On Friday, November 4, the Paris Agreement on climate change is set to formally go into effect. It aims to stop climate change in its tracks by significantly reducing the emissions that cause global warming while increasing the amount of energy we get from clean solar and wind power.

Whether those goals are achieved depends  on who the people of the United States elect to be their next president four days later.

Hillary Clinton favors the Paris Agreement and will help America lead the effort to replace climate changing coal and oil with clean, healthy, jobs-producing renewable fuels.

Donald Trump wants to reopen coal mines and actually increase America’s use of the fossil fuels that pollute our air, make us and our kids sick, and perpetuate the natural disasters climate change has been fueling since Hurricane Katrina.

There is no doubt in my mind that all the progress we’ve made on climate change over the last eight years will come to a screeching halt if Trump prevails.

But he won’t – not if we all get out and vote, and get our friends, family and neighbors to do the same.

Facts to Keep In Mind

√ We just wrapped up the hottest summer since global record-keeping began in 1880.

√ Arctic sea ice, a key indicator of long-term climate change, fell to 28 percent below the 40-year average in September, tying 2007 figures for the lowest levels in the 47-year satellite record, reports the Natural Resources Defense Council.

√ Last year was the hottest year ever recorded. The first nine months of this year have been even hotter, a record 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average.

√ Nineteen of the hottest years on record have all occurred in the past 20 years.

How does that actually affect us?

⇒  Sea level is rising, swamping our homes and neighborhoods and threatening hundreds of billions of dollars worth of property, roads and favorite vacation spots, from New Orleans to Boston, from Florida to Texas, and even along the Great Lakes

⇒ Storms are drenching us. Flooded communities in North and South Carolina are still trying to recover from Hurricane Mathew, even while neighborhoods in Louisiana still struggle from the effects of Hurricane Katrina

⇒ Drought is stretching our drinking water supplies to the limit and creating so much parched land that some of our most beautiful heritage forests are catching fire and going up in smoke.

⇒ Poison ivy is getting worse as it thrives in the hothouse conditions that global warming is causing.

⇒ Mosquitoes are posting a bigger threat, too, as they spread farther north, live longer as the seasons extend, and spread diseases that used to be restricted to a narrow band in the tropics.

The threat is clear. So is our choice on Election Day.

Vote to Stop Climate Change

Hillary Clinton has been a strong proponent of stopping climate change since the first day of her campaign.

She has vowed to clean up dirty power plants and switch to solar and wind.

She supports building the next generation of energy-efficient cars, homes and workplaces.

And she knows that we can create millions of good-paying American jobs by becoming the clean energy superpower of the 21st Century.

Donald Trump is one of those people who has been discredited by over 99% of the scientific community: a climate “denier.”

He’s called climate change a “hoax” and is eager to roll back decades’ worth of climate progress.

He would squash President Obama’s signature climate change program, the 2015 Clean Power Plan. The Plan will reduce the carbon pollution from the dirty power plants that account for 40 percent of our nation’s carbon footprint.

He wants to “cancel” the Paris climate accord, which would not only be a set back for our own country, but would seriously tarnish our standing on the world stage, too.

He would actually try to accelerate how much coal and oil we burn. It would be HUUUUUGE.

You can stop climate change – by stopping Trump.

If you can still vote early, do it (here I am about 5 minutes after I voted!)

If you can volunteer, sign up here. You can help by canvassing, phone banking, and otherwise working to get people to the polls.

If you plan to vote on election day, know where your polling place is. You can plug in your zip code here to find the right location.

If you have friends, neighbors or family who need help getting to the polls, offer to drive them or get them a ride.

If you’re a lawyer, get trained in voter protection and staff a polling place to prevent voter intimidation.

If you’re active on Facebook and Twitter, encourage your communities to vote.

In other words, whatever you can do, do it.

But first and foremost, vote.

The post On Nov. 8, Vote to Stop Climate Change appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Can you rap if you can’t breathe? Or if you’re trying to survive a Category 5 hurricane?

