Petition Coalition, 1/3/15 - Environmental Edition

Join the "Petition Coalition" by following these links and signing those that you agree with! 

Bee populations have dropped precipitously in recent years, largely due to pesticides so wide-ranging that they not only kill pests, but the very necessary insects who pollinate our crops. Now the EPA is considering approval of this class of indiscriminate killer chemicals on a whole slew of foodstuffs, from oats to alfalfa to corn. We can't let “agro” be so “aggro.” Plead with the EPA to deny the Dow Agroscience application for expansion of sulfoxaflor use: https://secure.earthjustice.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1591 

As much as Starbucks heralds its accomplishments as a pro-social, environmentally friendly company, they are a part of a lawsuit to prevent the state of Vermont from mandating labels on any genetically modified foods. While there may not actually be any harmful effects from eating GMOs, every person has a right to know whether or not their products are modified and make an educated decision. Tell Starbucks that this lawsuit flies in the face of their company's public profile: http://act.credoaction.com/sign/starbucks_gmo_lawsuit 

Big business—and their allies in Congress—are attempting to water down the Endangered Species Act (proposed and signed into law by a Republican president, before that party by and large abandoned its environmental conservatism). Let the House Natural Resources Committee know that you stand strongly behind the protection of dwindling wildlife: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/671/843/641/ 

U.S. energy policy tips the scales in favor of dirty energy products like oil and coal through tax breaks and subsidies—perks that the renewable energy sector don't get because their profits and lobbying power are so much lower than the “mainstream” fossil fuel companies. Tell the new incoming Congress that clean energy deserves the same legislative privileges as Big Oil: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/875/264/845/

Thanks for fighting the good fight, and for all the little ways you change the world!

Find a penny, pick it up; give to charity quite a few bucks!

My favorite thing about New Year's Day is tallying up all the money I've found over the previous year, which I donate to the Sean McGrath Fund at the Princeton Area Community Foundation.

As many of you know, Sean was a close friend of mine who worked with me at MTV after he had been a member of New Jersey bands Saves The Day, Hands Tied, and Mouthpiece. He was stricken with cholangiocarcinoma (the same hard-to-diagnose bile duct cancer that took the life of Ray Manzarek of The Doors) and fought valiantly for two years before finally succumbing to the disease in 2004.

In the decade since, we've raised and granted nearly $35000 to assorted health and humanitarian charities with the help of our many donors and musical supporters (most prevalently Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Midtown, and The Movielife, who volunteered to perform at our inaugural "Hold On To Your Friends" benefit concert, and have continued to offer support throughout the years).

The money that I stop to pick up each year is just a drop in that proverbial bucket, but I challenge each and every person reading this to match the amount (at minimum) with their own donation so that we can continue doing good work in Sean's name and memory!

And now for this year's tally...

It was a banner year for the campaign, in part thanks to an unfortunate circumstance: I was freelancing at a company in the spring when they were sold to a new owner and fired the vast majority of their staff, who left behind a collective total of $26.49 after they cleaned out their desks and walked out the door for the last time. Even aside from that windfall, though, I found a sizable sum abandoned or lost on the streets of New York, in subway stations, at checkout counters, in cabs, and even at the bank. Here's the breakdown of denominations (including the inadvertent donations from my former colleagues):

$10 - 1

$5 - 1

$1 - 5

$0.25 - 50

$0.10 - 114

$0.05 - 87

$0.01 - 636

All told, that comes to $54.61--but wait a second, I'm not done yet!

In addition to the American currency, I found two separate NYC MetroCards with a combined value of $4.65 (essentially found money), as well as the following foreign currency (US exchange value in parenthesis):

1.32 Euros ($1.60)

.03 Canadian dollars ($0.03)

.06 British pounds ($0.09)

5.00 Peruvian soles ($1.67)

1.00 Hong Kong dollars ($0.13)

.01 Singapore dollars ($0.01)

1.25 United Arab Emirates dirhams ($0.34)

That makes this year's grand total a record-setting $63.13, more than tripling the puny tally from 2013, and easily surpassing the 2012 and 2011 hauls.

And now my two-part challenge: 1) for each of you to make a matching donation by the end of January in honor of what would have been Sean's 39th birthday on the 27th of this month (I'll set the pace by making a personal donation to match the money I found), and 2) for you to set aside a can or jar to store your own found money in 2015, with the end goal of tallying and donating it next January.

To make your own $63.13 (or greater!) donation to the Sean McGrath Fund, hit the orange button on the PACF site and make sure you specify "Sean McGrath Fund" in your note. Thanks in advance for your generosity, your support, and for helping us keep Sean's name and spirit alive through charity!

