As spring begins, I am keenly aware of the urgency the renewable energy movement is facing. Fracking is moving at lightening speed across the country and the world, poisoning water, air and, of course, people. Elected officials in Congress are doing their best to get the Keystone XL pipeline passed, even as tar sands spills continue to rear their ugly head.

The fossil fuel industry has the deepest pockets on the planet, and at times it feels as if we can’t beat them in this fight for a viable future. Yet, we continue to grow as a movement in numbers and strength. The coordination between people, towns, cities, states and organizations is impressive and essential to our capacity to impact the shift to renewable energy.

This video was made to inspire all those giving so much of their energy and time to this dire cause. After all, there is no Planet B. Just us and the choice to create a safe and viable future. I say, in the end, our passion will tip the scales away from dirty energy toward renewables. Let’s keep it up!

Our daughter Claire definitely falls into the category of picky eater.  Her sensitivity to taste limits what she eats, and I’m always trying to make the most of the food she’s willing to eat. One of those is pumpkin pie.  She loves it, and pumpkin has good nutritional value. On Sunday, we decided to try a different recipe than our usual.  I needed brown sugar, so I ran to the closest supermarket and picked up a pack of Domino’s brown sugar.  I felt my GMO radar go off, but nonetheless it was time for Claire and I to make a yummy pie, which we did.

The next day, I bought some organic brown sugar for future pies and felt better.  Yet I knew I hadn’t done any real research on GMO sugar, so I looked into it.  Here’s the scoop.

GMO sugar beets have been grown since 2008, though court orders have held back widespread use.  This year, despite a court-ordered request for an environmental review, genetically modified sugar beets got the USDA green light.  The go ahead was given based on a determination that GMO sugar beets are not a “pest plant,” i.e. a plant that could cause harm to other plants.  There was no assessment done on impacts to health, ecology or economics.   This, despite the fact that most Americans are ingesting GMO sugar on a daily basis.

Approximately 54 percent of U.S. sugar comes from sugar beets, and 90 percent of those sugar beets are genetically modified.  Now that sugar beets have been “cleared” of any wrong doing, you can expect even more use of GMO sugar in the U.S. food chain, as 85 percent of sugar in the US is domestic due to strict U.S. import tariffs on sugar.

The good news is that you can easily steer clear of GMO sugar if you make the effort – at least when it comes to what you eat from your own household.  Organic sugar contains no GMOs, but you don’t have to go with organic.  Sugar made from sugar cane, like Domino’s brown sugar, is safe from a GMO standpoint – as long as the box continues to say it’s made from sugar cane.  However, with regular processed food products in the grocery store like cereal, cookies, baking mixes, Jello, and countless other products that list “sugar” as an ingredient, the chances are high that the sugar is from GMO sugar beets.*

Come the holidays, with sweet treats galore at school and home parties, as gifts, no doubt we’ll be ingesting GMO sugar here and there (and rightfully enjoying the yummy baked goods before us!).  Still, the less, the better.

Ideally, the United States will get to the point where enough science is done to unequivocally prove that GMO sugar is doing serious damage to our bodies, our ecology and our economy.  Until then, buyer beware.  Sweets for the sweet are a lot sweeter when they do no harm.

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*A note to once again say that Trader Joe’s does not permit GMO ingredients in any of their brand products like cereals, etc.  They’re a good option if you are fortunate to have one near you.

Countries that have banned GMOs include Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Russia, Austria, Greece, Poland, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar and, for the most part, the Nordic countries.  Kudos to these countries for standing up to the biotech companies pushing these seeds!

Now, take a look at this map, which shows in red all the places where GMOs are thriving.

sott.net May 2012

That is one frightening visual.  Here’s why.

Even if you are in a country that has banned GMOs or put restrictions on their use, the GMO crops in the red countries will eventually invade every corner of the globe.  That’s because the insects and the wind will bring them there. It’s the exquisite natural process of pollination gone awry; a tragic twist on the brilliance of the Earth’s capacity to generate food meant to nourish and sustain us.