Nope.

In fact, you can’t do much if the air stinks, or if you’re battling catastrophic floods and winds.

Reverend Lennox Yearwood, the President and CEO of the non-profit Hip Hop Caucus, gets it. That’s why he’s mobilizing the social justice organization he founded to help stop climate change.

Rev. Yearwood, 47, is the father of two teenage boys, his “biggest inspiration for making the world a better place,” he says. A graduate of Howard University’s School of Divinity and a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer who became a vocal opponent of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rev. Yearwood is also the force behind a nationwide effort to get hip hop-oriented Millennials to register and vote.

On behalf of Moms Clean Air Force, I caught up with Rev. Yearwood just after he’d attended both political party conventions and was on his way to Baltimore for a rally in the wake of the latest judicial decision not to prosecute police officers for the death of Freddie Gray. With all of the work he does to promote racial equality, why did he want to make climate change part of the conversation, I wondered? And what could moms learn from a guy who chats about carbon dioxide emissions with hip-hop icons like Academy-Award winner Common, Sean “P Diddy” Combs, and Jay-Z (yeah, Beyonce’s husband).

I had to know, so I got him on the phone. And truth be told, he knocked my virtual socks off.

Your organization is dedicated to advancing justice, equality and opportunity. How did you realize that climate change fit into that equation?

Rev. Yearwood: Climate change really hit home for me after Hurricane Katrina. I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and I still have a lot of family and friends there. They were devastated when the hurricane struck. I went down and started organizing the Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign, a coalition of national and grassroots organizations to advocate for the rights of Hurricane Katrina survivors. It didn’t take me long to connect the dots between climate change and environmental justice because so many people who’d suffered during Katrina were the disadvantaged and poor.

I’d been active in the Middle East-focused anti-war movements of the 2000s, which were very “siloed.” In other words, there were a lot of factions protesting the wars but they weren’t working together. I realized that in Louisiana as well as other parts of the country, we needed to be broad-based to actually have an impact politically. So while I worked in the black community, I also reached out to the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, and other environmental groups and we began working together.

How’d that turn out?

We grasped that even if Katrina hadn’t happened, Louisiana is still called “cancer alley” because people living there are exposed to so much pollution and so many toxic chemicals. While recovering from Katrina was important, we decided we needed to focus on not just the environment, but the “environs,” the actual places where people live. We started campaigns to link communities together and to raise awareness about the whole picture, not only the floods and hurricane damage.

It dawned on us that climate change is a civil rights issue, not just in Louisiana but in a lot of places,  cities like Chicago and Detroit, where people are breathing really dirty air. Pollution is giving kids asthma. It’s making a lot of people sick. The more we connect the dots, the more we see that we need to organize, because one thing we have learned is: the power of the people makes a difference.

How are you using Hip Hop artists to do that?

Last year, we organized the Act on Climate tour and sent artists around the country talking about the importance of solar. This year, because we believe in 100% renewables, we’ve unveiled a limited edition branded “THINK 100%” fitted cap to “support the movement to get 100% clean energy for all”. We’re organizing a diverse group of artists to create music and culture we hope will inspire all of us to solve climate change. We started a project called “People’s Climate Music,” headlined by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa, that is registering people to vote all summer long. We’ve also put out an album called HOME, an acronym for Heal Our Mother Earth.

Is the Hip Hop community taking advantage of the renewable energy revolution? 

Yes! Lots of people are excited about being part of the solution. (Tweet this) They don’t want just to work for companies like Solar City. They want to become entrepreneurs and compete with Solar City. They want to be the catalysts for the green economy, be self-sufficient, create jobs, put solar panels on their own homes as well as on others in their community.

I think of “hip hop” as being focused on younger, primarily single people, maybe even predominately male. Are there moms in Hip Hop Caucus? “What is the Caucus doing to reach out to women, and moms in particular?