Petition Coalition Roundup, 12/31/14 - Domestic Policy Edition

Join the "Petition Coalition" by following these links and signing those that you agree with!

A steep drop in federal funding for food assistance programs means that more and more people are relying on soup kitchens and food pantries just to stay alive. Sadly, more than thirty American cities have instituted laws making it illegal for good samaritans to feed the hungry and the homeless. That's right: in some parts of the country, you could get arrested for handing out sandwiches. Call on the mayors of these municipalities to lift this senseless and heartless ban: http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/4753

Senator Tom Harkin is about to retire, but his longtime quest to strengthen and expand Social Security won't die with his exit, since Senator Sherrod Brown has taken the proverbial baton from him, saying, “With even middle-income seniors relying on Social Security for at least two-thirds of their retirement income, it’s critical that we advance the Strengthening Social Security Act – expanding benefits, strengthening the program’s future, and making retirement more secure for all Americans." Tell your members of the Senate to stand with him: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6405/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10708

One of the federal regulators taxed with overseeing antitrust investigations of Comcast is so chummy with the company's SVP that she was invited to attend the Sochi Olympics and had dinner where they discussed inside information about the company and the Department of Justice. Tell the DOJ that this kind of relationship shouldn't be allowed between investigators and their subjects: http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/4794

The for-profit prison system sucks up over $50B taxpayer dollars every year in the U.S., and due to lobbying for harsher and harsher penalties, is directly responsible for both the huge increase in prison populations over the past two decades as well as the longer sentences doled out by judges (many of whom are elected with the help of campaign donations from the very penal corporations who benefit from their draconian sentencing). Now it's been revealed that a for-profit detention center in Texas has played host to repeated instances of rape perpetrated by the very people who are supposed to be guarding detainees. Tell the Department of Homeland Security to launch an immediate investigation into the many reported rape cases at Karnes County Residential Center: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/Karnes_ck

Thanks for fighting the good fight, and for all the little ways you change the world!

Petition Coalition Roundup, 12/31/14 - Animal Rights Edition

Join the "Petition Coalition" by following these links and signing those that you agree with! 

A Mississippi man neglected over 100 horses to the point of death or near-death, but is only facing misdemeanor charges because of a swift coverup and shoddy investigation. Ask the state's Attorney General to launch an independent investigation and to press the appropriate charges for this sickening animal abuse: https://www.change.org/p/jim-hood-we-demand-justice-for-what-one-man-did-to-over-a-100-horses

A football player at the University of Nebraska has admitted to beating a wild raccoon to death because when he tried to capture the frightened animal and take a “selfie,” it bit him and tried to escape. Even though he's admitted to this disgusting act of cruelty, he's received no punishment from the legal system or the university. Demand that he be booted from his team for this outrageous and senseless act of violence to show that there are repercussions for animal abuse: https://www.change.org/p/james-linder-show-jack-gangwish-there-are-consequences-for-animal-cruelty

Service dogs aren't just for the blind: many people suffering from PTSD (mostly military vets) also have registered assistance animals...and yet Starbucks continues to harass many individuals with legally protected canine companions. Ask the corporation to educate their entire national workforce about the Americans With Disabilities Act to put an end to this type of incident: https://www.change.org/p/starbucks-stop-harassing-war-vets

The Gap's division Piperlime announced in September that they were going fully fur-free and stood against animal cruelty, yet their Intermix division is still slaughtering foxes, kangaroos, and other animals for fur. Tell the parent company that if they really stand for animal welfare, they need to ban fur products from ALL of their stores: https://www.change.org/p/gap-inc-is-selling-kangaroo-fox-rabbit-raccoon-dog-and-mink-fur

Thanks for fighting the good fight, and for all the little ways you change the world!

Petition Coalition Roundup, 12/22/14 - Environmental Issues Edition

Join the "Petition Coalition" by following these links and signing those that you agree with! 

Shell Oil and other petroleum companies continue to push hard for permission to drill in America's Arctic Ocean waters north of Alaska, despite a government study that found a 75% likelihood of a major oil spill should they be allowed to set up wells there. Tell the government agency responsible that we can't risk this pristine wildlife habitat: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/420/592/011/

While we're on the topic of oil spills, BP has been proven to have been lying when they claimed that much of the Deep Water Horizon oil simply disappeared or biodegraded, since a giant toxic sludge ring the size of Rhode Island has now been discovered on the ocean floor. Unbelievably, that historic environmental disaster didn't make the Environmental Protection Agency strengthen its mandates on cleanup procedures. Pressure them to stiffen the rules on pollution cleanup: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/546/818/729

