Sow Victory!

On the day that honors our nation’s first men, let’s acknowledge a few of the leading ladies behind America’s Commanders-in-Chief who’ve made sure environmental issues are on the White House table.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Facing the Great Depression and WWII head-on, FDR’s right-hand woman exemplified American self-reliance and sustainability by planting a victory garden at the White House – inspiring millions of families to do likewise.

Already concerned about the strip mining that, to this day, continues to devastate the mountains of West Virginia, Eleanor also had faith in the cultivation of domestic clean energy:

I have been wondering for a long time why some of our own defense officials do not put more emphasis on finding a good substitute for oil and worry less about where more oil is to come from.  New discoveries are all around us, and when we have to make them, we nearly always do.

Lady Bird Johnson, credit: Frank Wolfe, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions

Lady Bird Johnson

Time magazine’s “First Green First Lady” once said, “The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become.”

Mrs. LBJ worked tirelessly for over 40 years living by those beliefs. A strong advocate for protecting American natural resources, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center stands as a tribute to her work conserving native wildflowers and landscapes.

Where flowers bloom, so does hope.

Pat Nixon

In addition to being the first First Lady to wear pants, Mrs. Nixon sponsored the Legacy of Parks – a program resulting in the development of more than 640 parks from unused federal land.

Laura Bush

Laura Bush, who is an honorary chair of the National Park Foundation, has spent much of her time since the White House in efforts to protect the Texan coast and Gulf of Mexico. Standing up to the Vice President, she was a strong voice for President Bush’s end-of-term decision to designate almost 200,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean as conservation areas.

No matter where we live, in the city or the country, our lives depend on the quality of our native lands.

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama's organic vegetable garden, via The White House/Flickr

She has also been instrumental in “greening” the White House – growing the recycling program and incorporating environmentally-friendly products and materials into the household.

Last week, Houston Zoo brought some holiday cheer to their most adorable animal residents with a fun and festive twist on feeding time. Zoo keepers wrapped up some of the animal’s favorite snacks.

Who got the best gift? You be the judge: check out the video below!

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’re looking to make a difference this holiday season, consider a symbolic adoption as a meaningful gift to your friends and family!

Maybe my cat would have appreciated that more than the train set I got him!

USFWS/Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Alaskan Arctic is a place most people only dream about.

Endless daylight alternates with constant, freezing night. The Northern Lights illuminate wilderness rivers flowing from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean. Polar bears, caribou, moose, grizzlies, Arctic fox, and seals depend on this extraordinary, but harsh environment for their survival.

>> Speak up for the Arctic Refuge by Nov. 15, 2011

Even with all the unique beauty and diversity the Alaskan landscape has to offer, it has been a political battleground for over 30 years. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national treasure which sustains more biological diversity than any other Arctic protected region, yet is constantly under attack by the oil industry. Big Oil wants to move their big drill rigs into the Arctic refuge, and are throwing around their big money on Capitol Hill to try to get their way. Under current law, Congress must approve any resource extraction activity on the refuge, including oil and gas drilling.

Right now, there are several proposals in Congress to drill for oil and gas in 1 million acres of the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain. That’s why this region (a.k.a. the 1002 Area) is in desperate need of wilderness protection. In addition to supporting distinctive wildlife like muskoxen, a variety of waterfowl, diverse insects, and thousands of migratory birds, the Coastal Plain is critical for caribou herds that travel there in the summer months to birth and raise their calves.In fact, the Coastal Plain is known as the “Sacred Place Where Life Begins” to the native Gwich’in Nation, who have occupied this area for as long as 20,000 years and depend on the Porcupine caribou herd for their survival.

Arctic Fox

This fall, the Fish & Wildlife Service released a revised draft of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Arctic Refuge. These documents are reworked periodically for each refuge and contain necessary guidelines for long-term management. The draft CCP for the Arctic Refuge lists several management plan alternatives, including a recommendation that the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain be designated a wilderness area, protecting it from oil and gas extraction.

The Fish & Wildlife Service will consider public comments before selecting a preferred plan, giving Americans everywhere the opportunity to protect this critical calving ground and diverse habitat from unnecessary resource extraction. The Coastal Plain is in serious jeopardy from the proposed drilling and the more comments sent in, the more of an impact we can make on the decision.

If you feel the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain deserves wilderness protection from big oil, we need YOU to send the Fish and Wildlife Service a comment. Please submit a comment by November 15th, 2011 and together we can keep Alaska wild!