What the Fork Are You Doing With Your Produce, Walmart and Whole Foods?   In 2013, a staggering 17.5 million households faced hunger. Part of the problem is the prohibitively high price of produce. Many low income American families simply can’t afford fresh fruits and vegetables. Yet, we throw away nearly 26% of all produce before it even reaches the grocery store due mostly to cosmetic standards from large grocers that dictate exactly how fruits and veggies should look. If produce fails to make the grade for size, shape, or color, retailers deem it "ugly" and refuse to sell it in their stores. Billions of pounds of good, healthy produce goes uneaten because it’s not pretty! But this food is perfectly edible. Culinary nutritionist Stefanie Sacks, author of What the Fork Are You Eating? and co-starter of this petition, confirms that the “uglies” are equally as nutritious as any produce you get in the store, and, in fact, smaller produce can actually have more taste! I’m Jordan Figueiredo, a solid waste specialist, and founder of UglyFruitandVeg.org. Together with Stefanie Sacks, we are asking you to call on Whole Foods and Walmart to help stop massive food waste by agreeing to sell cosmetically “less than perfect” produce. We want Walmart and Whole Foods to combat food waste by marketing ugly produce as they do traditional produce using a fun campaign like the French supermarket giant Intermarche did with its “Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables Campaign.” Stores in Europe, Australia, and Canada have started selling not quite "perfect" produce, offering it at an average of 30% off, and it has increased store traffic and total sales. In the U.S. Raley's has also started a pilot selling ugly produce. We are asking two of America’s largest retailers to do something simple, effective and good for the retailers’ and customers’ bottom line. This is truly low-hanging fruit in terms of its environmental and social benefits. One out of six Americans is food insecure, and more than four out of five is produce-deficient. With statistics like this, it is simply irresponsible to encourage waste of good, healthy and perfectly edible food. Join the “ugly fruit and veg revolution” and let’s ask Walmart and Whole Foods to be part of the solution, not the problem. Tell them to add the “uglies” to their store aisles so you can save money, fight hunger and help the environment all in one. The solution might look ugly, but the result will be something beautiful. #WhatTheFork

Farmworkers were deemed essential by our government during the Covid-19 crisis but were excluded from the bailout package. They must report to work, but will not be receiving any economic support during this pandemic and financial crisis. Sign the petition and help in the cause towards giving farmworkers a piece of the bailout package a a path towards legal citizenship for being heroes during this crisis.  The subject of our short film, Amadeo Sumano, came from Mexico to work in the fields of Oxnard in 2007. Amadeo has worked full-time for the entirety of his 13 years in the United States but has not been able to visit Mexico during that time because of his immigration status. Amadeo and the migrant farmworker community are responsible for the food on your table every night. Sign the Petition and help us in our push towards securing legal status for our migrant farmworker communities. To Donate to TheFarmworker Project. PLEASE do not "promote" with change.org. We do not see any of the money. Visit the Link below. https://marinlink.org/donations/?project_name=The%20Farmworker%20Project%20LLC ***A $25 dollar donation can buy 10 quality cloth masks and will help us with farmworker BBQ's, health checkups, and more as the harvest season progresses. https://marinlink.org/donations/?project_name=The%20Farmworker%20Project%20LLC Instagram : @thefarmworkerproject       From Food Tank Of the 3 million people who make up the agricultural workforce in the United States, 50 to 70 percent are estimated to be undocumented immigrants. The bill proposes that undocumented immigrants who have been working on U.S. farms could apply for a Blue Card, which would protect them from deportation, and allow travel in and out of the country. After three to five years, depending on qualifying work hours, individuals with Blue Card status would become eligible to apply for adjustment to legal status, and ultimately the ability to apply for citizenship." Who we are: The TheFarmworkerProject.com and TrabajosDelCampo.com are a joint project that help bring social awareness to the issues Farmworkers face in North America. Through an anonymous job review platform, and advocating for legal status, through the "Blue Card",  we hope to provide improve the working and living conditions for North America's farmworkers. “(Farm workers) are involved in the planting, cultivation and harvesting of the greatest abundance of food known in this society. They bring in so much food to feed you and me and the whole country and enough food to export to other places. The ironic thing and the tragic thing is that after they make this tremendous contribution, they don’t have any money or any food left for themselves.” Caesar Chavez  

