It looked like an ironic scene from Gary Larson’s The Far Side comic strip: House Natural Resources Committee members faced  empty chairs  during this week’s hearing on the causes of the Gulf oil disaster.  But it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise – Big Oil’s avoidance of oversight was a huge factor in the tragedy, and refusing to appear before the committee just follows the same pattern. 

While the Gulf oil disaster was the latest assault on the region’s ecosystems, it came after years of degradations from human impacts.  Now, continued deterioration of the Gulf Coast poses a tremendous threat to ecosystems that support not only the Gulf’s communities, but also our nation’s most important seafood industry and other valuable sectors like energy, shipping and tourism. 

The facts are in, and we know that last spring’s catastrophe was caused by the oil industry’s negligence and single-minded pursuit of profits. For the families of the men who lost their lives that day, for the thousands of Gulf residents who lost their jobs during the fallout, and for the millions affected by the damage done to the Gulf’s wildlife and ecosystems, this comes as just another slap in the face. The rest of America doesn’t have the luxury of pretending that the explosion didn’t occur…but then again, there seem to be a lot of things BP and its partners would ignore if we let them.

Learn more about the Gulf oil disaster and how you can help wildlife.

Today marked the final day of the tar sands pipeline protest as a surge of Americans joined outside the White House in a historic effort to urge President Obama to stand up to big oil and deny the permit for a dangerous new tar sands oil pipeline.

I observed the rally in Lafayette Square Park as speeches from protest leaders and a petition with over half a million names circulated urging President Obama to deny the Keystone XL pipeline permit.  Passionate chants sung in unison echoed throughout the square as people gathered from near and far creating stunning visuals of a human pipeline leading up to the front gate of the White House. Painted signs, home-made t-shirts, and people of all ages united under one cause creating a stunningly powerful movement.

I decided to put my Saturday plans aside and observe the rally after Obama’s decision Friday to delay high air control standards.  The movement to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is gaining momentum and the decision will be pivotal for the U.S. on climate change.

The proposed 1,700 mile Keystone XL pipeline would carry tar sands oil from the oil sands of northern Alberta Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.  Building this pipeline not only will greatly impact communities across the United States, but also would profoundly impact climate change, our economy and human and natural systems through the U.S.

Pipelines have been spilling regularly across the U.S., but those spills could be minuscule compared to a true disaster that might occur from building the proposed and highly controversial tar sludge pipeline.

While oil pipeline protesters end their two weeks of White House protests today, the fight remains and you can help!  TAKE ACTION and tell the Obama Administration to reject Keystone XL.

Please note:  NWF is fighting tar sands and Keystone XL but not backing civil disobedience.

A new report was released last week which outlined how obesity threatens America’s future. The report revealed that obesity rates climbed over the past year in 16 states, and not a single state reported a decline in the proportion of excessively overweight residents. Over 2 million children in America are obese and more than 30 % of people in more than 12 states are obese. In only four years, ELEVEN states joined that startling statistic. This dramatic shift over just a few years is frightening, so I couldn’t help but wonder, what is causing this striking change?

While iPads, 3D TV’s, video games, and computer games are all glamorous accomplishments by modern technology, time spent outdoors playing, biking, hiking, walking, etc. has progressively taken a back seat. Children ages three to twelve spend 1 % of their time outdoors, and 27 % of their time just watching TV. Incredibly, children are now actually GAINING weight over summer break! A time once spent solely on outdoor activities like swimming, hiking,and just being outside, is now putting American children’s health at risk.

Granted, childhood obesity is certainly a complex multi-faceted problem, which needs to be tackled from a variety of angles. However, a very easily-identifiable starting point is increasing the amount of time we spend outdoors, whether it’s playing, sightseeing, or even something as routine as commuting to work or school. So how do we address these issues in a meaningful way as a nation?

Luckily, Michelle Obama has made this issue a priority and launched the Let’s Move Outside campaign in a fight to address and end the childhood obesity epidemic. The First Lady rightly points out,

“Today, children experience a very different lifestyle. Walks to and from school have been replaced by car and bus rides. Eight to eighteen year old adolescents are spending an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media instead of going outside.”