Organic farmers are already experiencing this seed invasion, which is both costly and criminal.  It’s the attack of the mutant seeds – genetically manipulated to contain bacteria, herbicides and pesticides yet deemed by the mad scientists who created them to be safe.  Knowing this is happening to our food supply on such a large scale makes me feel like I’ve entered…The Twilight Zone.

Biotech companies like the renowned Monsanto are pushing these seeds onto farmers across the globe, with no regard for the horrific consequences GMOs pose to human health – even when their own studies have shown that they in fact do pose a serious threat.  Here’s one example of many:

In 2007 a team led by Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini at the independent research institute CRIIGEN in France published a new analysis of a rat feeding study conducted by Monsanto with one of its GM maize varieties.

The maize, called MON863, was approved for feed in Europe in 2005–2006. The maize was approved partly on the basis of the Monsanto study, which could not be scrutinized by independent scientists and the publicbecause the raw data were kept hidden on claimed grounds of commercial confidentiality. Only after court action in Germany forced disclosure of Monsanto’s data could Séralini and associates conduct their analysis.

Séralini’s team found that according to Monsanto’s own data, rats fed GM maize over a 90-day period had signs of liver and kidney toxicity. Also, the GM-fed rats had statistically significant differences in weight from those fed non-GM maize control diets. The GM-fed females had higher concentrations of certain fats in their blood, and excretion of certain minerals was disturbed in GM-fed males.

However, all statistically significant effects found in Monsanto’s study were dismissed by the European Food Safety Authority in its favorable safety assessment of the maize. They claimed that the statistically significant effects were not “biologically meaningful”.

Not “biologically meaningful?”  Am I missing something here?

Biotech companies like to use these kind of vague phrases to dismiss scientific findings that are anything but irrelevant.  Many studies conducted on rodents have shown the negative effects of GMOs on the liver, pancreas, kidneys, immune system, fertility and gut bacteria.  Yet no long-term tests on GM crops or foods are required by regulatory authorities anywhere in the world.  The status quo is safe until proven otherwise.

Are we guinea pigs?  It’s looking that way.

And, with a significant number of former Monsanto directors, VPs, board members, managers, scientists, lobbyists, attorneys and consultants holding positions in the US government, there’s no chance of slowing down the distribution and planting of these seeds anytime soon.  Especially given that Michael Taylor, former Monsanto attorney and VP, is our current food safety czar at the FDA!

I feel like I’m in one of those Twilight Zone episodes where I realize what’s happening, and I’m screaming for help, but no one can hear me.

Why are we letting this happen?  Why is it legal to use these seeds when they have not yet been proven safe for human consumption?  Or for the bees that are dying en mass?  Why aren’t citizens insisting at a minimum that all foods containing GMOs be labeled?  Why are we not rising up to stop this insanity?

And it is insanity.  Where once food was grown in harmony with the Earth, now it’s about a transnational biotech monopoly and bought governments destroying the safety of the food we eat.  Food should make us healthy, not sick.  Don’t you agree?

Is anybody listening?

Yes.

Are enough people listening?

No.

Not yet.

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Thank you to Open Earth Source for their outstanding and thorough report on GMO Myths and Truths.  Click here for the full report.

For a quick understanding of the reasons why we don’t need GMOs, click here.

Lastly, you can go to the Non-GMO Project to learn about foods that are certified non-GMO.  Organic food, as of now, is understood to be non-GMO.  Trader Joe’s also stands by a policy that all of their TJ brand name products contain no GMOs.

I don’t remember what year it was when I first encountered fleece.  What I do remember is that it was love at first wear.  Its softness, warmth and lack of itchiness were a godsend to me.  Prone to being cold, I’ve been wearing it ever since, from fall through early spring.  I couldn’t image being without fleece – until last week, when I learned that it’s poisoning the oceans.

