ONLY GOOD NEWS
OCTOBER 2009/JANUARY 2010 / VOLUME 17 ~ NUMBER 2 / PUBLISHED: 4 OCT 2009

ONLY GOOD NEWS INDEX: THE SNOW LEOPARD BLOG / CENTER POLAR BEAR AD REACHES 90 MILLION VIEWERS, AMONG MOST POPULAR IN NATION / RAINFOREST2REEF HALTS DEFORESTATION / YOU CAN TELL TOP SHOE BRANDS TO PROTECT THE AMAZON AND THE CLIMATE TOO! / COURT STRIKES BUSH RULE, SAFEGUARDS 50 MILLION NATIONAL-FOREST ACRES + CLEARCUTTING HALTED ON 2.6 MILLION ACRES / TWO OREGON PLANTS EARN 11,000 PROTECTED ACRES / CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (CBD) ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH STONYFIELD FARM / CALIFORNIA'S BIGGEST FOREST CLEARCUTTER FIRST IN LINE FOR CARBON CREDIT MONEY / OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARD CURBING GREENHOUSE GAS POLLUTION / ROADLESS RULE NEEDED TO SAVE NATIONAL FORESTS / CENTER "BIODIVERSITY BRIEFING" TACKLES OVERPOPULATION CRISIS / GALÁPAGOS TORTOISE MAY BE WORLD'S OLDEST DAD / URANIUM MINING STOPPED ON 1 MILLION ACRES / HERBICIDE SPRAYING STOPPED ON 1.5 MILLION ACRES + FLORIDA SHELLS OUT HISTORIC TURTLE PROTECTIONS / NORAD SANTA

ROPER WISDOM: 'TRANSCENDENCE CHALLENGES THE PRESENT'...

RAINFOREST2REEF HALTS DEFORESTATION -- Rainforest2Reef focuses on solutions to deforestation instead of dwelling on the problems. They understand that to protect standing forests, it’s necessary to demonstrate to landowners that standing forests are more valuable than stripping the land for timber or to plant soybeans. To that end, Rainforest2Reef pioneered an innovative program that works with local communities, or ejidos, to safeguard the lands. This unique symbiosis provides an annual income to the ejidos and promotes eco-friendly economic activities, while ensuring the protection of the land -- In the past ten years, Rainforest2Reef has protected 350,000 acres in the Americas’ second largest rainforest, the Selva Maya. Rainforest2Reef still has a long ways to go, but they are proud to say that, with your support, they are successfully working to keep carbon where it belongs: in the trees > read more

YOU CAN  TELL TOP SHOE BRANDS TO PROTECT THE AMAZON AND THE CLIMATE TOO! -- Nike recently announced a new policy that ensures the leather used in Nike shoes won’t come from the Amazon Rainforest until the forest is protected. This may be one small step for Nike, but it's one giant leap to preserve the Amazon Rainforest and to reduce global warming emissions. Now it’s up to brands like Timberland, Adidas, and Reebok to catch up to Nike’s leadership -- you can tell Timberland, Reebok, and Adidas that they’ve got big shoes to fill in Amazon protection! This is such an important policy shift because the cattle industry is Brazil's top source of carbon emissions and the largest driver of deforestation anywhere in the world. If Nike can move forward on Amazon protection, there's nothing stopping other shoe manufacturers from following through > CLICK HERE TO TELL TOP SHOE BRANDS TO PROTECT THE AMAZON AND THE CLIMATE TOO!  

COURT STRIKES BUSH RULE, SAFEGUARDS 50 MILLION NATIONAL-FOREST ACRES -- In response to action by the Center for Biological Diversity and a coalition of other groups, yesterday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed nationwide, meaningful protections for nearly 50 million acres of national forest. The court's ruling -- supporting the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule -- safeguards the majority of the country's federally designated "roadless" areas from new road building, mining, drilling, logging, and development. And the ruling strikes down a Bush rule imposing a state-by-state approach that had put our last great natural areas at risk from development -- This historic decision encourages the Obama administration to pursue the president's earlier pledge to "support and defend" the Roadless Rule, and we'll keep fighting to make sure that pledge extends protections to all roadless areas > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2009/los-angeles-times-08-05-2009.html

CLEARCUTTING HALTED ON 2.6 MILLION ACRES -- In response to a suit by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the Obama administration last Thursday withdrew a Bush-era plan to quadruple clearcut logging on 2.6 million acres of federal land in Oregon. Bush's Western Oregon Plan Revision would have trashed salmon spawning streams, old-growth forests, habitat for endangered birds like the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet, prompting the Center, Earthjustice, and a dozen other groups to take to the courts. Kudos to the Interior Department for seeing the light and walking away from Bush's catastrophe > Read the press release and learn more about our campaigns to save the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/wopr-07-16-2009.html