In everything the Hip Hop Caucus does, and the reason we fight so hard for justice, is because we know the impact of injustice on our communities, especially on the mothers and children in those communities.

Our work defending and protecting the most vulnerable in our community (especially mothers) is the foundation of our work, and at every level of the Hip Hop Caucus, mothers have key positions.

“I’m a believer in people. If we come together, and love one another, we’ll succeed.”

NOTE: This article originally appeared on MomsCleanAirForce.org. Thanks.

The post Hip Hop Caucus Makes Climate Change Reason to Vote appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Are you fired up and ready to vote? I know I am. In fact, I’m so fired up, I’m going to vote early. Down below, you’ll find a link so you know when you can vote early, too.

Why do I care? Because here’s what’s at stake:

The air we breathe.

The way we use energy.

Our health, and the health of our kids and grandkids.

The water we drink.

Nature in all its beauty.

All of my concerns are connected to just one thing: where we get our energy.

Right now, most of our energy comes from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, natural gas.

Air pollution from fossil fuels creates the pollution that causes smog and Code Red bad air days. If you have asthma, it’s worse because of dirty air. Women get more heart attacks than men when they live in cities where the air is polluted. None of us should be outside when it’s Code Red.

Burning fossil fuels is also causing climate change. By now, you know what that means. Worse poison ivy. More mosquitoes and dengue fever. Floods. Fire. Drought. Hurricanes like Katrina and Matthew and Sandy – terrible superstorms that have caused billions of dollars of damage, killed hundreds of people, and ruined our homes and, in some cases, our livelihoods.

Drilling for oil, fracking for natural gas and mining for coal cause some of the worst environmental disasters we’ve ever seen, from oil spills to contaminated rivers to polluted ground water.

Says Clean Air Moms Action, “We must fight to protect the air we breathe and the many treasured places across our country vulnerable to climate disruption.”

Adds North Carolina Mom Caroline Armijo, “I’ve been meeting with moms…we’ve been praying for solutions…And one thing we know we can do right now is vote.”

What Difference Does It Make If We Vote?

The next President of the United States, our elected officials in Congress, our governors, and  our state legislators all hold the power to decide whether our nation continues to burn fossil fuels – or whether we finally make a full and complete transition to the abundant clean energy that is all around us: energy from the wind and the sun. Our elected officials can decide whether to help us save energy, too.

Don’t Miss: Top Ten Reasons to Take Climate Change Seriously

Why Vote Early?

Early voting gives you the peace of mind that you’ve made your voice heard and your concerns count.

Plus, by voting early, you can volunteer to help get the vote out. Clean Air Moms is asking “passionate volunteers to help get their communities out to vote.” You can make a difference by helping register people to vote, educating your community on the issues, and showing up at candidate events.”

As Clean Air Moms Action points out, “There is more on the line during the 2016 election than the office of the President. There are also many “down ballot” races that will have an impact on your daily life and the quality of the air our children breathe.”

Where Can You Vote Early? Find Out Here!

Take the Pledge

I’m joining with Clean Air Moms Action to pledge to vote by or on November 8.

Won’t you join us?

NOTE: This post was produced with support from Clean Air Moms Action. All editorial opinions are my own.

The post Vote Early – and Vote for Clean Air appeared first on Big Green Purse.

That may sound extreme – until you consider the
utter devastation Super Storm Sandy has caused in New
Jersey, New York, and in
many communities along America’s East Coast, including in my own backyard.
Storms like Sandy, hurricanes like Katrina in the Gulf Coast, the spread of
poison ivy and dengue fever in many parts of the U.S., are all part of the same
extreme weather conditions we’re experiencing nationwide – and will continue to
experience unless we make a national commitment to reduce
our use of the coal, oil, and other fossil fuels

On Tuesday, as I write here, we have a choice. We can either elect a President and legislators who support strategies that will reduce our dependence on coal, oil and other fossil fuels that, when burned, emit the carbon dioxide that is wreaking havoc on our climate. Or we can vote for candidates who refuse to acknowledge that climate change is real and requires immediate action.

