2020 Action

June 2025: IT MAY BE BIG BUT IT SURE AIN'T BEAUTIFUL!

BACKGROUND: Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill is dangerously misnamed. Trump’s bill will remove many of the environment and health protections that have been put into place over decades and seriously negatively impact the health and well-being of people and our environment. Here are just a few examples of what this dangerous Bill will do: 

• Require new fossil fuel and mining development across tens of millions of acres of lands and waters in Alaska, including the fragile Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the iconic Tongass National Forest, and require offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  It rescinds various other public land protections, and allows fossil fuel, timber, and mining companies to pay the federal government to fast-track large projects.
• End virtually all federal clean energy and efficiency programs, tax credits, and incentives that have produced hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy investments, made electric vehicles more affordable, created thousands of good-paying jobs, and reduced energy costs.
• Roll back clean air and water protections, exposing us all to toxic and hazardous pollution, resulting in increased asthma, heart and lung disease, lost workdays and premature deaths, while also handing out even more subsidies and tax breaks to polluters and fossil fuel companies. 
• Give the Treasury Secretary unilateral power to revoke the non-profit status of any organization by deeming it "terrorist supporting." Vague standards could allow this policy to be used to cripple any organization.

ACTION: Help educate and engage the public on this critical issue. Write a letter-to-the-editor of a local paper (sample below). Copy and adapt the text for your own letter and upload it to the ‘letters’ section of your newspaper’s website. This is straightforward to do.

Also, contact your Representatives and Senators. Encourage them to do everything they possibly can to remove the most alarming and dangerous pieces of this bill. Provide examples from info above.

CONTACT: Your Representative and Senators

• Web: senate.gov, www.house.gov; leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510
  or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Note: The House of Representatives passed this Bill by one vote. It now goes to the Senate for a vote and then to a Conference Committee made of the House and Senate to work out any differences. THIS IS THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION.

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SAMPLE LETTER TO THE EDITOR (276 words)

IT MAY BE BIG BUT IT SURE AIN’T BEAUTIFUL!  

Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill is dangerously misnamed. It will remove many environment and health protections and negatively impact people and our environment. Here are just a few examples of what this dangerous Bill will do: 

• Require new fossil fuel and mining development across tens of millions of acres of lands and waters in Alaska and require offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. It allows fossil fuel, timber, and mining companies to pay the federal government to fast-track large projects.
• End virtually all federal clean energy and efficiency programs, tax credits, and incentives that have produced hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy investments, made electric vehicles more affordable, created thousands of good-paying jobs, and reduced energy costs.
• Roll back clean air and water protections, exposing us all to toxic and hazardous pollution while handing out even more subsidies and tax breaks to polluters and fossil fuel companies. 
• Give the Treasury Secretary unilateral power to revoke the non-profit status of any organization by deeming it "terrorist supporting." Vague standards could allow this policy to be used to cripple any organization.

Contact your Representatives and Senators. Encourage them to do everything they can to remove the most alarming and dangerous pieces of this bill. Provide examples from info above. Go to: www.senate.gov, www.house.gov; leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website.

The House of Representatives passed this Bill by one vote. It now goes to the Senate for a vote and then to a Conference Committee made of the House and Senate to work out any differences. THIS IS THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION.

January 2025: To Bomb or to Deal? That is the Question.

BACKGROUND: In 2015, the "Iran Deal" was ratified by Iran, the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia and China.  Basically, it limited Iran to enriching uranium to 20%, while 90% would be needed to make a nuclear bomb. In 2018 then-Pres. Trump withdrew from the treaty, saying it was a bad deal. Since then, Iran and its allies Syria and Hezbollah have been militarily weakened.  Also since then, Iran has enriched its uranium to 60% which means it is much closer to having material for making nuclear weapons.

Israel, meanwhile, we are told, has been considering bombing Iran's nuclear sites, like it bombed Iraq's nuclear program in 1981. The US also bombed Iraq in 2003, again due to nuclear fears. A future attack on Iran’s nuclear sites might not even work, since much of Iran's program is deep inside a mountain.  Better to have an airtight treaty, with on-site inspections, and layers of security.

ACTION: Urge Marco Rubio, the Trump-nominee for Secretary of State, to see to it that we get a good, credible deal and sign a treaty with Iran. This would help avoid attacks in all directions.  Fortunately, Iran's new President, Masoud Pezeshkian, has signaled an interest in a treaty. And Pres.-elect Trump is quoted: "We have to make a deal."

CONTACT: Email Marco Rubio, the nominee to be Secretary of State: [email protected]

Please use the info in this Action Alert to write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper.

August 2024: Planet Earth is Heating Up Faster all the Time

BACKGROUND: It does not just seem to be getting hotter; it actually is. Each of the last 11 months was the hottest month globally for that calendar month. This year is on track to break our US and global heat records.   

Until now, most wildfires in Western North America are much reduced at night because the temperature decreases while the humidity increases, thus giving the firefighters a chance to rest. But now, the number of high-intensity fires where that cool-off does not occur, has gone from 6 in 2003 to 67 last year. The human heat death toll is staggering. At this year's Hajj in Mecca, 1,300 people collapsed on the sidewalks and died from the heat.

