Category Archives: Protection

All, Energy, Environment, Justice, Protection

Pinelands Commission rejects South Jersey Gas Pipeline to protect region

January 10, 2014 Kimi Leave a comment

On Jan 10 2014, the members of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission stood up to project this important region for future generations. In a 7 to 7 vote the Commissioners rejected an Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that would have allowed a brand new South Jersey Gas Pipeline across a region that provides drinking water to millions of state residents. The pipeline would have brought more polluting fossil fuels into the Pinelands along with impacts to forests, wetlands, and waterways. The pipeline would have kept the antiquated BL England plant up and running and with this vote today the region will be able to breathe easier with reduced air pollution impacts.

“This is a great victory for the Pinelands and the environment of the region. This is a victory for democracy over bullying, a victory for the Pinelands and more important, for the people. This is the biggest environmental victory under the Christie administration. The Commissioners did not caving to polluters and special interests. Today the Commissioners said the Pinelands are not for sale,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We are proud the Commissioners did their job to protect the Pinelands region, its water supply, and its unique ecosystem from a polluting fossil fuel pipeline. Even with all the bullying and arm twisting, protection of the environment prevailed. With this vote today the Commissioners stood up to protect the Pinelands, ensured better air quality for the region, stopped dirty energy in the region, stopped the potential for LNG exports, and shut down the BL England plant.”

The Commissioners voted down the use of an MOA for the project. Under the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) the Commission can only enter into an MOA with government agencies for projects they are constructing. Opponents of the pipeline have long challenged the legality of entering an MOA with the BPU for the project since the project is being built by a private company, South Jersey Gas, and the BPU is the regulator, not the entity responsible for the project. In exchange for this special exception, SJG was offering the Commission $8 million for mitigation and education projects.

“This is David vs. Goliath, the people and the public good vs. special interests and political patrons. Today the people won and we need to celebrate these victories,” said Tittel.

The ill-conceived project is widely opposed. Four former New Jersey Governors and a number of state legislators had come out in opposition based on concerns with the legality of using an MOA for project approval, the lack of a proven compelling need for the project, the existence of alternatives that do not violate Pinelands regulations, and the lack of public process in the proceedings. Newspapers across the region have written editorials in opposition based on the significant negative impacts associated with the project. The Pinelands Commission received thousands of letters (over 1600 during the official comment period and many more beforehand) and petitions in opposition to the project and hundreds of people spoke out against the project at public hearings before the Commission.

Instead of refueling with fossil fuels, Sierra Club would like to see the site used for clean energy production. This would create jobs and clean energy, improving the environment and economy of the region. Given the location, this would be a great location for infrastructure related to offshore wind production.

“We are glad the Pinelands Commission did their job- protecting the Pinelands region for future generations and not allowing the region to be destroyed for private developments. The Commission upheld the protections that people have worked for so long and so hard to put in place. Despite efforts by Commission staff to ram this project through without full evaluation of the environmental impacts, the Commissioners demanded a higher standard for the Pinelands region,” said Jeff Tittel.

You can also like the Sierra Club on Facebook

All, At Green Drinks, Environment, Events, Justice, Protection, Sustainable communities, Urban

Green Drinks in 3 Environmental Justice cities in January. And sustainable activities.

January 9, 2014 Kimi Leave a comment

Green Drinks is about Environmental Justice and Sustainability, not green colored drinks. Green Drinks is just our name! We meet monthly in three north Jersey cities. Our gatherings are informal and held in friendly spaces to bring people together to chat over food about green and sustainable issues relevant to our lives and communities.

Green Drinks meetings are open. Everyone is welcome and there is no admission fee. Discussions are ultimately shaped by the attendees who are sitting around a table chatting together, but each month we propose certain topics to get the conversations going. Admission is free – you just pay for the food and drinks you order at the locations where we meet. We scout out friendly places with good food at moderate prices. More info at greendrinks3.org.

