Monuments Month for Democrats for Environmental Action
The idea that we must fight our own government to protect our National Monuments, set aside for the very purpose of protecting environments and ecosystems, is an obscenity.

PictureGiant Sequoia National Monument, Tulare County.
Join us this Wednesday, May 17, at 6 p.m. at Elijah's in Clairemont for our May club meeting.

Special guest Chris Clarke, environment editor at KCET-TV in Los Angeles and a long-time resident of Joshua Tree, will talk about the critical threat to National Monuments in California and across the west – and how you can speak for our monuments during the ongoing public comment period.

May Club Meeting
Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 6 p.m.
(meeting comes to order at 7:00)
Elijah's Restaurant and Delicatessen
7061 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
PictureChris Clarke
Our meeting gets underway with an hour-long social on Wednesday, May 17, at 6:00 p.m., and we'll come to order with club business at 7:00.

Chris Clarke's presentation will get underway after we hear from District One (D-1) San Diego City Councilmember Barbara Bry, who walked with the club at the recent March for Science.

Download a copy of the meeting agenda here. Visit the meeting's Facebook event page here.
PictureSan Gabriel Mountains National Monument, L.A. County.
In particular, Chris will detail the Trump-ordered "review" of National Monuments established since 1996 under the Antiquities Act, including nine National Monuments in California like Giant Sequoia National Monument and Castle Mountains National Monument.

Chris will also detail a project that could unravel Mojave Trails National Monument in order to enable the so-called Cadiz Water Project, which would pump over 810 billion gallons of water from under the monument to Southern California water districts – and cause irreparable harm to the Mojave Desert ecosystems that the monument was established to preserve in the first place.
A Fight That Will Outlast Trump

PictureMojave Trails National Monument, San Bernardino County.
The idea that we must fight our own government, again and again, to preserve what has already been preserved and set aside into the public trust for the very purpose of protecting environments and ecosytems – is an obscenity.

But fight we must. The desire among Republicans to treat parks, monuments and other protected places as placeholders won't go away even if Donald Trump does. Under a President Pence, chances are the government's attack on our own natural heritage will only become worse. That's why we need your help now.

That's why Democrats must fight, right now, for our threatened National Monuments – lest the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans develop an even greater taste for desecrating the sanctity of our protected places. This is why we fought to Save Trestles and the integrity of San Onofre State Beach 10 years ago.

If we fail, and our National Monuments are undone – our Wilderness and National Parks will be next.