“Super trawlers” are extreme versions of fishing boats, which drag nets along the sea floor and capture everything in their wake, including many non-targeted animals like dolphins, sea turtles, and sharks, decimating wildlife populations and having a devastating impact on biodiversity in the waters where they operate. Australia implemented a temporary ban in 2012 to protect the sea creatures in their territorial waters, but it's set to expire soon. Ask Aussie Prime Minister Tony Abbott to implement a permanent moratorium on this practice along their enormous coast: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/980/848/040

Methane emissions from oil and gas operations has more than eighty times the impact of carbon emissions on global climate change. While the EPA and the Obama administration have made some positive steps to limit carbon emissions, there's very little discussion of monitoring and reducing methane. Ask them for parity in emissions standards on the two dangerous pollutants: https://secure3.convio.net/lcv/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2017

Thanks for fighting the good fight, and for all the little ways you change the world!

Petition Coalition Roundup, 12/6/14 - Holding Chevron accountable for pollution; protecting big cats; banning dangerous livestock drugs; and protecting Arctic wildlife

Join the "Petition Coalition" by following these links and signing those that you agree with! 

Here in the United States, the EPA's Superfund program can force polluters to pay for the cleanup of the sites they've toxified. Unfortunately, they have no control over the Amazon, where Chevron has dumped billions of gallons of wastewater. Tell them to pony up the $9.5B in necessary cleanup fees in advance of the International Criminal Court case against them: http://action.sumofus.org/a/chevron-toxico/

Speaking of Chevron, the State Department is shockingly considering them for an official corporate excellence award. Tell State how horrifying a choice that would be, given their record of environmental destruction around the world: http://act.credoaction.com/sign/chevron_state_department

Soon the city of Beaufort, South Carolina may allow baby lions and tigers to be displayed in a “safari” flea market exhibit that is below the standards of the American Sanctuary Association for wildlife habitats. Please tell the city council not to subject these baby big cats to inhumane treatment: https://www.change.org/p/beaufort-county-council-keep-baby-lions-and-tigers-out-of-inhumane-safari-flea-market

It's a sad state of affairs when a drug banned by places like Russia and China (and, well, most of the rest of the world) is still given to livestock in the U.S. to ratchet up the rate of growth even though it has been proven to sicken or kill more pigs than any other pharmaceutical in the entire industry...and then it ends up on your plate. Tell Smithfield to make all of its pig farms ractopamine-free: https://www.change.org/p/tell-smithfield-to-stop-giving-animals-this-drug-banned-in-much-of-the-world

At this time of year, polar bears are omnipresent on greeting cards and in holiday-themed advertisements. Unfortunately, their numbers are still dwindling in the Arctic, and we continue to allow the energy industry to set up disruptive drilling rigs in their previously pristine habitats. Tell President Obama and Secretary of the Interior Sarah Jewell to end big oil's invasion of these waters: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/330/070/596/

Thanks for fighting the good fight, and for all the little ways you change the world!

Petition Coalition Roundup, 12/3/14 - Fracking in NYS, police body cams, overturning Citizens United, protecting rhinos, and diplomacy with Iran

Join the "Petition Coalition" by following these links and signing those that you agree with!

Governor Cuomo says he plans to make a decision on whether or not to allow “fracking” in New York State by the end of the year. Tell him to say no to this dangerous, groundwater polluting practice: http://act.credoaction.com/sign/cuomo_fracking_2014?t=1&akid=12305.1276313.GvEMFq 

A California study last year showed that body cameras worn by police officers resulted in an astounding 60% reduction in use of force, and an 88% decline in complaints against cops. Mandating them nationally would help protect both law enforcement and the public: http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/bodycams/ 

The 2014 midterms were the most expensive in American history, with almost half of the money—a full $150M coming from just two men: the ultra conservative Koch Brothers. Sign on the become one of the Citizens Against Citizens United and help take our electoral politics back from the ultra rich: http://www.citizens-against-citizens-united.com/ 

Though rhinos use their horns for protection and to root out sustenance, the government of Namibia plans to capture wild animals and cut off their horns, allegedly to save them from poachers, but arguably for profit themselves. Tell them to let the rhinos stay horn-y: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/973/928/814/namibia-dont-de-horn-rhinos-for-profit 

Diplomacy works slowly, but it is working in the U.S. talks with Iran about tamping down their nuclear ambitions. Tell you U.S. senators to continue diplomatic discussions instead of saber rattling: http://action.votevets.org/page/s/iran-diplomacy?source=su141202a_iranpetition

Thanks for fighting the good fight, and for all the little ways you change the world!