by Denise [courtesy of Blog for America]

To restore native rain forests and offset the effects of climate change, earlier this month The Nature Conservancy initiated an ambitious fundraising campaign to plant 1 billion trees in the Atlantic Forest on the coast of Brazil.  Through years of accelerating deforestation, the Atlantic Forest has been reduced to only 7% of its former size.  It takes the Conservancy just one dollar to plant one tree.  In the three weeks since the campaign was launched, the Conservancy has raised over $252,000 - enough to plant an impressive 252,000 new trees.  Restoring the Atlantic Forest with 2 billion trees over the next several years will reestablish a crucial carbon sink.  Won’t you join me in celebrating Earth Day by supporting The Nature Conservancy’s Plant A Billion campaign?  As little as $10 or $20 will plant a small grove of trees that will create a lifetime of carbon sequestration.  Please donate whatever  you can to this worthy and necessary cause.  It's quick.  It's easy.  Just click the picture below:

by Sharon Baseman [courtesy of Blog for America]

Nancy Skinner, a strong environmental candidate and a true progressive, is a talker and a doer -- and we need both in Congress.

For anyone who cares about the environment and slowing down the effects of climate change, Nancy Skinner is an ideal candidate. Nancy is running for Congress in Michigan's 9th Congressional District. In 2006, she came within 5% of beating 14-year incumbent Joe Knollenberg despite being outspent 7:1.

In 2006, the cornerstone of Nancy's campaign, in the heart of the auto industry, was to take away the subsidies being given to oil companies and to give that money to the auto companies to help them develop cleaner technology -- fuel cells, hybrids, etc. If this could be accomplished, it would help the environment, the economy and homeland security and would be a win-win-win. As we've seen the administration continue to drag their feet on solving the global warming crisis, this has become even more important, and Nancy continues to hold this position in her 2008 campaign.

by [courtesy of Blog for America]

The Story Of Stuff explains it to us very well. Our economy has shifted so completely toward consumption that only sweeping, fundamental change will help us halt and ultimately reverse the effects of climate change before it’s too late.

How do we recognize such change when we see it? Members of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network know the answer very well because they gave all of us an example on Saturday, December 8. See it for yourself in the video below.

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