EARTH HOUR . . . On Saturday, March 26, 2011, turn off your lights at 8:30pm for Earth Hour, a worldwide collective display of commitment to protect the one thing that unites us all – the planet. This year, the Earth Hour theme is “Go beyond the Hour.”

MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH celebrating women’s contributions to history, culture and society. The 2011 theme is “Our History Is Our Strength.”

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

VIGIL AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY . . . Every Monday, from noon to 1:00pm, Nebraskans for abolition of the death penalty meet in front of the governor’s mansion when weather is good, 1425 H Street, Lincoln. In winter, the vigil is inside the capitol, near the Information Desk. The lunch-hour presence reminds the governor of a constituency that does not want state killings. Weekly vigils have taken place year-round since July, 1991. All abolitionists are welcome to participate for a few minutes, or the hour. For information about Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, click here.

NO LIMITS YOUTH RALLY AGAINST BIG TOBACCO . . . The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has organized a No Limits Youth Rally for Wednesday, March 23, 2011. Students from across Nebraska will converge on the State Capitol building for a morning training session and lobbying, followed by lunch and a march through downtown Lincoln, ending with a 2:00pm rally at the capitol steps. The event is open to students grades seven through twelve. For more information, phone Amanda Mortensen, 866.394.8336.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 3:30 to 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. There is no lecture this week due to spring break. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after they have been presented here.

LINCOLN PEACE VIGILS . . . Lincoln peace vigils continue at the Federal Building, 15th and O streets, every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. Contact Mark at 402.499.6672 or e-mail mark [at] weddleton [dot] com for more information.

LITERACY COUNCIL BENEFIT . . . Friday, March 25, 2011, local author and historian Jim McKee will share tales of Lincoln’s past at this year’s Lincoln Literacy Council “Open Books Open Doors” fundraiser at Chez Hay, 214 North 14th Street, from 5:00 to 8:00pm. Autographed copies of books by well-known writers, art, local wine gift baskets, a health club membership, and other donated items will be featured in a Silent Auction during the event. Click here to buy tickets online, and for more information.

NCNW PANCAKE/WAFFLE BREAKFAST . . . The National Council of Negro Women Semi-Annual Pancake/Waffle Breakfast will be Saturday, March 26, 2011, 7:00am to noon, at the Malone Community Center, 2032 U Street, Lincoln. For more information, phone 402.470.3232.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

OMAHA PEACE VIGILS . . . Omaha peacemakers vigil every Wednesday, 4:30-5:30pm, at StratCom/UN-O, 6801 Pine Street, east of the Scott Technology Center on the UN-O campus. Free parking is available at the NE Corner of 67th Street and Pine in a student lot. For more information, phone Jerry Ebner, 402.502.5887. Every Saturday, 1:00-2:00pm, there is a Peace Vigil at 72nd and Dodge Streets. Park next to 72nd Street, in the pet store parking lot. Contact Steve Horn at 402.426.9068 for more information about Saturday vigils.

OMAHA GREEN DRINKS . . . Wednesday, March 23, 2011, Omaha Green Drinks will meet at Whole Foods Market, 10020 Regency Circle, 5:30pm to close. Green Drinks is a self-organizing social network now meeting regularly in 773 cities worldwide. For more information, contact Rick Yoder, ryoder [at] mail [dot] unomaha [dot] edu.

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “The Pathology of Privilege: Racism, White Denial, and the Costs of Inequality – A Video Presentation by Tim Wise,” This is a feature essay on race and diversity issues. View a 9:31 minute clip here.  For more information, click here.  The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

“LEMON TREE” AT MCFOSTERS . . . There will be a free showing of “Lemon Tree,” a powerful film about two women, one Jewish Israeli, one Muslim Palestinian, and their struggles with land, love, and each other, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe (upstairs room), 38th, Farnam and Harney Streets, Omaha, on Thursday, March 24, 2011, 6:00 to 8:00pm.

SIERRA CLUB PROGRAM . . . “Our Actions Have Consequences – Macondo, Athabasca, Mingo, and other Environmental Atrocities” will be presented by John F. Schalles, Ph.D. at this month’s Omaha Sierra Club meeting, Thursday, March 24, 7:00pm, at First United Methodist Church, 69th & Cass Streets. (Enter north door education wing.) Macondo is the damaged oil well that spewed 200 million gallons of crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig in 2010. Athabasca is the largest deposit of bitumen tar sands in Northern Alberta. Mingo is the West Virginia county ravaged from blowing the tops off mountains to extract coal. These sites, and the stories behind them, are warning signs of the depths of our societal appetite for natural resources and the consequences, raising the question of who’s in control, and providing clear evidence of the legacy of our time on Earth. This talk will survey the damage done and impacts in the past, present, and future. Among his research projects, Dr. Schalles took a group of Creighton students to the Gulf last spring to collect baseline data on habitat assessment and compare differences in the health and productivity of vegetation a year after the disaster.  Learn more about Athabasca and tar sands.  Sierra programs are free and open to the public.

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details of this week’s protest. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 402.453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org.