While the First Lady has brought the sweeping obesity epidemic to our nation’s attention, key Congressional leaders are taking steps to cut off dedicated federal funding for bicycling and walking; a cut that impacts both recreation but also safety.

House Transportation Chairman John Mica (R-FL) announced today that his transportation bill will eliminate dedicated funding for bicycling and walking, including Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School and the Recreational Trails Program. This will discourage states from choosing to spend their dollars on these activities that are “not in the federal interest.”

Not in the federal interest? Funding for biking and walking projects only accounts for 1.5% of the federal transportation budget and yet make up 12 percent of all trips in the US. The spending by our government shows us very clearly that they’re not interested in investing in fun and low-cost ways for people to work towards a healthy lifestyle by only allowing us funding to support more than 4 billion bicycle trips and 40 billion walking trips a year, including trips to work, school, shopping and for recreation and tourism.

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), the lead Republican negotiator on the transportation bill, declared that one of his TOP THREE priorities for the transportation bill is to eliminate ‘frivolous spending for bike trails.’

Frivolous? In the past 6 months, TWO of my fellow co-workers were badly injured while riding their bikes to work because of the lack of safe biking trails in Washington, DC. Need more numbers? Two-thirds of all pedestrian deaths are on federally funded highways. One-third of children’s traffic deaths happen when children are walking or bicycling and are struck by cars. Bicycling and walking programs build sidewalks, crosswalks and bikeways—improving accessibility and saving lives. Any transportation cuts that affect the safety of children who opt to work/bike to school instead of taking the bus or car, should be targeted as negligent, short sighted and costly in the long run.

Cutting the funding to these programs not only makes it more difficult to encourage youth to get outside and walk or bike safely but it ultimately limits transportation alternatives, leaving no choice but to jump in a car. When obesity-associated annual hospital costs for children and youth are tripling over just a decade, we have a problem. If we expect people to adjust their lifestyles, they need clean, safe places to go outdoors and safe routes to get there.

What could be more of a federal priority than the health and well being of our children? Is cutting a that incredibly small figure of 1.5% of the federal transportation budget showing us how little the government cares about the health and wellness of our future workforce? Does the cost of bike trails really compare to the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of obesity associated hospital cost for children and youth? How short sighted is Congress to think that it is OK to spend millions/billions of dollars on health care costs for children and adults for obesity-related illnesses while not spending even a fraction of this cost for recreation improvements that would serve as preventative measure and limit obesity related disease?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a statistic, so I’m going to grab my bike and hit the trails before the feds take them away!

Join me, and take action: Contact your Members of Congress!

Join in the mission to advocate for and promote safe bicycling and walking to and from schools and in everyday life throughout the United States.

Learn more about the Be Out There movement to get kids outside. Find outdoor games, activities, and health tips for your children this summer!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Built a Quarter Mile of Oyster Reef in Mobile, Alabama

Kicking off the first event with chilly, overcast conditions on January 22^nd and 23^rd, over 500 volunteers from Alabama and across the country came together in Mobile bay to foster the beginnings of oyster reefs. 16,000 bags of oyster shells were carefully dispersed along the shore with the goal of building 100 new miles of oyster reefs and 1000 miles of replanted marshlands along the Gulf in Alabama to make Alabama’s coastal areas more resilient to impacts from hurricanes, oil spill accidents, and climate change. The work was the result of a collaboration of more than 20 public and private partners including National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy and NOAA.

Restored Native Ground Cover at Bald Point State Park

Next, volunteers gathered at Bald Point State Park on Florida’s Gulf Coast.  Park Ranger Kevin Patton introduced us to our work site for the next two days and we successfully worked in teams and planted 5,000 wiregrass plugs and disperse a dozen bags of seed. Bald Eagles and other migrating raptors, along with monarch butterflies use this area to rest before continuing south for the winter.  It is imperative to keep these lands healthy. Additionally, the Florida Wildlife Federation gathered signatures to petition for a constitutional amendment to prohibit oil and gas drilling in Florida’s near-shore waters.

