IF YOU WANT TO HELP WITH THE REFUGEE CRISIS IN EUROPE AND SYRIA 5SEP15

HOW to help with the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East. I have checked Charity Navigator for the ratings of some of these charities, if they don't have a rating for one of the charities listed below you may still choose to donate to it but there is no guarantee your money will actually go to those in need. 4 stars is the highest rating from Charity navigator, and you click the link to go to their website for more information on the charity. From +Us @ SumOfUs .....

This is a different sort of email than we’d usually send to you, but the world is in a different sort of place to where it was just a few days ago.
Like millions of people around the world, the SumOfUs team have been deeply moved by the crisis unfolding around Europe and in the Middle East. And so we’re asking you to help.
The images of a three year old Syrian refugee, his mother, and his five year old brother washed up on a Turkish beach have echoed around the world. They all died to escape violence and in the search for a better life.
Those images of Alan Kurdi and his brother Ghalib are deeply upsetting, but have reminded the world of the reality: human beings, including children, are literally dying to escape war and suffering.
Usually, we only campaign around abuses of corporate power, but we live in an interconnected world. The arms companies selling weapons to the Middle East and Africa, institutionalised racism that plays out in some of our largest media outlets, and the actions of many of our governments all play a part in this crisis.
Governments around the world are failing to act and so it’s up to us as ordinary citizens and as human beings to step in. That’s why we’re encouraging you now to do what you can to help out.
Here are three ways you can act now:
Make a financial donation
Save the Children: distributing essential items such as nappies/diapers, hygiene kits and food
Charity Navigator 4 stars
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International: providing emergency health services and clean drinking water
Charity Navigator 4 stars
Migrant Offshore Aid Station: dedicated to preventing migrant deaths at sea
No Charity Navigator rating
International Rescue Committee: improving living conditions by setting up camps
Charity Navigator 4 stars
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): providing water, mosquito nets, tents, healthcare
Charity Navigator 3 stars
Volunteer, donate, collect
Doctors of the World: providing care to vulnerable people, advocating for rights to health
No Charity Navigator rating
White Helmets: volunteer recue workers who risk their lives to save families and children fleeing the violence
No Charity Navigator rating
Avaaz.org: lobbying local councils, providing language support, housing refugees (UK)
No Charity Navigator rating
Migrant Offshore Aid Station: dedicated to preventing loss of life at sea
No Charity Navigator rating
Sawa for development and aid: working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon
Known but not rated by Charity Navigator
An Amazon wish list has been set up for people to buy specific items such as shoes and sleeping bags to be delivered to Calais as part of the appeal #KentforCalais and #HelpCalais. The truck leaves on 17 September

Attend an event
European Day of Action for Refugees
UK – Glasgow Sees Syria
UK – Edinburgh Sees Syria
UK – London - National Day of Action
Canada – several locations – Refugees welcome (Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, St Johns, Toronto, Victoria, Vancouver)
United States – Seattle
Australia – several locations – Light the Dark (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide)
This list isn't exhaustive -- there are many more worthy organisations and events that can use support right now. Please be as generous as you can.
We've also placed all of this information on this webpage here, where you can link your family and friends.
Make no mistake -- corporations operating for profit are complicit in this crisis, and we'll keep fighting them. But right now, these are some of the best ways you can show your support.
Thank you for all that you do,
The whole team at SumOfUs

Facebook is listening to you. Literally. 28MAI14

 
facebook is evil, and it's spying on it's users reaches a new level of evil with this app. Sign the petition from +SumOfUs .org telling facebook NOT to release this app, their latest invasion of our privacy....

Facebook just announced a new feature to its app, which will let it listen to users’ private conversations through their phones’ microphones. Tell Facebook to stop invading our privacy!

