Hello –The conversations happening right now in Washington are going to set a course for the middle classin this country for years to come.And that’s a discussion that you should be part of.
Unless our leaders can come up with a solution, 98 percent of American families are looking at a tax increase — with a typical family of four paying $2,000 more starting on January 1.
So it’s time for you to step up. We know from experience that when real people come together to speak with one voice, their perspective becomes impossible to ignore.
Here are three Americans who have taken that first step.
Right now, there’s reason to be hopeful. This has the potential to be one of those moments in our politics when lawmakers from both parties come together to do what’s best for the country.
You know where President Obama stands when it comes to tackling our nation’s deficits. He’s committed to doing it in a balanced way, but not at the expense of the middle class. Time and time again, he’s argued that we have to combine spending cuts with asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes.
And leaders ranging from the heads of labor unions to the CEO of Walmart are saying that it doesn’t make sense to drag this out and leave the middle class uncertain about what they’ll be asked to pay in taxes.
If that’s a position that you agree with, then we’re asking you to make a statement of your own.
I can tell you that no one makes that argument better than real people who have to wrestle with paying bills and juggling family responsibilities every day.
It’s on you to add your voice and bring your friends and neighbors into the debate.
Safeway is offering responsibly fished canned tuna at a lower price than conventional brands like Chicken of the Sea. It’s time for Walmart to do the same. Take action and ask Walmart to start selling sustainably caught canned tuna.
Walmart’s own brand of tuna might be low cost. But it comes at a high price to our oceans.
That’s because what you’ll find inside a can of Walmart’s ‘Great Value’ tuna has been caught in the some of the most destructive ways imaginable. These destructive fishing practices unnecessarily kill tens of thousands of sharks, sea turtles, rays and other sea creatures every year.
It doesn’t have to be this way — even for a company as big as Walmart.
Safeway just recently began selling sustainably-sourced tuna under its own label on a national scale. This “Responsibly Caught” Safeway Select tuna also costs less than cans from major companies like Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea. We know it can be done and it’s time for Walmart to do the same thing. Help us send 30,000 messages to the company in the next 48 hours by taking action today. Take action and ask Walmart to start selling sustainably caught canned tuna.
Walmart is such a large buyer that it could force the entire canned tuna industry to change. We’re talking about altering industrial fishing practices on the scale necessary to actually save our oceans. It’s what consumers want, and Safeway has already proven that it can be done in a cost-effective manner.
Companies like Chicken of the Sea are blocking progress by wanting to continue with business as usual: yanking tuna out of our oceans by any means necessary and slaughtering anything else that gets in the way. Walmart has the power to get the tuna industry to clean up its act, but it is going to need to hear from the public first before it does anything.
Destructive fishing practices are one of the biggest threats facing our oceans right now. The use of fish-aggregating devices (FADs) is particularly gruesome.
FADs, which are basically floating objects placed in the ocean, don’t just attract tuna. They attract all sorts of life — including sharks, sea turtles and a bunch of other species. When the ship returns, it scoops up everything that has gathered around the FAD with a net. Hardly anything is spared in this process, and the crews just toss the lifeless remains of whatever they don’t want back into the ocean.
Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee and Starkist all catch their tuna in this way.
Safeway doesn’t.
Hopefully, Walmart will follow their lead after they hear from enough people like you.
For the oceans,
On September 20th, join the Black Institute in educating New Yorker’sabout Walmart’s lies and building support for our local Walmart FreeNYC Campaign at the “No More Lies” Forum.
Walmart’s urban strategy is to buy and bully its way into our cities with a massive million-dollar ad campaign making promises to communities and associates. Community members will be sharing the story of broken promises in cities across the country where Walmart is expanding and what organizing efforts are happening to protect workers and communities in our cities.
This forum is an opportunity for all of us – community, faith,labor, students, low wage workers, elected officials and every day NewYorkers to learn about Walmart’s broken promises in urban markets and to engage in the NYC local campaign. Click for More Info
Be a Seed for Change 
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