Restored Dunes to Protect Nesting Wildlife at Perdido Key State Park

Next up, dune restoration in Perdido Key, Florida!  Joined by over 75 volunteers including the US Navy and Air Force at Pensacola, combed the beach to protect the critical habitat of residential and migratory nesting wildlife such as turtles and birds!  As the oil washed up on miles of beaches along the Gulf Coast, Perdido Key, home of the endangered Beach Mouse felt heavy impacts. Volunteers worked as temperatures reached the high 80s to rebuild and protect an important dune boundary to help native grasses and habitat for nesting shore birds, turtles, and the native beach mouse.

Conserved Acres of Beach and Recreation Trails

On March 25^th our next event was about 2 hours East of Perdido Key at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. University of California at Berkley students dedicated their spring break time away from examinations and study sessions to engage in hands on restoration work on some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. Joined by South Walton Community locals, we were able to accomplish clearing and marking 6 hiking trails, installing signs and effectively roping off over 3 miles of beach to protect the dunes and wildlife who nest there, and remove invasive exotic plant species to allow for native pitcher plant growth.

Restored the Marshes of Mississippi

Over 30 volunteers worked in Ansley Marsh which borders the Gulf and is a haven for migratory birds and many alligators.  Volunteers toiled in the sun with many insect friends to remove debris from Hurricane Katrina, plant marsh grasses and work on the removal of the very invasive Chinese tallow tree (popcorn tree).  The marsh is part of the gateway system protecting the open waters of the gulf from the shoreline homes of MS coastal communities.

Rebuilt Marsh in Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge

Last stop – West to Louisiana!  Tasked with planting over 20,000 grasses over two events (four days), National Wildlife Federation partnered with US Fish and Wildlife Service and  the Louisiana Wildlife Federation to make this goal a reality.  Just outside of New Orleans, Volunteers traveled to Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge to plant marsh grasses to restore lost habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife species.  This event almost fell exactly on the one year mark of the Gulf oil disaster. Ben Weber, NWF’s Oil Spill Response Coordinator for the Western Gulf said “Heightened public awareness, volunteer enthusiasm and support from NWF members is making a big impact.” On April 15^th and 16^th and over Memorial Day weekend, volunteers worked in high water levels on uneven muck and mud to space plants across the water five feet apart.  Mary Swantek who traveled with a group of 15 volunteers weighed in on her experience, “Working in the marsh just outside of New Orleans was a once in a life time experience.  We not only took an air boat ride to get to the work site but were surrounded by all kinds of wildlife, it was absolutely beautiful.  Crawling in 4 to 6 inches of water and planting marsh grasses was a bit intimidating at first but with adrenaline running high we were all there for one reason… to protect these lands and protect wildlife!” Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.   Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Having had the opportunity to organize and travel to work hands on at several of these events, this quote takes on a new meaning for me.  The level of commitment, enthusiasm, and dedication to wildlife and wild spaces from volunteers who traveled near and far to work with National Wildlife Federation is astounding.  It is indisputable that our hard work from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, to Florida made a difference to local habitat and wildlife.

UPDATE: On June 25, 50 volunteers planted 1,600 black mangroves in Grand Isle, LA as part of the the Gulf Coast recovery effort.

While following TV shows like Lost (yes, I am in love with Sawyer) over 6 seasons and staying up late to watch playoff basketball seems like the obvious best choice for weeknights, watching TV appears to have taken over as Americans’ #1 past time.  While I always knew that watching TV wasn’t exactly healthy, a myriad of studies suggest that the more you watch, the more likely you are to develop a host of health problems and die at an earlier age. 

The Journal of the American Medical Association published an eye opening study this week that made me question if I really should have hung in there for the 121 episodes learning about “the others,” spending 94 hours glued to the TV.  Researchers concluded that for every additional two hours people spend glued to the tube on a typical day, their risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases by 20% and their risk of heart disease increases by 15%. 

