Not exactly a scary environmental issue - but scary nonetheless

"Well, that’s that. Reality-based Louisianans, it’s time to move out of the state."
That's how a post on Dr. Phil Plait's excellent blog, badastronomy.com begins. He is referring to the fact that our State Senate has just passed a bill that will allow the teaching of creationism in our classrooms. This news comes as no surprise after seeing some of the anti-environmental bills that routinely come out of Baton Rouge.

He goes on to state that, "Louisiana is screwed." Yeah we've heard that one before but this time the repercussions will be felt far outside of our borders and far into the future if this bill goes back to the House and passes, which it is expected to do. Why, you ask? Because by passing as Dr. Plait describes it, "an unconstitutional law to allow teaching fundamentalist religion in the classroom", we are opening a Pandora's box of lawsuits as well as national and possible global ridicule that will only cement our reputation as an ignorant backwater.

Religious "theories" belong in religion classes and schools. The doctrine of separation of church and state guarantees this. As Dr. Plait says, "Creationists are trying — and succeeding — in kidnapping the minds of other peoples’ children. This type of legislation must be stopped." It has been stopped everywhere else it has been tried, except here.

If you think that this law is a bad idea, contact the Louisiana Coalition for Science who is working to have this ill-advised bill killed. Since the Senate has already approved it, the next chance lies with the House. If the House approves it, it is doubtful that our right leaning Governor Bobby Jindal will veto it. If this law does pass, it will very likely be challenged in court. Then a large amount of our tax dollars will be spent by the state to defend an unconstitutional, fundamentally flawed law. Hopefully it won't get that far, but if it does, it will be challenged, it will be ruled unconstitutional and it will then be overturned. Hopefully. Just like everywhere else.

And we thought bad environmental bills were troublesome. Sometimes it feels like we really are doomed.

Here is the badastronomy.com post:
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/06/12/louisiana-epically-doomed/

The Louisiana Environmental Briefing Book is now available.

The Louisiana Environmental Briefing Book has just been released. It was produced to educate Louisiana legislators on environmental issues in our state that affect us all. Even if you are not in the Louisiana legislature, it is worth reading because it is chock full of timely information about environmental issues in our state that every concerned citizen needs to be aware of.

The Environmental Briefing Book was produced by:

• Sierra Club, Delta Chapter


• The Gulf Restoration Network (GRN)


• Coalition to Restore Costal Louisiana


• Alliance for Affordable Energy


• The Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN)


• Louisiana Bayoukeeper


• The Atchafalaya Basinkeeper


• The Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper


• The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation


• The Green Zone Task Force


• The Louisiana Audubon Council (LAC)


• MQVN Community Development Corporation (MQVNCDC)


• The Land Trust for Southeast Louisiana


• Say Yes to Clean Energy and No to Coal and Nuclear Coalition


• Mercy Corps

Read the Louisiana Environmental Briefing Book at the Louisiana Environmental
Briefing Book Website: http://labriefingbook.org/ or download the large PDF file (2.89 Mb). It's a huge file but well worth the download time, only a couple of seconds on a broadband connection.

Environmental Voter Lobby Day held in Baton Rouge on May 19th.

This event featured the kickoff of the the Louisiana Briefing Book (see above). This was an opportunity to meet fellow activists, learn about the legislative process, show our state legislators that we care about the environment and that let them know that we vote.

Louisiana's Mulch Madness

Cypress forests are the state's best defense against hurricanes. So why are loggers clear-cutting the last trees?

Dean Wilson slams forward the throttle on his 18-foot aluminum bateau—a flat-bottom skiff that he welded together himself—and catapults us downriver. It's April and I'm in the Atchafalaya Basin, the nation's largest swamp—1.4 million acres (roughly 10 times the size of Chicago) wedged between the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico in southern Louisiana... Read More>>

So begins an article featured in the March/April issue of Mother Jones magazine.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/03/louisianas-mulch-madness.html

Got You Tube?

The Sierra Club does. Check out the Club's You Tube page. You might even learn a thing or two; like how to install a programmable thermostat, or a low flow shower head or how to compost in your own backyard. Good stuff just in time for Earth Day.

Welcome to our new Senior Regional Representative

Sierra Club Friends – On behalf of the staff of the Sierra Club’s Southeast Office, I would like to welcome Jill Mastrototaro as our new Senior Regional Representative – Manager (Northern Gulf Coast). Jill will manage the delivery of our programs within the states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. She will begin her service to the Sierra Club effective March 10 and will be based in New Orleans, LA. Our office in Baton Rouge, LA will then be closed.

A native of Connecticut, Jill has also spent the past decade residing in the New Orleans, LA area. Over the past eight and a half years Jill has led advocacy and outreach efforts for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation in southeast Louisiana’s 10,000-square mile watershed.

Jill’s experience includes monitoring and lobbying state and federal laws including the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, spearheading a coalition to protect cypress forests, launching a campaign on sprawl using multiple media outlets, leading the state’s first effort to quantify wetland loss from unplanned development, and creating and implementing regional strategic conservation plans.

Her successes include leading a broadly based coalition in getting Wal-Mart to stop the purchase and sale of cypress mulch harvested or manufactured in Louisiana, thwarting proposals such as cell towers, subdivisions, or a 10,000-acre airport in ecologically sensitive areas, protecting already stressed waterways from receiving millions of gallons of wastewater effluent, and mobilizing hundreds of volunteers to protect natural resources.

Jill has authored a myriad of resources such as, A Citizen’s Guide to Protecting Wetlands in the Pontchartrain Basin, and more recently, Growing Smarter: Guidelines for Low Impact Development in the Pontchartrain Basin, which have engaged and trained thousands of citizens. Jill is the founding Vice-President of the Land Trust for Southeast Louisiana, the only grassroots-based, land conservation group active in the state, and she chairs the Land Committee, negotiating land acquisitions and to-date securing $100,000 in endowment funds. She also is working to create a regional Gulf Coast network of land conservation groups. Jill serves on the board of Smart Growth for Louisiana, a non-profit working to encourage responsible land use throughout the state.

She holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Policy from the State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, NY) and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science from the University of Rochester (Rochester, NY).

We hope that you will join us in welcoming Jill to the Sierra Club family.

Thanks!

Regards – Jim Price, Southeast Staff Director, Sierra Club