What we need is a good dose of love and charity and selflessness on the part of all Americans. It seems that Americans are so polarized that if you believe in the dignity of life and family and marriage than by definition you are a right wing republican that does not care for social justice and the environment. That is rubbish and until elected officials understand that, the country is doomed to failure whether republicans or democrats are in office. Obama and his cohorts in the house and senate leadership tried to push their radical agenda on a mostly middle of the road America and in their arrogance, got defeated. Do we need changes in health care-yes; do we need jobs for people-yes; do we assiduously need to protect our planet from drilling, dirty oil and coal, over-development, species destruction, etc--most definitely- yes . But I ask you, to do this, must we throw away what is good and wholesome--no. We must defend marriage and families, so under attack by the immorality of the world. We must stop killing our babies in the womb under the guise of personal freedom, we must stop euthanizing the aged and treat them with the dignity and love they deserve. As a country we should be allowed to pray. Those that hate God can put earplugs on for the 30 seconds it takes to thank God for the many blessings he has given us. Perhaps this is simplistic, but it seems to me that a small vocal minority has been trying to take over social and economic policy while the rest of us are too busy working, raising families, and trying to pay the ever increasing bills. The Environmental Movement would be far more successful if it moved to the center. Obama is in this for himself and his left wing agenda; he does not have the best interests of this country at heart. Show me a socialist country that has done anything good for the planet???

Good Lord...do any of you folks have real jobs or own businesses. You and your fellow activist have brought America to it's knees. Most households pay monthly utilities bills that are higher now then mortgage payments were just 25 years ago. Many seniors, disabled poor etc. can't afford to properly heat or cool there homes, businesses are at a competitive disadvantage because you folks decided to destroy the Nuclear Power Industry and refuse to allow more dams to be build which provide cheap clean hydro power, flood protection, and water for the people, fish and wildlife.

How many more African Children will die because you care more about bird egg shell walls getting thinner then you do about malaria, (DDT ban). After a million or so dead and 30 years of indecision, I see you have finally relented a little and have allowed netting with some sort of pesticide coating to be used. Shame on you!

As People and Businesses continue to struggle you folks just keep pushing for more regulation, litigation and control, driving up the cost of almost everything i.e. social services, health care, water, sewage, roads, electricity, housing, commercial construction, manufacturing, food production, schools, community centers, parks etc.

And you good folks can't figure out why the people decided to through your "bought and paid for politicians" out of power...it's not the big evil corporations you need to worry about, it's the people!

A lot of Democrats got defeated on Tuesday, and in general that's not good for environmental policy. But it's more complicated than that. Arguably, the single greatest driver of wilderness loss within the US is population growth (leading to the outgrowth of suburbs, draining of rivers and aquifers to meet water demand, and at the extreme end activities like mountaintop removal coal mining to feed an ever-growing appetite for electric power). An counter argument one hears a lot goes something like this: "What drives wilderness loss and carbon emissions isn't population, but lifestyle; if only we all just downsized our houses and took mass transit to work, population growth wouldn't be a problem". However, this is unconvincing on two fronts. First, whatever our individual environmental footprint, the more of us there are, the more space we'll occupy and the more we'll consume. That will be true whether we all live in caves or mcmansions. Second, that line of reasoning ignores quality of life considerations; if we could choose between there being 300 million Americans (roughly the current population) living in 2000 square foot houses, or 600 million Americans living in 1000 square foot houses, why would we ever choose the second option? What exactly is the upside of an ever-increasing population?

The connection with immigration is that, without it, the American population would be essentially stable (note also that immigrants tend to have larger families in the US than the average for their home countries, so immigration increases not only the US population but the overall population of the world). Almost all our projected population growth through mid-century will come from immigration and births to immigrants. This is simply a nonpartisan fact (courtesy of the US Census Bureau). So if we ended immigration tomorrow (all immigration, legal and illegal), we would instantly stabilize our population. From an environmental standpoint, this would be an enormous boon. But within the Democratic party, the current platform (represented by "comprehensive immigration reform" proposals laid out by the House and Senate leadership) calls for both guaranteeing illegal immigrants the right to remain here, and dramatically increasing legal immigration as well. With legal immigration alone running at over half a million per year, this is a very big deal.

The bottom line: if you're serious about environmental protection, you have to address population growth. Globally, that means increasing the status and power of women, and access to birth control. Domestically, it means reducing immigration. Period. So long as the Democratic position is the exact opposite, trying to pick the most environmentally-responsible candidate can be extremely difficult. But whether you're a Democrat or Republican, this issue can't be ignored any longer.