Sure I instinctively knew that too much TV is not a good idea, but are Americans aware that the increase risk of disease tied to TV watching is similar to those associated with high cholesterol or high blood pressure or smoking?  Across the globe, people spend more time engaged in this pastime than in any other activity except working and sleeping.  While smart phones, Ipads, and flat screens are certainly hard to resist, I refuse to be a couch potato and fall subject to a lousy statistic! 

While, Jeopardy, Seinfeld and Who’s Line is it Anyway will still be a part of my week (TV in moderation isn’t necessarily a bad thing now), I am ready to not only scale back on my couch time but get my nature on!  I am roping in family and friends to participate in Get Your Nature On by setting challenges and getting active and healthy.  NWF’s Nature Find makes it easy to find new areas to explore and by participating on facebook, I am able to compete with my friends while sharing photos.

In addition to the health benefits of avoiding my TV, there are all kinds of great mental, physical and emotional health benefits of spending time in nature.

The Get Your Nature On challenge is a project of OAK, the Outdoors Alliance for Kids.  OAK is a national alliance working to reconnect children, youth and families with the outdoors for their health and the health of the planet.  OAK’s Get Your Nature On challenge supports the First Lady’s Let’s Move Outside campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation.    

So join me and Get Your Nature On!  Let’s defy the average American sedentary statistic… I challenge you! 

Follow me on Twitter @PetersNY

Ten years later, the release of the film The Last Mountain brings to light similar haunting facts about the carnage and destruction inflicted on rural Appalachia, West Virginia happening today.  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  joins in the fight alongside residents of the Coal River Valley in West Virginia, who endure earsplitting explosions, extreme flooding, raining boulders that tear through communities, toxic sludge and poisoned water wells, life threatening exposure to toxins, and devastating pre-mature deaths.  

Roughly half the electricity in the U.S. comes from burning coal—one-third of that coal comes from the Appalachian Mountains. Yet there is a vast amount of mis-education about coal.  In the film, we are shown a school full of young imperiled children attending an elementary school coated in silica dust just below an impoundment holding 2.8 billion gallons of sludge.  Classrooms are filled with cancer and autism clusters that clearly defy statistical logic.  I couldn’t help but think about the irony that just weeks ago fourth-grade curriculum materials developed by the American Coal Foundation were distributed to tens of thousands of teachers.  The materials included no mention of the adverse environmental or health impacts of coal, presenting an unfair and unbalanced picture for our children.

So while the fourth largest coal company continues to blow up mountain tops for coal, we not only have local communities enduring life-threatening exposure to toxins, but the coal industry is using the classroom as a forum to propagandize kids on behalf of their product leaving out critical implications?  

As the future of the Appalachian Mountains holds great potential to harvest wind energy as an alternative, children have a right to know the full story on electricity production via coal burning.  Environmental and energy-based lesson plans and curricula should present a fair and balanced viewpoint and prepare our children for a complex and possibly perilous set of future environmental realities.

Learn more and get involved in the movement to end mountain top removal. 

The Last Mountain opened last weekend in New York City and Washington, DC. See when this gripping documentary will be playing in a city near you.

Take action against mercury and air toxins from coal-fired power plants!

Click here to view the embedded video.

1. Fueling with Electricity: Making its debut in early 2007 as a concept vehicle, in 2011 Chevy Volt is hitting the streets, and available for sale.  The Volt fits right in with the thousands of sedans cruising around every day, but has a leg up on the competition – it’s electric range!  Add to that, the sleek hatchback and large bucket seats and you’ve got yourself a must-buy which will save you money at the pump. 
2. Fill Up Options:  Charging from a 220-volt outlet (similar to an outlet needed for an oven or clothing dryer) it takes about 4 hours to fully charge the Volt. In case you want to drive from Los Angeles to San Diego without charging, the backup gas tank has a 9.3-gallon capacity. 
3. Drivability:  While I didn’t get the chance to test it out against the slopes of Rio, the new 2011 model has what it takes to give the driver a smooth and safe ride for both city and highway driving.  Sport mode also delivers a fabulous response from the accelerator (for those high speed chases, of course.) 
4. App-ability:  With standard navigation, Bluetooth phone, and a Bose stereo, the cabin of the Volt features first-rate electronics for all you techies.  The associated smartphone app also offers good connectivity and remote operation.
5. Information at Your Fingertips:  The Icing on the cake was definitely the futuristic LCD touch screen which not only shows navigation maps in 2D and 3D views but gives an interesting diagram helping the driver understand exactly the energy efficiency and the car’s lifetime fuel economy– something I’m sure Dom would have found useful while boosting cars. 

