Two major tech leaders have resigned from Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group, FWD.us, in protest of the organization’s controversial decision to bankroll ads supporting Keystone XL and drilling in the Artic National Refuge.
The Zuckerberg group publicly says its top priority is immigration reform. But through two subsidiary organizations it has quietly spent millions on ads advocating a host of anti-environmental causes. The ads were created in support of Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Mark Begich (D-AK), and although neither ad mentions the issue, both support immigration reform.
The strategy has alienated Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors and David Sacks, the founder of Yammer. Both Musk and Sacks were listed as “major contributors” on an archived version of the FWD.us website. Neither are listed on the site today.
Mr. President,
Stop seismic airgun testing for oil and gas off the U.S. East Coast.
According to your Department of the Interior, seismic airgun testing for oil and gas in the Atlantic will injure or kill 138,500 dolphins and whales, including endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Seismic airguns and offshore drilling threaten commercial and recreational fisheries as well as ocean-based tourism and coastal recreation from Delaware to Florida. 730,000 jobs in this region depend on a healthy ocean. Seismic airgun testing is the first step toward expanding deepwater drilling, the same practice that caused the well-known Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
Offshore drilling is dirty and dangerous, and seismic airguns are an insult to ocean economies and ecosystems. With respect, we call on your administration to reject seismic airgun testing in the Atlantic.
Let your voice be heard, Sign to support sea life here.
Ditch Your Dirty Energy Ads Now
Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,
We are hugely disappointed to hear that your group FWD.us is funding ads that support the risky Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and drilling in the Arctic Refuge. You’ve been a leader in technology. We expect you to be a leader on climate change and clean energy innovation, not bankrolling ads for dirty energy projects.
If you keep this up, you will alienate a critical piece of Facebook’s audience — people like us who care deeply about protecting our planet for future generations.
Please take a stand for our environment and our climate. Pull your dirty energy ads off the air now.
Tim DeChristopher, Imprisoned For Nearly Two Years, To Be Released On Earth Day
Climate activist Tim DeChristopher is set to be released from prison on Earth Day, this Sunday April 21st, since being incarcerated on July 26, 2011.
Tim DeChristopher created quite a ripple in the activist community when he tried to buy millions of dollars of land in December of 2008 in order to stop the oil and gas industry from snatching it up at an illegitimate auction put on by the outgoing Bush administration. While the incoming Obama administration cancelled the auction, Tim was caught in the fallout, while the rest of the auctioneers presumably roam free.
He was slapped with two federal felony charges - one for making false statements and violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act.
Stop the Keystone Pipeline - League of Conservation Voters
Big Oil and other dirty polluters are pulling out all the stops to get the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline built. They know that a final decision from the Obama administration is expected this year and they see an opening to get it done.
But we have something that Big Oil doesn’t — people power. Until April 22, the State Department will be accepting public comments about whether they should approve or reject this dirty pipeline. We can win this fight if we can overwhelm them with comments opposing this harmful pipeline. Will you help us make that happen?
Tell Sen. Boxer: Don't Weaken Critical Environmental Law
Fracking on BLM land. Uranium mine waste in California. Excessive military flyovers of Joshua Tree National Park. These are just a few examples of environmental hazards kept in check by the National Environmental Policy Act. Take action here!
Sen. Boxer has been an environmental champion for decades, fighting damaging offshore oil drilling and protecting California’s coastal resources. But this move to weaken the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is extremely concerning. It’s not too late for Sen. Boxer to stand with the environment and strike these damaging measures, but she needs to hear from you right away.
Fracking on BLM land. Uranium mine waste in California. Excessive military flyovers of Joshua Tree National Park. These are just a few examples of environmental hazards kept in check by the environmental review process provided by NEPA.
Environmental reviews are a critical safeguard provided for by NEPA. That’s why it’s so troubling for Sen. Boxer to back provisions that undermine the environmental review process. Sections 2032 and 2033 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2013 (S.601) would do just that, unless Sen. Boxer strikes those dangerous sections from the bill.
Tell Sen. Boxer: Don’t weaken the environmental review process provided by NEPA. Strike sections 2032 and 2033 from the Water Resources Development Act now.
Here are a few ways in which these provisions would substantially weaken NEPA:
- The process is tilted toward project approval, no matter what the objections or who is making them. The appeals are allowed only for those favoring, not opposing the project. The thumb is on the scale to approve every project, good or bad.
- The time for agencies and the public to comment on federal projects is shortened.
- The agency carrying out a project – in this bill, the Army Corps of Engineers – could fine other federal agencies for being too slow in submitting comments. This creates an incentive to rush environmental analyses.
Sen. Boxer voted 100% for the environment last year and she has a lifetime score of 90% from the League of Conservation Voters. It’s not too late for her to strike the provisions and continue her strong record of environmental leadership. Urge Sen. Boxer to protect the environment and stop this effort to weaken NEPA. Send your message now.
In the wake of a major pipeline spill in Mayflower, Arkansas, Exxon has launched a dirty tricks campaign to prevent Little Rock television stations from running a political ad titled, “Exxon Hates Your Children.” The ad, which can be viewed at exxonhatesyourchildren.com, makes an obviously over-the-top assertion about the company’s views about children, in order to call attention to the creators’ serious concerns about the company’s policies. To try to keep it off the air, Exxon is circulating a memo to television stations claiming that the commercial is “defamatory toward each of ExxonMobil’s 80,000 employees and their families.” Exxon goes on to describe good things the company does for children and the environment.
Kansas's Self-Destruct Button: A Bill to Outlaw Sustainability
Kansas, I love your sense of humor.
It seems like every time the Sunflower State pops up in my news feed, it’s for something like this: House Bill No. 2366, a proposed law that would make it illegal to use “public funds to promote or implement sustainable development.”
Kansas, the place where I spent my formative years skipping school to go fishing in farm ponds, is populated with thoughtful stewards of the nation’s breadbasket. It also has a habit of turning reason on its head. The state famously dropped evolution from its educational curriculum in 1999, along with the age of the Earth and the history of the universe, for good measure.
Now the state’s “Committee on Energy and Environment” is proposing a law that would prohibit spending on anything that won’t set Kansas on a course to self-destruction. House Bill No. 2366 would ban all state and municipal funds for anything related to “sustainable development,” which it defines as: “development in which resource use aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come.”
I just can’t….