We need to act now to prevent the looming "hell on earth." Former Pres. Trump has called for "Drill, baby, drill." This will increase our burning of fossil fuels, escalate greenhouse gases, and speed-up the global ‘heat-up’. With the enthusiastic support of VP Kamala Harris, Pres. Biden signed a bill with an estimated $450 billion over 10 years to allow the US to shift from fossil fuels to wind and solar energy. Make your choice as to what seems best to you, then get involved in educating and engaging others to vote.

ACTION: Contact The Environmental Voter Project and join their effort to tell people about the global heat threat, and the critical need to vote in November to stabilize our still livable Earth.

CONTACT: The Environmental Voter Project

• Web:  https://www.environmentalvoter.org/
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: Environmental Voter Project, PO Box 962002, Boston, MA 02196

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

June 2024: The Threat Posed by Nuclear Weapons is Expanding. What can we do to Counteract it?

BACKGROUND: The world is slipping deeper into the nuclear weapons death spiral. Must we wait for nuclear catastrophe before we decide that nuclear weapons are the ultimate threat to human life? The spread of these weapons, and their modernization, is only making things worse. 

Two House bills H. Res. 77 and H. R. 3472 address these mortal dangers. The first, H.R. 77, opposes the vast costs of modernization planned for the whole U.S. nuclear arsenal. The second, H.R. 3472, calls for the reduction of some programs that were pushed by Pres. Trump but found to be unnecessary by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). We have enough nuclear weapons subs, and enough plutonium pits (triggering devices for H-bombs) for the next 60 years.

ACTION: Urge your representative to co-sponsor H. Res. 77 and H. R. 3472. Now, 54 years after the U.S. committed to work to eliminate nuclear weapons, are we not finally obligated to take these steps?  It's time to climb back out of the nuclear death spiral of human extinction and make life safer for our kids and grandkids.

CONTACT: Your Representative in Congress

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Representative (first & last name)
  S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

April 2024: Stop Selling Weapons & Military Supplies to Israel that are Killing Gazans

BACKGROUND: “US uses loophole to keep 100 arms sales to Israel under the radar. . .” This was the startling March 6^th headline in the Guardian. Each of these 100 arms sales escaped US Congressional oversight--and public knowledge--because each sale was under the dollar amount - $100 million - requiring Congressional approval. The weapons sold are reported to have included precision-guided munitions, small diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms, and other lethal supplies.

The Washington Post reported the administration did inform Congress of the 100 foreign military sales to Israel in a classified briefing, but few details were released because, keeping each sale ‘small’--under $100 million--meant their contents remained secret. These American made weapons and bombs are what Israel has dropped on Gaza that have killed over 32,000 people and injured over 70,000, mostly innocent women and children. The Guardian reported that this has been one of the most intense bombing campaigns in all of military history!

These under-the-radar deliveries made by the Biden administration to Israel were in addition to the three major military sales worth $573 million that were made public since the start of the war. Sales of tank and artillery shells made in December, also sidestepped congressional scrutiny because they were made under ‘emergency authority.’

ACTION: Urge Pres. Biden to immediately stop selling military supplies and weapons to Israel. Let him know your disapproval and disgust that the US is providing Israel with these weapons of death and destruction, and your outrage that he is using legal loopholes, emergency authority, and ‘under-the-radar’ tactics to keep many of these sales secret from the American people. Even if you have written to him before, please send him a message again using the White House website below.

CONTACT: President Biden

• Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/  (leave a message)
• Tel: 1-202-456-1111 (leave a message)
• Mail: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

March 2024: Stop US Support for Killing, Destruction, & Catastrophe in Gaza

BACKGROUND: In response to Hamas's horrific attack on Israel that killed 1,200 and took 240 hostages, Israel launched an attack on Gaza that has caused 28,000 deaths so far. This ongoing massacre against Gazans, who cannot defend themselves, includes the deaths of an estimated 12,000 innocent children, many of whom bled to death under the rubble.

Who is making this massacre possible?  Over the last decade, Israel has received $3.8 billion annually in military aid from the U.S., making us the largest supplier of offensive arms to Israel. We also provide Israel with the most advanced military equipment in the world, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

ACTION: Tell Pres. Biden to stop sending military supplies and arms to Israel—including 2,000 lb. bombs and missiles. The Indiscriminate bombing & killing of 28,000 civilians, including 12,000 children in Gaza is having a genocidal effect. The environmental destruction is beyond measure. Tell the President that you, an American citizen and taxpayer, are outraged and repulsed at being made an accomplice to the death and destruction in Gaza.

CONTACT: President Biden

• Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/  (leave a message)
• Tel: 1-202-456-1111 (leave a message)
• Mail: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

January 2024: Gaza Civilians Have A Right Not To Be Forced To Starve

BACKGROUND: The situation in Gaza is critical. Oct. 7 is the day of the horrific massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas. That day, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged "revenge". The next day, his senior advisor Mark Regev called for "payback". On Oct. 10, Israel's Defense Minister Gallant announced a policy of "no food, no water" to be allowed into Gaza. 