Discussion themes this month

Is there room for a community garden in Hackensack?
How does Big Money in general elections impact the environment?
How are proposed development changes in downtown Hackensack going to affect the overall community?
How Green can you or your business get?
Preventing school closures in Newark and other NJ EJ communities

3 EJ Green Drinks every month

Green Drinks Newark 1st Mondays | 7-9pm
January: Mon 06 JAN 2014
Agave Mexican Restaurant
118 Pacific St, Newark, NJ | 973-732-4168
Street parking

His dad was 1st signer on Brown v Education. He'll talk about his family's experience. Great speaker! Hope you can make that. 10:54 PM +13132694551: Unbelievable. That will be a great evening 10:58 PM — Green Drinks Hackensack July 2013

Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays | 7-9pm
January: Mon 13 JAN 2014
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack, NJ
Parking if restaurant lot is full:
Weekdays after 7 across street in jewelry business parking lot
Weekends in Salvation Army lot on the corner of Mercer & State Streets

Green Drinks Clifton-Paterson (this location has no fixed date or spot for now)
January: Wed 22 JAN 2014 | 7-9pm
Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ (on the Paterson border)
Safe street parking

Other green/sustainable activities & events

Tu B’Shvat (New Year for the Trees)
Wed nite 15 JAN 15 – Thurs eve 16 JAN 2014
ABCs of Tu B’Shvat

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Activities
Around Mon 20 JAN 2014
mlkday.gov
We’ll let you know which activities we’re participating in. Feel free to find an activity on your own through the search tool on this page.

Newark Councilman Ras Baraka convenes
a mass community meeting to stop school closures
Wed 15 JAN 2014 | 6:30 pm
Hopewell Baptist Church
17 Muhammad Ali Avenue, Newark NJ
(Entrance on corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd & Muhammad Ali Ave)
https://www.facebook.com/events/192985397571982/
Panel Discussion Moderated by Councilman Ras Baraka with questions and answers from the Community. Councilman Ras Baraka wants to bring everyone to the table to organize, discuss, and plan a strategy to fight against and stop the Closures of 15 Newark Public Schools … for more information call 973-733-3794 or 973-803-8233

Sign to stop elephant slaughter
More than 30,000 elephants were slaughtered last year for their tusks, which are used to make ivory trinkets and carvings, which are sold in black markets around the world, including in the US. But it’s important to stop this illegal trade. There may be only 250,000 elephants left in the wild. Sign to show you care

Nate Briggs of Brown v. Education comes to Bergen Community College
Thu 20 FEB 2014 | 12:30-2 pm
BCC NAACP brings to speak at BCC for Black History Month. Mr. Briggs’ father was the first signer on the lawsuit that became Brown v Education. He will talk about his family’s experiences, and he’s a great speaker!

People’s Organization for Progress (POP) meets weekly in Newark
The People’s Organization for Progress meets
Every Thursday | 6:30pm
Abyssinian Baptist Church
224 West Kinney Street, Newark, NJ

All, Food, Health, Justice, Plants, Pests, Rescue, Protection

Farmers & people creatively resist GMOs

December 19, 2013 Kimi Leave a comment

Two of the problems farmers face with GMOs is how much they strengthen weeds and insects, and how much they cost. Over time, the amount of pesticides and herbicides farmers use to kill weeds and insects increases as GMO crops become immune to their effect. Modern Farmer shares these chilling statistics,

Between 2001 and 2010, the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch reports, total on-farm herbicide use increased 26 percent as weed resistance grew.

Genetically altered seed producers in the United States and the processed food companies that support them have quadrupled their investments in lobbying efforts and public relations campaigns to fool politicians and the public into believing GMO foods are safe and there’s no need to label them. If that’s true, why are these companies so determined that the public not know that GMOs are in all of the common processed foods they eat and all corn products, most soy products and now, even wheat? Monsanto, Pepsi, Coke, Nestlé and other companies are spending tens of millions of dollars to make sure United States residents do not realize how pervasive GMO contamination has become in the US.

This has led some US crop farmers to return to traditional seeds – not because they believe in a GMO free world, but for economic reasons. GMO seeds cause farmers more out of pocket expense to purchase them and increasing amounts of the pesticides and herbicides they use to protect crops. And, GMO contaminated harvests can’t be sold everywhere. Aside from foreign countries that have banned them, some US buyers won’t touch them either. Modern Farmer explains,

Clarkson Grain, which buys conventional and organic corn and soybeans, pays farmers a premium — up to $2 extra per bushel over the base commodity price of soybeans, $1 for corn — to not only grow the crop but also preserve its identity. (That is, keep it separate from genetically modified grain all the way from planting through harvest, storage and transportation.)