Facebook just announced a new feature to its app, which will let it listen to our conversations through our own phones’ microphone. Talk about a Big Brother move.
Facebook says the feature will be used for harmless things, like identifying the song or TV show playing in the background, but it actually has the ability to listen to everything -- including your private conservations -- and store it indefinitely.
Not only is this move just downright creepy, it’s also a massive threat to our privacy. This isn’t the first time Facebook has been criticized for breaching our right to privacy, and it’s hoping this feature will fly under the radar. No such luck for Facebook. If we act now, we can stop Facebook in its tracks before it has a chance to release the feature.
Tell Facebook not to release its creepy and dangerous new app feature that listens to users’ conversations.
Facebook says it'll be responsible with this feature, but we know we can't trust it. After all, just a few months ago Facebook came under fire for receiving millions of dollars for working with the National Security Agency’s PRISM, a wide-scale and highly controversial public electronic data surveillance program -- something its CEO Mark Zuckerberg initially denied. This is also the company that lied about its now-scuttered Beacon program -- an advertisement system that sent our “private” data from external websites to Facebook.
It seems like every few months, there's another big Facebook privacy scandal, and yet the social media giant is pushing this new app anyway. Why? The information it gathers by listening to its 1.2 billion users worldwide can be sold for huge profits to advertisers and corporations looking for better information on consumer tastes and preferences.
Facebook is acting in the best interests of its bank account, not its users. This has gone too far -- we have to stop it now.
Facebook: This is an extreme invasion of your users’ privacy. Do not release this new feature, and do not listen to us through our phones’ microphones.
Thanks for standing up for our right to privacy,
Kaytee, Angus, Ledys, Sahar and the rest of us

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More information:
Facebook Microphone Update To Store Data: Social Media Giant Confirms New Feature Will Aggregate Information International Business Times, May 22, 2014.
Facebook Wants To Listen In On What You're Doing Forbes, May 22, 2014.


SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy. Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3.

LOWE'S & HOME DEPOT PROFIT FROM SELLING BEE POISON 12MAI14

OUR bees are dying in unsustainable numbers, and it is because of overuse of pesticides. +SumOfUs .org has an ongoing petition campaign calling on Lowe's and Home Depot to stop selling pesticides, especially Bayer pesticides, as they are the main cause of the bee die-off. Please add your name to the 556,000+ others on the petition, just click the link......
 
Bees are dying off around the world in record numbers -- but big retailers are still selling the poison that is killing them.
Last season, 37 million bees (!) died on a single North American farm. Scientists now know why – study after study shows that deadly pesticides called "neonics", manufactured by Bayer, are killing them.
Home Depot and Lowe's are still selling the deadly pesticides, but pressure is mounting. If one of the stores commits to stop carrying the pesticides, it could start a snowball effect that sees rival stores drop the bee-killing chemicals too.
In just two weeks, SumOfUs' activist beekeepers will travel to deliver this petition to Lowe's home turf. Can you add your name now, so the retailers see the tide of public opinion and commit to stop selling bee-killing pesticides?
Click here to tell Home Depot and Lowe's to stop killing bees.

******
More information:
CNBC: Bee activists swarm Home Depot and Lowe's, 14 February 2014
Mother Jones: 3 New Studies Link Bee Decline to Bayer Pesticide, 29 March, 2013


SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy. Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3.

MONSANTO, GMO'S, TRANSPARENCY & THEIR SHAREHOLDER MEETING 23JAN14

monsanto is one of those evil companies that believes they are beyond reproach. Some of their shareholders, their investors, like Harrington Investments Inc ( http://harringtoninvestments.com/ ), have other ideas about that, and they want to challenge Monsanto to come clean about GMO crops at the shareholder meeting next week. SumOfUs will be there with a media campaign, lobbying investors and maybe even demanding the right to be heard as shareholders if they are able to buy some stock to gain the right to speak. Contribute to their campaign if you can (I did), every little bit helps, just click the link...


Wow -- already over 6,000 of us have donated, and organizers are rushing to Monsanto HQ to support this crucial shareholder vote. If you haven't already, can you chip in now to help us secure ads in the local media so Monsanto knows we're watching?

Monsanto: it's one of the greatest corporate scandals of our time. This mega-corporation has paid off our politicians, taken over our regulators, and bullied public opponents into submission while it silently monopolizes our food system with its genetically-engineered products.

Now a brave group of Monsanto shareholders are making a stand -- the crucial vote is only one week away, and they desperately need our support to force Monsanto to face up to the risks associated with GMOs. Monsanto has been keeping us and its shareholders in the dark for too long -- this shareholder resolution tells Monsanto to be open with the risks of GMO. 

This is a serious shareholder proposal, and some big, credible investors are already supportive. But many of the biggest investment and retirement funds that invest OUR money are lining up to vote with Monsanto bosses against transparency.

These big institutional investors think that no one's watching them -- and unless we do something now, they'll be right.  Together, we can make sure shareholders know what's up and that we're watching -- and secure their votes against Monsanto's corporate racket. 

The vote happens in just one week. We understand if you can't, but if just 5,000 of us can chip in now, we can launch our urgent campaign to tell Monsanto to come clean on GMOs.

