Actions You Can Take

Good Vibrations

Good vibrations are rolling across Capitol Hill as the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee prepares to take up the reauthorization of the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000 tomorrow. HOW and the NRDC are collecting signatures on a letter regarding this legislation until noon today so sign on if you have time.

The legislation funds beach water monitoring programs that update the public on health issues associated with beach activities. We support the legislation and hope no amendments weaken it. Beach tourism is big business in the Great Lakes States during the summer months and provides numerous Read More » »

Calling All Senators

It is time to put the “clean” back into the Clean Water Act. An important bill to the Great Lakes and all of this nation’s rivers, lakes and waters is circulating Capitol Hill right now the Clean Water Restoration Act (S.787) and we need EVERY Great Lakes Senator cosponsoring and voting for this bill.

Over past years, the scope of the Clean Water Act has been eroded by policy and court decisions that allow pollution to once again threaten our waters. We are asking anyone who cares about their drinking water or the water they swim in or the water they Read More » »

Follow the Healthy Lakes Healthy Lives Campaign on Twitter

Hey you guys - tweeting? Count us in, with your RTs and your @replies and your #hashtags. Follow @healthylakes on Twitter and help spread the word on efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

Not on Twitter yet? It is pretty cool - you can keep in touch with your friends, make new ones, and engage in causes you believe in with less of a time commitment than other social networking websites.

Want to know how to get started on Twitter? The site itself is pretty self-explanatory. This video is also Read More » »

Word on the Street

Even before Barack Obama won last night, he had teams of people planning for his 76-day transition. Word on the streets of Chicago and Washington is that Illinois Democrat Rahm Emanuel is on Obama’s short list for the Chief-of-Staff position.

This is the same man who stood before HOW a little more than a year ago and implored us to make this Presidential election about the Great Lakes. The same man who said he would do everything in his power to get the $26 billion into law that we need to heal and revive the lakes. Now, the Washington Read More » »

Time to release the Fuss Busters

What is all this fuss over the Great Lakes? That seems to be the line some folks are taking since presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s released his plan to restore the lakes. The story has been picked up across the region and thrust the issue of restoring the Great Lakes into this hotly contested election. Newspapers, television and the blogosphere is jam packed with vivacious responses – some good, some bad.

It is nigh time that the Great Lakes become Read More » »

No Time for Games

Yesterday, the Great Lakes troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as if they are here to stay all because the US Senate refuses to act now to stop the relentless march of invasive species.

The US Senate is acting as if we had all the time in the world to sit around and contemplate just how many invasive species can dance on the head of a pin. For the time being, navel gazing must give way to immediate action if we are going to save the Great Lakes and her tributaries from tipping into the great abyss of Read More » »

If You Aren’t Part of the Solution…

Tomorrow is the last day that the Great Lakes Senators can sign onto the Great Lakes Legacy Act as original co-sponsors. It is time for reauthorization of the law that is the best tool in our carpenter’s box to clean up the toxic legacy of the industrial age. US Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and George Voinovich (R-OH) are actively seeking co-sponsors and will introduce the bill this week.

Cosponsors send a strong signal to the guys with the money on the Hill, according to Joy Mulinex, the Great Lakes Task Force Director. “If only a couple of Members sign onto Read More » »

That Smelly Rat Isn’t In Denmark Anymore

Remember that “alarming” Center for Disease Control report that hit the news only because a watch dog group exposed that it had been suppressed from publication for more than half-a-year? Well, now that Congress has called for an inquiry the Canadian Press reports that the head of research at the CDC is claiming the report was not hidden from public view but held because of questions regarding the methodology. The CDC has also admitted to deleting (key?) data from the report.

Dr. Henry Falk oversees CDC research on environmental health hazards and he told the Canadian Press that Read More » »

Sign a Petition to Congress on the Great Lakes

Freshwater Future (formerly Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund) has initiated an online petition urging Members of Congress to act this year to pass and fully fund legislation to protect and restore the Great Lakes. Healing Our Waters Coalition staff worked closely with Freshwater Future on the development of this petition, and we encourage one and all to sign it and forward to colleagues, friends, and family. Freshwater Future and the HOW Coalition will work to tally signatures from constituents of particular members of Congress in the Great Lakes and deliver the petitions at in-district events during the Read More » »

URGE GREAT LAKES SENATORS NOT TO CUT BACK FARM BILL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS

Farm Bill conservation programs are critical to restoring the Great Lakes. They help farmers put marginal cropland to work for the health of the Great Lakes. However many more Great Lakes farm families want to participate in the Farm Bill conservation programs than can be accommodated because of insufficient federal funding. Conservation programs are woefully under-funded. Two out of three farmers willing to take actions to help the environment are turned down due to lack of funds.

Now, the United States Senate may cut conservation programs even further as it rewrites a new Farm Bill within the next few weeks.

You can Read More » »