Global Warming Fight Continues

Last month, the House of Representatives narrowly passed historic global warming legislation. The landmark bill is a victory for polar bears and other wildlife since it included much-needed provisions to ensure our wildlife survives in a warming world.

But before the bill becomes law, the Senate needs to pass its own version. You can help make sure the Senate does the right thing for wildlife and the planet.

Take Action: Write your Senators and urge them to support vital global warming legislation that addresses greenhouse gas emissions and ensures polar bears and other wildlife can survive climate change.

Big Oil Threatens Sea Otters, Bristol Bay

Just because Sarah Palin is stepping down as governor, doesn’t mean Alaska’s wildlife is safe. The Bristol Bay -- a national treasure, home to imperiled sea otters, whales and sea lions and the world’s largest run of sockeye salmon -- could soon be open to oil and gas drilling. And studies predict at least one major spill if drilling is allowed in the bay -- one of the most biologically productive places on the planet.

Take Action: Urge U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to reconsider plans to allow oil and gas drilling in one of the world’s most sensitive places.

Wildlife Needs Your Vote!
If you’re a member of CREDO/Working Assets -- a company providing long distance, mobile phone and credit card services -- you can make a difference for wildlife with the click of a mouse. Since 1985, members have raised $60 million for progressive nonprofits -- and each year, members vote on how the money is donated. In 2007, CREDO members generously voted to give Defenders $87,000 to help save wildlife -- and we’re fortunate enough to be a recipient again this year.
So, if you’re a CREDO member, use your vote to help wildlife. Vote for Defenders!

Not a CREDO member? Learn more...

What Next for Alaska Wildlife?
Now that Governor Sarah Palin is stepping down, Lt. Governor Sean Parnell will lead the state. But will he continue Alaska’s brutal aerial wolf-killing program and other anti-wildlife policies championed by Palin? Or will he remove politics and restore science to the state’s wildlife management?
>>Learn more from Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Letter for the Borderlands
Twenty-seven Members of Congress have signed a letter urging Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano not to ignore laws if she decides to continue building the controversial border wall that would tear through 40 miles of sensitive wildlife habitat in Texas and California. Defenders joined other environmental, human rights and faith leaders in applauding the letter.
>>Learn More

A Bill for Your Lands, Your Wildlife
Landmark legislation -- supported by the Your Lands, Your Wildlife campaign -- was introduced in the House last month. The America’s Wildlife Heritage Act will ensure that America’s fish and wildlife continue to thrive on public lands.
>> Learn More

Neko's Nature

Neko Case isn’t your typical chart-topping rocker. Many of the haunting songs on her latest critically acclaimed album, Middle Cyclone, deal with nature and wildlife. To close the album (which debuted at #3 on Billboard’s Top 200 in March), Case even recorded chirping frogs at the Vermont farm where she lives.

“I think I have a lot of empathy for animals and nature in general. Those things just make me comfortable,” Case told the influential music blog Pitchfork in March. “I grew up in the middle of nowhere, around a lot of animals. I feel for them.”

As an animal lover, Neko Case has been an active supporter of Defenders of Wildlife for years. She’s taken scores of actions online, donated to support our wildlife-saving advocacy campaigns and made symbolic adoptions for friends and family through our Wildlife Adoption Center.

At Case’s invitation, Defenders to Wildlife has set up tables at many of her summer concert dates to educate the singer’s many fans about our conservation work. In June, Case even accompanied Defenders president Rodger Schlickeisen, executive vice president Jamie Rappaport Clark and other Defenders staff and supporters on a special conservation workshop in Yellowstone National Park.

Listen to Neko Case's music and learn more about this conservation-minded artist.