-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Ralph Nader's letter to the Sierra Club Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2000 00:52:10 -0500 (CDT) From: "THOMAS PALAZZOLO" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: ? To: undisclosed-recipients:; Please distribute widely. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 2:26 PM Subject: Ralph Nader's letter to the Sierra Club [I have reproduced here only the first few paragraphs of this long letter. Please visit the web address below for the full text...] http://votenader.org/press/000608scletter.html Ralph Nader's letter to the Sierra Club Carl Pope Executive Director Sierra Club Dear Mr. Pope: Thank you for the opportunity to address the Sierra Club's concerns, which have such an important bearing on the future of this world. At stake in the coming years is no less than the natural commonwealth that sustains all life. Over the past 20 years, we have lost significant opportunities to protect human health, to create a more prosperous, yet less wasteful economy, and to expand the progress we have made in safeguarding the biosphere. In particular, the current Administration, which offered such great initial promise for the advancement of environmental protection, has largely bowed to the will of entrenched big business interests at the expense of human health, biodiversity and the environment. We have lost nearly eight years, time we could ill afford to waste, given the planet's pressing environmental challenges. Not only has this crucial time been lost, but the current Administration has actually made matters worse by giving the nod to big business in several key areas: global trade, energy, natural resources, agriculture, and biotechnology. Corporate-managed global trade, fervently promoted by President Clinton and Vice-president Gore, seriously threatens the world environment because it entails the single-minded pursuit of short-term profit at the expense of long-term ecological life support systems. Our national energy policy is dismally outdated considering the projected advancements of twenty-five years ago. Antiquated technology continues to threaten human health, natural resource supply and the biosphere, not to mention long-term prosperity. Forests in the United States and worldwide are threatened as never before, despite obvious practical alternatives to wood fiber. Small scale agriculture is being squeezed out by urban sprawl and giant, vertically-integrated agribusiness corporations. Despite the seriousness of these problems, given the requisite political will, they are surmountable. Unfortunately, our politicians-kept afloat by empty rhetoric and corporate campaign contributions -undermine clear solutions to the problems raised in your letter (among many more) because as campaign cash has poured in, their integrity has drained away. Historically, our government has protected our environment in the United States in response to vigorous citizen action. It is imperative, then, that we encourage and nurture this long-standing American tradition. Yet over the last two decades, our elected representatives have increasingly turned deaf ears to the hard work of citizen activists while furthering the agenda of big political patrons-oil, chemical, mining, timber, biotechnology and other industries-at the expense of our air, soil, water and the living world. We must reverse this trend and reinvigorate our citizen democracy to implement solutions of which we are all aware, rather than pin our hopes on politicians indentured to big business and its allies. To this end, I have entered the political arena. I hope your questions and my responses, which follow, stimulate broader and better environmental thinking by candidates for all elected offices. <snip> This is the [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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