tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198Thu, 08 May 2008 19:14:44 +0000http://healthygulf.org/blog/noreply@blogger.com (Aaron)Blogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-5063567621520059743Thu, 08 May 2008 18:48:00 +00002008-05-08T14:14:44.924-05:00Throughout the month of April, Aveda salons across the Southeast have been busy raising money for the GRN. The funds raised will support our work to protect clean water. Please visit your local Aveda salon and thank them for their hard work and commitment to a healthy Gulf. These are just a few photos from the hundreds of events that were held across the region: Joe Murphy of the GRN joins http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/05/aveda-salons-unite-for-healthy-gulf.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Briana)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-6937347909123982566Sun, 04 May 2008 13:17:00 +00002008-05-04T08:22:51.089-05:00Heading to Jazz Fest today? If you're there or in the neighborhood, keep an eye on the sky and check out our message to Shell, the sponsor of the event. We're going to have a plane flying a banner over the festivities, reading: Shell, hear the music. Fix the coast you broke! As you well know, Louisiana loses a football field worth of vital coastal wetlands every 45 minutes. Did you http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/05/heading-to-jazzfest-today-look-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-1701811557240888457Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:24:00 +00002008-04-30T12:05:08.358-05:00The Dogwood Alliance, an amazing organization that works to hold corporations accountable for the impact of their industrial forestry practices on the forests and communities of the South, is launching a new campaign. Read more in the following blog post from Dogwood's Organizing Director, Eva Hernandez. DOGWOOD KICKS OFF NEW CAMPAIGN AND WEBSITE Check out the new campaign website: http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/04/member-spotlight-dogwood-alliance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dan)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-726398644858247415Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:22:00 +00002008-04-25T11:50:48.026-05:00Army Corps ReformWetlandsYazoo pumpsOn Thursday, April 17 we loaded fourteen of us into a van and a car and drove up to Vicksburg for a hearing on the Yazoo Pumps project. Vicksburg is a 3.5 hour drive from New Orleans, so we were prepared for a long day, though I don’t think any of us expected it to be as long as it was. The public hearing started at 7pm at the Vicksburg Convention Center. As our group sat down, one of our http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/04/adventures-in-vicksburg-dumping-pumps.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jeff)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-2707381664971307965Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:19:00 +00002008-04-13T13:29:06.521-05:00I just got back from a public hearing on the Richton Salt Domes project on April 10, and the turnout was incredible. Somewhere between 250 and 300 Mississippi coast residents turned out to speak out against this destructive pork project. There were landowners, fishermen, industrialists, scientists, environmentalists, and many more people who wouldn’t fit into any category, but are concerned http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/04/mississippi-residents-take-stand.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jeff)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-3775372306145560508Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:52:00 +00002008-04-11T14:05:36.503-05:00 On April 1st Tulane’s Environmental Action League joined thousands of people around the world in a day of protest against the fossil fuel industry. Fossil Fools Day, organized by the Energy Action Coalition and a number of other international environmental groups, boasted protests, acts of civil disobedience, green job rallies, and a ton of media hits. In comparison to the people that http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/04/are-we-being-fossil-fooled.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-8957229056172264343Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:20:00 +00002008-04-10T13:09:42.142-05:00A quick update from Charlotte, NC for everyone. Yesterday, about 20 activists and I demonstrated outside the Lowe's Corporate Headquarters with banners and fliers calling on Lowe's to live up to their corporate environmental policies by no longer selling unsustainable cypress mulch. We wanted to make sure Lowe's employees knew about the destruction their company is causing and feel the pressure http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/04/successful-cypress-action-at-lowes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dan)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-2095478630368411860Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:00:00 +00002008-03-28T12:28:45.953-05:00Ok….I admit it. I’m the world’s most reluctant flyer. I’m a man of the earth and the rivers. I leave the sky to the birds. I usually find a reason to drive across the great state I call home, and across the Gulf region for meetings and gatherings. My GRN compatriots are well aware of my reluctance to enter the big metal tubes that shoot across the sky that fly from one uncomfortable airport http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/03/look-up-in-air-its-grn-southwings-over.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-7468525545987041473Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:54:00 +00002008-03-28T12:28:06.627-05:00Unless you're a frequent reader of this blog, or read about pogies in this recent coverage or editorial on the issue in the Galveston Daily News, you've probably never heard of menhaden, but this small, oily fish is one of the most critical components of the Gulf's marine foodweb. Some call them shad, or pogies, and if you're a fisherman you've probably called them bait. Whatever the name, http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/03/texas-protects-pogies-perhaps.