In this first-ever Green Moms election carnival, many women
who regularly blog about environmental health and safety have come together to raise
awareness about why it’s so important that we all vote on Tuesday. In many states, President Barack Obama, who advocates strong policies to stop climate change, is running neck and neck with challenger Mitt Romney, who heretofore has rejected the need for national policies to stop climate disruption. Please read these important posts and share them as widely as you can.

VOTE TO STOP MORE SANDY’s

Many women in our group have been personally
impacted by Sandy’s fury.

Ronnie of Eco-Nesting titled her post, “Sandy’s Wake Leaves a Clear Choice,” as she reflected on the storm’s $10 billion to $30 billion impact on her native New York. “The east coast has a new reality…freaky Frankenstorms and Superstorms. Why? Because we have hotter than normal sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean. This means heavier rainfall and stronger winds. This means higher sea levels and increased coastal flooding. This means increased storm surges. This means the warning signs of global warming have breached the planet’s levee and they can’t be ignored any longer…a clear choice has blown through the broken windows, boardwalks, airports, subways, power lines and our presidential election.

“The energy commitments our next president makes will affect the Frankenstorms and Superstorms my children and their children will suffer. Our next president must take global warming seriously and do something about it. Politicians in climate denial are upending nothing less than our children’s future and they will not get my vote. How about yours?”

Harriet at Climate Mama has devoted her blog to raising national awareness of the way our changing climate can disrupt our world. But Sandy brought it all home to her. “This storm should serve as a “wake up call” and force each of us to “connect the dots” and consider how our individual and collective actions have been and will shape our world and that of our neighbors, country and future generations.” Harriet took this picture in her neighborhood. The tree didn’t crush her house…this time.

As for voting, Harriet wisely notes, “Climate change isn’t red, blue, white or fuchsia, and it shouldn’t be a partisan or political issue; however it has become one, particularly in the United States of America. A major party in this country has been “occupied” by climate deniers, forcing their way into and onto the party platform. This can no longer be condoned, ignored or denied. When the polls open on Tuesday, and in those areas where there is early voting, climate change and how we will confront its impacts on our economy, on job creation and on our future and our children’s future needs to be considered and should BE one of the most important deciding factors.”

VOTE TO PROTECT OUR KIDS

Don’t miss the moving reasons why Katy at Non-Toxic Kids says she’s voting. Among them: “I’m voting because I want a better world for my kids. I want them to breathe clean air, eat clean food, and live in healthy communities with strong schools.”

Lori at Groovy Green Livin’ is voting to give kids a voice, and she hopes you will, too. “There are so many issues at stake that are near and dear to my heart and I’m frightened,” she writes. “Please don’t take your right to vote for granted. Take the time on Tuesday to head to the polls and exercise your voice and your right to vote in favor of those issues that matter most.  Think of it as using your voice to speak for those who can’t-whether it’s a child or someone who is unable to catch a ride to the polls. I’m voting on Tuesday for my children and all of yours. Won’t you join me?”

VOTE TO PROTECT WOMEN

VOTE TO MAKE OUR COMMUNITIES MORE SUSTAINABLE

Susan of Practically Green stresses that it’s important to support candidates who commit to solving environmental problems, but we need to focus on individual and collective actions that will reduce climate change and make our communities healthier and greener for future generations, too. “We can always vote for people locally and nationally that understand this is really, really important. By focusing on what we can do, and moving forward one step at a time, our collective actions will add up and will make a difference.”

Paige at Spit That Out The Book says, “When voting for a candidate for national office, my top priority is generally environmental policy. I believe rising oceans are not something to joke about, and any candidate who mocks climate change or puts industry interests above safer chemicals is not going to win my favor. After all, when we are poisoning our children and destroying our planet, how can that not trump everything else?”