Here's just some of what we could do if we all chip in now:

• Secure advertising in Monsanto's home town of St Louis, Missouri, so that shareholders hear our message as they arrive to vote and know we're watching
• Send organizers to St Louis to raise a media storm outside the shareholder meeting with creative tactics, to make sure the public knows what's happening
• Buy a small, strategic stake in Monsanto -- so that we can speak out as shareholders ourselves and demand they act

This shareholder resolution is legitimate, serious business -- Harrington Investments Inc. is telling Monsanto to come clean, and they need other big shareholders to back them. If the resolution gets a high vote, it would send a very clear signal that Monsanto should disclose the risks associated with GMOs: including contamination of non-GMO crops, damage to "non-target organisms" like bees and other pollinators, and soil contamination.

But Monsanto's board is refusing to back the proposal, despite claiming to be transparent and even though the resolution doesn't require them to disclose any proprietary information. Meanwhile, the company has spent more than $15 million is California and Washington alone to defeat proposals to label GMO food -- a measure that over 90% of Americans support.

Can you chip in now to stand up to Monsanto and support these brave shareholders in their campaign? We know you might not be able to, but if you can we really appreciate your support.

Big institutional shareholders invest the funds of people like us -- but too often they vote against our own interests and cozy up to management. It's only when we publicly hold them to account that we can change this. We're already reaching out to big Monsanto shareholders to call on them to act -- but we need to be able to tell them that we've got the whole SumOfUs community behind us, and we need to be able to show them that we're ready to make a media storm at the shareholders' meeting to hold them to account.

We know what we need to do: get institutional investors to speak to the expert advisors to win their support, show thse investors we'll be there to hold them to account, and to keep piling the pressure on with national and international media coverage -- but we can't do it unless we all come together to make it happen. If we don't, then Monsanto's shareholders will know that no one is watching when they vote down this crucial resolution on GMO transparency.

Can you chip in now to fund our campaign to tell Monsanto to come clean on the risks associated with GMOs? This is the only shot we'll get to directly change the direction of Monsanto this year.

Thanks for all you do,
Paul, Lisa, Johnny and the rest of us. 

SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

Mission: Destroy Democracy - SumOfUs.org responds 22SEP13

I like SumOfUS.org , they are a small, bold progressive group that uses social media to challenge the greed of corporate America and promote social justice issues. They choose their campaigns wisely and provide the information and tools necessary for the progressive community to participate. Click the link above to go to their website and if you can make a donation, I did. Here is a bit about them....

Welcome to SumOfUs

SumOfUs.org is a new world-wide movement for a better global economy.

Here’s what we stand for:

• Governments that answer to citizens – not corporations
• Fair treatment of workers and the right of every human being to make a living, safely and ethically, for themselves and their family;

The right of ordinary consumers to products that are produced and marketed ethically, sustainably and transparently;

• The right of communities to manage and protect their own environment and natural resources;
• Business models that put people and the planet first instead of being driven by shortsighted greed.

Yeah, take that deep breath, close your eyes and imagine what kind of a world that could be – and then crash back to this one.

We’ve witnessed again and again what happens when powerful corporations get their way:

• Environmental and health catastrophes like Fukushima and the BP oil disaster;
• A global financial crisis that destroys entire economies;
• Rising food prices and starving children;
• Families from Kalamazoo to Timbuktu losing their houses and land;
• Poisons pouring into our air and water.

You name it, corporations are behind it. But rather than being held accountable – their CEOs are often walking away with bonuses. And these injustices are largely left to continue unabated.

But the world doesn’t have to be this way. And here’s the secret: We own the corporations that are causing all these problems. They rely on us to buy their products. They count on us to buy their stock. They need us to work for them. They need us to continue to elect governments that let them get away with murder.

We are SumOfUs.org, and we’re not going to take it anymore.

SumOfUs Campaign Updates: January 2013 2FEB13

I often post calls to action and information on issues from SumOfUs, a small but very active progressive organization. Here are some of their recent victories and ongoing campaigns.

