Join Us to Protect the Arctic Natinoal Wildlife Refuge

[melissinha]

Note sure this was posted anywhere, got this from a member of the local Audubon Society.

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW
- PERHAPS MORE THAN EVER –
TO PROTECT THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
JOIN US FOR ARCTIC ACTION DAY
The need to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas drilling has never been greater. We’re facing unprecedented challenges in the U.S. Congress, and we’re likely to face increases at the gasoline pump in the coming months that always spurs cries to open the Refuge to drilling. Add to that the enormously powerful special interests with politically powerful allies in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, and it’s clear we have our work cut out for us. And with the power of the White House behind them, determined to achieve things denied in its first term, specifically opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, your help to protect the Arctic Refuge is needed now more than ever.
Due in large part to the united voices of constituents like you across the country, we’ve kept the Refuge safe from drilling for over two decades. Ignoring the precedent you have helped set, the White House and its allies in Congress are moving full-speed ahead with their plan to avoid a fair fight on the issue by attaching drilling revenues to the FY06 budget resolution – the Congressional blueprint that sets funding levels for government agencies for the upcoming fiscal year. This is a sneaky, underhanded, back-door maneuver to avoid a fair and open debate on the issue.

We need constituent voices to unite again to stop this political abuse of power by urging our lawmakers to keep the drilling revenues out of the budget – and we’ve designated a day in March to bring that message to lawmakers across the country!

As part of the conservation community’s nationwide efforts to protect the Refuge, we’ve designated SATURDAY MARCH 12, 2005 AS ARCTIC ACTION DAY. On this day (or as close to it as possible), we encourage you to show and promote one of two documentary videos about America’s Arctic Refuge. One is called Oil on Ice, and the other is Being Caribou. These videos are tremendous tools for showing your fellow chapter members and people in your community what is at stake with the Arctic Refuge. Whether you choose to show the video at your monthly meeting, at your nature center, National Wildlife Refuge, in your home with five friends, the local library with 50 friends, or if you want to set up a showing at a local theater or auditorium for even bigger crowds, your participation can go a very long way to showing your community what the Refuge is all about -- and why it’s so important to protect it.

We’ll also provide you with activities to coordinate after the film credits roll: sample letters and petitions your fellow members and friends can send to your lawmakers urging them to protect the Arctic Refuge from drilling, fact sheets, talking points – whatever you may need!

What will all of these video showings on a designated day accomplish? It will dramatically raise the awareness in your community about the Arctic Refuge, and will encourage more people to take action to protect the Refuge. Remember, the only way we’ll truly win this fight in 2005 is with the active participation of constituents like you across the country writing and calling their lawmakers in support of protecting the Refuge.

Below is a description of the two videos. If you would like to order either of these films – FREE OF CHARGE TO YOU – and participate in this nationwide Arctic Action Day, please contact your Audubon Grassroots Coordinator at the e-mail address and phone numbers below. They will ensure you get all materials in time for your March event. Please be sure to specify the format you’ll need: VHS or DVD, as well as the approximate number of handouts, petitions and sample letters you’ll need.

Thank you so much for your support over the years for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Your participation is truly what has protected the Refuge from drilling for over two decades. We’re counting on your support again this year, perhaps as never before. After all, the pro-drillers will need only one victory in Congress to roll the drills into the Refuge. We will need to defeat their efforts every single time.

On behalf of Audubon Alaska, please know how much we appreciate your participation in this effort!
Audubon Regional Grassroots Coordinators

Catherine Grant, Director ([e-mail] - 202-861-2242) Alaska, Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont

Desiree Groves ([e-mail] - 202-861-2242) Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia

Judd Klement ([e-mail] - 415-999-9563) Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

FILMS (Please specific whether you need VHS or DVD)
Being Caribou (from the National Film Board of Canada).

Environmentalist Leanne Allison and wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer follow a herd of 120,000 caribou on foot, across 1,500 kilometers of rugged Arctic tundra. The husband-and-wife team wants to raise awareness of threats to the caribou’s survival. They let the caribou guide them through a wild and remote landscape, from the central Yukon to coastal Alaska and back. During the five-month journey, they ski and hike across mountains, swim icy rivers, brave Arctic weather and endure hordes of mosquitoes. They survive an encounter with a hungry grizzly bear that forces them to reconcile what it means to be a part of true wilderness. Hunger, fatigue and pain become routine, but the sacrifice is worth it when they witness the miracle of birth just meters from their tent. Dramatic footage and video diaries provide an intimate perspective of an epic expedition. At stake is the herd’s delicate habitat, which could be devastated if proposed oil and gas development goes ahead in the herd’s calving grounds in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Oil on Ice

In March 2002 Senator Frank Murkowski, held a blank white poster in front of Congress as his rendition of the Refuge to encourage the federal government to open the protected area to oil drilling. “Don’t be misinformed,” he demanded. Oil on Ice, an award-winning one-hour documentary about the Refuge and the controversy over drilling for oil there, unveils a very different picture than the image of a snow-covered and lifeless wasteland portrayed by Murkowski. The film is a visually stunning journey through a pristine land that is teeming with wildlife, enriched by centuries of Native American culture, and at risk of being destroyed by the invasive trucks, bulldozers and pipelines of the oil industry.

Oil on Ice shows how the fate of the Refuge, one of America’s last wild places, is inextricably linked to decisions our nation makes about energy policy, transportation choices, and other seemingly unrelated matters, while the culture and livelihood of the native Gwich’in Indians and the survival of migratory wildlife are caught in the balance. Because the film examines both the consequences of oil drilling and alternative solutions to our energy needs, it tells the viewer, “Don’t be misinformed.”