TWO OREGON PLANTS EARN 11,000 PROTECTED ACRES -- Responding to a longstanding Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed 11,038 acres of protected habitat for the imperiled Cook's lomatium and large-flowered woolly meadowfoam. These quaintly named rare plants have a lot in common: 1) Both dwell in southern Oregon's vernal pool ecosystems, bloom in these ephemeral wetlands each spring after heavy winter rains, and are restricted to just a few small locations - 2) And both are seriously threatened by urban sprawl, off-road vehicle use, nonnative species, mining, grazing, and wetland destruction -- Thanks to work by Center for Biological Diversity, both plants earned Endangered Species Act protection in 2002 -- but their shrinking vernal-pool habitats had remained without federal safeguards - The proposed habitat in this settlement will be crucial for the expansion and eventual recovery of the two plants. As Center biologist Ileene Anderson reports, "Species with protected critical habitat are more than twice as likely to be recovering as those without it." > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2009/oregonian-07-28-2009.html

CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (CBD) ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH STONYFIELD FARM -- Center for Biological Diversity announced today that it is entering a partnership with environmentally conscious yogurt company Stonyfield Farm, Inc - Through the company’s “Bid With Your Lid” promotion, Stonyfield consumers and Center supporters will be able to direct a significant contribution to the Center in support of its work to protect endangered species -- Every year, through its Profits for the Planet program, the company donates roughly 10 percent of its profits to deserving programs that help protect and restore the earth - This fall the Center will split $100,000 with two other organizations, with the exact percentages to be determined by a vote - During the month of October, purchasers of Stonyfield Farm yogurt will see basic information about the Center and the other eligible organizations on the inside of the container lid, along with instructions on how to vote, including a code that makes voters eligible for green gift items from the company - The voting begins today and continues through December 15, 2009 > For more information on Stonyfield Farm’s program, go to http://www.stonyfield.com > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/stonyfield_farm-10-01-2009

CALIFORNIA'S BIGGEST FOREST CLEARCUTTER FIRST IN LINE FOR CARBON CREDIT MONEY / Sierra Pacific Industries Announces Forest Carbon Offset Deal Under New California Rules -- Sierra Pacific Industries, the largest private landowner and timber operator in California, known for forest clearcutting in the Sierra Nevada and northern forests, today announced a deal that would pay them for carbon credits based on their forest lands. The deal was announced at Governor Schwarzenegger’s international conference on climate change in Los Angeles - The deal announced is based on a decision by the California Air Resources Board to adopt a set of protocols for assessing the carbon impacts of forest practices, including a measure that would allow forest clearcutting to qualify for carbon credits as part of California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The board heard testimony from numerous conservation organizations opposed to the provision, asking the board to postpone the decision to allow time to consider the environmental impacts of the rule. However, the board voted unanimously to immediately adopt the protocols with the clearcutting provision included -- The announcement was a joint venture by Sierra Pacific and Equator, a forest carbon trading firm. The deal covers “some 60,000 acres of SPI’s private timberland in California,” and claims the company will sequester “an additional 1,500,000 tons of carbon dioxide over the next five years in excess of what would have otherwise occurred.”

The conservation group letter regarding the forest clearcutting provision of the protocols is available @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/forests/clearcutting_and_climate_change/pdfs/Group_letter_to_CARB_09-17-09.pdf + The forest protocols are available @ http://www.climateactionreserve.org/how/protocols/adopted-protocols/forest/development/ > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/sierra-pacific-09-30-2009.html

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARD CURBING GREENHOUSE GAS POLLUTION -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson recently announced another step towards curbing greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act. The EPA proposal will require large industrial facilities that emit more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year to obtain permits covering these emissions. These permits must demonstrate the use of the best available emissions-control technologies and energy efficiency measures to minimize greenhouse gas emissions when facilities are constructed or significantly modified -- “Today, the Obama administration has taken another step to implement the Clean Air Act, our nation’s strongest and most successful tool for reducing greenhouse pollution,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity. “But with global warming accelerating, the administration should be moving more quickly to achieve all the benefits that the Clean Air Act offers.”

The EPA proposal would require reductions first from facilities that emit more than 25,000 tons per year of greenhouse gases, while it studies implementing reductions at facilities that emit less than 25,000 tons per year. The agency will also accept comments on whether it should require reductions effective immediately or beginning in March 2010, when it expects to finalize its proposal to regulate greenhouse gases from automobiles - “There is no reason to wait until spring 2010 to curb greenhouse emissions from big coal and big oil, and there is every reason to move now,” said Siegel. “The Clean Air Act has protected the air we breathe for four decades and is a critically important tool for solving the climate crisis. The Obama administration should remove the Bush-era roadblocks and move forward with greenhouse pollution reductions immediately.”