It’s been a few months since we last updated you on the amazing things we’ve accomplished together. And this is an extra exciting one, because we’ve had a string of resounding victories to report, as well solid progress on several other campaigns. Read on to learn about what we’ve done together these past few months.
--Kaytee Riek, Campaigns Manager, SumOfUs.org

Campaign updates

MAKING WAVES! Walmart: End factory deathtraps in Bangladesh
Background:  In November, a fire tore through the Tazreen garment factory, a Walmart supplier in Bangladesh. Emergency exits were locked from the outside, and managers told workers to return to their sewing machines as smoke filled the factory. 112 workers were killed. Weeks later, the New York Times revealed that Walmart executives had been aware of the dangers in their Bangladeshi factories, but had blocked a program to improve fire safety.
Partners: The International Labor Right Forum, United Students Against Sweatshops, Corporate Action Network, Change To Win, and Jobs with Justice.
What we want: We want Walmart to sign onto the Bangladeshi Fire Safety Agreement, an independently monitored program which requires global retailers to provide funds for improved fire safety in their Bangladeshi suppliers.
Current status: Over 110,000 of us signed a petition calling on Walmart to strengthen fire safety in the factories it buys from worldwide, and we delivered the petition during a rally at Walmart's lobbying headquarters. Walmart has claimed that it toughened rules governing its Bangladeshi suppliers, but these reforms are meaningless without independent monitoring funding for basic safety measures. So now we're raising the stakes by collectively donating $20,000 to bring both a Bangladeshi labor activist, and a survivor of the deadly Tazreen factory fire to confront Walmart executives.
Read More: The original petition | Shareable graphic | Fundraiser | Petition delivery photos
Press coverage: Huffington Post

VICTORY! No child labor at Whole Foods
Background: Whole Foods, America’s largest organic retailer, likes to brag about its efforts to popularize fair trade goods. But Whole Foods shelves were partially stocked with cheap chocolate produced by forced child labor.
Partners: The Teamsters and the International Labor Rights Forum
What we want: We wanted Whole Foods to commit to only selling certified fair trade chocolate, since only independent supply chain certification can guarantee that chocolate is free of child slavery, which runs rampant in the cocoa industry. Additionally, we wanted Whole Foods to stop doing business with companies that continue to profit from child slavery in the chocolate industry.
Current status: Whole Foods agreed to create a certification process to help chocolate producers monitor and control their supply chain.Whole Foods will challenge suppliers to improve working conditions in their fields, by creating quality-based ratings system. This system will help encourage any companies that sell to Whole Foods to remove child labor from their supply chains.
Read More: The original petition

VICTORY! FCC: Regulate prison phone rates
Background: A small handful of telecom companies with monopoly contracts can impose exorbitant phone costs -- upwards of $1 a minute -- on prisoners and their families. Most states do not regulate rates, since they frequently receive kickbacks from highly profitable phone operators. These rates exploit vulnerable people, including the 2.7 million children with an incarcerated parent, and, by cutting them off from their families, increase the rate convicts will commit another crime upon release.
Partners: The Prison Policy Institute and the Center for Media Justice
What we want: We want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to protect incarcerated people and their families from exploitation by regulating interstate phone call rates.
Current status: After circulating the petition to our list, we received over 36,000 signatures and more than 2,000 original comments to the FCC. On the day we delivered the comments, the FCC announced that it would be issuing new rules to lower long distance rates for prisoners.
Read More: The original petition
Press coverage: Afro

MARKED PROGRESS! Pepsi: Speak out against the Uganda Kill the Gays bill
Background: Ugandan legislators are considering legislation that would institute the death penalty for gays and lesbians, and allies in Uganda felt that if multinational companies spoke out publicly against the bill, it would sway Members of Parliament (MPs) on the fence to vote against it. Pepsi has a history of supporting equality and has a massive presence in Uganda.
Partners: Ugandan Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law and Health GAP
What we want: We asked Pepsi to publicly oppose the bill and communicate its opposition to MPs in the Ugandan Parliament.
Current status: Over 116,000 signatures were delivered to Pepsi HQ in December, and, we took out an ad in Advertising Age, an industry publication, to get Pepsi's attention. Just this week, Pepsi's VP of Global Policy and Government Affairs met with Kaytee, our Campaign Manager. He heard our concerns, and agreed to continue watching the situation closely, and ensure Pepsi uses its voice effectively to stop passage of the bill. To that end, we are putting Pepsi executives in touch with LGBTI groups in Uganda so they can coordinate opposition on the ground.
As far as the bill itself, thankfully it did not pass before the Ugandan Parliament disbanded for Christmas. But allies in Uganda warn that there is a good chance the bill will be considered when Parliament reconvenes next week, so we will stay in touch with allies in Uganda and make sure Pepsi keeps its word to help stop this horrible law.
Read More: Original petition | Our ad in Advertising Age
Press Coverage: Huffington Post | All Africa | Queerty | Dan Savage

