Nothing is more important than our children’s health. Yet, school food often falls short of proper nutritional and sustainability standards.
There’s no better time to highlight the importance of healthy, sustainable school food than during National School Lunch Week: October 15 – 19. And Earth Day Network is here to help.
Check out our National School Lunch Week campaign website to learn more and to see a special video message from the Harlem Globetrotters.
Make a commitment to talk to your kids about where their food comes from and how it affects their health and the environment. Then, ask local school administrators to participate in National School Lunch Week with school-wide observances.
Finally, tell your kids about our National School Lunch Week poster contest, and have them enter to win $100 and other prizes.
Together, we can ensure a bright, healthy and green future for America’s kids.
– The Earth Day Network Team
My name is not Jane. I need to keep my real name secret because the man who abused me can’t know where I am — I fear for my safety. But when I was leaving him and needed to get him off the cell phone contract we shared, Sprint put my safety at risk.
The man who abused me is the father of my son. When our baby was just four months old, he watched as his father strangled me and threatened to stomp on my head with steel-toed boots. I left and got a restraining order the next day.
But at a time when I had no job, no steady place to live, and feared for my life and the life of my little one, Sprint refused to let me get my abuser off my cell phone contract unless I paid them $200 — even though the contract was in my name. I had no money, and the man who threatened to kill me could track exactly who I was calling and when.
When I signed the petition asking Verizon to drop cancellation fees for victims of domestic violence, I was shocked how many other people who signed shared awful stories about Sprint. One woman wrote about how Sprint made her meet her abusive ex-boyfriend in person at the Sprint store before they’d let her cancel her contract.
As for me, I’m still so afraid of my abuser that I can’t even use my real name. But this issue is so important for women like me fighting for their lives, I knew I had to do something.
Cindy’s petition to Verizon made me realize that I am not alone. If she can get Verizon to change its policies to prioritize the safety of victims of domestic violence, there’s no reason Sprint can’t do the same. I know that if enough people sign my petition, Sprint will do the right thing, too.
President Barack Obama views the office of Cesar Chavez before the dedication ceremony for the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene, Calif., Oct. 8, 2012. Pictured with the President, from left, are: Arturo S. Rodriguez, President, United Farm Workers; Helen Chavez, Cesar Chavez’ widow; Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers; and Paul F. Chavez, Cesar Chavez’ Son and President of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Safeway is offering responsibly fished canned tuna at a lower price than conventional brands like Chicken of the Sea. It’s time for Walmart to do the same. Take action and ask Walmart to start selling sustainably caught canned tuna.
Walmart’s own brand of tuna might be low cost. But it comes at a high price to our oceans.
That’s because what you’ll find inside a can of Walmart’s ‘Great Value’ tuna has been caught in the some of the most destructive ways imaginable. These destructive fishing practices unnecessarily kill tens of thousands of sharks, sea turtles, rays and other sea creatures every year.
It doesn’t have to be this way — even for a company as big as Walmart.
Safeway just recently began selling sustainably-sourced tuna under its own label on a national scale. This “Responsibly Caught” Safeway Select tuna also costs less than cans from major companies like Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea. We know it can be done and it’s time for Walmart to do the same thing. Help us send 30,000 messages to the company in the next 48 hours by taking action today. Take action and ask Walmart to start selling sustainably caught canned tuna.
Walmart is such a large buyer that it could force the entire canned tuna industry to change. We’re talking about altering industrial fishing practices on the scale necessary to actually save our oceans. It’s what consumers want, and Safeway has already proven that it can be done in a cost-effective manner.
Companies like Chicken of the Sea are blocking progress by wanting to continue with business as usual: yanking tuna out of our oceans by any means necessary and slaughtering anything else that gets in the way. Walmart has the power to get the tuna industry to clean up its act, but it is going to need to hear from the public first before it does anything.
Destructive fishing practices are one of the biggest threats facing our oceans right now. The use of fish-aggregating devices (FADs) is particularly gruesome.
FADs, which are basically floating objects placed in the ocean, don’t just attract tuna. They attract all sorts of life — including sharks, sea turtles and a bunch of other species. When the ship returns, it scoops up everything that has gathered around the FAD with a net. Hardly anything is spared in this process, and the crews just toss the lifeless remains of whatever they don’t want back into the ocean.
Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee and Starkist all catch their tuna in this way.
Safeway doesn’t.
Hopefully, Walmart will follow their lead after they hear from enough people like you.
For the oceans,
Today you can discover 42 new online historical exhibitions telling the stories behind major events of the last century, including Apartheid, D-Day and the Holocaust. The stories have been put together by 17 partners including museums and cultural foundations who have drawn on their archives of letters, manuscripts, first-hand video testimonials and much more. Much of the material is very moving—and some is on the Internet for the first time.
Each exhibition features a narrative which links the archive material together to unlock the different perspectives, nuances and tales behind these events. Among others you’ll see:
Tragic love at Auschwitz – the story of Edek & Mala, a couple in love who try to escape Auschwitz
Jan Karski, Humanity’s hero – first-hand video testimony from the man who attempted to inform the world about the existence of the Holocaust
Faith in the Human Spirit is not Lost – tracing the history of Yad Vashem’s efforts to honor courageous individuals who attempted to rescue Jews during the Holocaust
Steve Biko – a 15-year-old’s political awakening in the midst of the Apartheid movement featuring nine documents never released in the public domain before
D-Day – details of the famous landings including color photographs, personal letters and the D-Day order itself from Admiral Ramsay
Years of the Dolce Vita – a look at the era of the “good life” in Italy including the fashion, food, cars and culture
As with the other archives that we’ve helped bring onto the Internet, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, you can zoom in to see photos in great detail and search through millions of items for a specific country, person, event or date. Watch our video for some guidance about how to find your way around the exhibitions.
The historical collections are the latest chapter in the work of the Google Cultural Institute, following the Art Project, World Wonders and the Nelson Mandela archives. We’re working closely with museums, foundations and other archives around the world to make more cultural and historical material accessible online and by doing so preserve it for future generations.
You can explore the many exhibitions at www.google.com/culturalinstitute. You can also follow us on our Google+ page. What you see today is just the start, so if you’re a partner interested in contributing your own exhibitions, please fill out this form. Posted by Mark Yoshitake, Product Manager, Google Cultural Institute
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