And so it was for days. Gradually the number of food trucks were allowed to increase, but they never reached anywhere close to pre-war food levels. The horrifying result of this inhumane policy, according to Time Magazine's website on Dec. 21, is that "more than half a million people in Gaza -- a quarter of the population -- are starving."

It is also a war crime. The International Criminal Court has defined "intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare..." as a war crime. 

ACTION: Ask President Biden to urge Mr. Netanyahu in the strongest terms to end Israel's policy of intentionally forced starvation of Gaza's civilian population. It is brutal, inhumane, and illegal.

CONTACT: President Biden

• Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/  (leave a message)
• Tel: 1-202-456-1111 (leave a message)
• Mail: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

December 2023: Report on World Climate Change & What You Can Do to Help Stabilize Our Climate

BACKGROUND: In the 2015 Paris Accords the countries of the world committed to cut Greenhouse Gases (GHG) sufficiently to keep the global rise in temperature below 1.5 Celsius or 2.7 Fahrenheit. New research projects that we'll blow right past these levels by 2028.

In the meantime, the U.S., Russia, and Saudi Arabia are each planning to increase their drilling for fossil fuels. Not surprising, in the face of still rising consumer demand for oil and natural gas to power our cars and heat our homes and businesses.

This needs to change. The most effective action each of us can take—bigger than all other actions combined for most households—is to get heat pumps to heat and cool our homes, and to sign up for 100% fossil-free electricity to power them. This is absolutely the most effective thing we each need to do NOW.  It’s time to ask several installers for free bids on how your home would be best heated and cooled by heat pumps. It’s a little more complex than just buying another furnace. When your furnace fails, usually in winter, you want a quick fix, so it helps to have heat pump plans in place. You don't want to panic and buy another fossil fuel burning furnace which will need replacement before 2050 because by then the U. S. plans to be fossil-free. Also, sign up for 100% fossil-free energy now.

ACTION: Call several local heat pump installers to get design plans and cost bids for a heat pump for your home. There will be a lot of factors to consider. Also, call your electricity provider and ask how you can get 100% fossil-free energy. Please tell your family, friends, and neighbors about this.

CONTACT: Your local heat pump providers & installers, and your electricity provider.

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

November 2023: U.S. Nuclear Policy in the Current Middle East

BACKGROUND: Ever since the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), nonproliferation has been the central pillar of U.S. nuclear policy. So it is extremely disturbing that the Biden administration is now negotiating a dangerous three-way deal with Israel and Saudi Arabia. The deal would: 

a) establish diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia,
b) take some unspecified action toward a 2-state solution for the Palestinians, and
c) give the Saudis a U.S.-run uranium enrichment operation.

This third item is extremely dangerous. Knowing the record of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudis could take over the enrichment operation and then be able to manufacture weapons-grade uranium. Saudi Arabia has already bought Chinese-made nuclear-capable missiles.

ACTION: Contact President Biden

Urge him not to set up a uranium-enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia. It's too risky and Saudi Arabia is an ideal location for solar energy.

In addition, tell the President that the US should send Israel only defensive military equipment. Also, ask him to immediately urge Israel to lift the deadly embargo on food, water, and fuel to the 2 million innocent civilians in Gaza, to forestall an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.

CONTACT: President Biden

• Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/  (leave a message)
• Tel: 1-202-456-1111 (leave a message)
• Mail: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

July 2023: Support US Arms Control Outreach to China and Iran

BACKGROUND: The news from Washington about arms control isn't always bad. Recently, Secretary of State Blinken and President Biden have renewed efforts to bring China into arms control discussions. Proposals include advance notification of missile tests, improved crisis communication channels, and committing not to hand over launch authority to an A.I. system but to have a human make the ultimate decision about launching nuclear weapons. Although these proposals are modest, they are absolutely in the right direction and might lead to more substantive agreements in the future. 

The U.S. is also pursuing behind-the-scenes talks with Iran to create a “political cease-fire”. In such an agreement Iran would agree to limit uranium enrichment to 60% purity, halt lethal attacks on American contractors by proxies in the region, and expand cooperation with international nuclear inspectors. In exchange, Iran would receive assurances that the US would not tighten economic sanctions, seize foreign oil-tankers, or seek new punitive resolutions at the UN. These agreements are also modest but might create time and space for future discussions of a renewed nuclear deal. 

ACTION: The Biden administration may be concerned about the political risks of pursuing these efforts during a presidential campaign. They need to hear from the American people that there is support for such actions. Contact the President and Secretary Blinken to indicate that you support their outreach to China and Iran concerning arms control.

CONTACT:

Secretary of State Blinken:
Web:  https://register.state.gov/contactus/contactusform
Tel: 202 512-1800 (from 8 am to 4:30 pm EST)

President Biden: Web: 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/  (leave a message)
Tel: 1-202-456-1111 (leave a message)
Mail:  The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue. It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.