Oil Drilling Could Be Coming to the Doorstep of the US’s Newest National Park – February 28, 2013

Firm plans to explore for heavy crude on the edge of Pinnacles National Park

On Monday, February 11, hundreds of people — including Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Congressman Sam Farr — gathered together to celebrate the creation of the United States’ newest national park, Pinnacles. An unusual outcropping of volcanic rock spires rising from the oak savannah of the California Coast Range, Pinnacles is a 27,000-acre wildlands preserve that is home to foxes, badgers, eagles, and an estimated 31 California condors, a species once on the edge of extinction that has now rebounded thanks to a decades-long recovery campaign. 

Photo by Miguel VieiraAn unusual outcropping of volcanic rock spires rising from… more

by: Jason Mark

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A Reporter’s Notebook from Forward on Climate Rally – February 19, 2013

Scenes from the largest climate change demonstration in the US to date

A more formally organized story on the Forward on Climate rally and the prospects for climate action in Obama’s second term will appear in the March?April? edition of The Progressive.

Photos by Bora Chung/350.org"The fact that, finally, there is this national mobilization is a big step forward. It’s a
sign of maturity," says longtime peace and social justice activist Ted Glick.

1. The Kids Are Alright

For the staff at the W Hotel in Washington DC, it must have seemed like the world had turned upside down. The posh hotel across the street from the Treasury Department is usually… more

by: Jason Mark

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Environmental Leaders Stage Civil Disobedience Protest at White House – February 13, 2013

Sierra Club ED and former chair of NAACP among those arrested while calling on Obama to take strong action on climate (updated)

This article has been slightly modified for accuracy since its original posting. A version of this story also appeared at The Progressive.

Determined to push President Obama to translate his inspiring inauguration address rhetoric on climate change into bold policy actions, dozens of environmental leaders and their allies on Wednesday were arrested in front of the White House.

The carefully choreographed civil disobedience demonstration closely resembles the August 2011 wave of White House protests during which more than 1,200 people were arrested as they called on Obama to deny the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Participants, most dressed in business attire, sat down on Pennsylvania Avenue and waited… more

by: Jason Mark

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REI CEO Nominated to Become Next Interior Secretary – February 6, 2013

Sally Jewell combines business background with a passion for wilderness

Two weeks ago Sally Jewell, the longtime CEO of gear company REI, was working the room at the bi-annual Outdoor Retailers Trade Show in Salt Lake City. Today she’ll be working the State Dining Room at the White House when President Obama nominates her to replace Ken Salazar as the Secretary of the Interior.

Fortune Live Media photo

Jewell’s selection to head the Interior Department, though rumored by Politico last week, is unexpected. Since most of the public lands managed by the department are in the West, the position often goes to a Westerner, making… more

by: Jason Mark

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Sierra Club to Embrace Civil Disobedience – January 23, 2013

For the first time in its 120-year history, group’s board gives OK for breaking the law

When Mike Brune landed in the executive director’s chair at the Sierra Club just about three years ago exactly, I wondered whether he would be able to bring a new fighting spirit to the United States’ oldest environmental organization.

The history of social progress in America gives civil disobedience a
special resonance. In his 1849 essay, "On the Duty of Civil
Disobedience" Henry David Thoreau argued that people should not
permit governments to overrule their consciences and enable it to
make them the agents of injustice.

It looks like the answer is Yes.

In an article posted yesterday… more

by: Jason Mark

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