And talks about other players in the non-GMO space. The most interesting of which is the Non-GMO Project. It’s ironically funny that since Monsanto & its friends have successfully blocked most legislation to require GMO labeling, this organization emerged to champion the flip side of the issue with recognition for and labeling of, foods that are GMO free. Modern Farmers tells us that for food producers, the benefits of non-GMO verification are many

Sales at Hiland Naturals, which makes conventional and organic feeds for livestock, have more than doubled since it received Non-GMO Project verification last year. Most of Hiland’s customers are small farmers who sell eggs or meat at farmers markets and natural grocery stores. But many sell birds to Whole Foods and to institutions like colleges. Some of Hiland’s growth, owner Dan Masters says, comes from people wanting to know what they’re eating, some is from pending labeling laws and some is from “people who are tired of big corporations and big agriculture.”

Good on us.

Abuse of public trust, All, Energy, Environment, Justice, Protection, Water

ALEC and its legislators want to eliminate home solar and environmental protections

December 17, 2013 Kimi Leave a comment

After this, no one could ever say that ALEC and the politicians guided by it, care more for people than for profits. They boldly assert that betraying the public trust is necessary in order to insure that (their) economic profits remain intact. In a phenomenally informative article, The Guardian tells us about ALEC legislators’ all-out efforts to block clean energy development and the enforcement of clean water protections. They don’t dispute that this will be done at the expense of the environment and climate change reversal, but they care only for the profits they will continue to reap.

Firedog Lake puts it this way

Among the more interesting discoveries by The Guardian: ALEC has plans to attack clean energy from the household-level to the White House-level, working in service to its utility industry members’ unfettered profits.

If you’re interested in a solar roof, you should know that ALEC and its legislators want to eliminate, or severely limit, home solar installations, as they take away profits from the traditional energy companies they own.

Here are some juicy excerpts from The Guardian’s article:

Over the coming year, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalizing individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations, to blocking the Environmental Protection Agency, which is Barack Obama’s main channel for climate action.

Details of Alec’s strategy to block clean energy development at every stage – from the individual rooftop to the White House – are revealed as the group gathers for its policy summit in Washington this week. (The ALEC strategy documents obtained by the Guardian are shown in entirety in the full article.)

…Gabe Elsner, director of the Energy and Policy Institute, said the attack on small-scale solar was part of the larger ALEC project to block clean energy. “They are trying to eliminate pro-solar policies in the states to protect utility industry profits,” he said.

The group sponsored at least 77 energy bills in 34 states last year. According to an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy, the measures were aimed at opposing renewable energy standards, pushing through the Keystone XL pipeline project, and barring oversight on fracking…

In the confidential materials, prepared for the August board meeting, ALEC claimed to have made significant inroads against such clean energy policies in 2013.

“Approximately 15 states across the country introduced legislation to reform, freeze, or repeal their state’s renewable mandate,” the taskforce reported…

It just shows that ALEC uses lawmakers as lobbyists to block climate legislation at every turn,” said Connor Gibson, a researcher for Greenpeace. “They try to undermine the authority of agencies that have the power potentially to control carbon pollution, so whenever there is a new EPA rule that pops up, they re-tool their arsenal of model bills to make sure they are blocking the new rule.”

…Environmental lawyers said the resolution amounted to a “new manifesto” against the EPA regulating carbon pollution. “They don’t want the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ann Weeks, legal director for the Clean Air Task Force…

“They will probably tell you they don’t want the EPA to regulate anything so it is in their interest to turn what the EPA has proposed into something that is grotesque and unreasonable, which I don’t think is true,” Weeks said.

New Jersey’s most infamous ALEC allied politicos are Gov. Chris Christie and Scott Garrett, who bears the distinction of being our state’s Climate Change Denier Congressman.

All, Biking/Walking, Complete streets, Education, Energy, Environment, Events, Protection, Water

December 2013 Green & Sustainable Activities in NNJ

December 9, 2013 Kimi Leave a comment

Donate your junked cellphone to a victim of domestic violence
1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence. You can help change that. Just mail in a junked cell phone by Thursday, January 9. It’ll raise funds to help survivors of domestic violence.

