Action Alert: Protect our Land and Water

BACKGROUND:

The LWCF was established in 1965 to protect America’s Great Outdoors, using royalties paid by oil companies to the government to fund the conservation of natural resources. Yet, since its inception, the Fund has never received sufficient appropriations. Even though there's been more than enough oil revenue for the LWCF at no cost to the American taxpayer, Congress has failed to use that money for its intended purpose (its recent low in appropriated funding was just $138 million, less than one-sixth of what it could be). Over the years the Fund has been shortchanged by some $17 billion – a huge loss for our communities, and for Creation.

Fortunately, this July, the House of Representatives passed the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic (CLEAR) Act, which includes full funding for the LWCF. Now we are waiting to see whether it will also pass in the U.S. Senate. We need your Jewish Energy to push for continued inclusion of full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund as the bill moves forward by taking action today!

JEWISH PERSPECTIVE:

COEJL works with numerous Jewish agencies and all major denominations with this notion as its mission: “protecting Creation from generation to generation.” As part of Creation, our land and water have the capacity to nourish or to vanquish each one of us, regardless of how we vote. We humans (Hebrew adam) come from and are dependent upon the land (adamah), and the ‘living waters’ (mayim chayim, as Jeremiah calls them). That is why we urge safeguarding our precious public lands and water resources, by having Congress dedicate full funding for the bi-partisan-supported Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

TAKE ACTION:

Urge your Senators, Congressmen and President Obama to support full funding of the LWCF now. The Capitol Switchboard can be reached at 202.224.3121, or you can send an e-mail by entering your zip code below. For more information, please contact COEJL Program Director, David L. Marks at 212-532-7436 or dmarks@coejl.org.

Thanks for your Jewish Energy and for making a difference.

Sustainably Yours,

–The COEJL Team


1 Reply to "Action Alert: Protect our Land and Water"

  • Canfei Nesharim: Sustainable Living Inspired by Torah
    December 12, 2010 (10:14 pm)

    thanks for sharing this important information!


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