Sign the petition telling the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to oppose lease sales for new offshore oil drilling

Last night I watched "Years of Living Dangerously." They were investigating how CO2 is making the oceans acidic. This has caused over 40% of the corral reefs to dissolve into sand. If we keep going the way we are, by 2050 all of the reefs will be gone. Imagine how that will affect our delicate, interconnected ocean habitat. People all over the world rely on the oceans for their food and even the air we breath.

In the Philippines, they witnessed how the corral reefs being damaged by a storm affected the island people who relied on the sea for their food. They were running out of fish. A fisherman was down to one meal a day for his family. His son was studying so he could leave the island - because the island could no longer support them. These people are suffering because of our choices - like burning fossil fuels.

This is an emergency. President Obama understood the gravity of the situation and approved the largest marine sanctuary to protect some of the reefs. The Trump administration wants to remove that protection and allow oil drilling in that marine sanctuary and many of the shore line national parks.

Please, tell the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to oppose lease sales for new offshore oil drilling.

Add your name by August 17th: Stop new offshore drilling, protect our coast

Protect our oceans from new offshore drilling Tell BOEM: Oppose the expansion of new offshore drilling in our oceans >> You have the chance to protect our oceans, marine life and coastal communities for years to come. Right now, the Trump administration is considering offering lease sales for new offshore drilling in the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, as well as the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. If these lease sales move forward, our oceans and coastal communities will be exposed to an unprecedented threat of deadly oil spills. If we don’t speak up for our oceans now, there may be no turning back. Your voice could be what it takes for the government to say NO to new dirty and dangerous offshore drilling. That’s why we need 30,000 Wavemakers to speak up before the August 17 deadline. Tell the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to stop the expansion of offshore drilling in U.S. oceans and protect important marine areas from oil spills  We’ve already seen firsthand the devastating impacts of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf — human lives lost, dolphin populations suffering from long-term illness and reproductive problems, once-pristine habitats covered in oil, and coastal economies reeling from losses. We can’t sit back and watch that happen again. The Trump administration wants to put virtually everything on the table for oil companies to exploit at our oceans’ expense. Even marine sanctuaries – some of the few protected places marine life still have – are being reconsidered for drilling. Make your voice heard loud and clear and tell BOEM: No new offshore drilling – protect our oceans, marine life and jobs. Last year, tens of thousands of Wavemakers like you spoke up, influencing President Obama to remove both the Atlantic and Arctic oceans from the offshore drilling plan. Now our oceans need you to speak up once more. There’s even more at risk this time around, but I know that together we can protect our oceans and marine life. Oceana is working on the ground from Florida to California to make sure coastal communities are heard. But you need to act now. BOEM to oppose new offshore drilling in our waters

- Nancy Pyne Oceana

URGENT: Public statements to protect marine monuments accepted until July 26

When our fragile oceans and their wildlife are getting pummeled from all sides, with no way to defend themselves, we must speak for them.

The Trump administration wants to roll back protections for some of our planet's most vulnerable ocean ecosystems... endangering whales, dolphins and countless other marine wildlife and threatening the livelihoods of coastal communities — all so fossil fuel companies and other industrial interests can move in and bolster their profits.

President Trump and Interior Secretary Zinke's proposed rollback of protections for over two dozen national monuments is bad enough. Now, Trump has ordered his Commerce Department to also put 11 marine sanctuaries and monuments on the chopping block.

That includes the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of Cape Cod, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, the Monterey Bay Sanctuary off California and the Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary off Michigan.

Monterey Bay shoreline 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency under the Commerce Department that's charged with protecting our oceans and their wildlife, is inviting public comments on this dangerous plan until July 26.

The comments will be considered by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who will then be making recommendations to President Trump on what action to take. We must move quickly to generate an overwhelming public outcry in defense of our nation's special ocean places.

Please speak out now to let Trump and his administration know that we won't stand by and watch our oceans be sacrificed for the sake of oil industry profits.

The consequences of rolling back protections for these areas would be devastating. It would open the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument to oil and gas drilling, commercial fishing, deep seabed mining and other commercial exploitation. And it would open 2,278,400 acres of California's treasured National Marine Sanctuaries to offshore oil drilling.

It would also leave thousands of rare or endangered marine species — including sperm whales, dolphins, deep-water coral, sea turtles and sea birds — vulnerable once again to pollution, drilling and overfishing ... destroy a critical "reservoir of resilience" against climate change ... and jeopardize thriving coastal economies that depend on healthy oceans.

NRDC is working on every front to stop these reckless rollbacks — including preparing to go to court if necessary. But in the meantime, we need to raise our voices and defend these fundamental, irreplaceable pieces of America's natural heritage and all our threatened ocean waters, while we still can.

- Rhea Suh, President, NRDC

Petition Coca Cola to use recycled plastic.

According to Greenpeace, by 2050 there will be more plastic per lb in our oceans than fish! That jaw-dropping statistic is due in large part to plastic soda bottles produced en masse for companies like Coca Cola. As the world's largest beverage producer and one of the world's largest purchasers of plastic bottles it is up to them to set a new standard and lead the industry to find a solution to the plastic pollution that is clogging our oceans.

We all know recycled plastic exists and currently Coca Cola bottles are recyclable but that doesn't mean that Coca Cola uses recycled plastic to bottle their soft drinks. Coca Cola sells around 108 to 128 billion plastic bottles every year but only a fraction of them are made out of recycled plastic. This is unacceptable.

Coca Cola needs to be the industry standard and commit to using more recycled plastic in their to bottle their drinks. This would keep more of the material out of landfills and our oceans and incentivize plastic recycling industry.

Let's ask Coca Cola to be the lead the way and publicly pledge to set global benchmarks to reduce its use of un-recycled plastic.
Our oceans are already clogged with plastic, putting the health of ocean life at risk. Whales, dolphins, schools of fish, corals and the rest of the ocean's vast biodiversity are being choked out by plastic pollution. And in large part it's because of plastic bottles produced en masse for companies like Coca-Cola.

If we don't act now, then by 2050, there will be more plastic per pound in our oceans than fish.

There is no excuse for Coca-Cola to dismiss their responsibility in cleaning up plastic pollution. As the largest beverage company in the world, Coca-Cola should be setting the trend to curb the amount of plastic that ends up in oceans. We need to let the company know that they can't go on with business as usual.

Please sign the petition to Coca-Cola's CEO and their Senior Director of Environment and Sustainability. They must commit to using more recycled plastic to produce their bottled drinks.

Thank you,

Alex B. The Care2 Petitions Team