MASSIVE ACTION! Walmart: Stop selling assault weapons
Background: Walmart is the largest gun retailer in the country, and sells assault rifles -- including the AR-15 used in the Sandy Hook shooting -- at hundreds of its stores across the US. In the wake of the tragic shooting of 20 children in Newtown, CT, Americans joined together to fight against easy access to assault rifles.
Partners: Courage Campaign, MomsRising.org, Change.org
What we want: We demanded that Walmart stop selling military-grade assault rifles, like those used in recent mass shootings, entirely.
Current status: Nearly 300,000 people, including 115,000 SumOfUs.org members, signed the petitions to Walmart. 60 people delivered those signatures, along with a letter from 75 survivors of mass shootings, at the Walmart just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary one month after the tragic shooting. The petition delivery was covered in over one thousand media outlets, including USA Today, CNN and Bloomberg. Walmart released a statement that it respected its customers and would follow the law -- a pointless statement that shows we need to keep the pressure on Walmart until these guns are no longer on the shelves next to baby food and school clothes.
Read More: Original petition | Our delivery
Press: USA Today | Bloomberg | US News & World Report

VICTORY! Pfizer, leave the Heartland Institute!
Background: The Heartland Institute has long been a right-wing front group for corporate climate change apologists and tobacco companies looking to overturn against nicotine regulation. Early last year, the Heartland Institute unveiled its most outrageous campaign yet when it compared advocates of carbon regulation to terrorists and serial killers. Shortly after the backlash began, and thanks to the work of SumOfUs.org and Forecast the Facts, Heartland lost over half its funding, but Pfizer, a major donor, stubbornly remained.
Partner: Forecast the Facts, 350
What we want: We wanted Pfizer to join over twenty other groups in fleeing the Heartland Institute.
Current status: Victory! In November, Pfizer announced that it had decided not to renew its annual funding for the Heartland Institute, depriving the group of a major source of income. Thanks to your work, the Heartland Institute has been so defunded and demoralized that it was forced to cancel its annual climate denial conference.
Read More: The original petition
Press coverage: Think Progress

AMAZING PROGRESS! Walmart: Respect your workers.

Background: This autumn, Walmart workers across America took a huge risk and launched a series of strikes at the world's largest retailer -- the first in the chain's history. The campaign culminated on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Hundreds of associates walked off the job to protest low wages, inconsistent scheduling, dangerous working conditions, and retaliation against workers who had asked for better treatment.
Partners: Warehouse Workers United, Warehouse Workers for Justice, OUR Walmart, and Making Change at Walmart
What we want: We want to help Walmart workers win the respect they deserve from management. We want to see Walmart end retaliation and sit down with workers to see how it can treat its employees fairly.
Current status: When Walmart workers went on strike, SumOfUs.org members around the world donated over $75,000 to support striking Walmart workers. It was our most successful fundraiser ever! In fact, we raised so much that the workers' organization, OUR Walmart was able to use some extra money to hire Walmart associates who had been working to improve working conditions as organizers, starting with Semetra Lee, of Richmond, CA. Semetra was a temporary worker who began working with OUR Walmart after experiencing bullying and racism at her position. She was written up, and her contract was not renewed due to her activity organizing her fellow workers.
Walmart is starting to feel the impact of these strikes. In January, Walmart committed to improving its scheduling system and implementing a monitoring program to improve conditions in its warehouses -- key victories for OUR Walmart and Warehouse Workers United members. Of course, these changes aren't enough -- for instance, the warehouse monitoring program is based on Walmart's disastrous global monitoring program, which allowed the Tazreen fire in Bangladesh to happen. So Walmart workers will keep fighting, and we'll be there to support them
Read More: Original petition | Striking worker solidarity statement | Campaign donation page | Our ads blanketing Walmart's hometown newspapers
Press coverage: Los Angeles Times | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Onwards!

As you can tell, we’ve been busy! But we wouldn’t have it any other way. We are excited to build a movement together, and we’re honored that you’re a part of it. We want to keep up our momentum and make sure that corporations are taking our voices into consideration. As we are still a tiny organization, we make sure that your donation does the most it can to help better our world. Please consider becoming a donor in order to help our movement grow!

 

We are truly independent -- we don't take a dime from corporations or governments. That allows us to run campaigns like the ones we've described today. But that also means we depend on members like you to keep us going. Any donation that you can make not only improves our ability to campaign for corporate accountability, but also energizes us, knowing that you are invested in what the SumOfUs can do. Thank you so much for being one of us.

Thanks for reading, and for continuing to support our growing movement for corporate accountability.

 

SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy. You can follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

Was this email forwarded to you? Click here to add yourself to SumOfUs. 

