Tag Archives: Congress

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Anthony Carbajal via Change.org


I was diagnosed with ALS last year, which means I have 2-5 years to live. But a new drug could save my life – please help me convince the FDA to allow ALS patients like me to have early access to this life-saving medication.
~ Youtube ...gotta listen to this

Kendrick Lamar – Opposites Attract (Tomorrow W/O Her) Featuring Javonte + ON-SCREEN LYRICS


2,611,814 views

“Anything that happens once, usually doesn’t happen again but everything that happens twice is sure to happen a third time.”

~ food for thought for all of us, then again … it’s just a song

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

TAKE ACTION: Stop a dangerous chemical law


Take Action
A woman examines a product in a store. (Art Allianz / Shutterstock)

A new Senate bill would fail to protect us from toxic chemicals.

Tell your senators to oppose this dangerous bill now.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Humanity threatened – along with all life on Earth


Amazon Watch

Join us in our shared commitment to the web of life
by making an investment in life itself with a
contribution for World Environment Day

#WorldEnvironmentDay

“It is reckless to suppose that biodiversity can be diminished indefinitely
without threatening humanity itself.”
– Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, the “Father of Biodiversity”

We talk about biodiversity a lot, – but what does it really mean? Should we care?

All living beings in an ecosystem are part of the web of life, including us. Together there are an estimated 8.7 million species of plants, animals, and insects on Earth, each interacting to create a resilient environment upon which we all depend for survival. When the web is weakened, our future is threatened. Maintaining diversity of species in our ecosystem – including the 2.2 million marine species and the 6.5 million terrestrial species –is of critical importance.

In honor of World Environment Day, Amazon Watch asks you to make a commitment to protect the biodiversity of the Amazon by supporting our efforts. From protecting Yasuní National Park in Ecuador to preventing destructive mega dams, Amazon Watch is confronting threats to our precious biodiversity where it is richest and densest, in the Amazon.

When we talk about biodiversity in the Amazon, we’re talking about the greatest repository of life on Earth. The Amazon is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and 2,000 birds and mammals. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 2,200 fish, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region. And there are thousands more discovered that have yet to be documented. One in five of all the bird species in the world live in the rainforests of the Amazon, and one in five of global fish species live in Amazonian rivers and streams.

A 2001 study finding that a quarter square kilometer (62 acres) of Ecuadorian rainforest supports more than 1,100 tree species, meaning that the biodiversity of plant species there is the highest on Earth. In the Amazon alone we find almost four hundred billion trees!

Among those trees live scarlet macaws, woolly monkeys, three-striped poison dart tree frogs, sloths, monkey frogs, capybaras, red howler monkeys, ocelots, harpy eagles, squirrel monkeys, green iguanas, jaguars…and hundreds more. Those are just the animals!

The Amazon is our richest repository of biodiversity, and it is under great threat. Maintaining the integrity of the Amazon means protecting one of the densest sections of our planetary web of life.

By supporting Amazon Watch you support this web of life that we all depend upon. Through our efforts to protect the Amazon and advance the rights of indigenous peoples – the traditional and best stewards of this natural world – you, too, are making a tangible difference.

This World Environment Day, please support Amazon Watch. We’re working for you and for all life.

For the Amazon,

Branden Barber
Branden Barber
Director of Engagement
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Paid Family Leave is Getting Closer in NY, but We Need Your Help!


A Better Balance
Paid Family Leave is Getting Closer in NY, but We Need Your Help!
For less than the cost of a cup of coffee a week, New Yorkers could receive paid family leave
Dear Friend:
Spring is finally in the air in New York, and with it, we hope, some long overdue change for New York families.
After years of inaction, Republican and Democratic leaders are both talking about paid family leave in New York. And it’s not just talk. Later today, the State Assembly is expected to once again pass a paid family leave bill that ABB helped to draft. In the State Senate, Republican leaders have included paid family leave in their budget proposal and plan to hold a hearing on the issue next week.
Despite this momentum, Governor Cuomo recently said that he doesn’t think Albany has the “appetite” for paid family leave. But New Yorkers across the state are proving him wrong! Women leaders in New York State (including ABB’s Co-Presidents, Sherry and Dina) and across the country sent powerful letters to the Governor in support of paid family leave. And more than 12,000 New Yorkers have signed our petition to Governor Cuomo. Here’s what they are saying:

  • Katelyn from Ronkonkoma wrote, “I just had a baby and now I’m back at work. I had to use all of my sick days to pay our bills during my ‘maternity leave’ so now if my son or I get sick, I can’t stay home or I will lose a day’s pay. I also need to save them up for the next time I have a baby.”
  • And Jamie from Brooklyn wrote, “This would come in handy for me as I type. Have been in Florida for the past 3 weeks to be with my severely ill father who is in critical care. Not getting paid for 3 weeks + having sick father in ICU = unbearably tragic.”
The media is starting to take notice. Karen Benites, an ABB legal hotline caller, was featured in the New York Times yesterday, showing just how hungry New Yorkers are for the right to stay home with a new child or seriously ill loved one.
You can help! Please take 2 minutes to sign and share our paid family leave petition. Together, we can make this spring a bountiful one for New York’s families.
Thanks for all that you do.
The ABB Team,
Sherry, Dina, Phoebe, Jared, Elizabeth, Risha, Morenike, Rachel, Jake, Molly & Lynn
P.S.  In more Albany action, the first of several Women’s Equality Act proposals is getting a vote in the Assembly this week! We continue to advocate for these provisions, specifically those that outlaw family status discrimination in employment, require reasonable accommodation for pregnant workers, and demand equal pay for equal work.