change.org and the power of organizing
I'm a member of and fairly active on change.org. As a bleeding heart liberal I find that well organized websites can be great tools for focusing my activism energy and they don't take a lot of energy from my lazy ass. (awful, but true and such is life)
Anyway, the send these emails occasionally with updates on the outcomes of their petitions and I wanted to share the good news.
Late last week, the largest florist in the world, 1-800-Flowers, responded to 54,000 Change.org members and agreed to begin selling Fair Trade flowers and insist on a strong code of conduct for all their suppliers to counteract the deplorable working conditions that thousands of female flower workers face in South America. They’ve promised to offer Fair Trade flowers in time for Mother's Day, making 1-800-Flowers a leader in the industry.
That's pretty epic - like walmart selling organics and starbucks selling fair trade coffee. It's small, but the first step is an important one.
After a devastating clothing factory fire in Bangladesh took the lives of 27 workers, you asked seven clothing companies, including Abercrombie, the Gap, and Target to compensate the victims' families and revamp safety standards in their affiliated factories. After 65,000 of us spoke up, a spokesperson from Target said this to us: "I want to understand what we have to do to get our brand off the Change.org petition … Tell me what we need to do, and we will try to do it." All seven companies met your demands.
Again, inspiring change in corproations is big. I don't want the blood of laborors on my clothes.
An Ohio mom named Kelley Williams-Bolar was sentenced to jail last month for sending her kids to a safer school in a neighboring district. Another mom in Massachusetts started a petition on her behalf - and the campaign gained wide notice in Time, USA Today, and on Good Morning America. We teamed up with grassroots groups Color of Change and MomsRising to deliver more than 165,000 signatures in person to the office of Ohio Governor John Kasich. Less than 24 hours later, Governor Kasich took an important step toward pardoning Kelley.
This is actually going to positively change someone's life - that's awesome!
After firing a lesbian soccer coach for having a child with her partner, Belmont University heard from 21,000 of us -- including students, athletes, and alumni of the school -- and has adopted a new policy to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. And although there's still work to do to stop Chick-Fil-A from funding anti-gay groups, your activism made national news (including the New York Times!), and Chick-Fil-A’s CEO was forced to post a video responding to pressure from pro-equality advocates and Change.org members across the country.
GLBT rights have always been near and dear to my heart - the battle is still uphill, but even tiny victories make my heart glow.
Kim Feil, a Change.org member from Arlington, Texas, has been successfully beating back the massive Chesapeake Energy Corporation from dangerously drilling for natural gas in her neighborhood, with the support of more than 8,000 Change.org members across the country. The Arlington city council has now twice delayed its decision -- one member told the local Fox affiliate that the council has been overwhelmed by messages sent by Change.org members.
Not raping the earth is pretty much a victory for anything inhabiting it, so yay!
That's basically the entire email, but you can read about all of the victories on the change.org website @ http://www.change.org/victories?alert_id=oKSsLEIEUE_gpJnGeRmCq&me=aa
Please feel free to cross post or link to this entry and share the link to change.org with whomever you see fit. The spread of positive news should never be inhibited.
Anyway, the send these emails occasionally with updates on the outcomes of their petitions and I wanted to share the good news.
Late last week, the largest florist in the world, 1-800-Flowers, responded to 54,000 Change.org members and agreed to begin selling Fair Trade flowers and insist on a strong code of conduct for all their suppliers to counteract the deplorable working conditions that thousands of female flower workers face in South America. They’ve promised to offer Fair Trade flowers in time for Mother's Day, making 1-800-Flowers a leader in the industry.
That's pretty epic - like walmart selling organics and starbucks selling fair trade coffee. It's small, but the first step is an important one.
After a devastating clothing factory fire in Bangladesh took the lives of 27 workers, you asked seven clothing companies, including Abercrombie, the Gap, and Target to compensate the victims' families and revamp safety standards in their affiliated factories. After 65,000 of us spoke up, a spokesperson from Target said this to us: "I want to understand what we have to do to get our brand off the Change.org petition … Tell me what we need to do, and we will try to do it." All seven companies met your demands.
Again, inspiring change in corproations is big. I don't want the blood of laborors on my clothes.
An Ohio mom named Kelley Williams-Bolar was sentenced to jail last month for sending her kids to a safer school in a neighboring district. Another mom in Massachusetts started a petition on her behalf - and the campaign gained wide notice in Time, USA Today, and on Good Morning America. We teamed up with grassroots groups Color of Change and MomsRising to deliver more than 165,000 signatures in person to the office of Ohio Governor John Kasich. Less than 24 hours later, Governor Kasich took an important step toward pardoning Kelley.
This is actually going to positively change someone's life - that's awesome!
After firing a lesbian soccer coach for having a child with her partner, Belmont University heard from 21,000 of us -- including students, athletes, and alumni of the school -- and has adopted a new policy to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. And although there's still work to do to stop Chick-Fil-A from funding anti-gay groups, your activism made national news (including the New York Times!), and Chick-Fil-A’s CEO was forced to post a video responding to pressure from pro-equality advocates and Change.org members across the country.
GLBT rights have always been near and dear to my heart - the battle is still uphill, but even tiny victories make my heart glow.
Kim Feil, a Change.org member from Arlington, Texas, has been successfully beating back the massive Chesapeake Energy Corporation from dangerously drilling for natural gas in her neighborhood, with the support of more than 8,000 Change.org members across the country. The Arlington city council has now twice delayed its decision -- one member told the local Fox affiliate that the council has been overwhelmed by messages sent by Change.org members.
Not raping the earth is pretty much a victory for anything inhabiting it, so yay!
That's basically the entire email, but you can read about all of the victories on the change.org website @ http://www.change.org/victories?alert_id=oKSsLEIEUE_gpJnGeRmCq&me=aa
Please feel free to cross post or link to this entry and share the link to change.org with whomever you see fit. The spread of positive news should never be inhibited.