IKEA cutting down 600 year old trees 12JUL12

IKEA has been caught in it's own web, guilty of violating it's own standards requiring the wood products they sell to be from sustainable forest resources. Please sign the petition from SumOfUs calling on IKEA to halt the logging of old growth Russian forest by their subsidiary Swedwood, and boycott IKEA products until they do so. 

IKEA claims it’s committed to sustainability, but is carving up 600-year-old trees to make furniture. Tell IKEA to stop destroying Russia's last old-growth forests before it’s too late.

The roar of a chainsaw shatters the peaceful calm of the Karelia forest in Northwestern Russia. A logger carves into an exquisite giant -- a 600-year-old tree -- with expert precision. Within minutes, he has masterfully sliced through tree rings, added the felled tree to a growing pile, and moved on to the next.
These trees -- part of Russia's last remaining old-growth forests -- will be chopped up to make cutting boards, wooden spoons and other items for IKEA. IKEA has built a reputation around sustainability and tells its customers, literally, “We Love Wood”, and that the furniture they buy will not contain wood from old-growth forests. But a new report shows that IKEA is clear-cutting Russia's remaining ancient forests and destroying hundreds of thousands of unique animal species for profit. If it doesn’t stop now, there may be no trees left.
Send a message to IKEA CEO Mikael Ohlsson telling IKEA to stop clear-cutting Russia's ancient old-growth forests.
IKEA is the third-largest purchaser of wood in the world, behind Home Depot and Lowe’s, and roughly 60 percent of the products stocked in IKEA’s 300 department stores across the globe contain wood of some form. IKEA already decimates 1,400 acres of forest a year -- that’s why it purchased this enormous swath of over 740,000 acres of Russia’s Karelia lush boreal forests -- for expansion.
IKEA is trying to convince customers that it adheres to the strictest environmental standards, and only uses wood sourced in economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable ways. But a Swedish conservation group discovered that IKEA’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Swedwood, is clear-cutting the last of Karelia’s old-growth forests from areas of high conservation and devastating invaluable forest ecosystems in the process. This directly violates the minimum requirements IKEA has set for its timber.
IKEA truly cares about its sustainable image and internationally-known brand and is especially vulnerable to public pressure from SumOfUs.org members. That’s why it is important we send a strong message now.
As a world leader in the furniture industry and one of the world’s largest companies, with over $30 billion in profits between 2000 and 2008, IKEA has the means to make its forestry practices more ecologically friendly and needs to stop misleading its customers.
Tell IKEA's CEO to prove he really loves wood and to stop clear-cutting Russia's remaining ancient forests. Send a message now.
Thanks for loving trees,
Emma, Taren, Kaytee and the rest of us

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Why are old-growth forests so important?
Russia’s lush, old-growth forests perform vital functions for life on Earth. They help to stabilize the climate by locking carbon in the soil -- which helps safeguard our climate. In addition, old-growth forests have much greater biodiversity than managed plantations, and are home to literally hundreds of thousands of unique animal and plant species, like rare species of lichens, mosses and other plants and animals. These species cannot survive in secondary forests.
But because of logging, only 10% of Russia’s old-growth forests remain.
NGOs claim that IKEA, through Swedwood, is helping to destroy ecosystems that are home to endangered species by clear-cutting already depleted old-growth forests. In Karelia, only isolated tracts and pockets of old-growth forests remain.
In Russia, Swedwood Karelia LLC owns a logging concession of over 740,000 acres. And with Russian markets increasingly opening to the global market, and World Trade Organization (WTO) membership likely, environmentalists fear the worst damage to Russia’s forests is yet to come.
Further Reading:
IKEA under fire for ancient tree logging, The Guardian. May 29, 2012.

Megalobbying, TELL CORPORATE AMERICA TO DUMP ALEC! 13APR12 & Virginia House speaker William Howell said conservative group ALEC is ‘under attack’ by liberals 12APR12

FROM SumOfUS, the continuing campaign to force corporate America to end their membership in alec. The companies that are continuing their membership in alec need to be told they are not going to be able to fund voter suppression laws, anti-labor laws and other right-wing programs with our money, the money we spend on their products and services. Click the link to send a message to johnson & johnson, at&t, state farm and other companies demanding they cut their ties with alec now! AND for residents of Virginia check out the Washington Post article about VA House Speaker william howell and alec's influence in Richmond.....

Tell J&J, State Farm, AT&T, and other corporate ALEC sponsors: Stop using our money to fund right-wing legislation.