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-7739252606166650317Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:43:00 +00002008-03-14T13:39:25.635-05:00Since its creation in 1775, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has constructed 11,000 miles of navigation channels, built 8,500 miles of levees and floodwalls, raised 500 dams, and deepened more than 140 ports and harbors. As is the case for most Americans, my very life depends on the abilities of the Corps. In a recent editorial in The New York Times, Alex Prud’homme wrote about how over a year http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/03/working-to-make-corps-more-accountable.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Matt)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-9174379119511506074Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:41:00 +00002008-03-11T09:45:16.120-05:00 We had an awesome weekend of outreach and advocacy on the Save Our Cypress Campaign, February 28-March 2, at the New Orleans Home and Garden Show. The Gulf Restoration Network is still working hard to stop Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot from selling this precious natural resource. You might ask yourself, why is an environmental advocacy organization that works to protect the coast going to a http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/03/saving-our-cypress-one-person-at-time.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amy Medtlie)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-65726719471469763Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:34:00 +00002008-03-04T15:33:41.029-06:00Ahh, pine straw in the flower beds. I knew I certainly wouldn’t find cypress mulch at Vivian Todd’s house, but it’s still nice to see sustainable alternatives to cypress mulch actually in use. Mrs. Todd is the incoming-president of the Magnolia Garden Club in Beaumont, TX, and she has been an outspoken opponent of unsustainable cypress mulch since she first started learning about it through the http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/03/texas-gardeners-choose-sustainable.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dan)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-4158225540533899113Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:23:00 +00002008-03-04T14:33:15.838-06:00Over 40 organizations in Florida have already signed on to the greater Save Our Cypress Coalition. Now we are making sure that Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart hear specifically from organizations in one of the states most effected by cypress mulch production. The pictures and the open letter to the retailers tell the story. If you'd like add your organization's good name to this letter, please http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/03/florida-groups-call-on-lowes-home-depot.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dan)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-6366116691089164029Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:10:00 +00002008-03-04T08:57:58.139-06:00FishHealthy WatersMember GroupsmenhadenSince the Magnuson-Stevens fisheries management act was reauthorized in 1996 as the Sustainable Fisheries Act, there's been a mandate for 'ecosystem management' of the fish in the oceans of the United States (this was reaffirmed with last year's reauthorization of the MSA). I think it's fair to say, whether you look at the North Pacific, the North Atlantic, or our own Gulf of Mexico - most fish http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/03/ecosystems-management-and-our-marine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-7940225098242848618Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:41:00 +00002008-03-01T13:01:28.507-06:00“I am sorry Universe but I just can’t take these Humans a moment longer.” Sad, but the book The Suicidal Planet makes one ponder such things. Though it sells itself as a book about preventing global catastrophe, the major focus is on the science, consequences, and lack of commitment to fixing the problem. Written by Mayer Hillman, Tina Fawcett, and Sudhir Chella Rajan, the Suicidal Planet is http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/02/what-would-planet-earths-suicide-note.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (CaseyDeMossRoberts)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-2274117369605949772Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:05:00 +00002008-03-01T13:04:40.896-06:00WetlandsCypressStudent Network Friday 5:00pm, the parades are lining up and the city becomes un-navigable. Of course, this is the time for our local and regional interns and student activists to coalesce at Tulane University to begin a weekend of grassroots organizing training. The local interns, Laney White, Mallory Domingue, and Megan Milliken, make it there along with a big crowd of interested students and our Tulane http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/02/students-united-for-healthy-gulf-mardi.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amy Medtlie)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-941861252467335083Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:54:00 +00002008-02-11T12:36:54.550-06:00Army Corps ReformWetlandsMississippiYazoo pumpsFebruary 1 brought some great news - The Environmental Protection Agency is initiating a veto of the Yazoo Pumps project. There are countless individuals and organizations that have worked to stop this project for too many years to count, and it has been a major campaign of the GRN. The Pumps project is unlikely to go away without a fight, and there will be much more work to do yet, but EPA'shttp://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/02/best-news-for-mississippi-wetlands-in_02.