For the last month, a team of Palm Oil Activists working with RAN has been going to grocery stores to put “Warning: this snack may contain orangutan extinction” stickers on products containing palm oil that may be tied to rainforest destruction. They’ve talked to store managers about the palm oil in the snack foods they sell, they’ve had conversations with their friends and family about the rainforest destruction that palm oil is driving, and they’ve generally been all-stars at putting the snack industry on notice.
Before we launch into our next round of calling out snack food containing destructive palm oil, we wanted to give you a quick update on where our campaign is at, and invite you to get in on the action: Sign up for the Palm Oil Action Team now and you can be a part of awesomeness like this:
In April, we sent letters to 20 of the leading snack food companies—makers of some of the most popular brand name products in America. We told them that we are giving them this one chance to come clean and commit to breaking the link between their snack foods and controversial palm oil production that is tied to rainforest destruction and human rights violations.
Since then, over 40,000 people have pledged to stand with RAN and demanded that the snack food industry take rainforest destruction and human rights violations out of our snacks. Hundreds of people have signed up to take action with us as part of the Palm Oil Action Team.
Our mission is to convince these 20 companies to commit to only purchasing palm oil that has been produced responsibly, without links to rainforest destruction and human rights violations. So far, nine of the 20 snack food companies responded to our letter. Eight of these companies have agreed to meet with us.
Eleven snack food companies have not responded to our letters. We need to let them know that they can not ignore this important issue any longer.
In this week’s address, President Obama says that the United StatesSenate will soon take action to fix our broken immigration system with a commonsense bill, and urges lawmakers to act quickly to pass this bill so that we can continue to live up to our traditions as a nation of laws, and also a nation of immigrants.
“The United States and Brazil represent two of the largest, most innovative, dynamic economies in the world today. It is true both of us can continue to prosper whether or not we deepen our economic relations. But imagine, just imagine what these two dynamic economies could do with greater trade and investment for our people, for the hemisphere, for the world.”
“You made something bipartisan happen in this town that is — that’s a powerful thing. You guys were able to get Democrats and Republicans to vote for something that was important. So this year, if it looks like your representatives have changed their minds, you’re going to have to call them up again or email them again or Tweet them again and ask them what happened, what changed?”
Mental Health Conference: Health care experts, psychologists, faith leaders, advocates for veterans, and administration officials joined President Obama at the White House on Monday for the National Conference on Mental Health.
The conference was just one part of the Obama Administration’s effort to combat this problem and focused on ways we can reduce the stigma and help the millions of Americans struggling with mental health problems recognize the importance of reaching out for assistance.
“Too many Americans who struggle with mental health illnesses are still suffering in silence rather than seeking help, and we need to see it that men and women who would never hesitate to go see a doctor if they had a broken arm or came down with the flu, that they have that same attitude when it comes to their mental health.”
“Chile has been on a remarkable growth trajectory over several decades, and the progress that it’s made in terms of strengthening its economy, pulling people out of poverty, establishing a strong manufacturing and industrial and service base, its strong exports sector are all proof of the talents of the Chilean people but also Chile’s embrace of democracy and human rights and a market economy. And as a consequence, Chile has become not only a leader in the hemisphere but also a leader in the world.”
“This year, Baltimore won’t just be seeing the Ravens on Sundays or Monday night or Thursday night…You’ll see players spending their Tuesdays – normally their only day off during the season – visiting hospitals and senior centers, and day after day, you’ll see a team that loves Baltimore as much as Baltimore loves the Ravens.”
National Security Team: On Wednesday, President Obama announced the departure of Tom Donilon, former National Security Advisor, and appointed Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice as his replacement. To replace Ambassador Rice in New York, the President nominated Samantha Power.
Following his announcement, the White House invited students from schools in Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania to join the National “Show and Tell” Google+ Hangout. Students and administrators from these schools demonstrated how they are using the internet and technology in their classrooms.
In his June 2 Equal Time column in the New York Post , Phil Mushnick took his look at the debate over the use of the term redskins by the Washington, D.C. NFL franchise…
Over a lifetime of work, American women will typically be paid $443,000 less than American men. That’s more than $11,000 a year in lost pay because of the wage gap. What would you do with an extra $11,000 a year?
Tell us at MyWageGap.org.
An additional $11,000 or more each year would be a game changer for many women. Just think about it — student loans could be paid off, car repairs could be made, child care costs could be covered.
Closing the wage gap wouldn’t just help individual women. It would improve the lives of countless American families.
What does the wage gap mean for you and your family? Go to MyWageGap.org to tell us what you would you do with an extra $11,000 a year.
Sincerely,
P.S. Do you know another woman who could use an extra $11k? (Who couldn’t?!) Forward this email to your friends, family and co-workers so they can share their answers, too.
For the better part of three years Washington has been gripped by an obsession with the deficit, but a new paper out from the Center for American Progress today argues that it’s time to abandon austerity, ditch deficit hysteria, and instead focus on jobs and economic growth.
What’s changed since Washington caught deficit fever in 2010? A lot, as it turns out.
The deficit has been significantly reduced and stabilized.
We have already enacted significant deficit reduction: $2.5 TRILLION worth, three-quarters of which has come from spending cuts.
Health care spending has grown much more slowly than expected, due in part to Obamacare.
The implementation of austerity in Europe has been nothing short of disastrous. Unemployment in the Eurozone is at a record high and the UK’s austerity almost resulted in triple-dip recession and has actually resulted in more, not less debt.
What hasn’t changed? We continue to have tepid growth and the economy is not creating nearly as many jobs as it could or should be.
In fact, we don’t even need the painful and ill-conceived sequester cuts to achieve the level of deficit reduction that we originally set out to, hence the report calls for replacing it for the next three years.
So instead of painful austerity and needless hysteria about the deficit and debt, we ought to be making investments in order to grow the middle class and the economy along with it. The report identifies $82 BILLION worth of pro-growth investments:
$50 BILLION to fix our crumbling infrastructure.
$20 BILLION for early childhood education.
$12 BILLION for the “Pathways Back to Work Fund,” which would help provide opportunities for the long-term unemployed, young people, and low-income people.
Now is the perfect time to make these kinds of investments as interest rates on government bonds are unusually low right now.In addition to all of these key facts, it’s also time to recognize some political realities. Since Republicans refuse to negotiate in good faith toward a so-called “grand bargain” there is no point in continuing to pursue one. Instead, we ought reset the debate, replace the sequester for three years with an achievable package of cuts and revenue increases, and turn our attention toward making the investments we need to fuel jobs and growth.You can read the entire report in all of its wonky goodness HERE.
BOTTOM LINE: Austerity is dead — or at least it should be.
Be a Seed for Change 
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