Dear friend,

Bees are dying by the million--but pesticide companies have just asked the EPA to increase the allowable level of bee-killing pesticides by as much as 400 times.¹

Chemical companies like Dow, Bayer, and Syngenta are making billions selling bee-killing pesticides called neonics--chemicals that scientists have compared to DDT in the level of threat posed to the environment.²

In fact, neonics are wiping out bee colonies so fast that the European Union has enacted a continent-wide moratorium on their use.³

Increasing the allowable levels by 400 times? That’s insane.

The EPA is only accepting public input on this decision until October 6, so we don't have much time. Can you chip in to help convince them to reject this awful proposal?

Yes, I’ll make a donation to help stop the increase in bee-killing pesticides.

If you don’t think bees are important, think again. Of the world’s major food crops, 71% are dependent on bees for pollination.⁴

It’s this simple: No bees, no farms. No farms, no food.

Earlier this year, our state affiliates in Texas and New York helped our allies at Friends of the Earth and the Pesticide Research Institute discover that half the "bee-friendly" plants we tested from stores like Home Depot contained the bee-killing pesticides.⁵

Now we need to blow the whistle on the pesticide industry’s plan to jack up the allowable level of bee-killing pesticides. If you donate today, you’ll help us mobilize grassroots support to convince the EPA to reject the pesticide industry’s petition.

Click here to make a donation to help stop the pesticide industry’s request to increase the allowable level of bee-killing pesticides.

Thanks for making it all possible.

Yours,

Dan Jacobson
Environment California

United Nations News Centre - Filling classrooms with poorly trained teachers undercuts education gains, warns UN

United Nations News Centre - Filling classrooms with poorly trained teachers undercuts education gains, warns UN

United Nations News Centre - Honouring Gandhi’s legacy, Deputy Secretary-General reaffirms power of peaceful protest

United Nations News Centre - Honouring Gandhi’s legacy, Deputy Secretary-General reaffirms power of peaceful protest

Avaaz.org	Oct 1 (2 days ago)
to me

Thank you for playing your part to keep India clean. Please spread the word by sharing the original email from Avaaz below.

In hope,

Alaphia and the rest of the Avaaz team

------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------


Dear friends,

Tomorrow, on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, the government is launching a ‘Clean India’ campaign. While we may not agree with everything the government does, we can recognise that we can all play a part to bring about a sanitation revolution in India.

From beaches to beautiful hill stations - everywhere we turn in India, mountains of litter mar our landscape. Littering seems to be a pervasive problem but even more deadly is the total lack of sanitation for millions of Indians. Let’s pledge to care as much about the state of our public spaces as we do about our private homes.

When over 1 million of us take this pledge, we will take it to the media to show the massive support to clean up India. Pledge now!

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/clean_india_together/?tNYSFbb

Half of India’s population still doesn’t use a private toilet and India tops in open defecation all over the world. This means that even well fed children under five are at risk of malnourishment, deadly disease and death from diarrhea and encephalitis. Experts have warned that just building toilets won’t do, because having a toilet doesn’t necessarily guarantee that Indians will use it. It is only a change in public attitudes towards hygiene and sanitation that will guarantee lasting change.

This is where all of us come in. If we pledge to change our own behaviour in public spaces, and politely request other people to do the same, each of us could lead this change in attitude that is so crucial to saving millions of lives in India.

Of course the government needs to support this sanitation revolution by keeping its promise of building toilets and work on changing attitudes. But we can all make a start with our own actions by committing to respect our public space and making sure others do as well. Pledge now!

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/clean_india_together/?tNYSFbb

Nearly half a million of us just marched all over the world to demand that our leaders take decisive action to tackle climate change. This includes hundreds of people in India. Avaaz members have repeatedly shown that caring for our environment is caring for humanity. Let’s do the same for a clean and hygienic India.

In hope,

Alaphia, Shreya, and the rest of the Avaaz team

More Information

Why India’s sanitation crisis is a public health emergency (LiveMint)
http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/nKCx2zwO66c29nj3vkyNhL/Why-Indias-sanitation-crisis-is-a-public-heal... (http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/nKCx2zwO66c29nj3vkyNhL/Why-Indias-sanitation-crisis-is-a-public-health-emergency.html)

The final frontier (The Economist)
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21607837-fixing-dreadful-sanitation-india-requires-not-just-build...