I’ve always understood that fleece was made from crude oil, the same toxic stuff that is currently warming our planet to an alarmingly perilous degree.  I hadn’t looked into the toxic manufacturing implications, nor how much energy it takes to create fleece, as I love it too much to dissect the relationship.  Then, in one of my Internet odysseys, I stumbled upon a recent study that links the microfibers of fleece to life at the bottom of the sea.

According to a recent environmental study, one piece of fleece clothing can shed close to 2000 plastic microfibers when washed.  These fibers make their way from our washing machines to the bottom of the ocean.  There, they are consumed by sea creatures such as clams, mussels and sardines, which are then consumed by larger fish that ultimately end up at our dinner table.  I could be ingesting my own fleece jacket while dining on my favorite mussel dish at Tapas Teatro.  And I could well be wearing fleece while eating.  Talk about six degrees of separation.

It turns out that the fashion industry is one of the worst polluters on the planet and that really all fabrics – synthetic and natural – contribute to the degradation of our environment due to chemicals used.   Still, the synthetic fabrics are the ones responsible for the non-biodegradable plastic microfibers that end up in the tissues and cells of fish.  So many of my clothes have synthetic material in them!  I felt terrible that I was contributing to further polluting our already polluted seas.

Another study took sand samples from 18 beaches across the globe and all had plastic microfibers in them.  Was there no end to ways in which we contaminate the natural world that sustains us?  And what would I do about my love of fleece?  Thankfully, I  stumbled upon some encouraging news.

I learned from an article by Marc Gunther that the fashion industry is not happy with the environmental footprint it is leaving and is proactively shifting the practices of the industry.  Started in 2009 by an unusual team effort involving the founder of Patagonia and the chief merchandising officer of Walmart, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition was formed.

The coalition includes more than 60 members including stores such as Target, GAP, Kohls, J C Penny, H&M and Hanes, to name a few.  In three years, they have developed a global sustainability index to measure and score products, factories and companies for both their social and environmental impact.  Their intent is to create “an apparel and footwear industry that produces no unnecessary environmental harm and has a positive impact on the people and communities associated with its activities.”

Though I’d prefer that the word “unnecessary” not be in that statement, I was really happy to learn about this.

Coming back to my own dilemma, I was now conscious of the fleece I owned and unclear about whether to ever buy my beloved fleece again.  I discovered that Patagonia answered this question a year ago.  On Black Friday of 2011, they took out a full-page ad in the New York Times  that showed one of their renowned, high quality fleece jackets with the words “Don’t Buy This Jacket.”

Huh?

The ad was part of Patagonia’s Common Threads Initiative, which asks us to think twice before buying something in order to reduce our environmental footprint.  The Initiative promotes 5 “steps ” in an intentional order:

1) Reduce what you buy.  Buy what you need.

2) Repair what you have.  Fix what still has life in it.

3) Reuse what you have.  Pass it on to others when you no longer need it.

4) Recycle.  Patagonia has recycled over 83,000 lbs. of clothing and gear since 2004!

5) Reimagine a world where we only take what nature can replace.

Patagonia offers repair, resale and recycling services to their customers as part of this pledge. I can’t imagine that every member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition is going to be as thorough as Patagonia in their dedication, but all signs point to the right direction for the fashion industry.  And if we as purchasers ask companies we frequent to step into this commitment more fully, they will.  When it comes to the mighty dollar, customer influence has an impact.

So will the fleece still be with me?  Yes.  I own plenty to keep me happy for a while.  I don’t wash it often because I wear layers beneath it that keep it clean for longer periods of time.  When I do wash it, well, at least I’ll be conscious of what I am doing.  Hopefully the makers of washing machines will soon come up with a filter that keeps the microfibers out of the sea.  It will happen faster if consumers speak up in favor of it.

Right now, as an activist and writer, I don’t make enough to worry about buying more than I need.  If that changes, I’m grateful to have come across Patagonia’s philosophy to keep me on the right purchasing track.  We can help take care of the Earth with the purchases we make and the lives of those purchases.  Everything we do matters.

