Pictograph: “Cleopatra and her Dog,” Utah                                                                                (Mike Painter)

June 29, 2015

Dear CalUWild friends-

There are only two ACTION ITEMS this month, asking people to call their representatives in Washington with the requests that they cosponsor legislation regarding two of our longstanding issues: America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act and reauthorization of the Land & Water Conservation Fund, which expires in September. These are both important for the conservation future of the country. So if you haven’t made a call or sent a note, please do so right away.

The other big environmental news item this month was the publication of Pope Francis’s first encyclical, Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home, analyzing the various environmental and economic issues the world is facing. Despite climate change being the media’s major focus, that’s not what the encyclical is really about. Other sections deal with pollution, water, loss of biodiversity, an overall decline in human life, global inequality, the role of technology, and more. Throughout, the encyclical discusses the impact of these problems on the poor and marginalized, who can least afford to deal with them.

Besides linking himself strongly with the scientific consensus around climate change, Francis also says strongly that equating humans’ “dominion” over creation with total domination is a false reading of Genesis: “Clearly, the Bible has no place for a tyrannical anthropocentrism unconcerned for other creatures.” [¶68]

There have been strong positive reactions from many in the environmental community and from some politicians. However, business interests and conservative politicians and commentators have spoken out quite strongly against it, calling it religious meddling in politics. The fact that Francis criticizes the current economic system surely has a lot to do with that.

The New York Times today had a good analysis of the encyclical. The British environmental writer George Monbiot wrote an excellent op-ed piece about it in The Guardian: Why we fight for the living world: it’s about love, and it’s time we said so.

I’ve posted a PDF of the text of Laudato Si’, with slightly reduced font-size to reduce the number of pages, on CalUWild’s website for anyone who would like to read it or download it. The original, larger print version may be found on the Vatican’s website.

It’s well worth adding to your summer reading list.

Links to more reading are in Items 2 & 3, below.

Best wishes,
Mike

IN UTAH
1.   Red Rock Bill Cosponsor Update
          (ACTION ITEM)

IN GENERAL
2.   Land & Water Conservation Fund
          Expires in 100 Days
          Reauthorization Needed
          (ACTION ITEM)

IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
3.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

IN UTAH
1.   Red Rock Bill Cosponsor Update
          (ACTION ITEM)

The list of cosponsors for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, H.R. 2430 & S. 1375, is growing slowly. Unfortunately, there have been no more California representatives added to the list since our May Update.

To save space, rather than repeat all the information from last month, I’ll simply say: If you haven’t contacted your representative about cosponsorship, please check the lists here.

If your representative is on the first list, please contact them to say “thanks.” If they’re on the second, please contact them to request that they become a cosponsor, which they can do by contacting lead sponsor Rep. Alan Lowenthal’s office. A simple phone call will do, or send a note via an online comment form. Complete contact information may be found by following the links here.

A full list of cosponsors across the country may be found here.

IN GENERAL
2.   Land & Water Conservation Fund
          Expires in 100 Days
          Reauthorization Needed
          (ACTION ITEM)

Some of our California delegation is still missing from the cosponsor list for legislation reauthorizing the Land & Water Conservation Fund, one of the major funding sources for public land for additions and inholdings to existing areas, as well as for local parks. It comes from the royalties paid to the federal government from offshore oil & gas development, not from taxes paid by citizens.

As we wrote in our April Update:

The California representatives who have not yet signed onto H.R. 1814 are: Aguilar, Bass, Bera, Costa, Davis, Hahn, Matsui, Roybal-Allard, Linda Sanchez, Loretta Sanchez, Takano, Torres, Vargas, and Waters.

PLEASE contact their offices and ask them to cosponsor this critical piece of public lands legislation. Again, complete contact information for California offices may be found by following the links here.

There was an op-ed last week in The Hill supporting reauthorization of the LWCF.

IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
3.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

If a link is broken or otherwise inaccessible, please send me an email, and I’ll fix it or send you a PDF copy. Inclusion of an article here does not imply agreement with the author’s viewpoint.

In the New York Times

Utah articles

KQED takes a look at the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument proposal

Video links

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