Every time you buy a Band-Aid, you're helping fund the "Stand Your Ground" law that Trayvon Martin's killer was hiding behind -- and thousands of other bad laws written by the American Legislative Exchange Council.
ALEC's mission is simple: to help corporations write bad laws -- laws that help their own profits to the cost of the 99% -- and get state legislatures to pass them verbatim. And to make matters worse: They're doing it with our money -- because along with funding from the usual suspects like Koch Industries and Exxon, ALEC's members include companies like Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, and State Farm.
But this week ALEC is reeling -- because in the wake of Trayvon Martin's shooting and revelations that ALEC wrote the Stand Your Ground law that was protecting Trayvon's killer, corporate sponsors have been falling like dominoes. Megacorporations Coke, Pepsi, McDonald's, Kraft and more have all quit in the last two weeks -- putting a huge dent in ALEC's budget.
Tell Johnson & Johnson and the rest of ALEC’s remaining funders to quit now.
Has your state adopted a “Stand Your Ground” law as well? Thank ALEC. Pushed for laws making it harder for minorities and the poor to vote? That’s ALEC too. Attacked unions? Undermined federal health care reform? Weakened environmental regulation? Passed tax breaks for corporations? Privatized government services? These laws were all written by the very corporations or special-interest groups that they benefited -- through ALEC.
But consumers are fighting back! One by one, our partners at Color of Change, CREDO Action, and more have been peeling off corporate support for ALEC. Practically every day in the last two weeks a new company has quit -- yesterday it was Mars. And the state legislators who ALEC uses to introduce legislation are coming under increasing pressure to stop associating with ALEC as well.
Now let’s take the fight to Johnson & Johnson -- which makes everything from Band-Aids to baby shampoo -- AT&T, State Farm and the rest of ALEC’s donors. Our friends at Color of Change will deliver your petition straight to the key companies.
Tell ALEC's corporate sponsors to stop using our money to fund laws like "Stand Your Ground."
Thanks for all that you do,
Claiborne, Kelsey, Kaytee and the rest of us

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More information:
"Corporate interests fuel group’s desire to shape Va. legislation, critics say", Washington Post, 21 Dec 2011
"EXPOSED: The Corporations Funding The Annual Meeting Of The Powerful Right-Wing Front Group ALEC", ThinkProgress, 5 Aug 2011

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Virginia House speaker William Howell said conservative group ALEC is ‘under attack’ by liberals