I feel like a junk yard dog barking at the passing parade! The environmental movement is impotent; too many nice people with good hearts trying to play a vicious game. We need new leadership. We need a political organization like the German Greens. We need an activism that demonizes the opposition. We have to play hard ball, not smerf ball. The Sierra Club is useless, Audubon has disappeared, WWF has its head someplace else, Nature Conservancy appears to be out of business. Nice Guys Finish Last, to quote a guy who was so un-nice he got kicked out of baseball for a year. We're finishing last and we won't do any better until we stop being so nice.

I agree with the comments offered by Trip Van Noppen. I heard Sen. Mitch McConnell's remarks on the news yesterday. It appears the Republicans are going to select the message they want to hear, rather than what the voters were really saying. I too am disappointed by some of the processes of the Obama administration, but I sincerely believe the majority of Americans want affordable healthcare, protection of the environment through clean energy, financial reform; they are are frightened by the economy, and therefore unable to wait for the Obama policies to achieve their stated goals. If I had a family, no job, and were in danger of losing my home, I might have voted Red too! The big question is "Can Obama bring these divergent forces together so that gridlock can be avoided??? It's like asking an enviromentalist "can you let the wolves wait while we help out the polar bear?" Obama tried to do it all at once--with disastrous results. Our role as protectors of the environment is to work with diligence and clarity to support moving forward. COMPROMISE has to be the name of the game!

You have to realize that you did nothing wrong in the election. We had two criminal people in Leadership the Speaker and Henry Waxman and rural America wanted nothing to do with them in power. They ask the Democrat Party to get rid them and they said drop dead and they just threw them out of power. They figured that they didn't have the power that they said and found that they did and the rest is history. They want nothing to do with them and would like them to retire and if they don't will try to place them in jail for a couple of years. The Democrats have learned their lesson the hard way as they figured she was all powerful and that group never really showed that much. She found out they had the power to enforce their decision and now they are crying because of it. If she is any position of power they will lose 2012 and there is a good Justice may bring criminal charges against the Speaker and Henry Waxman if they are still in Congress as President Obama can't have them there because he would lose his reelection chances. He would not help either one at all as he knows it is the kiss of death. So now you know what the reason for the loss and didn't believe the power of rural America.

You people claim to love the planet, huh? Well, how many Kids do you have? Overpopulation is the number ONE problem facing this planet today! THAT'S where it starts! If you have more than one Child, you're PART of the problem!

Still believing in "Trickledown" economics will only help restore the de-regulation of the criminals that ruined our economy as well as the corporate lobbyists who combined, really rule our "Democracy". The republicans will now enforce trickledown environmental initiatives that will once again do to the environment what they did to our economy.
Keep up the good fight Earthjustice!

I do appreciate what Earthjustice does and will continue to support you financially. However, I do offer that Tuesday's election results were sending a message that much of the population (including myself) do not like Pres Obama's agenda and the overwhelming intrusion of government into public lives. As former Pres Reagan so eloquently put "Government is not the solution; government is the problem."

Trip, thank you for your message, and all the good and hard work you do, and all the people of Earthjustice. "All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle." ~ Saint Francis of Assisi. We will stay bright and continue to light the way to a heathier, cleaner and sustainable life on earth. I am starting my career in college to study environmental studies this year, and I am willing to dedicate my life to healing the planet. Peace, light and love!

To previously submitted Anonymous, we are not "hostile", "extreme" nor "communist"...we are trying to preserve natural resources important for the viability of our communities. I suspect your thinking is why so many Americans voted against their best interest on Tuesday. On the one issue I know extremely well...coal ash regulation, we the people are absorbing the costs of doing business for what only seems like "cheap" fuel. The cost of "cheap" electricity in this country amounts to 50% higher cancer rates in areas around our 600 sum electric plants. It also means higher rates of asthma, lung cancers, etc. from air pollution also coming from these plants. In our area, it is an additional 750M/yr in health care costs that WE pay because we have not invested in newer technologies and moved forward as a nation on energy policy. I say THANK YOU to Earthjustice for all they have done on the Proposed Coal Ash Rule. For those who have not done so yet, go to the link on their website to easily make a comment by Nov 19th.

I and many others here in the UK were somewhat dismayed at the election results in your country. I just hope that the environmentally-damaging excesses of the Bush era can still be kept at bay. The talk about communism in the USA I find somewhat amusing; compare USA for example with North Korea and I think you will see the difference.