Library of Congress

I recently received a mailing from a Native American organization asking for donations to help provide a Thanksgiving meal to some of the most impoverished Native Americans in this country.  The letter talked about giving them turkey “with all the trimmings,” and I thought to myself, there is an absurdity in this request that I can’t process.

The truth behind the first Thanksgiving is that the American Indians gave to the ill and starved Pilgrims with full heart. They provided the Pilgrims with food for sustenance and taught them how to grow food on North American soil. They officially welcomed them to Plymouth Rock, despite knowing that European slave traders were raiding Indian villages for a hundred years or so.  The Indians gave, as was their spiritual practice, and in return the European settlers decimated the native population in the name of divine providence.  Native Americans celebrating Thanksgiving feels to me like Jews celebrating Passover at Auschwitz.

Then again, who am I to judge whether or not it’s appropriate for them to celebrate Thanksgiving?  Some Native Americans have incorporated this holiday into their lives, though their relationship to it carries their own meaning.  It is an opportunity for relatives to gather, which is why my family engages in Thanksgiving.  We never formally give thanks for anything, but there is a genuine air of gratitude that we are together, even if we are an odd collection of human beings who live our individual lives very differently.

I’ve always wanted our family to have a more formal Thanksgiving ritual on gratitude – even if it is conducted in a noisy New York restaurant, as is our tradition.  But I’m usually focused on watching over my 8-year-old daughter and aging father while praying that my husband doesn’t get into yet another political argument with my Libertarian and Republican cousins – which he does.  By the time I am eating my food, I am so emotionally drained that I have no real appetite.  It would be nice if I could send my meal to the 94-year-old Indian woman pictured on the direct mail piece.

So why, I wonder, do I have such a strong emotional connection to the history of American Indians?  Is it because I was raised in the Jewish tradition and can easily relate to the atrocity of ridding the Earth of a particular people because another group of people deemed them unworthy?   Probably.  It also has to do with fact that I am a citizen of the US of A.  It is my country’s history, a history founded on greed and superiority, a history that is too often ignored.

The vast majority of European settlers had no respect for the native peoples or the land these Indians knew intimately and held sacred.  As eco-theologian Thomas Berry wrote in his extraordinary book The Dream of the Earth,

“We have won our battles with the Indian in the military-political order, in the possession of property, in the power to control the exterior destinies of the native peoples; but we have lost in the moral sphere to such a degree that we are ourselves amazed to discover the depth and violence of our destructive instincts, and this is not just as a speculative truth, but as the lived reality of our own existence.  That our deeds were sometimes done for ‘sacred’ purposes and with the highest cultural intentions is an irony that baffles any human effort of understanding.” 

American Indians lived on this continent for tens of thousands of years before the white man arrived.  They lived with a reverence for the Earth and the cosmos that permeated every aspect of their way of life.  To quote Thomas Berry once again,

“This communion with the natural world, understood with a certain instinctive awareness by tribal peoples, is something that we, with all our science and technology, seem unable to appreciate, even when our very existence is imperiled.  As Europeans on this continent, we have had a certain sense of ourselves as above all other living forms, as the lordly rulers of the continent.  We see the North American continent as divinely presented to us to do with as we please.  We were the bearers of the mystical something we call ‘civilization.’  The continent was simply there as an abiding reality that would by some inevitable law not only provide our basic needs, but also endure whatever affliction we might lay upon it.  It would sustain any amount of damage as an inexhaustible store of nourishment and of energy for carrying out our divine mission.” 

Storms like Sandy have proved otherwise, but I digress.  Sort of.

Perhaps the invasion of the continent was inevitable, but the way it was carried out was unquestionably horrific.  I find it astonishing that many Americans have a knowledge and deep empathy for the European Holocaust, yet have little knowledge of the American Holocaust.  Personally, I can’t let it go.

