Polar Bears Against Palin Review and Update.
Polar Bears Against Palin
Review & Update
Thank you to ALL the people who came out to support the 6 "polar bears" on Friday as part of the "white bloc" against Sarah Palin. As those of you who came downtown or saw the TV coverage know, the protest had snowballed by Friday afternoon, pulling in over 300 people and attracting international news crews... Steelworker and Obama groups were also on-site with the result that many of you who arrived on the other side of the Westin apparently could not find or get to us in the crowd. We can tell you though that the bears made a big impact, being cheered loudly by all protesters as they arrived around 4:15 with a massive, 14-foot "Polar Bears Against Palin" banner. Pedestrians and drivers stopped the bears as they marched along Penn to the Westin to take photos and leaflets. And we were perfectly positioned so that the "Straight Talk" bus and its cortege of cars and vans absolutely could not miss the bears and their banner on the corner of Penn and 10th.
Some photos are attached and more photos can be found on our Picasa Web Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/VoicesForAnimals/PolarBearsAgainstPalin#
We'll have video up on YouTube soon. In the meantime, check out the Channel 4 coverage for the best TV video of the white bloc:
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/17690630/index.html
(Warning: an ad for Ringling Bros. Circus may appear at the top of the page of this link since WTAE-TV is apparently a sponsor)
We're not finished yet though. The bears will be taking their message to the streets in the next few weeks, starting downtown next Friday. Send us your ideas for busy spots to leaflet and we'll try and be there, and if you want to join us you're more than welcome.
Also, Defenders of Wildlife has a new video out about the killing of 14 wolf pups in Alaska. View it here:
http://action.defenders.org/site/Ecard?ecard_id=2041&s_newOptIn=t&JServSessionIdr001=tz8wjtg1h1.app20a
We made a leaflet about Palin's record on animals and the environment, complete with photos (thanks to graphic designer Carrie!) that we can send to anyone who wants to use it-just email us.
Here's the text of the leaflet:
---------------
Five Facts about Sarah Palin
Her appalling record on animals and the environment
1. War on polar bears: The US government listed the polar bear as a threatened species in 2007. Palin opposed the listing because their protection “would hamper drilling for oil and gas,” published an op-ed in
the New York Times riddled with disinformation, then filed a frivolous lawsuit to challenge the listing, citing Alaskan Marine Mammal scientists as expert witnesses. Yet those same Alaskan scientists had agreed with the
threatened species listing.
2. War on wolves: Palin has actively promoted the aerial hunting of wolves, a particularly brutal practice opposed by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, and approved a $400,000 state-
funded campaign to sway Alaskan votes on the issue. As governor, Palin proposed a $150 bounty for each killed wolf, requesting a foreleg as proof. Wolves are killed randomly, mothers and pups along with the males.
Why? Because wolves are seen to be in competition with Alaska’s lucrative tourist-sporthunting industry.
3. War on Alaskan wildlife: Palin supported a bill that shut down any more voters’ ballot initiatives to protect Alaskan wildlife. Under the new law wildlife are defined as a state “asset” not subject to a public vote.
4. War on whales: Palin opposes the listing of the Cook Inlet Beluga whales under the Endangered Species Act, citing the listing as a threat to the oil and gas industries. This despite the genetic uniqueness of the white
belugas and the fact that their numbers have decreased from 1,300 in the 1980s to about 350 today.
5. War on the environment: Palin is one of the strongest supporters of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation’s most valuable habitats, home to hundreds of thousands of caribou, over
a million migratory birds, countless other wildlife, and onshore denning habitat for female polar bears. Why?
To allow oil-drilling there. Yet Palin vetoed $1.5 million in state and federal funding for a new energy research center at the University of Alaska that would have focused on developing new renewable energy technologies.
In 2 years of governorship, Sarah Palin has demonstrated reckless disregard for the Alaskan environment. She has frequently ignored logic and put forward irrational arguments in her determination to promote the goals of the oil, gas and sporthunting industries. We can only imagine what damage a Vice-President or President Palin would do to America’s natural heritage and the fragile ecosystem upon which we all depend…
If the science doesn’t fit, ignore it…
Sarah Palin massacres logic and wildlife in pursuit of her ends
“Our modeling suggests that realization of the sea ice future which is currently projected would mean loss of around 2/3 of the world’s current polar bear population by mid-century.”
United States Geological Survey report, Sept. 2007
“This month, the secretary of the interior is expected to rule on whether polar bears should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. I strongly believe that adding them to the list is the wrong move at this time. My decision is based on a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific
information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts.”
Sarah Palin, New York Times op-ed, Jan. 2008
“You have the state’s marine mammal experts, very reputable scientists, agreeing with the federal proposed rule to list polar bears and with the USGS studies showing that polar bears are in serious trouble, yet the governor maintaining her political position that polar bears are not threatened by
anything.”
Rick Steiner, marine conservation specialist, University of Alaska professor, Sept. 2008
“There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the past 50 years is attributable to human activities.”
Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Summary For Policymakers”, 2001
“There’s clear evidence that greenhouse gases have been increasing by very large amounts since preindustrial times, and the vast majority of these increases are due to human activity.”
Ronald Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at MIT, Feb. 2007
“A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.”
Sarah Palin, interview with Newsmax, August 2008
“Sarah Palin’s positions against America’s wildlife could put her to the right even of the Bush administration.”
Roger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife, 2008
“Palin’s record is so extreme that she has done more to harm animals than any other current governor in the United States.”