Here in the UK we too have had a change of administration with the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, it has promised to be the greenest government ever. Some pre-election promises have already gone by the board so I am not holding my breath! In this small island much is under threat.

Obviously many of my donations go to UK projects, but I have in the past sent cash for the defence of wolves against barbaric and senseless persecution in your country. I wish you all the best in the fight for the future of your wildlife and wilderness.

Keep up the good work, Earthjustice! At the grassroots we are energized, we are more experienced than ever before, and we are ready to fight any rollbacks the new Congress might attempt. First, let's get the omnibus lands bill through Congress, cementing the gains we made over the last 2 years.

Thanks for a positive message. U.S. voters apparently have little patience and a very short memory. The people they have just sent to Washington are not problem solvers; they are slogan-shouters and are not prepared to do the hard work of governing and dealing with multiple very complex issues. We are in for more outright mutual hostility and gridlock in our government and if anything positive gets accomplished in the next two years it will be a pleasant surprise. One does not usually select the least qualified people to take on the most difficult problems, as has just been done.

Consider the Connection to: www.pbckt.com/aY.8V1o Our ECONOMY, HEALTH, & PLANET are in the balance!!!
Web Search for me: CTC123GREEN

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR THE GOOD THAT YOU ARE DOING...

The major systemic problem for wildlife (which is just a killing commodity for state agencies) is that state agencies are funded by killing licenses as a main internal funding mechanism. We need GENERAL PUBLIC FUNDING of our state agencies to give us a chance at democracy. In Wisconsin, hunters and trappers have controlled the agency since state and federal agencies were set up by hunters and trappers at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th to monitor overkilling by market hunters who took out the passenger pigeon.
It is URGENT that we claim democracy in our greatest commons, nature and wildlife management. It is not just the great harm being done by slaughtering natural top predators for trophy and destroying massively mid-range predators for trapping, and farming the wild for unlucky "game animals" for recreation and trophy, but it is the GOOD that is NOT being done by not having the general wildlife watching majority involved, informed and participating actively.
Education is needed and focus on changing the composition of Natural "Resource" governing boards so that they are not dominated by killing interests and have fair representation by the 90 - 95% of us who do not kill wildlife and would like a safe walk in the woods.
We are far along in the destruction of non-human life on our planet - white nosed bat fungus has spread through 14 states with a 90% mortality rate, and is moving at 800 miles per year in radius. Bee colony collapse and invasive species, dying oceans and climate change do not bode well.
We need the citizens who have sprung up to be the fastest growing outdoor activity enthusiasts (wildlife watching) to wake up and get involved in their state and change the system so they also make decisions about wildlife. If you do not kill wildlife, you rarely have made a decision about it or our state parks, publicly funded lands, former wildlife refuges (now intensively hunted and trapped) or anything to do with our native commons.

Thanks for an upbeat message Trip.
Here in NY Andrew Cuomo has just been elected governor. He will have sole authority over the state DEC, and it's attempt to "regulate" horizontal drilling for 'natural gas'. He will also direct the state PSC (public service commission) in it's development of pipelines for carrying the gas to where it can be shipped all over the planet. (the pipelines will actually be paid for by our taxes, while the gas will be profitable to those connected to the industry, how familiar.)
In the next few days Obama will travel to India to sign an important natural gas agreement with that country, which is buying up large percentages of Marcellus gas rights, 40% I have read.
As mentioned by another writer here, I hope your work on the monitoring of unhealthy pollutants includes a special focus on the relatively new practice of high volume chemical hydrofracking of horizontal gas wells, which will soon replace mountaintop coal removal as the energy crime of the times. Astonishingly, this is still viewed by most as "a transitional" and "greener" fuel. Educate widely. Litigate hard. We will support your work. The oil and gas accountability project, OGAP, can help you with this, and all should visit their website for details.
Gay Garrison

Believe...
Take action at a local level, something we all can do. Yes, it still does seem uphill sometimes; however, at a 'greeting as one goes about daily business' it becomes touchable.

Thanks to all who give time and attention to these critical issues of our time.

Margie

You say we are hostile and you have setbacks. I have news for you the extreme left communistic wing was hostile and have created many setbacks. You guys need to take responsibility and act like real Americans. Obama is the worst president we have had in all of history. Communism has never worked why are you trying to wreck our country????