While I wouldn’t recommend any Tokyo drifting, the Volt definitely satisfied my need for speed with excellent pickup, a comfy interior, great sound system, and for the riskier drivers among us, excellent safety ratings. Plus, with rising gas prices, having a car which uses electricity definitely places it miles ahead of the competition. 

NWF promotes electric cars as part of the solution to global warming. Learn more about electric vehicles and the environment here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The U.S. Department of Education announced today the creation of the Green Ribbon Schools program, which will recognize schools that have taken great strides in greening their curricula, buildings, school grounds and overall building operations.

In a time when budgets are tight, the Department of Education is encouraging schools to engage in a creative win-win scenario – cutting expenses while using the school facilities as dynamic learning labs for students.

Here’s what Education Secretary Arne Duncan had to say:

“Environmental literacy is an important part of a well-rounded, world-class education. Through the Green Ribbon Schools program, we’ll be holding up schools that are leading the way in teaching science and in ways that show students the importance of developing clean energy sources and sustainable solutions for the environment.”

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley also spoke about the importance of environmental education and green schools to prepare Americans for the coming clean energy economy.

The effort to get the Green Ribbon program adopted by the Department was conceived and coordinated by the Campaign for Environmental Literacy (CEL), and the Green Ribbon campaign’s steering committee – CEL, Earth Day Network, the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. Green Building Council – worked for over a year to make this happen. Seventy-five national and state organizations also supported the push for the initiative.

We are excited that this federal initiative supports the work of the National Wildlife Federation, which has helped more than 4,000 schools go green over the last 15 years through Certified Schoolyard Habitats and Eco-Schools USA.

Stay tuned for more details about Green Ribbon Schools in the coming weeks…

Written by: Danielle Moodie-Mills and Jenna Peters

This week, members of the No Child Left Inside (NCLI) coalition traveled from as far as Hawaii, New Mexico, and Kentucky to educate their Members of Congress about the NCLI Act and environmental education’s role in strengthening America’s competitiveness in the global economy.  Our ultimate goal is to convince Congress to embed the NCLI Act into the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) which we expect Congress to move on this summer!

After a training session at the National Wildlife Federation’s National Advocacy Center in Washington, D.C., with policy experts from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Earth Day Network, North American Association for Environmental Education, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, National Wildlife Federation and others, we left for meetings on Capitol Hill.

Members and staff were excited to hear from their constituents on such an important issue.  I joined a meeting with the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education who shared  a story  about a child who often “goofed around” in the back of the classroom, but perked up when her teacher started teaching about things that excited her like the trees outside and how they help produce the clean air she breaths.  Environmental Education is instrumental in this type of systems thinking and helps to foster innovation in America.  It empowers students to see the connection between their subject areas, their daily lives and interactions with the world around them.

By the end of the day, about a dozen state affiliates of the North American Association for Environmental Education met with more than 25 Congressional offices to educate them about the NCLI Act and environmental education’s role in the global, clean energy economy.  Check out this video report from leaders of the Environmental Education Association of New Mexico!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The inclusion of NCLI in ESEA will substantially strengthen America’s education systems by:

• Incentivizing states to develop State Environmental Literacy Plans to ensure that every student is prepared to understand the environmental challenges of the future;
• Funding professional development for teachers to deliver high quality environmental education and utilize the local environment as an extension of the classroom;
• Improving systems and critical thinking through environmental education which aids in boosting student achievement; and
• Encouraging teachers, administrators, and school leadership to make time and resources available for environmental education for all students.

We hope you will join us in supporting the No Child Left Inside Act by taking action online and joining the No Child Left Inside coalition.