By Anita Kumar, Published: April 12

RICHMOND — Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) on Thursday strongly defended a national conservative organization he used to lead, arguing that it has become a victim of intimidation and extortion.
Howell said the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that has lost some of its corporate members in the past week, has been subjected to a six-month attack by liberal groups, including the Occupy movement, Moveon.org and billionaire George Soros.
In a testy exchange after a tense news conference, Howell blamed the advocacy group ProgressVA for issuing what he called an inaccurate report in January outlining ALEC’s legislative influence in Virginia. He also criticized The Washington Post for writing about the review. ALEC has ghostwritten legislation across the nation, including in Virginia.
Howell grew frustrated after a line of questioning from Anna Scholl, the executive director of ProgressVA, and after she asked him for clarification, Howell replied: “I guess I’m not speaking in little enough words for you to understand.’’
Scholl retorted: “I’m a smart girl, actually. I went to the University of Virginia. I benefited from public education in Virginia. I think words with multiple syllables will be just fine for me.”
Virginia Democrats immediately released a video of the exchange, taped by a staffer, and called on Howell to apologize for his “belligerent and mean-spirited attack.” Howell’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
“After four months of outrageous Republican attacks on women’s rights, I guess I should not be surprised by Speaker Howell’s statement,” said Susan Platt, co-founder of the Farm Team, which supports female candidates for office in Virginia. “It is distressing, to say the least, that Howell has so wholeheartedly embraced this national trend of rhetoric against women. It is becoming pervasive.” 
 During the news conference on Thursday, Howell also chastised reporters for their coverage of the two-year, $85 billion state budget as well as former governor Timothy M. Kaine (D) for making unilateral decisions regarding a Metrorail project to Dulles International Airport. (Kaine negotiated an agreement on the project at the urging of several Republicans, including then-Sens. John Warner and George Allen and Rep. Frank Wolf.)
Howell, ALEC’s national chairman in 2009, appeared at a Capitol Square news conference with business leaders to tout a survey by ALEC that showed Virginia has been named one of the best states in which to do business.
ALEC touts itself as a pro-business, free-market organization, and its members include legislators and private companies. Corporate members pay fees, which give them a say on legislative issues. In recent weeks, several corporations have dropped their support of ALEC following scrutiny of “Stand Your Ground” laws after the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida. The group had lobbied for similar laws in other states.
Howell said the group had nothing to do with the Florida case and the legislation there came before ALEC’s involvement. He predicted that ALEC, which had 65 new corporate members last year, will easily survive the latest defections.
Howell said the tactics used to pressure companies who are ALEC members included calls for boycotts that go back to the days of the Rainbow Coalition, Rev. Jesse Jackson’s political organization. “They have been very, very open . . . that they want to destroy ALEC,’’ he said. “It’s discouraging, disappointing to see this intimidation, this extortion that’s going on against ALEC right now.’’
Howell said the attacks are the result of ALEC’s success in promoting the free market as opposed to a “government-controlled economy.”
“It’s a great exchange of ideas,’’ he said.
At least 115 current or former members of the Virginia General Assembly have ties to ALEC, either by sponsoring bills, attending conferences or paying membership dues, according to the ProgressVA study. The state has spent $232,000 during the past decade to send legislators, primarily members of the Republican-controlled House of Delegates, to ALEC conferences and meetings.
Howell said ProgressVa’s study was inaccurate because it excluded other organizations, such as the National Conference of State Legislatures, a group some Republicans accuse of leaning left. NCSL differs from ALEC in that only legislators and staffers are able to be members, and NCSL rarely writes model legislation.
Scholl introduced herself to Howell after the news conference and asked about the inaccuracies he had raised. After the exchange with Howell, Scholl declined to comment, except to say she would still like that information.
ProgressVA used data from a national report to identify more than 60 Virginia bills that ALEC helped author. Those bills included a piece of legislation calling for companies that hire illegal immigrants to be shut down, and another that would give businesses tax credits to fund private school tuition for needy students. Virtually all of the bills were introduced by Republicans.
The list of Virginia bills also includes one championed by Howell for several years that would have helped protect a Fortune 500 company, Philadelphia-based Crown Cork & Seal, from asbestos lawsuits. It was one of the few bills Howell publicly supported, and it died in a tight vote.
Seven bills that ALEC helped author passed in the General Assembly, including measures on education, taxes and health care, according to the study by ProgressVA. One of the resulting laws laid the groundwork for Virginia’s legal challenge of the federal health-care law passed in 2010.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/virginia-house-speaker-william-howell-said-conservative-group-alec-is-under-attack-by-liberals/2012/04/12/gIQAD5hrDT_print.html

Monsanto vs. Wal-Mart from SUMOFUS 9FEB12

A warning and a campaign from SumOfUs to keep monsanto's GMO corn out of our diets. Click the link to sign the petition to wal-mart to keep their corn off wal-marts shelves. 

The millions of Americans who buy food at Wal-Mart could soon be eating Monsanto GMO corn -- unmarked, unlabeled, and untested on humans -- with toxins built right into the plant's DNA.
Sign our urgent petition to Wal-Mart's CEO demanding that Wal-Mart refuse to sell Monsanto's new toxic GMO corn -- and make sure all your friends know about it too.
Monsanto has released their first direct-to-consumer product, a genetically-modified (GM) sweet corn containing Bt toxin, designed to protect the plant by rupturing the stomach of any insect that feeds on it. Monsanto claims the toxin will break down before the corn makes it to your dinner table, but rats fed with the GM corn showed organ failure, and the toxin has been detected in the bodies of pregnant women.
Want to avoid this toxic product? Too bad – it will arrive on shelves unlabeled and untested on humans, starting with this year's corn crop.
Consumers are fighting back. Thanks to consumer pressure, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and General Mills have all agreed to not use Monsanto’s GM sweet corn in any of their products. But Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest organic retailer, is holding out.
Tell Wal-Mart to make a stand for consumer safety and turn down Monsanto’s GMO corn.
Biotech companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the past decade preventing the labelling of their products, and now Monsanto has decided to take advantage of that loophole to produce its first-ever consumer product which will crop up, unlabeled, in your local supermarket bin.
With more genetically-modified corn on the market and in the fields, the likelihood of cross-pollination is increased, making it even more difficult for consumers to find organic products. If Wal-Mart listens to our collective voice and shuts out Monsanto corn like Whole Foods and General Mills already have done, farmers will be much less likely to plant the toxic crop.
Shut down Monsanto’s GMO corn today -- sign the petition and make sure all your friends know what they could be buying at Wal-Mart.
Thanks for helping keep our food safe,
Claiborne, Taren, Kaytee and the rest of us
SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy. You can follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.