Green Drinks Newark 1st Mondays | 7-9pm
December: 02 Dec 2013
Agave Mexican Restaurant
118 Pacific St, Newark, NJ | 973-732-4168
Street parking

Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays | 7-9pm
December: 09 Dec 2013
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack, NJ
Parking if restaurant lot is full:
Weekdays after 7 across street in jewelry business parking lot
Weekends in Salvation Army lot on the corner of Mercer & State Streets

Green Drinks Clifton-Paterson (this location has no fixed monthly date or spot for now)
December: Tues 17 Dec 2013 | 7-9pm
Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ (on the Paterson border)
Safe street parking

New Jersey Safe Routes to School Coalition/NJ Network meeting
Tues 10 Dec 2013 | 10am – 12pm
Bloustein School in Room 113 | 33 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, NJ
Please RSVP

WILMA SUBRA on Gas Infrastructure at Ramapo College
Wed 11 Dec 2013, 9:30-11:30am
RCNJ in Friends Hall
More and parking pass

Like The Greenwei on Facebook!

All, Energy, Environment, Events, Nature, Protection, Water

At RCNJ on 12/11 Gas Infrastructure & Its Adverse Impacts: Implications for Communities across the Region

December 9, 2013 Kimi 1 Comment

The Masters in Sustainability Studies and Environmental Studies Programs, Ramapo College of New Jersey in conjunction with the NJ Highlands Coalition, NJ Club, ClimateMama, and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network

Cordially Invite You to a Program on Gas Infrastructure and Its Adverse Impacts: Implications for Communities across the Region with Renowned Environmental Scientist and MacArthur Fellow

“>WILMA SUBRA on Gas Infrastructure
Wed 11 Dec 2013, 9:30-11:30am
RCNJ in Friends Hall

Rationale: The Ramapo Region now serves as a confluence for major gas infrastructure projects proliferating throughout the New York/New Jersey area. Beyond the other consequences of new gas pipelines, compressor stations, metering stations and gas- fired power plants, there is the question of whether natural gas is the clean source of energy it is billed as, particularly now that the gas traveling through our area is increasingly sourced from fracking of Marcellus Shale deposits.

Because of its position between the Shale fields of Pennsylvania and northeastern cities, the Ramapo region will likely remain at the crossroads of fracking infrastructure development. With these new drilling techniques and expanding infrastructure requirements we must ask, “How Hazardous is our reliance on Natural Gas?” This is a question of importance to community decision makers, parents, and other residents of the region seeking information upon which to base policy and personal decisions. Yet, there has been a paucity of information available.

Wilma Subra is a highly regarded environmental scientist and MacArthur Genius Award recipient who has devoted herself to approaching such challenging environmental health questions. Owner of a private environmental testing company in Louisiana, she has emerged as a strong voice for environmental justice and precautionary decisions regarding environmental hazards. She has served on numerous EPA commissions relating to environmental health and justice, played an important role in understanding the issues in post-Katrina Louisiana and has emerged as a key voice in cautioning about the proliferation of gas fracking and the resulting infrastructure projects because of potential adverse health effects and community impacts.

Please use this parking permit for the event.

All, Environment, Food, Justice, Nature, Protection, Water

Videos teach environmental and health impact of GMOs

November 24, 2013 Kimi 1 Comment

What could be wrong with family farming? Family farms, also known as traditional or small farms, produce good food with little or no pesticides … The farming methods they use keep both farm animals and the people eating the vegetables, dairy and meats produced on them, healthy and strong.

There’s the problem! For Big $, Big Ag, health insurance companies and Big Pharma, family farming is bad bad bad: because it leads to less need for hospitalization, insurance, pharmaceutics and erases the need for factory produced pesticides, fertilizers or seeds: in other words, major corporations can’t make a profit from family farming. So, they want to ban it. But for the real people of the world, people like you and me, family farming is good good good and we want more of it.

Check out the brilliant Food Revolution Europe video showing why GMOs and mono-crops are so bad for both people and the environment. Learn why we must say NO to GMOs, help spread the word about how bad they are and demand that governments halt their use.

We must also protect the family farmers of our world. Big Ag is using GMO crops to force small farmers out of business and steal their land, and we need to stop them. Their wellbeing and our health are irrevocably tied together.