Mike Markarian, Humane Society Legislative Fund, 2008
Bad for Bears, Bad for People, Bad for the Planet
-----------------------------
voicesforanimals@gmail.com
1-877-321-4VFA
Review & Update
Thank you to ALL the people who came out to support the 6 "polar bears" on Friday as part of the "white bloc" against Sarah Palin. As those of you who came downtown or saw the TV coverage know, the protest had snowballed by Friday afternoon, pulling in over 300 people and attracting international news crews... Steelworker and Obama groups were also on-site with the result that many of you who arrived on the other side of the Westin apparently could not find or get to us in the crowd. We can tell you though that the bears made a big impact, being cheered loudly by all protesters as they arrived around 4:15 with a massive, 14-foot "Polar Bears Against Palin" banner. Pedestrians and drivers stopped the bears as they marched along Penn to the Westin to take photos and leaflets. And we were perfectly positioned so that the "Straight Talk" bus and its cortege of cars and vans absolutely could not miss the bears and their banner on the corner of Penn and 10th.
Some photos are attached and more photos can be found on our Picasa Web Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/VoicesForAnimals/PolarBearsAgainstPalin#
We'll have video up on YouTube soon. In the meantime, check out the Channel 4 coverage for the best TV video of the white bloc:
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/17690630/index.html
(Warning: an ad for Ringling Bros. Circus may appear at the top of the page of this link since WTAE-TV is apparently a sponsor)
We're not finished yet though. The bears will be taking their message to the streets in the next few weeks, starting downtown next Friday. Send us your ideas for busy spots to leaflet and we'll try and be there, and if you want to join us you're more than welcome.
Also, Defenders of Wildlife has a new video out about the killing of 14 wolf pups in Alaska. View it here:
http://action.defenders.org/site/Ecard?ecard_id=2041&s_newOptIn=t&JServSessionIdr001=tz8wjtg1h1.app20a
We made a leaflet about Palin's record on animals and the environment, complete with photos (thanks to graphic designer Carrie!) that we can send to anyone who wants to use it-just email us.
Here's the text of the leaflet:
---------------
Five Facts about Sarah Palin
Her appalling record on animals and the environment
1. War on polar bears: The US government listed the polar bear as a threatened species in 2007. Palin opposed the listing because their protection “would hamper drilling for oil and gas,” published an op-ed in
the New York Times riddled with disinformation, then filed a frivolous lawsuit to challenge the listing, citing Alaskan Marine Mammal scientists as expert witnesses. Yet those same Alaskan scientists had agreed with the
threatened species listing.
2. War on wolves: Palin has actively promoted the aerial hunting of wolves, a particularly brutal practice opposed by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, and approved a $400,000 state-
funded campaign to sway Alaskan votes on the issue. As governor, Palin proposed a $150 bounty for each killed wolf, requesting a foreleg as proof. Wolves are killed randomly, mothers and pups along with the males.
Why? Because wolves are seen to be in competition with Alaska’s lucrative tourist-sporthunting industry.
3. War on Alaskan wildlife: Palin supported a bill that shut down any more voters’ ballot initiatives to protect Alaskan wildlife. Under the new law wildlife are defined as a state “asset” not subject to a public vote.
4. War on whales: Palin opposes the listing of the Cook Inlet Beluga whales under the Endangered Species Act, citing the listing as a threat to the oil and gas industries. This despite the genetic uniqueness of the white
belugas and the fact that their numbers have decreased from 1,300 in the 1980s to about 350 today.
5. War on the environment: Palin is one of the strongest supporters of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation’s most valuable habitats, home to hundreds of thousands of caribou, over
a million migratory birds, countless other wildlife, and onshore denning habitat for female polar bears. Why?
To allow oil-drilling there. Yet Palin vetoed $1.5 million in state and federal funding for a new energy research center at the University of Alaska that would have focused on developing new renewable energy technologies.
In 2 years of governorship, Sarah Palin has demonstrated reckless disregard for the Alaskan environment. She has frequently ignored logic and put forward irrational arguments in her determination to promote the goals of the oil, gas and sporthunting industries. We can only imagine what damage a Vice-President or President Palin would do to America’s natural heritage and the fragile ecosystem upon which we all depend…
If the science doesn’t fit, ignore it…
Sarah Palin massacres logic and wildlife in pursuit of her ends
“Our modeling suggests that realization of the sea ice future which is currently projected would mean loss of around 2/3 of the world’s current polar bear population by mid-century.”
United States Geological Survey report, Sept. 2007
“This month, the secretary of the interior is expected to rule on whether polar bears should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. I strongly believe that adding them to the list is the wrong move at this time. My decision is based on a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific
information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts.”
Sarah Palin, New York Times op-ed, Jan. 2008
“You have the state’s marine mammal experts, very reputable scientists, agreeing with the federal proposed rule to list polar bears and with the USGS studies showing that polar bears are in serious trouble, yet the governor maintaining her political position that polar bears are not threatened by
anything.”
Rick Steiner, marine conservation specialist, University of Alaska professor, Sept. 2008
“There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the past 50 years is attributable to human activities.”
Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Summary For Policymakers”, 2001
“There’s clear evidence that greenhouse gases have been increasing by very large amounts since preindustrial times, and the vast majority of these increases are due to human activity.”
Ronald Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at MIT, Feb. 2007
“A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.”
Sarah Palin, interview with Newsmax, August 2008
“Sarah Palin’s positions against America’s wildlife could put her to the right even of the Bush administration.”
Roger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife, 2008
“Palin’s record is so extreme that she has done more to harm animals than any other current governor in the United States.”
Mike Markarian, Humane Society Legislative Fund, 2008
Bad for Bears, Bad for People, Bad for the Planet
-----------------------------
voicesforanimals@gmail.com
1-877-321-4VFA