Do you want to end the year on a positive note? Then make a contribution to Restore the Delta.
I get lots of emails and facebook posts this time of year asking for donations. Most of them I ignore or delete, especially when they come from big corporate "environmental" NGOs that receive millions from the Walton Family Foundation, Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and other big, corporate-funded foundations.
Many of these groups support privatization of the public trust, the water bond, the peripheral tunnels, the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative and other corrupt, environmentally-destructive processes.
In contrast, Restore the Delta has done outstanding work against the peripheral tunnels and in defense of salmon and the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.
Here's their year-end appeal:
2014 has been the busiest year on record at Restore the Delta. In addition to facilitating 3 dozen press conferences for media outlets from throughout the state and the nation, Restore the Delta staff have:
• given over 1000 interviews to newspaper, radio and television reporters;
• participated extensively in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan comment process;
• trained dozens of advocates to respond to the BDCP;
• gave hundreds of talks to thousands of Californians regarding the Delta and water management in California;
• wrote and distributed 150 press releases;
created a social media campaign that has reached hundreds of thousands of Californians;
• held nearly 100 visible rallies and public events;
and have created a successful advocacy campaign to slow down bad Federal legislation for the Delta.
More importantly, our work has been highly accurate. While proponents of the Delta tunnels and accelerated water exports will criticize us, they have never made a public statement indicating that our factual representations are wrong.
However, 2015 is shaping up to be an even busier year. We understand that the BDCP Environmental Impact Report will be recirculated for public comment over an accelerated time period. New committee hearings will begin in January so as to push for accelerated water exports from the Delta. And the labyrinth of Delta processes, programs and state agencies will continue to need constant watch dogging so that they cannot set the stage for the construction of the Delta tunnels or facilitate a water grab from the Bay-Delta estuary and Northern California rivers.
We are at a critical point in our campaign. We need to secure 2015 funding so that our talented staff and media team can continue the fight for the protection of our Delta farming and fishing communities, our coastal communities, our rivers, and the health of the estuary. We need to expand our media outreach capacity in order to influence processes and to win the battle in the court of public opinion and with decision makers at this crucial juncture.
You have responded to our call for help in the past by regularly making donations, renewing your membership, attending our rallies, signing our petition, and more. We are grateful for your support in helping us raise awareness and opposition against the tunnels in California.
This is why I am asking you to consider making a year-end gift to Restore the Delta. We know how to stretch our dollars for maximum impact; but we need increased and stable funding to keep up the fight during this crucial period.
I know you are well aware of the impacts if this plan is enacted. It will result in the destruction of the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, our coastal fisheries from Monterey to southern Washington, as well as our local agriculture and recreational economies – all because the tunnels will deprive the Delta of the freshwater that it needs to thrive. For you and me, it will be the end of the Delta as we know it. But, can you imagine what will happen to the future for our children and grandchildren whose economic and environmental well-being will be tied to a collapsed Bay-Delta estuary?
Please make a financial contribution to help us win the fight: http://restorethedelta.org/...
Let’s stop the Delta tunnels once and for all. And let’s make sure that water quality and quantity levels are protected for the estuary.