Hence, I find myself surfing the Internet for information on Hitler’s admiration for the white settlers.  I had heard that Hitler studied and reaped from the methodologies used by European settlers to get rid of Native Americans.  Turns out he loved the old cowboy and Indian stories, too.

“Since his youth [Hitler] had been obsessed with the Wild West stories of Karl May.  He viewed the fighting between cowboys and Indians in racial terms.  In many of his speeches he referred with admiration to the victory of the white race in settling the American continent and driving out the inferior peoples, the Indians.  With great fascination he listened to stories, which some of his associates who had been in America told him about the massacres of the Indians by the U.S. Calvary.

He was very interested in the way the Indian population had rapidly declined due to epidemics and starvation when the United States government forced them to live on the reservations.  He thought the American government’s forced migrations of the Indians over great distances to barren reservation land was a deliberate policy of extermination.  Just how much Hitler took from the American example of the destruction of the Indian nations is hard to say; however, frightening parallels can be drawn. For some time Hitler considered deporting the Jews to a large ‘reservation’ in the Lubin area where their numbers would be reduced through starvation and disease.”  (James Pool, Hitler and His Secret Partners, pgs. 273-274)

Scary stuff.  Picturing Hitler running around the house in a cowboy outfit yelling “Yee ha!” is a thought I could live without.

As I read about Hitler’s love of cowboys and Indians (and extermination), I thought about what it would be like if I brought this up on Thanksgiving.  I can see my family looking at me with confusion.  “Why is she bringing this up?  Why does she think about these things?  Stop thinking so much and enjoy Thanksgiving!  How’s the turkey?” – a worthy perspective in its own right.

Truth be told, I will enjoy being with my family, even if it’s hard to have a reasonable conversation at a long rectangular table in a restaurant, even if the history behind Thanksgiving makes the holiday a disturbing one to me.  In the present context, it is about celebrating family, connection and abundance in all its forms – something Native Americans have always honored, even in the face of the devastation their people and culture has endured.

Still, I don’t feel comfortable giving money to impoverished Native Americans for a Thanksgiving meal “with all the trimmings.”  It feels weird.  I think instead I’ll give money to them for more enduring issues such as providing daily food; preserving their culture; supporting efforts to educate Americans on Native American history and culture; and stopping the environmental genocide they are being subjected to with the tar sands, uranium mining and other ecological atrocities.

The indigenous peoples of this country were and are a culture that practices daily acts of gratitude – for the abundance provided by heaven and Earth.  They are the original “thankers.”  And though the once-a-year holiday of Thanksgiving serves a meaningful purpose, it is a gift to be reminded that the acts of daily life are what count the most.

May we feel grateful each day.  A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to one and all.

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This year, I will be giving to the Indigenous Environmental Network.  IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues.  IEN’s activities include building the capacity of Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect their sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both their people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.

Even the little plastic people have had it with fracking.

Another Halloween has come and gone. After hopping from house to house in a celebratory frenzy, our little Ninja Claire came home, plopped on the living room rug and began the ritual carried out for generations: the sorting of candy. I remember doing it myself as a kid, with great excitement, wondering if I had more Sugar Babies this year than last. For Claire, it’s Nerds, Dots and Laffy Taffy that top her list. Twizzlers, too. Watching her sort with joy and precision, I pushed down the sadness and confusion I felt, knowing how happy she is to have all this candy. Knowing it’s all made with genetically modified corn syrup.

I don’t want to dampen her sunny spirits with my concerns or deprive her of confections that give her such happiness. I don’t want her not participating in this sweet indulgence that all her friends partake of. She knows to an extent what genetically modified food is, that it’s not good for her. She knows that it’s in candy. And together we’ve decided that moderation is the key, so she’s fine with one piece a day. I’m proud of her restraint.

So one piece a day it is for a short while, but this doesn’t sit easily with me, because I don’t trust GMOs. Because the FDA does not test for the safety of GMOs, instead relying on the biotech companies that create them to determine if they are safe. Because I know that the dose is not the poison and that children are much more vulnerable. Because studies show it may be affecting her immune systems in ways that may be irreversible.