In another video, Physicist Vandana Shiva tells why GMOs are the world’s death knell. OK, maybe Dr. Shiva is a bit serious, but she’s speaking relevant truths that all people should know. She also speaks as a native of India, where close to 300,000 cotton farmers have committed suicide because GMO seeds from Monsanto have bankrupted their farms, destroyed their families’ living and broken ties to land and homes they owned for generations.

A Truthout article shares more ugly facts about Monsanto:

Given Monsanto’s legacy as a producer of the lethal defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, Southeast Asian agriculture would presumably beg to differ with this characterization.

Sustainability is also not the first word that comes to mind when contemplating Monsanto’s policy of sowing the earth with genetically modified seeds that destroy soil and are designed with nonrenewable traits so as to require constant repurchase as well as acquisition of a variety of other company products like fertilizers and pesticides.

Nor would the term appear to define a situation in which nearly 300,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide since 1995 after being driven into insurmountable debt by neoliberal economics and the conquest of Indian farmland by Monsanto’s Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton.

In tragic irony, many kill themselves by imbibing pesticides intended for their crops.

As for Monsanto’s shameless claim that one of its primary objectives is “to improve lives,” we might similarly conclude that butchers aim to improve the lives of cows and pigs and that two plus two is 86.

All, Environment, Events, Protection, Sustainable communities

Support Stop FreshDirect at 05 Dec court hearing

November 21, 2013 Kimi Leave a comment

Boycott FreshDirect has a COURT DATE for a hearing to Stop Fresh Direct! They need a good showing of support to be present and ask:

Sisters and brothers, help defend the South Bronx from economic and environmental exploitation and stop the $127 million in subsidies to a polluting corporation that has never made a profit and never consulted the local community. We need people there!
FreshDirect is a parasite on the public: they use public dollars to aggravate public streets with noise, exhaust, and waste.

Court Hearing to Stop Fresh Direct!
Thurs 05 Dec 2013 | 1:45 pm
27 Madison Ave, Manhattan NY
(between 25th and 26th Streets)
Supreme Court-Appellate Division is:

Mark your calendar, bring a friend, be on time if you can. If you cannot make it get someone or a group to attend!mLet us know if you can make it.

It is extremely important that the courts, the city and the next administration see that people of consciousness and conviction are standing together, tall and proud against environmental and social racism that’s taking place in the South Bronx.

Please come if you can. We can help with transportation $ if you get there. Together we stand, divided we fall. In peace, for justice.

South Bronx Unite Stop Fresh Direct on Facebook

All, At Green Drinks, Environment, Events, Food, Health, Nature, New solutions, Protection, Water

November Green Drinks schedule & sustainable activities

November 9, 2013 Kimi Leave a comment

Green Drinks (Sustainability) chats monthly in 3 north Jersey cities

Green Drinks are not a type of drink! They are informal gatherings that bring people together to chat over food and drinks about green and sustainable issues relevant to our lives and communities. Green Drinks meetings are open, everyone is welcome and there is no admission fee. Pay for the food and drinks you order at the restaurants where we meet – each location serves good food at moderate prices.
Green Drinks Newark 1st Mondays | 7-9pm
November: 04 Nov 2013
Rio Rodizio
1034 McCarter Highway, Newark, NJ
Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays | 7-9pm
November: 11 Nov 2013
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack, NJ
If parking lot is full, park weekdays after 7 across the street in the jewelry business parking lot and on weekends park at the Salvation Army lot on the corner of Mercer and State Streets.
Green Drinks Clifton-Paterson (this location has no fixed monthly date for now)
November: Thursday, 21 Nov 2013 | 7-9pm

Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ
Discussion themes this month: stormwater management, composting, climate change

Like us on Facebook!

Other green/sustainable activities & events

Stand Against Fracking at the Next DRBC Meeting
Tues 03 Dec | 12-1:30 pm
LOCATION TBD – Commissioners have not announced final meeting location
RSVP & look for carpool (as of 11/13, none from north Jersey yet, so feel free to add your own)
The Delaware River Basin Commission put plans on hold to allow drilling in this critical watershed two years ago. Now the executive director of the DRBC is talking about developing a strategy for drilling in the basin. Fracking will destroy this precious landscape and threaten the water that we all depend on. Their next meeting will be on December 3 — please join Food & Water Watch and our allies to celebrate two years of no drilling in the Delaware River Watershed and stand up for the only strategy we should be support: A Ban on Fracking!.

