I can’t do better than copy here an email from Beryl Bender Birch about the Arctic Refuge. Unfortunately I’ve deleted her first message, which was full of the kind of righteous indignation that strikes all of us at times, and which should strike more of us more often. But you can find out all you need to know on this with a quick search online (try this). And here’s Beryl*:

Hi Everyone,

Thank you sooooooo much for writing back to my email on the Arctic national Wildlife Reserver. Sorry, but the last (and most important part) part of the email was cut off, as you have all pointed out. Here is what we left off (duh! what kind of an activist am I??) and the information you need to make the calls.

Please check the lists below to see if your senator and/or representative was a Hero (voted to against the budget resolution and to preserve the ANWR) a Disappointment (votred for the budget resolution and to open for oil exploration) or a No-Show. If so, please call them at the phone number provided and deliver the message suggested below. These calls are enormously important. They will set the stage for the final round in this historic fight. Our targeted members of Congress need to know that pro-Arctic constituents like you will be watching their vote very closely.

* Beryl is perhaps the leading popularizer of “Power Yoga,” or astanga yoga, and she and I coauthored the yoga article in Berkshire’s International Encyclopedia of Women & Sport.

If you are unable to telephone, then please go to the Senate website http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm or the House website http://www.house.gov/writerep/, where you can look up your members of Congress and send them email messages.

ARCTIC HEROES

Call (between 9am and 6pm eastern time) and thank them for voting against the

budget resolution last week because it threatened the Arctic Refuge. Urge them

to defend the Arctic again when the budget reconciliation bill comes to a vote.

Tell them you’ll be watching their vote closely.

Senator Lincoln Chafee (RI): 202-224-2921

Senator Mike DeWine (OH): 202-224-2315

Representative Charles Bass (NH-2): 202-225-5206

Representative Sherwood Boehlert (NY-24): 202-225-3665

Representative Michael Castle (DE-at large): 202-225-4165

Representative Nancy Johnson (CT-5): 202-225-4476

Representative Timothy Johnson (IL-15): 202-225-2371

Representative Jim Leach (IA-2): 202-225-6576

Representative Frank LoBiondo (NJ-2): 202-225-6572

Representative Jim Ramstad (MN-3): 202-225-2871

Representative Jim Saxton (NJ-3): 202-225-4765

Representative Christopher Shays (CT-4): 202-225-5541

Representative Rob Simmons (CT-2): 202-225-2076

ARCTIC DISAPPOINTMENTS

Call (between 9am and 6pm eastern time) and express your deep disappointment

that they abandoned the Arctic Refuge last week by voting for a bad budget

resolution. Urge them to make up for it by defending the Arctic when the budget

reconciliation bill comes to a vote. Tell them you’ll be watching their vote

closely.

Senator Norm Coleman (MN): 202-224-5641

Senator Susan Collins (ME): 202-224-2523

Senator John McCain (AZ): 202-224-2235

Senator Gordon Smith (OR): 202-224-3753

Senator Olympia Snowe (ME): 202-224-5344

Representative Roscoe Bartlett (MD-6): 202-225-2721

Representative Jeb Bradley (NH-1): 202-225-5456

Representative Tom Davis (VA-11): 202-225-1492

Representative Vernon Ehlers (MI-3): 202-225-3831

Representative Mike Ferguson (NJ-7): 202-225-5361

Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11): 202-225-5034

Representative Jim Gerlach (PA-6): 202-225-4315

Representative Wayne Gilchrest (MD-1): 202-225-5311

Representative Bob Inglis (SC-4): 202-225-6030

Representative Mark Kennedy (MN-6): 202-225-2331

Representative Mark Kirk (IL-10): 202-225-4835

Representative John R. “Randy” Kuhl, Jr. (NY-29): 202-225-3161

Representative Jim Nussle (IA-1): 202-225-2911

Representative Thomas Petri (WI-6): 202-225-2476

Representative Dave Reichert (WA-8): 202-225-7761

Representative John J.H. “Joe” Schwarz (MI-7): 202-225-6276

Representative F. James Sensenbrenner (WI-5): 202-225-5101

Representative Christopher Smith (NJ-4): 202-225-3765

Representative John Sweeney (NY-20): 202-225-5614

Representative James Walsh (NY-25): 202-225-3701

ARCTIC NO-SHOWS

Call (between 9am and 6pm eastern time) and express your disappointment that

they were absent for the budget resolution vote. Tell them you’re counting on

them to defend the Arctic Refuge when the budget reconciliation bill comes to a

vote.

Representative James Clyburn (SC-6): 202-225-3315

Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX-25): 202-225-4865

Representative Bob Filner (CA-51): 202-225-8045

Representative Harold Ford, Jr. (TN-9): 202-225-3265

Representative William Jefferson (LA-2): 202-225-6636

Representative Steven Rothman (NJ-9): 202-225-5061

Representative Edolphus Towns (NY-10): 202-225-5936

Beryl Bender Birch
Director/Founder
The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute
East Hampton, New York
631 324-8409