Leigh Ann at Green 4 U reminds us of questions we need to ask all candidates when we’re considering awarding something as precious as our vote. Among them: “Given that our climate is changing what do you propose to do if elected to help keep the greenhouse gases and other contributing factors from increasing? How do you propose to better prepare the federal government for disaster recovery for the extreme weather caused by climate change?”

VOTE TO GIVE US THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT WE’RE FACING

Though climate change has jumped front and center into the electoral debate, it is not the only important issue voters will decide this year.

Mary at In Women We Trust reminds voters how important it is to support Proposition 37, a California ballot initiative that would simply require food producers to label products that contain genetically modified organisms. Mary points out that it’s primarily giant conglomerates who oppose having to own up to how they’re producing the food we eat. “Please vote YES for the right to know what’s in your foodchain,” Mary implores.

In a second post, Mary compares two political strategies competing for voters’ attention in this election: a cynical plot to collect votes by generating false fears, versus an effort to remind people that we can still have a world of hope and change.” When she votes on Tuesday, says Mary, she’ll be voting for compassion and common sense, not hate.

Marcia Yerman at Moms Clean Air Force wants voters to know about the outsized influence companies and operatives like the infamous Koch brothers are having on this election and on America’s environmental policies. “The efforts to stymie the President in his agenda to improve our health standards throughEPA regulations have been spearheaded by monied influences–not only in the Presidential race—but down the ticket as well. Rep. Henry Waxman has stated that the 112^th Congress is “the most anti-environmental house in history.” A year ago, Waxman launched adatabase of anti-environmental votes. A June 1, 2012 report illustrated how House Republicans have voted to diminish environmental protections. There were 77 votes to attack the Clean Air Act, and 37 votes to obstruct any forward movement to tackle climate change.” Talk about hijacking democracy!

VOTE FOR CHANGE

Harriet at Climate Mama survived Sandy better than most. But seeing the destruction so close at hand has reminded her how important it is to speak out – and to vote. “While I try to refrain from bringing politics into our blog posts on ClimateMama,” she writes,  “I feel we have no choice but to discuss politics now. Mother Nature, through Sandy, says we must and we have to.

“From my vantage point, I see that the Republican party has been co-opted and taken hostage by many climate deniers who not only won’t put short and long term fixes for climate change on the agenda, but they vehemently deny the fact and reality of man made climate change. Too many in the party are demanding that we continue to invest in fossil fuels and the infrastructure that will keep us reliant and addicted to this form of energy that scientists tell us IS causing our climate to change. This is a path that is leading to “mutually assured destruction,” a concept from the cold war, video games, movies and now once again real life.

“There is too much at stake not to discuss this on the eve of what may be the most important presidential election of our time.”

Please. Vote.

The post Vote on Tuesday. Your Life Depends on It. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Are we “greener” than we were four years ago?

Yes, we are, and Barack Obama deserves a lot of the credit.

Despite strident anti-environmental opponents on Capitol Hill, President Obama has managed to use the power of his office – deployed primarily through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of the Interior – to make our air and water cleaner, to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, to protect our public lands, and to attack the climate change that causes extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy.

Is his job done? Not by a long shot. But are we making progress? Definitely. I’m supporting the President for a second term because I think he offers our best hope in this election to continue to make progress
in the future. 

This all became extremely clear to me earlier this week, as Hurricane Sandy was ripping away part of my roof. While I huddled in my basement listening to the terrifying wind and the torrential rain, I found myself getting mad, not just about what it would cost me to repair the damage, but about the reasons behind this catastrophic storm. Meteorologists, scientists, environmentalists, public health professionals, concerned citizens, and yes, President Obama, have all made the link between burning fossil fuels like coal and oil and extreme weather events like Sandy, let alone Hurricane Katrina and many others. And they’ve tried to throw the weight of their various offices behind solutions that would help wean us from fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, conservative forces in Congress and many state houses around the country have blocked legislation that would reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and opposed efforts to increase energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy sources like solar and wind. Bolstered by their conservative colleagues on Capitol Hill and pressured by Tea Party activists, Republican challenger Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, his running mate, have dismissed climate change, have
literally said they “love” coal, and would strive to cripple the EPA if they were elected to office.

