Tag Archives: senate spot

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Floating coffins


 Avaaz's profile photo
Dear friends,The most persecuted peoples on our earth are right now taking to ‘floating coffins’ to flee violence and seek sanctuary for their families. But instead of responding with humanity, our governments are closing their doors, letting them starve and drown at sea.

The Mediterranean and Andaman Seas are becoming graveyards.

Burma is driving the Rohingya out, and thousands of families are drifting helplessly at sea, forced to drink their own urine because Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia had turned them away. Syrians and Africans risk drowning every week off the coast of Southern Europe, braving the terrifying crossing as their last hope to escape torture, hunger, and traffickers.

We are facing the biggest refugees crisis since World War II, but so far governments have let them die in a climate of rising xenophobia. Now it has reached a crisis, and our community has a unique chance to jam the culture of fear with a wave of compassion.

If we each chip in a small amount now, we’ll help fund rescue operations at sea; build an Avaaz refugee team to assist those missions and resettlement, and create effective lobby cells to get leaders to open up borders; and launch ads to counter the racism.

Together we can help rescue refugees, and rescue our shared humanity.

Unless we act fast, 2015 could become the year of the boat people!

Pledge to urgently launch the Avaaz refugee campaign — Avaaz will only process your donations if we raise enough to start saving lives:

To pledge another amount, click here.
Avaazers have already kick-started this campaign in the UK. The government has only allowed in 143 Syrians out of the 4 million refugees! In response, over 1,000 Avaazers have joined forces to challenge this disgraceful policy by offering to help refugees resettle, and calling on their local councils to give homes to 50 Syrian refugees each. Already 4 councils have agreed and with our pressure, we hope many more will too.

But this isn’t just a UK and Syria problem. It is a crisis of humanity when our planet’s most vulnerable are treated as criminals and left to die. Here’s a five point plan of the most critical actions Avaaz could take if we raise enough together:

  1. Support organisations that are bravely rescuing the refugees at sea.
  2. Launch Flotillas for Humanity with more private boats to assist rescue operations.
  3. Build an Avaaz refugee team to lobby governments, the EU and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to push for effective search and rescue operations, and increased numbers of refugee places.
  4. Support local groups in Europe and South East Asia to provide assistance to refugees arriving in reception centres, and into communities.
  5. Run hard hitting billboards and newspaper ads to counter the culture of xenophobia.

30 thousand refugees could drown in the Mediterranean this year. These families are fleeing terror and misery, and their choice to board a boat may be the only choice they have. Let’s join forces to stop these tragedies at sea. Pledge now:
Our community is one of the only in the world with millions of citizens in both the countries from which these families are fleeing and the countries they are seeking help. We have already funded extraordinary work to tackle Ebola and humanitarian work in Nepal. Now let’s take on this emergency and catalyse change with acts of inspired love and inspired bravery.

With hope and determination,

Alice, Ben, Oli, Diego, Mais, Emily, Dalia, Ricken and the Avaaz team

SOURCES:

Myanmar Muslim migrants abandoned at sea have been ‘drinking their own urine’ to survive  (The Independent UK)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/myanmar-muslim-migrants-abandoned-at-sea-drinking-their-own-urine-to-survive-after-thailand-refuses-boat-entry-10249854.html

Syria Refugee Regional Response (UNHCR)
http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php

Mediterranean migrants: Details emerge of deadly capsize (BBC)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32399433

Lost at sea, unwanted: The plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya ‘boat people’ (CNN)
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/19/asia/rohingya-refugee-ships-explainer/

Stranded Rohingya migrants say: ‘We’re dying on board’ (Al Jazeera)
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/stranded-rohingya-migrants-dying-board-150517130244345.html

~ FDA/USDA ~~ Alerts & Safety, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

EdNet: The National Food Safety Educator’s Network


FoodSafety.gov

EdNet, the National Food Safety Educator’s Network, is a monthly, multi-agency electronic news journal from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). EdNet provides educators, consumer advocates, government officials, and industry representatives with a quick monthly summary of news about food safety programs and activities.

In this issue:

Advisories, Alerts, and Warnings

Resources for Educators

Industry

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

compare contrast check … 2nd hand & consignments


Shirts Hanging on Clothes Rack

I will be keeping all names confidential …

I went on a thrift buy and to be quite honest – to scope out what other small business owners of “thrift” are selling etc. I set out to compare, contrast and what I found was surprising, a bit disappointing. I live in an area that could cross the line of middle toward upper middle class.

