Green Options » Change.org

Ten Winning Ideas for Change

Becky Striepe — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:47:36 +0000

Since Obama’s election in November, the website Change.org has allowed anyone with an idea for the new administration to post it on the site for folks to vote on. Today, they revealed the top ten Ideas for Change in America.

[Creative Commons photo by Steve Rhodes]

Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media who is responsible for President Obama’s transition website, Change.gov, accepted the ideas on behalf of the Presidential Transition Team. There were over 8,000 ideas and 600,000 votes, and over 175,000 people participated! They’re going to pair up each winning idea with a nonprofit to help work toward making these things that folks care care about into policy. Here are the ten winning ideas:

Save Handmade from the CPSIA - Last day to vote at Change.org

Kristen Chase — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:52:09 +0000

If you’ve got a spare minute, please hop over to Change.org and vote for the Handmade Toy Alliance’s proposal “Save Small Businesses from the CPSIA.” The top 10 ideas will be presented to the Obama Administration, and considering how many people this act effects, we need all the help we can get.

Simply place your vote digg style, and consider spreading the word with links on your blog, or emails to friends and family. This act affects handmade artisans of toys, clothes, and other children’s items, as well as resale, consignment, thrift shops, heck even eBay.

Surprisingly, media coverage has been quite slim on this issue, and many manufacturers and distributors (read: the ones with some major power to make some changes too) are unaware of the CPSIA and how it’s going to affect them next month.

If you’d like to learn more about the CPSIA, you can visit the Cool Mom Picks Save Handmade resource page, and listen to the Healthy Child, Healthy World podcast today at 1pm PST.

Related Posts:

Proposed Exemptions to CPSIA

New Law Will Make Handmade Toys Illegal

Don’t Make February 10, 2009 Bankrupt Day

Victory Garden Redux

Becky Striepe — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:00:55 +0000

Two activist groups are teaming up and petitioning Barack Obama to plant an organic victory garden on the White House lawn!

[Creative Commons photo via Eat the View]

They’re calling the White House “America’s House” and asking the new administration to lead by example. They see a food garden on the White House lawn as a first step towards “a new National Victory Garden Program.”

Eco Child’s Play Donation: CHOSA: Giving Hope to the Children of South Africa

Jennifer Lance — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:42:50 +0000

Periodically, I like to make a small contribution to a charity on behalf of the readers and writers of Eco Child’s Play. It is an effort to be social responsible and highlight an organization helping children and/or the environment around the world. This month, I have selected CHOSA: Giving Hope to the Children of South Africa.

CHOSA’S vision is based on the belief that every South African child is entitled to grow up in a safe, healthy and nurturing environment that will lead to uplifting the entire community. In order to achieve this, our goal is to create an organization that is based on integrity, compassion and efficiency.

CHOSA’s mission is to identify and support community based organizations (CBOs) that reach out and take care of orphans and other vulnerable children in South Africa.

CHOSA takes a holistic approach to community development. By supporting these CBOs, we help empower other marginalized people in these communities. Moreover, through community participation, CHOSA promotes local action, self-empowerment, and peer-to-peer networking as essential strategies for community-owned development.