Maybe to some people, this is just “talk.” But as someone who has worked in Washington, D.C. to promote environmental protection during the Carter years, the Reagan years, the Bush 1 years, the Clinton years, the Bush 2 years, and now the last four years of the Obama Administration, I can say, and say unequivocally, that environmental policy consistently fares worse under Republican administrations than under Democratic ones. As Sandy has shown, the planet very much faces a climate change tipping point. Obama is on one side, Romney on the other. For me, siding with Obama is a no brainer.

Has Obama accomplished nearly enough? No.

Do I wish more change had happened? Of course.

 But we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Though President Obama did not mastermind enough legislative victories, he used the power of the Executive Office to achieve many significant environmental gains. It is reasonable to assume that Romney would use his office equally to undercut them.

 I support the re-election of President Obama.

 FOR THE RECORD…
Here is a run-down of some of the major environmental achievements of the Obama Administration, compared to the positions of challenger Mitt Romney.

Cleaner Air

Under directives from President Obama, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency managed to push through the first-ever national safeguards to reduce mercury and arsenic in our air and establish carbon dioxide limits for
power plants. (Romney hopes to eliminate EPA’s power to regulate carbon dioxide and remove rules that limit
emissions from coal plants.) 

Former EPA administrator Carol Browner said the safeguards “are preventative medicine—they will annually forestall thousands of premature deaths, hospitalizations, and respiratory ailments.”

The American Lung Association’s analysis of air pollution shows that all 25 of the cities with the worst ozone pollution in the last report have improved, and 23 of the 25 worst particulate-matter cities are getting cleaner.

All in all, the President used the Clean Air Act to issue six major environmental rules, including ones that limit toxic air pollutants, greenhouse gases, soot, and smog-forming pollutants.

By pretty much any measure, America’s air is cleaner today than it was four years ago.

Energy

President Obama has issued an Executive Order on Federal Sustainability requiring Federal agencies to set a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target; increase energy efficiency; reduce fleet petroleum consumption; conserve water; reduce waste; support sustainable communities; and leverage Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally responsible
products and technologies.

President Obama rejected the initial northern half of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Canada to Texas, although he has deferred a final decision. Though the President proposed opening more offshore areas to oil and gas drilling, he has maintained a drilling moratorium off the Pacific and most of the Atlantic coasts. He is seeking federal safety standards for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process by which natural gas is extracted, and opposes $4 billion in annual tax breaks for oil and gas companies. (Romney supports the Keystone XL pipeline, supports opening all our public lands to oil and gas development, including America’s Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and supports giving more tax breaks to oil and gas companies.)

President Obama is the first president to allow public lands to be opened to solar projects. He has also  approved
17 utility-scale projects with a capacity of 5,900 megawatts, enough to power about 1.8 million homes. The Department of the Interior has continued to support renewable energy initiatives, including six on-shore wind facilities with 800 megawatts of capacity and eight geothermal plants with 424 megawatts of capacity. In total, these projects will generate enough energy to power 2.3 million homes.

The President supports extending federal tax credits for utility-scale wind projects and favors loan guarantees and grant programs for green energy companies. (Romney opposes both.)

Overall, today we get twice as much energy from wind, solar and geothermal sources than we did four years ago.

How does that compare with the Republican approach to energy? The House Republican budget is aiming to cut the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, both of which have played an essential role in America’s quest to achieve energy independence. In fact, reports Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post, cuts the Republicans recommend would trigger a 19 percent reduction in funding for clean energy – despite the irrefutable evidence that clean energy is the primary solution to climate change.

Further, reports Eilperin, last month, urged on by several business and energy groups, the GOP-controlled House passed the Stop the War on Coal Act, which would reverse several Obama regulations and proposals. It would bar the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, jettison the stricter fuel standards and give states primary authority over the storage and disposal of coal-combustion waste. Fortunately, that bill has little chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and will have no chance at all if President Obama is re-elected.

