 We are moving mountains.Today, after seven years of nonstop pressure from RAN, agribusiness giant Cargill – the largest importer of palm oil into the U.S. – made a major new pledge to root out and remove deforestation, species extinction and human suffering from its palm oil supply chains. This is a major milestone as Cargill has long resisted change, even in the face of strong public outcry and bold action by its competitors. You have bombarded Cargill with petitions, creative acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, saturated the company’s hometown of Wayzata, MN with ads exposing Cargill’s role in orangutan extinction, rainforest destruction, child labor and human rights abuses and pressured its customers – the Snack Food 20 – to cut Conflict Palm Oil from its products. Cargill is now committing to build a traceable and transparent palm oil supply chain and is seeking compliance from its suppliers to end egregious practices such as the destruction of rainforests and peatlands and the exploitation of Indigenous Peoples, workers and local communities. Thanks to your hard work and continued pressure, Cargill is on the move! As we know, the devil is truly in the details. It is too early to tell if Cargill will successfully transform itself from its current business model into a trusted supplier of responsible palm oil. Crucial details, including an ambitious deadline to cut Conflict Palm Oil, an implementation plan, and details on the independent oversight that will be used to ensure outcomes for forests, peatlands, and the communities whose lives depend on them are still missing. Cargill must address the critical gaps in its new pledge. We need your help. Tell Cargill that we are watching its next steps and demanding that the company cuts Conflict Palm Oil for good. We need you to tweet today! TWEET THIS–> Hey @Cargill, fix the gaps in your new #palmoil pledge! via @RAN http://a.ran.org/sm Cargill is the largest privately held corporation in the world and the largest importer of palm oil into the United States. An enormously powerful agricultural company that influences almost every aspect of our food supply, its business lines touch every level of palm oil production, trade, refining and marketing as it moves palm oil from producers to end consumers. This breakthrough shows that by pressuring Cargill’s customers, the Snack Food 20, we are driving reforms throughout the global palm oil supply chain and broader food system. Cargill’s new pledge is untested. Rest assured, we will hold Cargill to account, starting with demanding that it addresses the critical gaps in its new commitment and stops buying Conflict Palm Oil from controversial companies. To keep the action going on Cargill and the Snack Food 20 that uses their Conflict Palm Oil join RAN’s Palm Oil Action Team! |
Tag Archives: senate spot
Congress still hasn’t passed a Veteran’s Health Bill …
Last month, after 100,000-plus veterans, military family members, and VoteVets supporters acted, the United States Senate passed Bernie Sanders’ Restoring Veterans’ Trust Act by a vote of 93-3.
The bill promises to increase the number of doctors and nurses at VA facilities while authorizing spending to lease twenty-seven additional clinics. These are important steps Congress should take right now in order to improve short and long-term care for our nation’s veterans.
So, why hasn’t it gotten to President Obama’s desk yet?
The short answer is that several Tea Partiers in the House and Mitch McConnell’s Senate Caucus are trying to gum up the works and stall until Congress goes on their five week recess this Friday.
Can you imagine? Veterans are dying, and some Members of Congress are counting down the clock to their extended vacation.
The good news is, a bipartisan deal between House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairmen was announced just yesterday.
Leave it to Congress to wait until the last minute, but it looks like this bill could get to President Obama by week’s end.
But in Washington, D.C. you never know, so let’s make sure they hear from us before skipping town.
http://action.votevets.org/va_reform
If no action is taken by Thursday morning, we’ll deliver signatures from every veteran, military family member and VoteVets supporter who has signed on in support of Senator Sanders’ bill.
This is important,
Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
VoteVets.org
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Some Senators won’t like this ad
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Her ex pounds furiously on the door. A child screams inside. She frantically dials 911. In less than a minute, she’ll be dead from a gunshot.
That’s the scene depicted in the new television ad we’re airing across the country today to raise awareness of the crisis of gun violence against women.
In an average month in the United States, 48 women will die in scenes like this — shot dead by an intimate partner.
The ad is going to attract plenty of attention, but we need your help to make sure enough people see it to dial up the pressure on the Senate. We need our senators to make the right call on an important bill that’ll help keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and stalkers.
Here are some of the shocking facts you need to know about guns and domestic violence:
- On average, women in the U.S. are 11 times more likely to be murdered with guns than women in other high-income countries.
- More than half of women killed by guns in this country are killed by their intimate partners.
- The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed.
With our brand new TV ad, we’re going straight to the public — everyday supporters like you — to encourage our senators to pass laws that’ll reduce these numbers and save women’s lives.
Every dollar helps expand the TV ad buy and reach more people, increasing the effectiveness of our message. Please pitch in now with a donation of $15 or more:
https://donate.everytown.org/donate/domestic-violence-ad1
Thanks for helping us get this important message out there,
Brina Milikowsky
Director of Strategy & Partnerships
Everytown for Gun Safety
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Expelled …
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| Português | Español | Deutsch | More |
 Expelled from Ecuador:One Solar Visionary’s Story Last year, Ecuador’s government paid over $1 million for the rights to use the Beatles song “All you need is love” for its new slogan to promote the country worldwide. Branding itself as a welcome, inviting place of adventure, biodiversity, and rich cultural heritage, “All you need is Ecuador” (#AllyouneedisEcuador) ads have run throughout the US, on prime spots during the recent World Cup, and on social media, targeting tourists, retirees, and volunteers. However, Ecuador’s recent treatment of one U.S. citizen particularly calls into question the country’s professed welcome policy to the world. |
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USDA
- Petitioning USDA, Tom Vilsack
This petition will be delivered to:
United States Department of Agriculture
USDA, Tom Vilsack
Food Safety and Inspection Service
FSIS, Alfred Almanza
Require that meat produced from animals fed antibiotics be labeled accordingly.
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Petition by
Rohnert Park, CA
Most antibiotics sold in this country are fed to farmed animals rather than to treat human disease.
These antibiotics are mixed in with the food and water fed to the pigs, cows, and chickens who become the meat we eat. Often these animals are not even sick. Meat companies give low doses of antibiotics to farmed animals because it makes them grow bigger and faster on less food. These animals are also kept in confined and filthy conditions – conditions that would make them very sick if they were not all given these antibiotics preventatively.
Unfortunately, this extensive use of low dose antibiotics is helping to breed resistance in bacteria – leading to the existence of “superbugs.” These superbugs create infections in people that cannot be treated by the antibiotics—and this problem is potentially the leading health crisis in the U.S.
Consumers who want to avoid meat produced with antibiotics have no way to identify such products.
Although some companies use the label “antibiotic free,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not regulate that term. Consumers therefore have no way of knowing whether the meat they buy is truly produced with or without large amounts of antibiotics.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) has recently asked the USDA to require labels on meat and poultry products to clarify whether those animals were fed antibiotics or not. Consumers should have a say in what goes in their meat.
As a father of a toddler and a newborn, I know how important it is that families know what they’re putting on the table for their kids. Consumers have a right to make informed choices, and it’s the job of our government regulatory agencies to help us by properly labeling food that could be harmful.
Please join me in urging the USDA to require that meat produced from animals fed antibiotics be labeled accordingly. Contact the USDA and ask them to adopt ALDF’s proposal!
Be a Seed for Change 
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