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jeff)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-8988072528667746217Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:09:00 +00002008-02-01T13:25:39.705-06:00Army Corps ReformMississippiYazoo pumpsarmy corpsOf the hundreds of projects we have come across, the Yazoo Pumps stands out as one of the most (if not the most) environmentally damaging. This winter over 1,700 GRN members sent comments to the Corps opposing the pumps. Wednesday the Vicksburg Post ran an article, where the Corps suggested that comments from people outside the Mississippi Delta carried less weight. It’s disconcerting that http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/02/corps-attemps-to-invalidate-publics.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stephanie)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-6519959272638117289Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:38:00 +00002008-01-27T17:08:51.409-06:00 Wind power is supposed to be good, allegedly a no brainer for environmentalists. The main reason for this support is wind energy has a very small carbon footprint which helps solve the global warming crisis. Currently scientists report that if we do nothing to slow global warming 50% of all species on the planet could perish by the year 2100. So, it may be confusing when people hear http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/01/wind-farm-controversy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (CaseyDeMossRoberts)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-232785144483049658Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:05:00 +00002008-01-23T09:37:51.793-06:00floridaNature CoastMember GroupsThe New Year brings with it ample opportunities to make resolutions and to ponder the road less traveled. There are the traditional resolutions to lose weight, get in shape, get more organized, and to manage time more effectively (all of which I have made for 2008 as well by the way). I want to propose, both to myself and to those reading this, that this year another resolution be considered http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/01/make-2008-florida-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-8716888661724280967Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:28:00 +00002008-01-13T17:20:17.295-06:00Army Corps ReformWetlandsHealthy Watersarmy corpsNatural Storm DefensesThe other day, I was looking through the New Orleans Corps of Engineers Website, exploring their Regulatory Department. This is the department that is supposed to enforce the Clean Water Act by making sure our nation's waters and wetlands are not unnecessarily harmed by those that want to dredge, fill, or develop them. However, it becomes very obvious that the Corps thinks that it their primaryhttp://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/01/permitting-coastal-destruction.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Matt)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-7098299970293907573Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:04:00 +00002008-01-08T12:34:14.617-06:00CypressI recently received a great email from Tim at DWY Landscape Architects, and I wanted to share it with y'all. It's an auspicious way to start off the new year, and this shows that the message and practice of cypress sustainability is becoming commonplace throughout the Gulf. "Dan, was just listening to Joe Murphy on WSLR and found your website. I wanted to give you some good news, as it may be http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/01/no-cypress-at-concession.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dan)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-7502469071619594236Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:52:00 +00002008-01-04T13:12:22.417-06:00ethanolDead ZoneI just came across this study released last November by the University of Illinois on corn-based ethanol in Illinois and the United States. Some of the components of the report are quite wonky, but the section on ethanol politics and policy was very interesting. As the author of the report, David Bullock, writes: “This irreversibility of bringing factors into ethanol production causes http://healthygulf.org/blog/2008/01/ethanol-politics.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jeff)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-6061307137377195965Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:12:00 +00002007-12-19T09:50:48.113-06:00WetlandsYazoo pumpsHealthy WatersOur members who took action on the recent Yazoo Pumps alert have all received a surprise in the mail. It seems that the Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg is sending a response letter to everyone who took action, stating that "project opponents" have been publishing misleading information about the project, and that the Yazoo Pumps project will actually improve the environment and lead to http://healthygulf.org/blog/2007/12/yazoo-pumps-and-corps-dizzying-response.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jeff)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849198.post-5006698020478939825Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:21:00 +00002007-12-11T12:54:03.563-06:00Mississippienvironmental healthsewageThis story comes from the Picayune Item in Mississippi and is just unbelievable. Apparently, a small wastewater treatment plant that serves a subdivision has been failing at least since Katrina. The sewage is going directly into a popular stream for canoing and swimming called Hobolochitto Creek, also called Boley Creek by locals. Untreated sewage can cause all sorts of illnesses from viruses http://healthygulf.org/blog/2007/12/sewage-in-streamno-big-deal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jeff)