Denver speaks out against Aerial Gunning

Defenders of Wildlife and Timber the wolf-hybrid showed up in downtown Denver on Monday to protest Alaska's Aerial Gunning program. Passers-by were able to pet the docile animal and sign postcards and leave their comments condeming aerial gunning.

Go Denver! Thanks for leading the pack (haha pun) on this one. Maybe you can teach those coyote killers up in Washington or the Croc killers in Florida a thing or two about understanding, accepting, and finding non-lethal and/or humane methods of managing wildlife.

The New Riding Lawnmower!

Okay, okay, so I actually got this in a joke from a friend of mine about a husband who's wife wanted a riding lawnmower, so he made her one. He seemed surprised that she didn't hug him and squeel for joy. But if someone made ME one of these, I would! It's awesome! Maybe we can start a new bike-mower fad and sweep the nation. I would maybe stop bitching so much about people watering their lawns if they used this kind of 'riding' mower. Maybe.

Also on my mind today, new cars. Chrysler is coming out with an awesome looking line of electrics, featuring a sports model, a luxury sedan, and my fave, the Jeep Wrangler. I have a wonderful vision in my head of a quaint little garage with my little electric jeep sitting out front, and a windturbine on the end of the roof where the old fashioned tv antennae used to be. Ah, a picture of America, as I'd like it to be. I'd wash my jeep in the yard so the grass would get watered and use only biodegradable soap. And hey, by the time these cars hit the market, proposed in 2010, I might be able to afford one. Of course Dodge said the Charger was coming out for YEARS before it happened...only time will tell.

At the other end of the spectrum I was appalled by a Cadillac commercial the other day touting the fact that their new Escalade Hybrid got a whole friggin' 20 mpgs! Wow. Twenty. You guys seriously need to step it up. It hurts me every day to drive my gas-guzzler. Help me get away from the pain, people.

Wild Horse Round-ups

From the AWHPC:

On Wednesday, May 20, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will conduct a public hearing to discuss the use of motorized vehicles or aircraft in the monitoring and management of wild horses and burros on public lands in Nevada.
Please contact BLM to protest the harsh practice of chasing wild horses and burros with helicopters, often over exceedingly long distances. Please also ask that what appear to be no-bid contracts to BLM's primary round-up contractor, Catoor Livestock Roundup, Inc., totaling about 18 million dollars (our tax dollars!) since 1996, be subject to review.
BLM's primary concern in round-up operations continues to be efficiency, to the detriment of the horses' welfare. Instead of helicopters, urge officials to use bait trapping, a much safer and more humane method of capture. BLM has refused to use bait trapping in such instances as the 2007 Jackson Mountain round-up, when 185 horses ended up dying at the holding facility due to stressed immune systems. Demand that limits on distances over which horses may be chased be enforced, and that accountability and penalties be established for round-up contractors who violate humane handling procedures.
The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. in the Great Basin A and B conference rooms at the BLM Nevada State Office located at 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, Nev.
To make oral or written statements to present at the hearing, contact JoLynn Worley at (775) 861-6515. Written comments can be emailed to: nv_gathers@blm.gov or mailed to:
BLM Nevada State Office,
Attention: Helicopter Hearing,
P.O. Box 12000,
Reno, NV 89520
and must be received by Tuesday, May 19 to be considered at the hearing.
For eye-witness accounts of helicopter round-ups, please click here.
The AWHPC TeamAmerican Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
www.wildhorsepreservation.org
Click here to join our email list and receive the latest updates.

Unofficial Climate Awareness Day

That's right. I'm making up my own environmental holidays now. Unofficial ones, of course. So today is my Unofficial Climate Awareness Day, because I just so happen to have a couple of climate change issues to share with you.

Earlier today I made a comment on the Environmental Defense Fund's Facebook posting of THIS great satirical look at a future after the effects of global warming.

I then checked my email and signed a petition for Defenders of Wildlife to urge congress to protect animals threatened by global warming, such as polar bears, pika, and Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep.

Next I went to the Sierra Club website where I can log a public comment concerning global warming and the coal and oil industries.

Now I eagerly await the slew of identical form letters from Roscoe Bartlette telling me he can't help me because he's an idiot - I mean because I'm not in his district. But I am. Idiot.