USDA Seeks Comment on Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices Final Rule
USDA is asking the public to comment on the possible actions USDA should take in regards to the disposition of the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices Final Rule (FR). The FR amends the organic livestock and poultry production requirements in the USDA organic regulations by adding new provisions for livestock handling and transport for slaughter and avian living conditions; and expands and clarifies existing requirements covering livestock care and production practices and mammalian living conditions. The FR was originally set to take effect on March 20, 2017, and is now being extended to November 14, 2017. Learn more and submit comments here.
Call City Council to Ban Styrofoam Food Containers and Not Recycle Them
Please pick up the phone and call your city council member. You may click here to find your city council member. Please urge him/her not to sponsor and vote “no” on Int 1480 and urge your city council member to may be move forward with a ban on EPS foam containers by sponsoring Int 1596. Even if your city council member already sponsored the bill Int 1480, you can still express your opinion and ask your city council member to withdraw his/her sponsorship of the bill.
▪Please call Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito at 212-788-7210 and urge the Speaker to oppose Int 1480 and move forward with the ban on EPS foam with Int 1596. The Speaker decides which bill maybe moved forward in the city council.
To date, almost one hundred cities in the U.S., including Washington, D.C., have adopted EPS food container bans. For a good overview of the issue, check out this Huffington Post piece by Jennie Romer. Also, check out Change.org for more information here.
A recently released report by New York City Department of Sanitation states again that EPS foam cannot be recycled in a manner that is economically feasible or environmentally effective for New York City.
Ling Tsou for United Action is asking us to, please, make the calls. They are important. Thank you!
Tell the Trump Administration to regulate GMOs, not give Monsanto a free pass
“The last twenty years have proven that the regulatory system for genetically engineered (GE) crops is a total failure. The agencies continue to turn a blind eye to the modern risks of GMOs, and instead try to regulate them using 20th century standards. Now USDA has proposed new rules to overhaul the way GE crops are regulated, but they fall far short of what is needed, and will actually make things worse, not better.
The administration is accepting public comments right now on how GMOs should be regulated. Tell USDA to fix this broken system! >>
The haphazard and negligent government regulation of agricultural biotechnology has been nothing short of a disaster for the public and the environment. USDA should protect farmers and the environment, but has intentionally turned a blind eye to the harms that GE crops cause, like GE contamination of natural plants and crops, the creation of resistant superweeds, and massive increases in pesticides. The proposed rules would not only leave these longstanding GE crop harms unaddressed, they would make things worse.
Under the new proposal, the vast majority of GE plant experiments now would not even have to be reported to USDA, much less grown with measures to prevent escape. So rather than increasing its monitoring of open air GE experiments, USDA’s new proposal is instead to abdicate responsibility entirely, and leave it solely up to chemical companies like Monsanto and Dow to self-police their novel GE experiments. This change would exacerbate harm to farmers and the environment from increased escapes, and leave the public completely in the dark as to where these novel experiments are taking place.” – Center for Food Safety
NO Drilling Off Shore, PLEASE
Donald Trump recently issued an executive order to open our coastlines to offshore oil and gas drilling, displaying a blatant disregard for the health and safety of coastal communities.
This reckless move jeopardizes our beaches, our incredible wildlife (including endangered species), and our fishing and tourism economies that depend on a healthy ocean — all to line the pockets of Big Oil and Gas.
Tell Congress to pass the COAST Anti-Drilling Act to protect our coastlines from offshore drilling! –Food and Water Watch
Friends of the Earth Sign to Remove Pesticides
Scott Pruitt and the EPA’s “tolerance levels” permit far too many pesticides to remain on the fruits and vegetables we eat. It’s giving Big Ag the green light to douse our food in these chemicals.
Many of the EPA’s standards for pesticide residue on our food haven’t been updated for more than ten years. That means they don’t account for new research showing how harmful pesticides can be — even in very small doses.
It’s time for the EPA to do more to stop Big Ag from poisoning our families!!! Join Friends of the Earth and EWG in calling on the EPA to update its pesticide residue standards!
The agency could set far stricter limits on the amount of pesticides used on our produce. But chemical companies like Bayer and Monsanto are going to do everything in their power to stop it.
So we need you to take action and speak up on behalf of your family and our food system. The EPA needs to hear from you NOW!
Help FOE reach 50,000 signatures demanding the EPA update its pesticide safety standards NOW!
It’s Time to Defund Pipelines Forever
“Earlier this year, concerned citizens and some of their elected officials moved over US $5.4 billion out of banks invested in the Dakota Access Pipeline, intensifying the pressure on banks that continue to fund hazardous fossil fuel infrastructure.
That’s a lot of dollars and people power, and it had an effect. Several banks dropped their investments in DAPL or committed to revisit their financing of destructive fossil fuel projects. But many continue to finance pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure, from Canada to the Amazon.
That’s why this month we’re joining with allies around the world in a Global Divestment Mobilization to demand an end to the funding of dangerous fossil fuel projects.” -Amazon Watch
Raise Awareness to Resist Climate Denial
Tell ExxonMobil and Chevron to take real climate action.
“The fossil fuel industry has been manufacturing climate disinformation for decades. Business as usual isn’t the answer. Tell fossil fuel giants ExxonMobil and Chevron to stop spreading climate deception and start taking climate action.” – Union of Concerned Scientists
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