|
|
We have identified below four actions you can take to make a difference. Each one of these actions can help create the environment in which we want to live, but each of us must take some action. Voice your concern. Make your opinion heard. Remember what we do today will be left to our children tomorrow.
"Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead
1. Write or call your two elected Senators and your Representative in the U.S. Congress.
You can find the addresses and phone numbers of your elected officials in the Government section of your local phone book, or http://www.house.gov for House members and http://www.senate.gov for Senators. To call an office directly, call (202) 224-3121 for the Capitol Switchboard, to connect you to the specific Representative's office.
Most congressional offices do not respond to emails (because they are not staffed to read them), so the best policy is to send a letter, make a call, or send a fax.
Mailed letters will be delayed by security concerns.
Members of Congress give more WEIGHT to letters, calls, and faxes from their own constituents who vote for them, rather than people from outside the districts. If you are not a voter in that district, you can still contact them, but your opinion will not register as loud as if you are a voter in their district. (This is NOT so true of Committee Chairmen.) If you have family or friends or know organizations in a voting district, encourage them to contact their own Representative.
See our key issues provided below for issues to discuss wtih your representatives.
2. Write or call your President and his cabinet:
President Barack H. Obama, The White House, Washington, DC 20500
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
Via Internet Form
President Barack H. Obama: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Vice President Joseph R. Biden : http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Secretary of Defense Honorable Robert M. Gates
US Dept. of Defense
1400 Defense, The Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1400
Defense Dept. phone number: (703) 545-6700
Via Internet Form: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Secretary of the Navy,
US Navy
1000 Navy Pentagon,
Washington, D.C. 20350-1000
Via Internet Form: http://www.navy.mil/submit/contacts.asp
You can forward to them the letter you send to your Congressional Representatives.
3. Share this information with anyone you think might be willing to help, or with others willing to write or call Congress or the President.
4. Donate to the Ocean Mammal Institute so we can continue to work for you to stop underwater noise pollution and keep our oceans safe for all its inhabitants.
 |
Sincerely,
Marsha L. Green, Ph.D.,
President / Founder, Ocean Mammal Institute
Key issues you may choose to include in your letters to Congress:
Recognize that the introduction of intense energy sources such as the extremely loud sounds emitted through intense active sonars, air guns, explosives, underwater contstuction and shipping constitutes "pollution."
Limit the use of noise generation devices in international waters that have the potential to cause environmental damage until effective environmental protection measures of alternatives are in place.
Encourage the use of alternative technologies and realistic mitigation procedures for reducing the hazards of intense underwater sound.
Strengthen legal remedies to address the uncontrolled use of these technologies in the marine environment.
Work with other international institutions, such as the Parliament of the European Union and the IUCN-World Conservation Union to form a Multinational Task Force to develop international agreements regulating noise levels in the world's oceans.
A recent Smithsonian analysis determined that, of the seven known mixed-species mass strandings involving beaked whales, all seven occurred over the last 30 years while naval maneuvers were conducted nearby.