Help stop the poisoning of America from coal power plants today.

Coal power plants are horrible for the world because they cause global warming and destroy mountains and mountian habitats. But there are numerous other reasons to oppose coal power, including some serious health reasons (beyond the health reasons associated with global warming and ecosystem destruction, that is).

Heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury are some of the hazardous materials that seep into the drinking water supplies of people all across the U.S. from coal ash disposal sites. These are linked to an increased risk of cancer, learning disabilities, birth defects and other illnesses.

Thankfully, there is currently a little window of opportunity open to tell the EPA that enough is enough and you don’t want coal power plants poisoning you or other Americans anymore.

And your support is needed, since you can be sure that the coal industry is fighting us all to its death.

“The EPA is holding a public comment period on new, federally enforceable standards to protect Americans, but the coal industry is fighting back, trying to put their profits before our health,” a petition by the Sierra Club on Change.org says.

“What’s more, dirty coal’s allies in Congress are pressuring the EPA to abandon strong regulation of toxic coal ash. If coal companies get their way, Americans living near one of the over 2,000 coal ash disposal sites across the country will face serious health risks.”

Send a message to the EPA today to support it in standing up to King Coal.

There are other important ways you can take action up until September 20 as well.

The positive news: 1) You have an opportunity to help turn things around, and 2) when I signed the petition above, 9,781 others had already done so. Help us reach 10,000 today!

Here’s our latest roundup of green living, green activism, and clean energy news. Enjoy these great stories from around the internet.

Green Living Tips

Want to know how to clean your house in an eco-friendly way? Vera Mosley over at sustainablog has a few good tips in her recent post, “Eco Cleaning Your Home: Essential Tips That Can Also Keep Your Children Safe.” Check that out to make sure you are cleaning your house in an eco-friendly way that is also safe for your children.

Ok, yeah, by now everyone has heard of organic food, but have you heard of organic swimming pools? A very cool story (with pics) over on the CalFinder Remodeling blog this week looks at eco-friendly or “organic” swimming pools, which are apparently growing in popularity (and for good reason).

Golf courses are one of my development or land use pet peeves, because they are generally horrible for the environment and yet often get counted as “green spaces” by municipalities. Apparently, some are now trying to be a bit “greener” (environmentally speaking) and Obama recently went golfing on what is supposed to be “the only completely organic golf course in the United States.” Jeff McIntire-Strasburg over at the Sundance Channel’s SUNfiltered blog discusses some of the environmental issues of golf courses and asks if this organic golf course is really green, or if it is greenwashing.

Clean Tech News

Want to read some positive U.S. news? If so, head on over to the CalFinder Solar blog and read an uplifting story on a new Illinois law that will create 5,000 new solar energy jobs and help the state and its utilities meet their renewable energy targets. Nice stuff!

Green Activism News

To start off the activism news, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) highlighted the great global activism that built up around a proposed coal-fired power plant in Scotland last week. “The proposal is the only live application for new coal-fired power station in the UK. Although the developers claim it is a clean-coal development, in reality 80 per cent of emissions would go straight into the atmosphere adding to global climate change,” WWF wrote. Nearly 10,000 people from 100 countries came together to oppose the power plant.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Becky Striepe, writing over on greenUPGRADER, highlighted the depressing news that the EPA recently issued another mountaintop removal coal mining permit in the Appalachian Mountains and directed us to a petition hosted by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) to tell the EPA that we are disappointed with this action and don’t want to see anymore of the Appalachian Mountains destroyed by mountaintop removal. Go sign the petition TODAY here.

Royal Prince Charles gone activist is too sweet a story to skip. Bonnie Alter of TreeHugger reported recently that Prince Charles is going on tour to promote sustainable living! This is actually not a big surprise, since Prince Charles has been a strong proponent of sustainable development for awhile, but great to see him doing this! “In his travels he will be visiting projects around the country where ordinary people are making a difference by installing solar panels, planting trees and growing vegetables. It is part of HRH Start project, which promotes a more sustainable lifestyle,” Bonnie reported.

We wrote on the largest state in India banning plastic bags recently. Now, the richest Hindu temple in the world (with around 60,000 visitors a day) is taking it a step further. Matthew McDermott, also writing on TreeHugger, reported (a little over a week ago, I must admit) that ALL plastic will be banned from it soon. The state government of Andhra Pradesh is actually the governing body that decided on the ban. Cool move, Andhra Pradesh!

That’s it for our green living, clean energy, and green activism roundup this week. I’m not sure yet if we will get a roundup out next weekend, since I will be on vacation. But perhaps someone else will be interested in picking up this job.

Photo Credits: The White House via Flickr; bionovanaturalpools; National Memorial for the Mountains via flickr; the Prince of Wales

Image: Sylvar, Flickr After the Environmental Working Group exposed a study claiming that chemical manufacturers overuse the trade secret protections provided in current law, the EPA is taking action. Proposed changes to the Inventory Update Reporting (IUR) rules will require manufacturers to substantiate their trade secret claims up front, with their update report. EPA touts the proposed changes as part of their "Read the full story on TreeHugger

As always, your news of the day is cool and green:

1. The EPA weighs in on the debate over using dispersants to break up the oil in the Gulf. (Green)
2. No climate bill = no nukes. (The Vine)
3. Climate change could force Adélie penguins to live in the dark. (Extinction Countdown)
4. Researchers create a model showing how deforestation happens in 3 distinct ‘waves.’ (BBC)
5. Sigh…it’s official: the BP spill is the world’s largest accidental release of oil into marine waters. (The New York Times)

Photo via Celsias A total of 10 petitions, including one from the US Chamber of Commerce, were sent to the EPA challenging its 2009 ruling that it can regulate greenhouse gases as a harmful pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Today, those 10 petitions were denied on grounds that its finding is still supported conclusively by sound science. The EPA's endangerment finding, which is backed by a landmark Supreme...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Doctor’s orders–10 minutes of cool green news a day:

1. The “Plastiki”–a boat made of plastic bottles–finishes its 8,000 mile journey to highlight the problem of plastic garbage in our oceans. (Green)
2. Why did climate change become such a partisian issue? (Environmental and Urban Economics)
3. Re-connecting bamboo forests is essential to saving the endangered giant panda. (Extinction Countdown)
4. New EPA proposals for coal plants could help reduce carbon emissions substantially. (The Vine)
5. Do smaller cows have a smaller impact on greenhouse gas emissions? (Treehugger)