As of right now about 85 percent of the corn grown in the United States is genetically engineered to either produce an insecticide or to survive the application of herbicide. GM corn is equipped with a gene from soil bacteria called Bt or Bacillus thuringiensis. This produces the Bt-toxin in the corn, an insecticide that breaks open the stomach of certain insects and kills them.

If this stuff is engineered to get into the gut of bugs and kill them, what is it doing to children who ingest it? Companies like Monsanto say nothing at all. Yet, in a recent study in Canada, the Bt-toxin showed up in 93 percent of maternal blood samples, 80 percent of fetal blood samples and 69 percent of non-pregnant women blood samples. Some discredit this study and other studies that raise concerns about the effects of GMOs. Some say we need to be paying serious attention to them.  I tend toward paying attention to them.

Yet I stuck a Laffy Taffy in her lunch today as requested, along with a prayer that I am not doing her harm. What kind of mother am I? I feel so conflicted, dancing between GMO knowledge and a kid’s right to enjoy candy. It’s really the only GMO food she eats. I’m an organic mom for the most part when it comes to the food I feed Claire, but I trip over the candy. I can’t face telling her that it’s poison when it’s candy, something so fundamental to childhood. Maybe the little she has won’t have an effect on her.

Maybe.

I should be like the moms who say no to GMOs all the way. But I can’t seem to do it. I don’t want Claire to feel deprived of such a basic childhood pleasure. I can only hope that this isn’t a decision I will later regret. It sure does take a bit of the happy out of Halloween.  And puts the scariness back into it.

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For more information on GMOs, go to the Institute for Responsible Technology

The next day I watched the speech on YouTube.  Toward the end, Michelle spoke about who she was first and foremost amidst the many roles in her life.  It was the only noticeable moment where tears filled her eyes.

“And I say all of this tonight not just as First Lady and not just as a wife. You see, at the end of the day, my most important title is still ‘mom-in-chief.’ My daughters are still the heart of my heart and the center of my world.”

As I listened to her, my eyes filled with tears, knowing that I, too, am first and foremost a mom-in-chief to a daughter I love more than words could ever convey.  I was moved to tears by that extraordinary love and a future my daughter and all children will be inheriting – a future that I’m not feeling very good about.

Granted the future has always and will always carry with it burdens and responsibilities that the next generation must take on when they have grown.  But when it comes to poisoning water and air, the adults in this world right now have a responsibility to stop that poisoning.  And right now fracking is at the top of the culprit list.

The natural gas extraction process known as fracking is poisoning children – and parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends – as I write.  The toxic chemicals being injected into the Earth to extract the gas are contaminating people’s drinking/bathing water and air.  It’s a fact.

Just ask the people who are suffering from the effects right now.

Like Stacey Haney of Washington County, PA.  As Frack Check WV reported, the Haneys leased their land for natural gas extraction, having been told by the industry it was safe.  But it wasn’t.  With an active drill site and seven-acre impoundment pool near their home, which holds fracking wastewater, problems soon became apparent. Stacey’s dog and goat with two young died. Her horse became sick.

Her son was twice hospitalized with stomach pain, nausea, fatigue and mouth ulcers, forcing him to remain out of school for a year and a half.  Stacey and her daughter experienced similar symptoms. Both were tested for arsenic poisoning. Stacey suffered high levels and her daughter lower levels of arsenic poisoning – a direct result of fracking contamination.  The gas industry took no responsibility for this atrocity.  It’s their modus operandi.

This is but one of hundreds of horrific stories.  And though science may be lagging behind in “officially” validating the public health effects of fracking, the human stories make it absolutely clear that fracking poisons people.

With fracking being conducted in 34 states and currently tearing through Ohio and Pennsylvania toward New York at lightening speed, we have got to hit the brakes.  And First Lady Michelle Obama may well be a key to getting into the driver’s seat.