  https://youtu.be/3CK_inDmuoU (A Sea of Plastic: Shocking images show how bottles, bags and rubbish are choking our oceans) I would like to encourage super markets to stop using plastic bags. Plastic bags contribute greatly to the pollution of the planet. Over one trillion plastic bags are discarded annually. There is an estimated 40,000 plastic bags per square mile in the ocean. The production of plastic reached over 300 million tons in the year 2014, and is expected to rise over 200 million tons by the year 2050. Fish, oceanic mammals, and birds ingest these plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish or other substances. The bags fill their intestines and stomachs and give the ocean organisms a full feeling. The animals no longer wish to eat anything and eventually die of starvation. It is a slow and painful death for them. https://youtu.be/0EyaTqezSzs (The Great Pacific Garbage Patch- Explainer) The goal of this petition is to end the use of plastic bags in supermarkets all together. Other environmentally friendly alternatives can be used. In certain states a charge for the usage of plastic bags is in place. States like California for example charge a 10 cent fee for every plastic bag needed. Charging a fee for the use of plastic bags has shown results, but the environmental issue still stands strong. The oceans are still filled with millions of floating plastic bags. People should be encouraged to bring their own reusable bags to the supermarkets. A partial solution stands for the reduction of the use of plastic bags. Biodegradable bags have recently been created. However, several problems linger with these biodegradable plastics. The plastics require specific environmental conditions to break down. Some of the plastics also contain toxins that are harmful to the environment. Even though the plastics are biodegradable, they still linger in the sea and on land for hundreds of years. Plastic bags in our canals, rivers, and oceans are a huge problem, that will not be solved overnight. However, substantial steps can be taken in order to prevent further damage of our environment and the organisms which live within it. https://youtu.be/HQTUWK7CM-Y (How we Can Keep Plastic out of the Ocean- National Geographic) There are two directions which could be taken in order to prevent any further pollution. The first, less expensive option, is encouraging people to start using reusable, biodegradable bags. The use of plastic bags in supermarkets would be eliminated. If plastic bags were taken away from super markets, people would be required to use their own bags. The second option for the destruction of plastic bags is biodegradable starch bags. They are renewable and can be composted along with other materials. The starch bags can decompose entirely. These starch bags are labeled ‘EN13432’. This code is put on all products which have been verified as non-harming products. They can biodegrade at the same rate as home compost or within 60 days in a commercial compost system. These starch bags are being tested in countries which have had the greatest effect on plastic pollution such as Indonesia.   Supermarkets should have two available options for consumers. The first being starch bags being provided at the customers expense. Each bag would cost several cents for the consumer. The second option is that consumers shall use their own reusable shopping bags. Reusable shopping bags will eliminate waste almost completely and do not require to be decomposed at home or commercially. If we want our children to grow up and continue to enjoy the beauty of the oceans, change must be made. If we want to grow up in a better, cleaner world, plastic bags must be taken away from super markets. The elimination of plastic bags will save the oceans of the earth over 4 trillion pounds each year.        Links to sources related to my topic- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/25/supermarkets-agree-ban-unnecessary-single-use-plastic-packaging/http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42652937https://www.thoughtco.com/why-stop-using-plastic-bags-1204167  

During the peak spread of COVID-19, grocery workers are at heightened risk for getting the virus. The CDC has recommended avoiding large crowds and social distancing practices for all Americans. Grocery stores are experiencing a huge influx of customer crowds thus putting grocery store workers and their families at a higher risk of infection.  This petition is to advocate for temporary increased wages in the form of hazard pay to compensate them financially for putting themselves and their families at a higher risk of infection. Many other employers and schools have closed or switched to telecommuting which is not an option for these workers.  Please join our mission to demand temporaryhazard pay for grocery workers during this pandemic. 

