Although it’s twilight for the Bush Administration, the president and his cronies aren’t savoring their final hours by propping up their cowboy boots tipping back their gallon hats while they toast each other to all of the havoc their policies have wreaked on the world. No, they’re still busy and there’s a lot of dirty, ugly stuff the Bush Administration is ramming through in its final days. We can’t lose our focus on stopping some of their final nasty 11^th hour regulations and rollbacks that will be a final Bush imprint on our air, water, public lands, wildlife and consumer policies. The Administration is being extra clever by trying to get these regulations in place by November 22^nd, which would make it even more difficult for the Obama Administration to undo them. I’ve already written about a couple of these lovely proposals, but there are 90 total, so here are some highlights along with organizations fighting these new regulations. Takepart today with the organizations listed with each item to stop Bush’s final onslaught.

1. Grand Canyon. Yes, one of our nation’s treasured goals is under assault as the current Administration has allowed uranium mining within three miles of the park. Takepart with Environmental Working Group
2. Mountaintop Mining Removal. If mining wasn’t already a highly polluting exercise to retrieve an energy source, the Bush Administration seems to want to up the ante to make it an even greater source of pollution by giving waivers to mining companies to directly dump their mountaintop waste directly into nearby rivers and streams. Takepart with the Sierra Club.
3. Power plants. Again, the Bush Administration seems to just love these pollution emitters and wants energy companies to dictate our air standards. Their proposals would allow for plants to be built near national parks and wilderness areas. And, they would like to establish a loophole so that older plants will not be required to add pollution-control technology if they increase their emissions (as currently required under the Clean Air Act). Takepart with NRDC.
4. Logging. As I already wrote, Bush and his cronies want to open up protected areas in western Oregon to logging. Takepart with the Wilderness Society.
5. Endangered Species Act. The Administration would remove the required approval by scientists about the impact of a policy or law on an endangered species. Takepart today with the National Wildlife Federation.
6. Truck Drivers. A dangerous new regulation would allow them to drive 10% more without a break, placing themselves and other vehicles on the road at increased risk. Takepart with OMB Watch.
7. Endangered Species Act. This historic Act could be weakened if the Administration allows for changes to the normal approval process by not requiring the executive branch to consult with an independent agency to determine whether a project could endanger a species. Takepart today with the National Wildlife Federation.
8. Individuals with Disabilities. Bush is proposing to water down the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act by weakening accessibility standards and reducing access enforcement. This would amount to discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Takepart with United Cerebal Palsy.
9. Medicaid benefits to be reduced. The amount of out-patient hospital services provided to low-income people through Medicaid’s would be cut. Takepart with OMB Watch.
10. Family Planning. The Administration is threatening to cut funding to health facilities and organizations that refuse to hire people who refuse to provide birth control. The proposal could define some types of birth control as abortion. takepart with the National Women’s Law Center.

(photo by Storm Crypt)

OpalMirror

As I’ve already written several times, the Bush Administration is trying to ram through as many final new “regulations” and roll-backs of existing environmental, health and consumer protections. While we are all weary from eight years of assaults by Bush and his cronies, we must put up a final fight in his remaining days to stop these dangerous policies that are the President’s final gifts to his friends in mining, timber, oil and gas industries.

The Wilderness Society needs your help now to stop the Administration’s new proposal to open up thousands of acres of ancient forests in western Oregon to logging. This is yet another gift to the timber industry, which has already handsomely benefited by this Administration’s policies. Logging in this area threatens endangered species, biodiversity and is slap in the face to the American public that demonstrated their support for protection of wilderness areas in the election last week.

Takepart today to say no to the Bush Administration’s proposed logging by signing the Wilderness Society’s petition today.

Japanese Electronics Giants Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba announced plans to participate in a massive electronics program last week. The corporations will be joining forces with Manufacturers Recycling Management LLC in creating a national recycling infrastructure for their products via a 50 state rollout of recycling centers by January of 2009. The first phase of the program will start of this month in California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin expanding to the rest of the nation throughout next year.