According to the EPA, in 2010, the Clean Air Act will save 23,000 lives and prevent 1.7 million asthma attacks, 4.1 million lost work days, and more than 68,000 hospitalizations and emergency room visits.  And in its first two decades alone, the Act provided benefits 42 times greater than the estimated costs of regulation, including decreased healthcare costs and reduced lost work time worth $22.2 trillion. Similar benefits can be expected from greenhouse gas reductions > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/greenhouse-gasses-09-30-2009.html

ROADLESS RULE NEEDED TO SAVE NATIONAL FORESTS -- the Center for Biologicoa Diversity recently released Saving Our Natural Legacy: The Future of America's Last Roadless Forests a new report on the threats -- both material and political -- that continue to face our nation's roadless areas, and why we need strong, nationally consistent rules to protect them. "President Obama said he wants to permanently protect roadless areas" > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2009/e-and-e-news-07-23-2009.html

CENTER "BIODIVERSITY BRIEFING" TACKLES OVERPOPULATION CRISIS -- Everyone's talking about carbon footprints, but it's time to talk about too many feet. So that's just what we did in the latest of the Center for Biological Diversity's quarterly "Biodiversity Briefing" series, in which Executive Director Kierán Suckling confronted the elephant in the environmental movement -- human overpopulation. We're now at 6.7 billion people, and it's estimated we'll be at 9 billion by 2020, which doesn't leave much room for the birds, plants, fish, snails, bears, wolves, butterflies, and whales the Center's striving to protect. Would we want to live in a world with that many people? Can we avoid destroying the natural world through consumption reduction alone? The answers, unfortunately, are no and no -- The Center is working on a massive communications strategy to bring the overpopulation problem into the public eye, and we're developing policy solutions to tackle its complexities. "Simply put," as Suckling said, "overpopulation has the potential -- not the potential, the certainty -- of overwhelming all the good work that we do." If we don't stop it, that is -- To find out more, listen to a clip of the briefing. For information on how you can join the Center's Leadership Circle and be invited to participate in Biodiversity Briefings live when they happen, email Development Director Jennifer Shepherd or call her at (520) 396-1135 > LISTEN TO THE BIODIVERSITY BRIEFING @ http://www.endangeredearth.org/media/Short_briefing_7-23-09.mp3

GALÁPAGOS TORTOISE MAY BE WORLD'S OLDEST DAD -- The world's "rarest living creature" may soon become the oldest living new father after almost a century of bachelorhood. Lonesome George, the last known Pinta Island giant Galapagos tortoise, has taken another stab at paternity after spending most of his lifetime celibate, despite repeated efforts by scientists to compel him to procreate. Last year, George finally discovered the joy of reproduction with a female of a different subspecies, but her eggs turned out to be infertile -- Thankfully, he's chosen another favorite female with whom to sow his precious seed, and the results -- five new tortoise eggs -- are now being incubated. We'll know whether there'll soon be a little George or Georgette in 120 days, when the eggs are scheduled to hatch. If they're fertile, George will be the oldest natural papa on record at 90 to 100 years of age > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2009/npr-07-25-2009.html

URANIUM MINING STOPPED ON 1 MILLION ACRES -- In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the Department of the Interior this Monday banned new uranium mining on a million acres near the Grand Canyon for two years. A spike in uranium prices has set off a mining rush of more than 8,000 claims in the area, threatening to poison wildlife and the water supply of millions of people who depend on the Colorado River. The Center, Grand Canyon Trust, and the Sierra Club filed suit, winning a court injunction and spurring Congressman Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz, to invoke an emergency mining-closure measure in the House of Representatives. Obama's Interior Department, however, violated the closure, provoking a second suit by the Center and a constitutional showdown over who has the right to control mining on public lands, Congress or the Presidency. Monday's million-acre closure resolves most of the differences and buys the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River breathing time while Congress considers a permanent ban > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2009/new-york-times-07-20-2009.html

HERBICIDE SPRAYING STOPPED ON 1.5 MILLION ACRES -- In response to a legal challenge by the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians, the Bureau of Land Management recently withdrew its decision to spray herbicides on 1.5 million acres in southern New Mexico > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2009/roswell-daily-record-07-17-2009.html

FLORIDA CREATES HISTORIC TURTLE PROTECTIONS -- It's official: Thanks to a Center for Biological Diversity petition, Florida's freshwater turtles are off limits to commercial harvesters. The state's historic harvesting ban, one of the country's strongest conservation measures for freshwater turtles to date, puts the brakes on an industry responsible for up to 150,000 soft-shell turtle exports from the state in the past five years. Turtle collection not only hurts the reptiles themselves -- because they're long lived and have low reproduction rates, harvest-caused population reductions are a serious setback -- it also harms humans, since many captured turtles that are contaminated with mercury, PCBs, and other toxins end up on dinner plates in Asia -- The Center has now petitioned a dozen southern and midwestern states to protect terrapins from commercial overharvesting -- and with the help of nearly 4,000 letters sent by our online activists (hey, thanks!), we're making progress. Now, with the Florida victory under our belts, it's the perfect time to push other states for crucial turtle-harvesting bans > read more @ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2009/usa-today-07-20-2009.html + take action @ http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iR5tg8GyYAcHhjzPIOBGMBmHoWqx3kty

NORAD SANTA

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