(Here is a guest post from our friend, Lindsay Dahl, from Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Please join us in supporting the Safe Chemicals Act. The lies, deceit, and influence of the chemical industry is rampant. We need to band together to take all the meaningful action that we can to create a safer, healthier world for our kids.)
Like you, I get a lot of “action
alerts” in my email each day. They all come from various organizations and
causes I care deeply about, but the barrage of email can create a sense of
saturation.
People often ask me if signing online petitions
and sending emails to Congress actually works. Does it mean anything?
The short answer is yes, it matters. A lot.
I work with an incredible coalition of public health,
environmental leaders and moms working to protect American families from toxic
chemicals. Our goal is to reform out of date federal laws that are failing to
protect public health in this country.
We started a coalition
wide petition to generate signatures in support of the Safe Chemicals Act.
In a few short weeks, we blew past our goal and are already to 125,000
signatures.
As an organizer it is my responsibility to ensure those
signatures are delivered in a meaningful way. I think we can all agree that
sending an email into a black hole has limited value, but when your petition
signature is hand delivered to your Senator by people from your state, it
matters. A lot.
A recent series by the Chicago
Tribune, exposed the deep level of deception and dirty tricks from the
chemical industry. Just weeks before that we discovered the chemical industry
spent $52 million dollars lobbying Congress in 2011.
We need to fight back. Signing our petition is just one step
in a long process to pass strong laws in Washington. We will need you call your
Senators, show up for local events, and in some cases come to D.C. for our National
Stroller Brigade.
Activism takes many shapes and forms, but each step along
the way is important.
So please take a minute to sign
and share this petition. Because every click of the mouse, every phone
call, and every event matters.
