Roots Action helps you tell Gov. Jerry Brown to end fracking and "extreme oil extraction" in California. Why? California provides almost half of America's fruits and vegetables, and is, as you know, enduring a protracted drought, yet while Gov. Brown has mandated that citizens use less water, he has not asked gas and oil drillers to curtail their activities, though their activities also impact California's water supply. And not just by putting carcinogenic fracking chemicals into the groundwater, either -- California regulators have caught oil corporations pumping wastewater right into the state's water supply, and scientists have caught oil corporations selling their wastewater to farmers to irrigate crops. Enjoy those strawberries! It'd be different if oil and gas drillers would take better care of the water that belongs to all of us, but they won't -- it cuts into a CEO's ability to gild the plumbing in his 19th vacation home, you know. Corporations won't act responsibly until we make them, and making our government act on our behalf is our best tool toward that end.
Meanwhile, H.R. 2016/S. 1081, the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act, would forbid our government from using "body-gripping traps," like snare traps and steel-jaw traps, in our National Wildlife Refuge areas, because, well, how would you like your leg caught in a steel trap? I can almost hear right-wingers squealing ZOMG HOW DO WE CATCH TEH ANIMULZ IF WE CAN'T USEZ TEH TRAPZ!!!! Perhaps not surprisingly, actually reading S. 1081 will answer that question: Section 2 specifically says "any cage or box trap or suitcase-type live beaver trap" is OK to use in Refuge areas. Refuge workers mostly trap small animals, as it happens -- and even trapping a larger animal, like a bear, might only require a larger cage or box trap and/or tranquilizer darts. Consider, also, that traps like steel traps will snap shut on any animal who happens upon it -- they're not "smart" traps that only shut on the animal you're trying to catch. So a Change.org petition helps you tell your Congressfolk to fight animal cruelty by supporting the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act.
Finally, over 100 corporations have cut ties with ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, as their nefarious legislative projects at the state level (including Voter ID bills, "sun taxes," tort "reform" bills, and ag-gag bills) have become more well-known -- and this has helped deplete their operating budget, a much better way of describing "starving the beast" than you'll hear from the right. Still, over 400 corporations continue to associate with ALEC, and one of them is State Farm, so the Sierra Club helps you tell State Farm to cut ties with ALEC. Why? Well, several big corporations have lately left ALEC over ALEC's opposition to doing anything about climate change, and State Farm has promoted its own sustainability efforts on its official website, and with climate change causing more and more severe weather events, State Farm could one day soon be paying out rather more to compensate damage due to natural disasters than they take in. You'd think they'd be far-sighted about this matter, but corporations seem to care more and more about the short term these days, so they may need our help.
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