Modi orders officials to clean loos on Gandhi’s birthday (Reuters)
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/29/modi-gandhi-toilets-idINKCN0HO1C420140929

From littering to spitting: sanitary problems in India’s public spaces (Urban Times)
http://urbantimes.co/2013/02/from-littering-to-spitting-sanitary-problems-in-indias-public-spaces/

India tops in open defecation (The Hindu)
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-tops-in-open-defecation/article5993478.ece

Nearly half of India’s population still defecates in the open (Development And Cooperation)
http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/nearly-half-indias-population-620-million-still-defacates-open

Avaaz.org is a 38-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Thank you for applying to the Amazon.com Associates Program. You have been granted full access to Associates Central--the online resource area for Amazon.com Associates.

With this access to Associates Central, you have the opportunity to create links to enhance your website, and start earning money right away. Your application will be reviewed shortly after you've referred your first sale to Amazon.com.

You'll receive another email from us officially welcoming you to the Program after we've reviewed your website and application.

Associates Central provides a complete range of features for exclusive use by our Associates. You may log in to Associates Central 24-hours a day to:

1. Build new links
2. Generate online earnings reports
3. Access our extensive graphics library
4. Update your account information
5. Get the latest news about what's new at Amazon.com
6. Learn how to increase referral fees

Please bookmark this page for future reference. http://affiliate-program.amazon.com
If there has not been a referred sale through your Associates links within 180 days of sign-up, the application and your Associates Central access will be withdrawn.

Thank you for joining the Amazon.com Associates Program. We look forward to working with you! The Associates Program Staff
Amazon.com Associates Program
http://affiliate-program.amazon.com
P.S. Please note for future reference that your unique Associates ID is httpwwwpramod-20. You may occasionally need to provide this information to verify your account with us.
If, for some reason, you are unable to access Associates Central at this time you can still create a homepage link by following these directions:
This is your unique Amazon.com Home Page Linking Format:
http://www.amazon.com?_encoding=UTF8&tag=httpwwwpramod-20
Here's how the link should look in your HTML document:
Shop at Amazon.com!

Arvind Kejriwal’s Quest for Change

Arvind Kejriwal’s Quest for Change

MEET ANNA HAZARE AND ARVIND KEJRIWAL ON SUNDAY 18TH DECEMBER IN CHENNAI AT PACHIAPPA GROUND AT 6 PM SHARP, BE A VOLUNTEER OF INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION, ENROLL TODAY ITSELF

Weather disasters increasing from climate change, says UN

rom: IGSD
November 18, 2011

Fast mitigation is best adaptation

Washington, DC, November 18, 2011 – A definitive UN science report released today confirms the link between climate change and extreme weather events, including punishing heat waves, droughts, and torrential rains and resulting floods.

The report warns that the U.S. will suffer heat waves, droughts, and more powerful hurricanes like Irene, with vulnerable people and places likely to suffer most from extreme weather, including low-lying island States facing sea level rise and stronger storm surges, and drought-prone countries in Africa.


New York released its own climate study this week, predicting that with expected sea level rise and stronger storms, future hurricanes could flood the tunnels into Manhattan within an hour and put one-third of the city underwater, with climate induced impacts beginning within a decade. The cost of US weather disasters in 2011 is already approaching $50 billion, according to the National Climate Data Center.

It is now certain that human emissions of greenhouse gases and warming aerosols like black carbon are increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather by putting more heat energy into the climate system.


“These climate change impacts have become so clear and so close now that we need fast, aggressive mitigation if we hope to avoid the worst consequences,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.

“Fast mitigation is the best adaptation,” Zaelke added. “Fast mitigation means cutting short-lived climate forcers, including black carbon, ground-level ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, used in refrigeration. Cutting these non-CO2 climate forcers can be done quickly and inexpensively using existing technologies and in most cases existing laws and institutions.” This can cut the rate of global warming in half for several decades and the rate of warming in the Arctic by two-thirds, according to a report by the UN Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization.


Vulnerable island States, along with the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, are calling on the Montreal Protocol ozone treaty to reduce HFCs. The parties will be discussing an HFC phase-down next week at their annual meeting in Bali, Indonesia.


Zaelke stated, “States and cities need to start thinking how they will pay for adaptation and for cleaning up after extreme weather events, including following the precedent set by states in their battle with tobacco companies, which included lawsuits to recoup health care costs the states were paying to care for victims of tobacco injuries.” The lawsuits resulted in a historic $350 billion national tobacco settlement.

Addressing climate change also requires cutting emissions of CO2, the principal greenhouse gas, protecting and expanding forests and other “carbon sinks” that remove and store CO2, and developing other CO2 removal strategies to draw down excess CO2 from the atmosphere on a time scale of decades, rather than the millennial time scale of the natural CO2 removal process.

###

Contact: Candice Wu: +1.202.338.1300 ; candicewu@igsd.org