Fund Raising Campaign Kick Off Reception for the
MLK Jr. Bergen County Monument Committee
Tues 19 Nov 2013 | 6-9pm
Rothman Center at Fairleigh Dickinson University
140 University Avenue, Hackensack NJ
The public is welcome. Come out for the unveiling of the MLK Jr. monument, network, support the committee’s efforts.

Free Screening of A Place at the Table and Panel Discussion
Thu 21 Nov 2013 | 6:30pm
Bergen Community College
Technology Center Building Room TEC-128
400 Paramus Road, Paramus NJ
The Community FoodBank of New Jersey and Bergen Community College collaborate to screen this dramatic documentary about hunger and food insecurity in America. In Bergen County, 88,000 are hungry. There will be a panel discussion after the film and we invite you to come and take your place as part of the soluton. All are welcome, admission is free, and light refreshments will be served. For more info visit cfbnj.org/bcc or email driley@cfbnj.org.

Public Rally to shut down the compressor station
Sat 23 Nov 2013 | 12-1:30pm
621 Eagle Rock Avenue (Next to the Essex County Environmental Center), Roseland, NJ
There is widespread community concern in Roseland New Jersey that a new 30,000 horsepower gas compressor is being built right next to a major electric transmission terminal and both of these are within a major flood zone of the Passaic River. Star Ledger story about the Roseland Compressor station.

Sierra Club Trenton Environmental Lobby Day
Thu 19 Dec 2013 | Time TBA
This Lame Duck Session will have a huge impact on New Jersey’s environment and we need your help! Join us in Trenton for an Environmental Lobby Day focused on several important issues. The Lobby Day will include briefings on these important issues, meetings with our representatives, and a Rally in front of the Statehouse. Please Save the Date for now .. more details to come. Email Kate.Millsaps@sierraclub.org to RSVP

Sign to stop elephant slaughter
More than 30,000 elephants were slaughtered last year for their tusks, which are used to make ivory trinkets and carvings. They are sold in black markets around the world, including in the United States. But we’re working to stop this illegal trade.

Nearly six tons of elephant ivory will be crushed into gravel by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It is the largest amount of seized ivory ever destroyed in the US. By destroying its store of seized ivory, the US government is sending a strong signal to the rest of the world that we need to end the demand that is fueling ivory trafficking and get serious now about saving elephants. Sign to show you care.

Abuse of public trust, All, Environment, Justice, Nature, Protection

Your food is destroying my home.

October 16, 2013 Kimi 1 Comment

A girl tells Strawberry the orangutan that she eats peanut butter. Its ingredients are peanuts, sugar, salt, palm oil. Strawberry looks sad, signs to girl, “Your food is destroying my home.” Palm oil is used in cookies and crackers (including Girl Scout Cookies), peanut butter and many other foods. Irreplaceable rainforests and orangutan habitat are being destroyed to produce it. Vote with your dollars – stop buying any products made with palm oil.

Girl Scouts Madi & Rhiannon have been fighting to rid Girl Scout Cookies of Palm Oil since 2007 when they were 11 years old.

Madi and Rhiannon’s inspiring story began catching on with articles appearing in online versions of AnnArbor.com, TIME and CNN. But it was the front-page coverage in the Wall Street Journal that launched the issue into primetime. This amazing piece was quickly followed by a whirlwind media tour that included live national television appearances on ABC, CBS and Fox News as well as a powerful blog post on Huffington Post by Josie Carothers, granddaughter of the inventor of Girl Scout cookies, titled “Why the Inventor of Girl Scout Cookies Would Be Ashamed Today.”

Here are actions you can take to stop orangutan habitat and rainforest destruction:
1  Vote with your dollars – stop buying any products made with palm oil.
2  Post this message on Pepsi’s Facebook wall: Hey Pepsi, I’m standing with orangutans, and I can’t stand by brands that use Conflict Palm Oil. Demand responsible palm oil from your suppliers and eliminate Conflict Palm Oil from your products. The power is #InYourPalm.
3  Tweet at Pepsi: Hey @PepsiCo, I can’t stand by brands that use Conflict #PalmOil. The power is #InYourPalm.