Tripp, as long as the Obama administration has a Secretary of Interior (and others) who are weak supporters, if that, of conservation goals, it will continue to be difficult. Better than the Bush days, true, but not as good as the promised "change" should have been. I do not believe the President fully deserves our (the natural resources conservation community) support in 2012 unless he can promise to become active in our concerns and willing to appoint fully supportive Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture.

Your message is just more singing to the choir. I like the message. You've already got me convinced. But those who don't share our environmental concerns are not hearing your message; or, if hearing it, are either ignoring it or are rejecting it.

The key issue isn't about what people want. That part is easy. The issue is that we aren't entitled to have it - clean air, water, poison-free products etc - unless we litigate for those rights. Otherwise, it is a gift granted us by 'greener' corporations whose citizenship comes with advanced privileges, Unlimited funds mean our paper citizens can 'vote' in elections through paying for advertisements and greenwashing. Similarly, much litigation occurs but sealed settlements leave the problems unresolved with more litigation bringing more profit to plaintiff's lawyers but no precedents to profit all of society. Defense lawyers and experts do well regardless of outcomes, so are happy to have endless debate on all issues.

Non-profit law firms are supremely important in order to set new policies under the law for commercial influence over our health and the environment. Most importantly, only litigation will enable us to redefine citizenship and limit it to individuals who have a beating heart instead of a prospectus. That will also eventually limit voting privileges to those who enter the booths on election day.

Barbara Rubin
www.armchairactivist.us

and we need to fix the CWA! Thanks for your wonderful work on this and other issues!

I am a big supporter but we'll not make any progress until corporations are knocked out from having rights like people and control Washington through their lobbyists.

On another front, Trip your belief in wind turbines is romantic. They don't work in terms of producing energy needed nor reducing C by transportation (trucking, shipping, air transport, defense, etc.). Where I live 86 huge, bird/bat-chopping turbines were located in the best habitat for migratory birds. This irrational trumping of other values is unacceptable. Do we industrialize our last wild places so that profligate energy users are satisfied?

Dear Sir;
I am concerned that Pennsylvania,(narrowly) elected Rep. Tom Corbett as Gov. He was helped in his bid by huge contributions from The Gas Drilling Corporations that are using Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale region. He has stated he thinks Regulation and Severance,(Extraction) Tax would hurt the industry. I did not see "Fracking" on your list of challenges, but I assume it will be given the highest priority as it has the potential to be the most devastating to our Land, Air/Water quality, and the Health of residents. Today I saw the film, Gasland, which I recommend to all concerned. Dean H. Marshall

Sad to say, there are those who care so little about the environment, but we just have to continue to fight the good fight and hope that all will some day realize what we are fighting for.

Thank your for your continued efforts, please don't ever give up. Corporations (foreign corps & our very own Chamber of Commerce) bought the midterm elections. Is anyone in your office working on legislation to change/negate this deadly new court ruling that has completely skewed elections to favor the out of control greed of large, under-regulated corporations? Do you know the name of any/all representatives in congress that are working on or have submitted a bill to counteract this ruling? If so, how can the general public help to make this change?

Concerned in Maine,
Dianne

Thank you for the letter. Here in California and also in Oregon, the news is better than in the rest
of the country. We must fight on...eventhough we are exhausted....the people who voted in this way...against their best interests....were bought by a few Billionaires. This to will pass. Change is
dependable in life. Bad times will give way to Better Times once again. Find something
beautiful and nourishing, appreciate and be grateful for that something, no matter how seemingly
small, and Never Give Up!
Thank you , again EJ.

Despite the onerously discouraging results of this election, Earthjustice is where I turn -- at 75, having been an environmentalist since college Wildlife Mgmt. major -- to stay informed and give what little I can still afford; even more deeply committed to our values.

Trip's comment that this was not a referendum on what the American people want and need is very well-taken. It is a clarion call to heightened action for public awareness and exposure of the damage that will continue until the people are sufficiently educated and truthfully informed. You can count on me as you continue your vital work. I may not have the time I would like, but I take heart that Earthjustice will continue as long as we have an Earth to protect and restore.

The news is devastatingly bad, especially here in Flori-DUH, where the voters, in their wisdom, by the slimmest of margins, put a criminal in the governor's mansion. While Rick Scott has not yet been sworn in, there is already talk about how life would be under his running mate, who is apparently as corrupt as he. With BP oil still washing up on beaches here, and Amendment 4 (that would have helped regulate development) defeated, I am finding it difficult to summon the will to fight on, but I guess fight on we must, until the bitter end. Thank you, EJ, for your tireless efforts on behalf of the planet. Now, encourage us, please.