So says Angela Monti Fox, founder of The Mothers Project, a global-grassroots organization powered by the voices of mothers, dedicated to protecting children in global communities.  Angela, the mother of Josh Fox, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland,  and her board of trusted advisors are passionate, informed and intent on giving a voice to children who cannot vote and do not have a say in public policy.

From the The Mothers Project mission statement:

As their advocates and protectors, we support energy sources that do not fill our children’s environment—and thus their bodies—with toxic pollutants. Recognizing that our children’s lives are inextricably bound to the abiding ecology of the planet, we support energy sources that do not threaten the stability of the world’s climate, acidify its oceans, or fill the air with asthma-inducing, cancer-causing fumes. As mothers are the first environments for our children, we mothers support energy sources that do not threaten the inner sanctuaries of pregnancy with chemicals linked to birth defects, preterm birth and cognitive deficits.

As such, we support immediate, full-scale investments in renewable energy and oppose all forms of extreme fossil fuel extraction.

I’ll second that.

Because Angela’s children and grandchild all live in areas where fracking now poses serious dangers – in Pennsylvania, California and England – and she herself in New York state, which is now teetering on lifting their moratorium on fracking, she is particularly attuned.  She is also keenly aware that it is an all-out assault on a global scale.

The Mothers Project was launched by way of a full-page letter to Michelle Obama in the New York Times on Mother’s Day of this year, urging her to tune in to the grave impact fracking is having on children and their families.

…because children are more vulnerable than adults to toxic exposures, and because parents are charged with keeping children safe and providing for their future, we, the undersigned mothers, have joined with scientists, pediatricians, and public health officials in calling for a moratorium on fracking until the potential effects on children’s health and the environment can be carefully studied.

The Letter goes on to say,

Our appeal is simple and fundamental to our role as mothers. We do not want children drinking milk from cows grazing on chemically contaminated pastures. We do not want children breathing benzene on school playgrounds. We do not want convoys of water and gravel trucks sharing the roadways with school buses. Nor with teenagers learning to drive. Nor with kids on bicycles. We do not want children used as subjects in a reckless experiment whose long-term consequences and cumulative impacts are not yet understood.

Angela and the many mothers who have signed the letter hope that Michelle Obama “will be the Eleanor Roosevelt of the 21^st Century,” influencing President Obama on critical issues he is not yet addressing.  As ‘Mom-in-Chief” it would seem Michelle, once informed, would not be one to turn away from the truth behind fracking.

I say, as many others are saying, it will be the rising up of women’s voices and actions that will turn this world around.  We are living at such a critical level of toxic saturation that it has reached a point of absurdity.  Clean water and air are essential to life.  With clean, renewable energy available to support and sustain us without poisoning our bodies and our world, the choice is clear.

The Mothers Project is intent on gathering 1 million signatures.  When they do, there will be a public presentation of the letter to the First Lady at the White House.  Will you join this global effort and sign it?  The sooner we get the full attention of Michelle Obama, the better.

Click HERE to sign the letter.  Ask others to sign!

The love for our children is like no other, their innocence precious and vulnerable.  We owe it to them to turn the tide of pollution around to a future that is safe and promising.  How can we do anything less?

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** Michelle Obama photo by Stan Honda/Getty Images

At the Frack Attack rally, I caught Josh Fox talking on the sidelines.  I am always in awe of his capacity to communicate.  He is articulate, accessible, compelling, funny, genuine and spot on.  The anti-fracking movement is so fortunate to have him as an international spokesperson, though his film Gasland is clearly one of the main reasons the movement exists.

In this clip, he explains how our country is literally getting eaten up by our addiction to fossil fuels.  I’ve known this for a while now, but as he was explaining it, it hit me differently, perhaps because I was at the rally in the front of the Capitol with people from all over this country that have been personally affected by fracking in horrendous ways.  Whatever the reason, I could literally see our country getting eaten up, and it fueled my fire to continue fighting to extinguish the madness.

Clean energy is our only chance for a viable future.  Our only chance.