From the Inbox - Got Plans for this Summer?

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With well over half a million gallons of crude spewing into the Gulf of Mexico each day, America's attention is focused squarely on two things: energy and catastrophic corporate blunders.

The fossil fuel industry has proven time and again to be dangerous for workers, communities and the climate at large. Climate change is being further accelerated by agribusiness corporations, like Cargill and Sinar Mas, who are busy burning down the world's rainforests to create ever more monoculture plantations.

So we were wondering...Got plans for the summer? We have a few ideas for you.

Table of Contents

1. Keep Canada LUSH
2. Rewrite the Story on Rainforest Destruction
3. Eye on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
4. Indonesia's Rainforests and the Cargill Effect
5. Global Leaders Ask Chevron to Change
6. RAN at the US Social Forum

Keep Canada LUSH

Did you know that this year Canada's tar sands, one of the most destructive oil extraction projects on the planet, became the biggest source of imported oil to the U.S.? Most people don't. That's why RAN is teaming up with the good folks at LUSH Cosmetics, and you, to get the word out through actions at 120 LUSH stores.

Do you want to help shut down an oil project that is turning Alberta's gorgeous Boreal forest into a lifeless moonscape and poisoning First Nations communities? Join us at your local LUSH store on June 9th to tell the truth about the tar sands.

Rewrite the Story on Rainforest Destruction

RAN's new report Turning the Page on Rainforest Destruction finds that nine of the top ten children's publishers sell books with wood fiber linked to Indonesian rainforest destruction. Our kids and the stories they love shouldn't be caught up in this mess any longer. Call on U.S. book publishers to protect Indonesia's rainforests and to respect the people and wildlife living within them- sign RAN's "I Love Books AND Rainforests" petition today!

Eye on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

We've had some good news on the mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining front over the last two months. In response to intense pressure from RAN and allies, the Obama Administration issued strict new guidelines on MTR, which, we hope, will make it much harder for coal companies to get permits for the practice. JPMorgan Chase is no longer the #1 U.S. financier of MTR coal, and has stopped financing the dirtiest coal company of all, Massey Energy. In fact, RAN's recent report card on MTR and banks found that much of Wall Street is abandoning financing for the devastating practice.

The bad news--if the coal industry gets its way in Washington, MTR permits being reviewed right now by the EPA may still have a chance of being approved! We need your support in holding the administration accountable to its new MTR guidelines, ensuring that bold promises don't get watered down by big business. Let's make sure MTR really ends in 2010.

Indonesia's Rainforests and the Cargill Effect

RAN has been busy putting pressure on Cargill, the #1 destroyer of rainforests in Indonesia. In early May, we released a powerful report exposing Cargill's destructive palm oil supply chain and, simultaneously, RAN activists locked down inside Cargill's executive mansion to ensure that Cargill decion makers had to come face-to-face with the impact of their destructive decisions.

As the demand for sustainable palm oil escalates, all eyes are on Cargill and their customers such as General Mills and Kraft. Will these corporations make the right decision for Indonesia's rainforests? Will you help us make sure they do?

Global Leaders Ask Chevron to Change

This month, RAN's Change Chevron team traveled to Houston for Chevron's annual shareholder meeting to confront the oil giant about its environmental and human rights abuses around the world. We were joined by inspiring global community leaders from Ecuador, Nigeria, Burma, Colombia, Australia, Khazakstan, Canada and the U.S. who shared stories of Chevron's oil spills, environmental destruction and human rights abuses.

We learned that one thing that unites communities from Khazakstan to Ecuador is Chevron's toxic legacy, and we are more inspired than ever to stand with these communities as they forge a new legacy of triumph over corporate injustice. You can support these communities by sending a strong message to Chevron's Board of Directors that energy shouldn't cost lives.

RAN Workshops at the US Social Forum

Are you coming to the US Social Forum? This amazing event, June 22-26, 2010 in Detroit, fosters peoples' solutions to the economic and ecological crises of the day. RAN will be there presenting a series of workshops. Come hang with us!

• Tarsands PMA: June 23, 1:00-5:00pm
• Ending Mountaintop Removal: June 24, 10:00-noon
• Climate Change at the End of Your Fork: June 24, 1:00-5:00pm