I was not sure what price point I would be facing. I was looking forward to going to my favorite 2nd hands, but I only went to four shops as one of the most popular went out of business right around the 2008 economic crisis and the other; the biggest and the oldest in my area decided they were done with the whole 2nd hand business

I parked my car ready to be amazed but was overcome by the smell and ok, yes some 2nd hand/consignments stores may mean accepting some cleaning odors and this shop has great vintage items like women’s hats dated back to the 1920’s. They had some great looking vintage luggage, but then they decided to dedicate a whole section maybe half of the store to very new trendy items that were very ethnic and expensive. I found most of my own comparable 2nd Act/consignment items that were competitive or in slightly better shape and of course as a vintage/consignment shop, they offered a wide range from a house dress look some of our moms probably wore to some very beautiful vintage jewelry. I spotted some sheet music but that was not on the list. I walked a few blocks down to what used to be a favourite 2nd hand/consignment shop for designer clothes because of the abundance of smaller sized clothing. It was packed though unlike the first shop, it was in transition with a tag sale making room for recent donations. Good golly the smell!

looked at my phone and had to get going, the walk down to a very small store was wonderful as the weather was just as fabulous as the metro parking space … free. I admit I drive past this store all the time but the hours are not usually conducive as they have limited weekday hours.  It was open, thank goodness though somewhat dark as most of the clothes are designers in black, gray and white. I used to love this store and since most people wear black white and gray etc. the biggest issue for me was size not that the clothes weren’t great but the sizing just did not seem correct and all sales were final which makes sense, sometimes the risk works out, but … I took a pass.

It was a great morning to go hunting for deals and great surprises and while I came home without a 2nd hand/consignment item. I did find out that one of my favourite farmers market moved across the street.

It was not a failed trip by any means.

So, after a couple of hours of what turned out to be an eye opening experience … safe to say everything at http://www.beaseedforchange.org offers is clean, fresh fab finds, not tried on by hundreds of people and we are not against negotiating our prices.

Sometimes bigger is not always better and more inventory isn’t either unless of course it‘s about viable repeats, furniture, tiles and kitchen stuff …

Stay tuned

Be a Seed for Change

Buying from Be a Seed for Change makes you a part of our movement to Recycle Reuse Reclaim Reduce – The amount of materials going into Landfill and your Eco-Footprint

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

We want Jon Stewart to moderate a 2016 presidential debate.


Petitioning NEW YORK TIMES, Washington Post, Commission on Presidential Debates, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, CBS, NBC, FOX Broadcasting Company, Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, Comedy Central, MTV

We want Jon Stewart to moderate a 2016 presidential debate.
Petition by M. Waters
Stanhope, New Jersey
24,913
Supporters
~ FDA/USDA ~~ Alerts & Safety, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

I work for Bath & Body Works … Stop Dumping


Petitioning Nick Coe CEO Bath & Body Works

Stop Dumping and Start Donating
Petition by Samantha Heard
Savannah, Georgia
2,754
Supporters

Imagine not being able to afford basic household items for you and your children like hand soap, shampoo or lotion. These are things every family needs to stay healthy, just as they need food and shelter. But while there are several programs, both government and nonprofit, that assist the poor in getting the food and housing they need, there are very few programs that help them get access to the most basic personal hygiene items.

The lack of these basic necessities impacts low income families in unimaginable ways. A student that goes to school feeling unclean cannot focus on their studies, a veteran who can’t afford soap can’t go into a job interview with confidence.  

As an employee at Bath & Body Works, I have seen thousands of dollars of tested and slightly damaged  products needlessly thrown away. These products are perfectly good, perfectly usable. I love working for this company, and I know it can do better for its clients and our surrounding community.

Please join me in asking Nick Coe, CEO of Bath and Body Works, to discontinue the wasteful practice of throwing out slightly damaged or “tested” B&BW products, and donate them to local charities around the United States instead. Every family deserves the dignity that comes with meeting their basic hygiene needs.  

There are many families who are struggling right now with the decision whether to buy a loaf of bread or a bar of soap. A study conducted by Feeding America suggests that 58% of low-income individuals who were unable to buy personal care products reported cutting back on food to afford toiletries; 40% reported skipping or delaying rent payments to obtain products. This causes untold strain on them.

There are thousands, if not millions of people that could benefit from these nearly-full bottles of hand soap, shampoo, body lotion, etc. If each B&BW store put together boxes for their local homeless shelters, safe houses, churches, or just someone in need, think about the good we could do. Think of the lives we could impact.

Please sign this petition to help change the mind of the company I love and do something good for those who need it most.