Fuel Economy

The Obama Administration’s new fuel economy standards are projected to save consumers $1.7 trillion at the pump by 2025 while avoiding 6 billion metric tons of carbon pollution, an amount  equal to total U.S. carbon emissions in 2010. Obama’s standards for new vehicles, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, was quoted
saying in the Washington Post, rank as “the biggest move to get us off our oil dependence by any president ever.” The rules, which took effect this year, will require the U.S. auto fleet to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

Vehicles are more efficient today than they were four years ago, a trend that will continue for the next 13 years…unless Romney reverses the rule.

Wilderness – The Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National  Park

At the President’s direction, the federal Bureau of Land Management announced a ban on new hard rock mineral leasing and mining (primarily for uranium) in a million acres of wild lands adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park.  The mining ban will protect important wildlife habitat and water quality that complement the park’s natural systems.

Obama has also advised all federal agencies with a role in land stewardship to consider the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change when developing their management plans. Crown jewels like Yellowstone National Park may not be suitable for many of the animals living there in the next century. Federal agencies there have been asked to maintain corridors so threatened species can migrate — and survive — as conditions change.

Family Planning

President Obama supports a woman’s right to control her own body, including the right to reproductive choice. He is a strong proponent of Planned Parenthood and other social services that provide contraception and family planning, and believes access to family planning methods should be a basic health care. (Romney opposes reproductive choice and has said repeatedly during his campaign that Planned Parenthood should be shut down.)

Given the role that population growth plays in fueling climate change and pollution, it should be a top priority for any administration to support family planning.

Supreme Court

The most long-lasting impact of any presidency is tied to the justices a President appoints to the Supreme Court. The court is routinely called upon to decide whether environmental laws are legal and can be enforced. The decision of the current, extremely conservative court to allow corporations to be considered as citizens puts them on equal footing with you and me. Yet we know we are not equal, given the billions of dollars they have to spend lobbying elected officials and, as we have seen in this election cycle, swamping voters with misleading ads. The next President will in all likelihood have the opportunity to appoint at least two justices to the court as the oldest members retire. President Obama has a solid track record of appointing justices who value the rights of citizens and who would uphold laws like Roe v. Wade, which guarantee reproductive freedom and access to safe abortion. (Romney has said repeatedly he would work to overturn Roe v. Wade; given the chance, he would appoint justices who share that view.)

PLEASE: VOTE!

An election should never really be about the person running for office. It should be about the world we want to live in, the vision we have for our future and the future of those who come after us. 

We are on the right path. But we will not get much farther along if we don’t vote in this election. We will not get much farther along if we don’t vote to re-elect President Obama.

Please. Go to the polls. 

The post I am Voting for Barack Obama Because We are Greener than We Were Four Years Ago. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

  As news reports noted this morning, “The New York senator went from narrowly losing the women’s vote in Iowa to Barack Obama to swamping him in New Hampshire among females, 46 percent to 34 percent. Women had been the anchor of her support in national and regional polling for most of the past year, and she had seemed in danger of springing a leak in her major constituency. This was crucial, since females usually comprise more than half those who vote for Democrats across the country.”

I say, why stop at the voting booth? Harnessing their clout in the marketplace, women could become the most influential voice for environmental change in 2008 and beyond.

Women already spend $.85 of every dollar at the check-out counter. Just as they focused their votes in New Hampshire to send Hillary over the top, women who “vote with their dollars” to buy products and services that benefit the environment can create a groundswell of support for manufacturing that goes easy on the earth.

The New Hampshire primary has breathed new life not only into Hillary’s presidential bid. It has also cast a big bright spotlight on the power women have to create the world they want. From the ballot box to the cash register, from the presidency to the planet, women can be “the deciders” in more ways than one.

The post Women Are “The Deciders” appeared first on Big Green Purse.