BEER TASTING & ART AUCTION AT PS CCOLLECTIVE . . . Saturday, March 26, 2011, from 6:30 to 8:30pm, The Pizza Shoppe Collective, 6056 Maple Street, Omaha, is raising funds for The Concord Center, mediators specialized in alternative and innovative methods to manage personal or professional conflicts. Amy Ryan will present a 3-course meal of organic field salad, specialty pizzas paired with selected beers, and a chocolate torte for dessert. There will be an art auction, and Ron Nelson, of New Belgium Brewery, will be there with information about his craft. For more information, and to make reservations, phone Amy at 402.884.8680, Ext. 1.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

CENTRAL NEBRASKA PEACE WORKERS MEETING . . .  CNPW, a chapter of Nebraskans for Peace, will meet Sunday, March 27, 2011, 3:00 to 5:00pm, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 5th & Cedar Street, Grand Island.  (Northeast entrance, downstairs.) The focus is always on peace, including environmental preservation and social justice.  For more information, e-mail Charles Richardson, ceryf [at] windstream [dot] net.

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Green Notes have provided weekly updates on the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline project since May 30, 2010. For comprehensive references in media since that time, click here and scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s coverage.
There was action on this issue almost every day last week. In response, the coalition of groups working with Nebraska Green Party, led by BOLD Nebraska, organized a news conference at the capitol rotunda urging our state senators and congressional delegation to take *leadership* seriously and lead to protect our land and water. Senators Johanns and Nelson have helped somewhat, and need to be thanked for what they have done. Congressman Fortenberry needs to be encouraged to get involved. And EveryOne who wants to see Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer saved from potential environmental devastation at the hands of Canada’s tar sands pipeline promoters needs to write their own state senator asking for personal involvement in opposition. The legislature’s Natural Resources Committee has stalled all three pipeline related bills that were introduced this session.  Find your state senator’s contact information at the map linked here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline.  Contact information for Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln); Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can ask her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Tell your senators that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda.
What else can you do? Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper. “Langemeier’s comments ridiculous,” a letter by Barbara Bailey, was published in Lincoln Journal Star March 20, 2011. From the letter, “It was with great disappointment and anger that I read Sen. Chris Langemeier’s comments (“Pipeline regulations languish,” March 15) concerning the pipeline bills before the Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Langemeier and the six members of the Committee voting against advancing these basic safety regulations for our citizens and natural resources are not providing responsible legislating.”
Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. We have a brief window. The State Department has called for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study with a new 45 day comment period. The State Department’s news release is here.  “We welcome the news from the US State Department on a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study,” declared Duane Hovorka for coalition member Nebraska Wildlife Federation.  “However, we want to be clear, our state elected officials must now lead by providing an alternative route for the risky TransCanada pipeline.”
The public will have 45 days to express concerns on the Supplemental Draft EIS after the anticipated mid-April comment period begins. Following issuance of a Final EIS, the State Department will solicit public comment and host a public meeting in Washington, D.C., before it makes a determination under Executive Order 13337 on whether issuance of this permit is in the US national interest. The Department of State expects to make a decision on whether to grant or deny the permit before the end of 2011.
Last week the National Farmers Union passed policy language opposing “any infrastructure or resource development that jeopardizes the health, safety and quality of the Ogallala Aquifer and other freshwater resources.” The new policy also addresses Eminent Domain, and pipeline development specifically. The Nebraska Farmers Union, a Stop the Pipeline coalition member, was successful in calling for this new policy language.
From previous Green Notes: A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
“Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here. [pdf]
The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.”  The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened.
Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. A website refuting TransCanada’s myths with an interactive graphic is here.  More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Let’s change the world together.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.”

TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA NOT TO CAVE TO MONSANTO AND THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY . . . In the past 3 weeks, the Obama administration has unbelievably chosen to approve three biotech crops, Roundup Ready genetically modified alfalfa, Roundup Ready genetically modified sugar beets and a new industrial biotech corn for ethanol production. These decisions are a devastating blow to our democracy and the basic rights of farmers to choose how they want to grow food on their land and the rights of consumers who increasingly choose organic and sustainably grown food for its positive health and environmental impacts. Please tell the President it’s time to stand up to Monsanto and reject GMO crops.

AGENCY SCIENTISTS OPPOSE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON . . . The following quotes are from Fish and Wildlife Service scientists themselves: “The environmental impact of escaped GE salmon is of great concern.” – Gregory Moyer, Regional Geneticist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; “…approval of the proposal is premature, given the unknowns and uncertainties regarding the possible ecological and environmental effects of these fish.” – Jeff Adams, Branch Chief, Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and “…I do think the chance of escapement is huge” – Deborah Burger, Manager, Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ask the President to stop the GE salmon approval process.

BUY FRESH. BUY LOCAL . . . . Farmers, gardeners, and craftspeople meet through The Nebraska Food Cooperative, an on-line, year-round farmers’ market and local food distribution service offering the best in local freshness. For ordering and pickup schedules, refer to the calendar here.  Click here for products and prices from North Star Neighbors, a Cooperative member that doesn’t therapeutically medicate or unduly confine animals. Click here for Tomato Tomäto, Omaha’s year-round indoor Farmer’s Market at 156th & West Center. Shop for fresh foods grown in or very near your own community at Open Harvest, Lincoln’s member-owned natural foods retail cooperative at 1618 South Street. Buying local grows family farming, grows the local economy, and is thousands of miles fresher.

HELP NEBRASKA GREENS WITH GOODSEARCH . . . Each time you search the Internet (or shop online at a participating store), a donation can be made to Nebraska Green Party at no cost to you! To help NGP in this way, enter Nebraska Green Party where it says WHO DO YOU GOODSEARCH FOR? here.  Bookmark the GoodSearch Homepage, or make it your own Home Page. Enter the url you want in the GoodSearch search box. Each time you do, one penny will be donated to Nebraska Greens. THANK YOU for your support!

We are no longer the alternative; we are the imperative. –Rosa Clemente