~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Eight Ways Obamacare Helps You and the 2015 Update to #ACA

07/21/2015 Nativegrl77 4 Comments

2015 Update to #ACA

1)16.4 Million now have #ACA

2) The uninsured has declined over the last 4-5 years by 35%

3) 14.1 Million that have #ACA are Adults

4) 2.3 Million are the young from ages 19-25 who are on their parents insurance

5) 8.8 Million signed up through the Insurance Market Place

6) 6 Million have #ACA have insurance Medicare / Medicaid

The only negative is knowing more would have healthcare coverage if Republican Governor’s weren’t so heartless and put “WeThePeople” ahead their selective ideologies toward our POTUS

The benefits of the Affordable Care Act are pretty straightforward: the law makes it easier to get insurance you can afford, ensures you have the care you need when you get sick, and covers the preventive services you need to stay healthy for free.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Drop Confederate Names and Symbols! Hope Wood, ColorOfChange.org

07/21/2015 Nativegrl77

You have a chance to permanently remove names and symbols of racism and oppression in your community and replace them with names and symbols of liberation. #HonorThem

Petition your elected officials to remove symbols of the Confederacy and replace them with symbols honoring real freedom fighters! #HonorThem

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

A new Blue Marble

07/21/2015 Nativegrl77

The White House, Washington

Earth.

Not mounted on a stand, with color-coded state and national boundaries, as schoolroom globes are prone to display. Instead, we see our world as only a cosmic perspective can provide: blue oceans, dry land, white clouds, polar ice. A sun-lit planet, teeming with life, framed in darkness.

In 1972, when NASA’s Apollo 17 astronauts first captured an entire hemisphere of our planet, we were treated to such a view. The Blue Marble, it was called. The Space Program’s unprecedented images of Earth compelled us all to think deeply about our dependence on nature and the fate of our civilization.

Of course, at the time, we had other distractions. Between 1968 and 1972, the United States would experience some of its most turbulent years in memory, simultaneously enduring a hot war in Southeast Asia, a Cold War with the Soviet Union, the Civil Rights Movement, campus unrest, and assassinations. Yet that’s precisely when we voyaged to the Moon, paused, looked back, and discovered Earth for the first time.

The year 1970 would celebrate the first Earth Day. In that same year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were formed with strong bipartisan support. In 1972, the pesticide DDT was banned and the Clean Water Act was passed. And one year later, the Endangered Species Act would be enacted, the catalytic converter would be introduced, and unleaded automotive emission standards would be set. A stunning admission that we’re all in this together, with a common future on a shared planet.

Regrettably, we still live in a turbulent world. But we now have at our disposal, not simply a photograph of our home to reflect upon, but continual data of our rotating planet, captured 13 times per day, by the robotic Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), a specially designed space camera and telescope, launched and positioned a million miles from Earth.

We will now be able to measure and track sun-induced space weather as well as global climatic trends in ozone levels, aerosols, vegetation, volcanic ash, and Earth reflectivity, all in high resolution — just the kind of data our civilization needs to make informed cultural, political, and scientific decisions that affect our future.

Occasions such as this offer renewed confidence that we may ultimately become responsible shepherds of our own fate, and the fate of that fragile home we call Earth.

Neil deGrasse Tyson
American Museum of Natural History, New York City
@neiltyson

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Help get junk food money out of school lunch

07/21/2015 Nativegrl77

Support kids’ health, not junk food interests.

Guess who’s funding lobbyists to weaken school lunch?

The School Nutrition Association represents the school food professionals who feed our kids—but their lobbyists are contradicting the science, and trying to take fruits & vegetables off kids’ lunch trays. And guess who’s funding their efforts? Junk food companies.

Take action today!

ACTION ALERT
Support Kids’ Health, Not Junk Food Interests

Meet the School Nutrition Association (SNA), one of the main lobbying groups—funded in part by corporate junk food money—standing in the way of healthier school lunch for kids.

The SNA’s members are the school meal providers who feed children in schools across the country—but their lobbyists aren’t as concerned with the health of our kids as you’d think. Could it be because corporate junk food companies like Domino’s and PepsiCo fund about half of the SNA’s budget?

Shockingly, the SNA opposes improved nutrition standards that would keep fruits and vegetables on kids’ lunch trays. In fact, they’re actively trying to convince Congress that schools can’t make healthy foods work in cafeterias.

But we’ve got what the opposition doesn’t have: evidence that the new nutrition standards—created by scientists and experts, not corporate interests—are working. Most schools have successfully implemented the standards, and studies show that kids are eating more fruits and veggies. UCS’s own analysis reveals that healthier school meals are a lifeline for many kids in a sea of junk food.

With an obesity crisis threatening our children’s future and driving up healthcare costs, the stakes are too high to roll back progress. Send the SNA a message: look out for kids, not the junk food industry.

Sincerely,

Ashley Elles
Food and Environment Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
Twitter: @

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Help the Duwamish River … Ms. Margie’s 4th grade class

07/21/2015 Nativegrl77

I’m Ms. Margie, a teacher and MoveOn member in Wallingford, WA, and I started a petition with my 4th grade class to King County Executive Dow Constantine, which says:

Constantine, which says:

Make Seattle’s only river clean enough for locals to fish. Sign Ms.’s petition

We are a 4th grade class in Seattle, Washington. We are petitioning Dow Constantine, King County Executive, to give enough money to clean the Duwamish River for citizens to be able to fish safely. The Duwamish River is one of the most polluted rivers in the U.S. and the only river in Seattle.

The Duwamish River is affecting people’s health. Residents who live closer to the river die 13 years younger than others who live in Laurelhurst.¹ There are three tribes that eat fish from the river. It’s in the tribes’ culture to fish in the Duwamish and we shouldn’t take that away from them, so we want King County to give enough money so that people can eat the fish without the risk of getting really sick.

The Environmental Protection Agency has already released a $342 million, 17 year-long cleanup plan to help.² However, it is not removing enough toxins so that locals can fish from the Duwamish safely. Although it will cost King County a lot of money and time, people and animals around the Duwamish will be saved.

Our goal is to collect 3,000 signatures by June 1, 2015. June 2 we will be holding a protest and presenting our petition signatures. If you add your name, it will really make a difference to the people and animals that live or fish in the Duwamish River.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Ms. Margie’s 4th grade class

Source:

1. “The Duwamish: River of no return?” Crosscut, July 7, 2014
http://crosscut.com/2014/07/duwamish-river-no-return/

2. “$342 Million to Clean Duwamish River Superfund Site: EPA Finalizes Plan,” Indian Country Today, December 4, 2014
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304554&id=117895-17809870-FDkiIDx&t=1

This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Ms. Margie’s 4th grade class didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.