Thursday, June 21, 2007

The risk of the New Orleans area flooding -- again

The New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper ran a story about the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers newly released report on flood risk in Southeastern Louisiana.

It is not a pretty picture. The news could be better.

Read more on Nola.com:

http://blog.nola.com/graphics/2007/06/the_risk_of_hurricane_flooding.html

http://blog.nola.com/updates/2007/06/risk.html

Building Partnerships to Help Rebuild the Big Easy

On June 14, members of the Sierra Club and the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association gathered for a Friendship Dinner. Read more about it at the Sierra Club's Grassroots Scrapbook blog:

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/scrapbook/2007/06/photo-by-rebecc.html

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe's are driving destruction of the Gulf's best natural storm protection by selling cypress mulch all over the country.

Sierrans,

As leaders of the Save Our Cypress Coalition, you all know clear-cutting cypress trees solely to decorate gardens and flower beds is crazy. It becomes even worse when you realize that these trees are the Gulf Coast's best natural storm and flood defenses, and they just might be where some of the last ivory-billed woodpeckers are surviving. It all sounds like the plot of a cartoon, doesn't it?

The GRN is releasing Corporate Low Down Depot Mart Clearcuts the Gulf Coast, a short video clip that tells the ridiculous (and unfortunately true) story of the cypress forests. Cypress swamps are being clear-cut and entire trees are being used solely to produce cypress garden mulch. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe's are driving destruction of the Gulf's best natural storm protection by selling cypress mulch all over the country. It's time they stopped.

You can watch the video at www.healthygulf.org.

One of the most important actors in this tragic comedy is you. Once you've seen the cartoon, please help ensure a happy ending to the story by using our action system to send an email directly to the CEO's of all three companies. Then, if you show the clip to five friends, we'll send you a little token of thanks.

For our Forests and Our Future,

Aaron Viles

p.s. If the voice doing the intro sounds familiar, you're probably thinking of Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, and Smithers, among others. Harry Shearer, voice of many characters from The Simpsons, is a supporter of the GRN and lent his talents to this project. You can help us thank Harry by taking action today!

The Gulf Restoration Network is a diverse network of local, regional, and national groups and individuals dedicated to protecting and restoring the valuable resources of the Gulf of Mexico. The GRN has members in the five Gulf states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The GRN will not sell or share your information.

**Visit our new website at www.healthygulf.org.**

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

New report on the Murphy Oil spill in St. Bernard Parish

Below is a link to a new report on the Murphy Oil spill that occurred in St. Bernard Parish after Hurricane Katrina.

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/respond/home

Looking for Owners of Personalized Plates for Documentary

Dear Sierra Club Members,
Cleveland, OH filmmakers are looking for participants for a documentary about personalized (vanity) auto plates in the United States. We thought that members of your group may have some very interesting and thought provoking plates. Participation would mainly consist of an interview on film discussing your personalized plates. We will travel for the interview. If you would pass this message on to members in your group we would be grateful. If anyone is interested in perhaps being a part of this documentary please email us at personalplates1@yahoo.com with the following information.

The exact text/numbers on your plate (interpreted if it needs to be)
Your state
Any information about why you picked your plate. Feel free to elaborate.
Your email address

If we are interested in getting more information we will contact you by email.

Contact us at personalplates1@yahoo.com

Thanks
Mary