Action that can be taken if you feel like making a statement.

 

Tie a Green Ribbon

 

Unite Around the Arctic Refuge

 

America's Arctic Refuge is in danger. This week, oil interests came one step closer to ruining the wild coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with sprawling oil development. In a backdoor scheme cooked up by drilling proponents, the U.S. Senate has included language in the Federal Budget that could remove protections prohibiting oil development in the biological heart of the Refuge. But the fight is far from over!

 

Make a statement today. Show your solidarity for America's Arctic Refuge with a visible symbol -- a green ribbon. Tie it in your yard, hang it on your home, pin it on your clothes or wear it around your wrist. Then pass it on. Give ribbons to your friends and family.

 

Millions of Americans feel strongly about this issue -- and together we will NOT be ignored. Show your support until Congress assures us that the Arctic Refuge is safe from oil drills.

 

Why This Will Work

 

Millions of Americans have made it plain that they want the Arctic Refuge protected and yet some members of Congress continue to ignore us. It's time to step up the pressure.

 

When your Members of Congress come home for recess they will see green ribbons on every street. Strangers who know nothing about the Arctic Refuge will ask about your ribbon and you'll tell them. Soon green ribbons will be tied in neighborhoods across the country, news media in every state will take notice, and Congress will not be able to ignore us.

 

We are counting on YOU to spread the word. Forward this message to your friends and family. Then buy a spool of ribbon and hand out ribbons to everyone you know -- at work, at church, and everywhere you go! It's easy!

 

Stand up for wildlife and America's wild places and tell oil interests that they have crossed the line. Don't sit quietly while our wild heritage is sold to Big Oil.

 

 

Political Update

The House passed its Budget measure last night, 218-214. It did not include any explicit language about Arctic oil drilling. But it does contain instructions to other committees that create a loophole for drilling language to be included. The extremely close nature of the vote offers hope to conservationists as responsibility for the budget moves to a House/Senate conference committee.

Both the Senate and the House have left for a two-week spring recess, returning to work April 4th .

 

During recess, congressional staff members will begin preparing for the Budget Conference Committee, a process that reconciles differences between the House and Senate Budget bills in order to present a single Budget for a final vote by both houses.

 

Arctic activists are planning events in several, targeted home districts. The political message during this time: Please vote against any conference report that would instruct committees to pass Arctic drilling as part of the Budget bill.

What You Can Do

 

Wear your green ribbons, and decorate freely with them. Make an appointment with your member of Congress and Senators and carry them the message that the Budget conference bill must not contain language that would open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling.

 

Words to Inspire

"The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen."
- Sarah Brown