This is a very important program to eliminate the industrial waste of components within our electronic items. Landfills and conventional recycling programs across the country simply do not have the resources of know how to properly handle the complicated components in our laptops, stereos, televisions and boom boxes. Worse yet, many programs which advertise that they will in fact “recycle” these items, actually ship them to impoverished countries for disadvantaged people to try and salvage small amounts of gold and other substances out of them by hand, an unsafe practice which is causing a human health crisis around the world.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Chasing the DNC Flame by Fonda Berosini

TakePart at Slow Food Nation by Wendy Cohen

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Nicole Hughes:

State Fair Having Trouble Keeping It Green

TOMS Wrap Boot: Shoe Addicts Saving Lives

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Andy Kondrat:

Mexican Gov Spends $16M to Save Endangered Porpoise

Wilco Offers Section on Website for Carpooling to Shows

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Jon Popham:

Portland Gym Utilizes Human Energy

Angkor Wat Threatened by Tourism Boom

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Gina Telaroli:

10 Powerful Women Using Their Power for Good

10 A+ Worthy Movie and TV Teachers

The new Green Microgym in Portland, Oregon is using human energy to power its electricity needs.   It’s a simple enough concept that’s probably hit practically every environmentally minded gym patron at one time or other - with all that energy being expended by people on treadmills, ellipticals, spin bikes etc, why not harnes some to at least power the place?  Green Microgym owner Adam Boesel did just that, hooking up weed whacker motors and truck alternators onto spin bikes to help power the 2800 square foot space at his facility.

The spin bikes can generate about 75 Watts per hour with Boesel’s rigged system, which amounts to about 25% of the gym’s energy needs.   Next up on Boesel’s list is finding a way to generate from the elliptical machines with the eventual goal being to power the entire gym off of human energy.   Green Microgym is the first in the country to use human power, but not the first in the world.   California Fitness in Hong Kong uses human energy to power light fixtures.

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The Oregon Institute of Technology has announced plans to be powered solely by geothermal energy within the next few years.   The University has put in a place a plan for a new $7.6 Million geothermal facility which will fill all of the institutions energy needs, making it the first university on earth to go 100% geothermal.   This is a little easier though for Oregon Tech than most colleges however, with its hometown of Klamath Falls sitting right on a fault line, making the extraction of heat from deep within the earth’s crust a simpler, more cost effective process.

Oregon Tech’s commitment to going 100% renewable is part of a growing trend among universities to start being part of the solution to climate change and energy crunch.   You can takepart in learning more about what colleges are doing to become more socially and environmentally responsible by checking out Grist’s Top 15 Green Colleges and Universities, rounded off with Runner-ups.  

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The University of Oregon has been awarded the top rating by a new Princeton Review survey of academic institutions dubbed “The Green Honor Roll“. The home of the Fighting Ducks received top honors for its diligent preparation of students on environmental and sustainability issues and its commitment to making its campus in lovely Eugene, Oregon green and sustainable.

The U of O offers more than 200 sustainability related courses highlighted by an internationally recognized green chemistry program in how to reduce hazardous waste. Journalism, Business and Law Schools at the University are chocked full of award-winning, environmentally minded faculty teaching the next generation the importance of sustainability in all walks of life. Plus the campus sports more than it fair share of LEED-certified, environmentally friendly buildings.

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It’s June 27th, I’m Gina Telaroli and this is TakePart.com’s look at the week in social action

SACRAMENTO, Ca. — Firefighters are making headway today against hundreds of blazes that have charred about 100,000 acres across Northern California in recent days, but are fearful of more lightning storms later this week.

Big fires continued to burn in rugged reaches of Mendocino, Butte and Monterey counties, and more than 2,000 homes remained threatened by approaching flame.

Fire crews from Nevada and Oregon are helping California firefighters battle hundreds of blazes that are darkening the sky over the San Francisco Bay area and Central Valley, leading public health officials to issue air-quality warnings.

The lightning-caused fires have charred tens of thousands of acres and forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes, though few buildings have been destroyed, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

According to the AP, More than 800 wildfires were set by a storm that unleashed nearly 8,000 lightning strikes across Northern California over the weekend.

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