1.  BIG OIL GOES FOR THE REFUGE NOT ALTERNATIVE FUELS

President George Bush seems worried about an energy crisis that many feel is manufactured by big oil. Rather than promoting energy conservation or investing effort in developing alternative fuels like ethanol, his solution is to drill for oil in one of the last untrammeled places on Earth: the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Even though it might take 10 - 15 years to develop, and yield a paltry 6 month supply of oil, the Bush Administration seems intent to plunder this jewel in the crown of America's last unspoiled places. Why is President Bush making drilling in the Refuge the cornerstone of his energy policy? Why not direct America towards win-win solutions that develop new markets like ethanol for farmers? Why launch a foolhardy proposal that will permanently scar the wilderness known as "America's Serengeti"?

Perhaps the President's extensive connections with the oil industry offers the explanation.

To stop Big Oil, we need your help to demand that President Bush and Congress NOT allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge. If we're to save the Refuge, we need to make this the biggest Internet environmental petition ever. We need millions of people to call for the Refuge to be protected from the devastation caused by oil drilling. Insist that President Bush and Congress NOT allow drilling in this unique Arctic wilderness -- one of the few truly wild places left.

We've created a special animated video at the cutting edge of Internet technology, to assist the campaign to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

To view the video and take action, click here: http://www.savearcticrefuge.org/video

To take action without viewing the video, click here: http://www.savearcticrefuge.org

Please view the video, sign the petition, and circulate this far and wide. With millions of petitions, our collective voice will be heard by decision-makers in Washington.

2. MAD COW DISEASE TURNING GERMANY GREEN

In the wake of a increased consumers concern over "mad cow" disease, the European Union's top farm official has said, "Europe must stop turning "cows into cannibals," This statement, from the Berlin Associated Press comes on the heels of a call by German leaders for a radical overhaul of farming practices blamed for spreading mad cow disease. "Mankind must work with nature and not against it," said EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler, attending the annual Green Week industry convention on Thursday. Mad cow - the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE - is a brain-wasting ailment that scientists believe was spread among cattle by recycling meat and bone meal from infected animals back into cattle feed. BSE has been linked to a new version of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human equivalent of the brain-wasting ailment.

3. IDAHO FARM BUREAU MEMBERS FIGHT FACTORY FARM

Farm Bureau leadership has been notorious in the last decade for advancing industrialized factory animal farming. In doing so Farm Bureau leadership has indirectly forged alliances between family farmers, environmentalists and consumers. These diverse groups find mutual concern over threats to income, environments and food safety. The power of these alliances now appear to be threatening Farm Bureau's longstanding agribusiness policies. Two weeks ago, Cassia County Farm Bureau in Idaho voted to oppose the construction of Big Sky Farms - a farm that would produce 200 million pounds of feces and urine monthly. The excrement would be put on 5,000 acres of land just west of Raft River in Cassia County. Earlier this week local Farm Bureau leaders stood in alliance with environmentalists and other rural advocates to soundly denounce the project during public hearings. A decision will be reached on the project in two weeks. To learn more about how Farm Bureau leadership has advanced the interests of factory animal farming throughout America, go to http://www.familyfarmer.org/awg.html To join a national GrassRoots call for an investigation into the leadership of the America Farm Bureau Federation visit http://www.defenders.org/rural3.html

4. FARM SUBSIDIES TIE UP CHINA WTO ENTRY

The entry of China into the World Trade Organization appears to be stalled due in large part to China's insistence that current farm subsidies to their more than 900 million farmers be continued. The AgriClick on-line journal (Jan 15) reported a Chinese official as saying, "If we can't maintain and increase the subsidies once we are in the WTO, it would cause disaster out in the country and lead millions of poor farmers to flock into our cities after the millions who have already come.'' Meanwhile, foreign interests are increasingly criticizing the US for not discussing domestic subsidies. These include payments to farmers under the Freedom to Farm Act and the Federal Crop Insurance Program. See story on the China WTO entry at: http://www.AgriClick.com/AgriClick.Insider_5/