from anti-environmental groups seeking to strip away their Endangered Species Act protections. Tell the National Marine Fisheries Service that this unique population deserves full protection under the law. These unique marine mammals have been decimated by the decline of salmon—their primary prey—and by toxic pollution and habitat degradation from shipping, sonar and other human activities. They need more, not less, protection. Please voice your support for continuing vital protections for the Pacific Northwest's irreplaceable killer whales.

  61,962 of 75,000 Signatures

  Created by Alex Vanderweele
• Fund communities and natural landscapes not senseless walls

  The 2,000-mile stretch of land between the U.S. and Mexico contains one of the most diverse ecosystems in North America with wildlife such as the endangered Mexican gray wolf, jaguar, bighorn sheep, and ocelot calling it home. It is also where President Trump wants to build a 30-foot border wall. Not only will a wall between the U.S. and Mexico be disastrous for wildlife and the environment, but it will also threaten the economy and communities living along the border. We need your help to stop it. Politicians in Washington D.C. are looking to fund the construction of Trump’s wall in the U.S.-Mexico border through unprecedented and underhanded legislative gimmicks. A vote to fund a border wall will soon go up for a vote in the House and we need you to tell your representative to oppose any efforts to fund it. Construction of a wall is likely to create roadblocks in the migration paths of several threatened and endangered species and will also hinder the natural flow of waterways which could cause devastating flooding, endangering border communities and wildlife. The border wall is yet another gimmick used by the Trump administration to intimidate communities, particularly Latino and immigrant ones, from exercising their civil rights, including their right to a healthy environment. It is a symbol of fear that would come at the expense of our public lands, wildlife and environmental safeguards that protect border and immigrant communities. It’s justified by fiction, relying on the notion that our border communities must be militarized and somehow deserve fewer protections under the law. A wall is a distraction from the very real issues border communities face, and a waste of money. Our border communities need funding for schools, environmental clean-up and wildlife protection, not a divisive wall. Tell Congress to fund communities and natural landscapes, not senseless walls.

  1,326 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Raul Garcia, Earthjustice
• USDA: Don’t waste taxpayer money on a waste incinerator in Puerto Rico

  DEADLINE: November 12! The United States has moved away from waste incinerators as an energy source because the miniscule amounts of energy produced comes at a high price that pollutes communities and bankrupts local governments. But now the New York company Energy Answers is trying to build one of the first new waste incinerators in the country in over two decades in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, an area already overburdened by polluting industrial facilities. Opposition to this project is strong in Puerto Rico: coalitions representing every local government on the island have spoken out against the project as a burden on their already troubled municipal finances, and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources has denied a permit to the company in order to preserve the ecosystem of a nearby Natural Reserve. Unable to find private financing, Energy Answers is now asking USDA to use taxpayer money in a last-ditch attempt to fund this boondoggle of a project. The project will lock Puerto Rico into the most polluting method of energy production for decades and severely compromise the island’s recycling goals. Don’t let USDA fund a project that will pollute Puerto Rico and bankrupt its municipalities. Tell USDA not to waste your taxpayer money to build a dirty, uneconomical waste incinerator in Arecibo.

  749 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Hannah Chang, Earthjustice
• President Obama: Seize the moment to end Arctic offshore drilling for good!

  BREAKING NEWS! After years of Earthjustice-led legal battles, Shell just announced that it is abandoning its Arctic Ocean drilling program. Shell's departure from the Arctic Ocean removes, at least for now, a major threat to the region's wildlife, already suffering from the impacts of climate change, which is happening more rapidly there than anywhere on earth. But the fight is not over! President Obama now has an opportunity to build on his climate successes and end Arctic Ocean drilling for good. Will you reach out to him today, to urge him to protect the Arctic Ocean for the long haul? Shell's decision shows that Arctic Ocean oil drilling is a thing of the past. It’s time to invest in a future of clean renewable energy and a sustainable climate for future generations. For decades, Earthjustice has been in court fighting risky drilling in the region. And with your help, we will continue to fight. Take action now to help us achieve long-term Arctic protections.

  15 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Trip Van Noppen, Earthjustice
• Create the First-Ever Marine National Monument in the Atlantic Ocean

  Just off the shores of New England, a fragile undersea mountain range brimming with rare marine wildlife—critically endangered North Atlantic right whales—is threatened with destruction. But there’s a chance to save it. Tell the Obama administration to make history and create the first-ever marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean. New England’s “Grand Canyons,” sea mountains, and Cashes Ledge are national treasures. These precious ecosystems provide refuge for hundreds of species of rare and unique marine wildlife. These areas are also critical to the health of our ocean fish, the lifeblood of Atlantic coastal communities. Earthjustice has been fighting to protect our ocean ecosystems and we need your help! Unfortunately, these fragile undersea places are threatened with destruction from overfishing and industrial exploitation, as the deep ocean has become more accessible to drilling, mining and damaging commercial fishing. Leading scientists agree, now is the time to protect New England’s Grand Canyons, sea mountains and Cashes Ledge before it’s too late. Overwhelming public support is needed to persuade the Obama administration to protect these special places with a marine national monument designation. Send a message now to weigh in on this important decision.

  433 of 500 Signatures

  Created by Roger Fleming
• Help us defend GMO labeling laws!

  Last year, Vermont passed a law requiring most genetically engineered foods to be labeled…and soon, industry attacked. Earthjustice has now gone to court to defend Vermont’s law and stand up to these attacks. But now an extremist segment of the food industry is pushing to prohibit GMO labeling anywhere in the country. You have a right to know what’s in the food you eat. Take action now to defend that right. The House has already passed a bill prohibiting any and all state and local GMO labeling requirements. We need more food transparency, not less! Tell your senator you oppose this legislation now! The bill goes far beyond labeling—it would preclude not only labeling, but also all state and local regulation of GMOs. We’re defending communities in Hawai‘i that have chosen to restrict the growing of GMO crops to protect conventional and organic farmers from contamination and the public from associated pesticide use. In fact, Earthjustice has litigated for years to protect people and the environment from dangers associated with genetically modified food crops. More than 99% of GMO crops are created to withstand toxic chemical applications or produce their own pesticides, leading to greater pesticide use. Increased use of pesticides and the emergence of pesticide-resistant weeds are just two of the problems GMO crops create, not to mention possible long-term health effects and risks to biodiversity. GMO crops also reduce consumers’ ability to avoid GMO-contaminated food and farmers’ ability to protect their non-GMO fields from contamination. More than 60 countries already require GMO labeling. Today, we’re asking you to stand up for food transparency in the United States!

  433 of 500 Signatures

  Created by Trip Van Noppen