Supermarkets, we want you to #RenameDontShame We want to see supermarkets and retailers in the UK and North America commit to tackling the stigma around periods. We are asking them to change their product signposting in store and online from ‘feminine hygiene’ or ‘sanitary products’, to ‘period products’ or ‘menstrual products’. The use of the terms ‘sanitary products’ or ‘feminine hygiene products’ suggests there is something unsanitary or unhygienic about having a period when this is not the case. Avoiding terms like ‘period’ and ‘menstruation’, as though they are shameful, upholds the very real stigma around this natural bodily function. This stigma affects people’s quality of life, every day.As well as this, the word ‘feminine’ assumes that all people who have periods are feminine. This is not the case – trans men and non-binary people can have periods too. The use of the term ‘feminine hygiene’ suggests you need to have a period to be ‘feminine’, when trans women and plenty of cis women don’t have periods.We think it’s time our society ditched the code words and started calling it what it is – a period. Then we can begin to have a mature and respectful conversation about the biology behind menstruation and remove some of the shame from the subject.If supermarkets commit to making this small but powerful change, they will be sending an important message – periods are not dirty and they are not something to be ashamed of!Why is this important?Around 26% of the global population have periods every month*. Having a period is a very normal part of life for a lot of people. Despite this, there is still very little honest, public conversation about the reality of having a period, meaning that people who have periods are made to feel shame from when they first enter puberty.48% of girls in the UK report feeling ‘embarrassed’ about their periods, and this figure rises to 56% when they reach the age of 14**. In the US, 58% of women have felt embarrassment from their period*** Who has already made the change?New Zealand’s supermarket chain, Countdown, has sparked an international conversation about this issue, by being the first to change the name of their product aisles4. Multiple online retailers have taken the initiative in the UK, such as Abel and Cole, and Ethical Superstore – but so far, no physical retailer has made the change in the UK, nor in North America. Who are Natracare? Natracare was created in 1989 as a campaign to shake up the period protection industry and provide an eco-friendly alternative to the chemical and plastic laden products that dominated the market. Natracare campaigns for healthy people, healthy products and a healthy planet. You can learn more about this issue on the Natracare blog at https://www.natracare.com/blog/its-time-for-supermarkets-to-ditch-period-stigmaReferences* https://menstrualhygieneday.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Menstrual-hygiene-matters-low-resolution.pdf ** https://plan-uk.org/file/plan-uk-break-the-barriers-report-032018pdf/download?token=Fs-HYP3v *** https://menstrualhygieneday.org/nearly-half-us-women-experienced-period-shaming/ **** https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/26/new-zealand-supermarket-chain-countdown-becomes-first-to-use-period-label-on-menstrual-products  

ProblemThough grocery stores and supermarkets such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's use recyclable paper bags for people to carry, many other supermarkets still use plastic bags as a cheaper and easier way for people to carry their groceries. According to Waste Management, only 1 percent of plastic bags are returned for recycling. That means that the average family only recycles 15 bags a year; the rest ends up in landfills as litter. Up to 80 percent of ocean plastic pollution enters the ocean from land.Every minute, one garbage truck worth of plastic is dumped into the ocean. Yearly, a colossal 1.4 billion pounds of trash ends up in our beautiful oceans.Every second, a massive amount of 160,000 plastic bags are being produced and used. By the end of this year, we will have used 5 billion plastic bags. According to The World Count of these 5 billion bags, 5 million of them will make their way into the ocean either indirectly due to things like poor waste management, or directly by people who unfortunately do not know the significant consequences to the environment from their actions.SolutionWe can start with only a few supermarkets and eventually go mainstream, but in the end the goal is to pass a bill - a long term plastic waste plan - so all grocery stores and supermarkets in New York City, New York State and maybe even all of America provide recyclable paper bags. These supermarkets can also offer canvas bags and totes for other people to buy that they can use to carry their groceries home. The ultimate solution, not to trash in the ocean but to plastic bags in supermarkets, is to make all supermarket bags recyclable or compostable - before it's too late. This will make the bags more environment friendly and make it easier to recycle or reuse them, as well as possibly even motivate New Yorkers to come together to remind people to reuse, recycle and reduce, to save the environment and solve this problem.

*♡♡♡PLEASE♡♡♡*REMEMBER♡♡♡*THAT THE NUMBERS LISTED IN THIS PETITION REPRESENT ACTUAL *♡♡♡HUMAN BEINGS♡♡♡* **Declare State of Emergency in California for All Homeless Individuals and their Companion Animals  Unhomeless the Homeless Individuals and their Companion Animals in California THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES IMMEDIATELY ENACT AND PUT INTO ACTION AN EMERGENCY PLAN IS THE ONLY RESPONSE TO SAVE LIVES OF OUR HOMELESS MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND THEIR COMPANION ANIMALS NOW ! The City has failed to shelter the most vulnerable. All seven Respite Centres are full, the two 24-hour women’s drop-ins and the Out of the Cold program are over capacity on many nights and there are insufficient beds in the system. Instead, fifty people sleep in chairs there each night. They are the lucky ones. Hundreds upon hundreds of people are forced to sleep outside due to failed shelter and housing policies. They are in grave danger. Their precarious situation has been exacerbated by the onslaught of an early winter leaving them completely exposed and vulnerable. A walk through the city confirms what front-line workers are telling us: there have never been this many people sleeping in our streets and parks before. The number of beds and the close proximity of sleeping accommodations for each individual that is not safe social distancing less than two to four feet apart with shared men and women's bathrooms for the entire group. Also the city shelters are not year round and where Aeons individual has to leave early in the morning and not come till late at night so there's no safety from extreme weather or rain or cold or extreme heat,  not to mention no safety precautions whatsoever for the pandemic that is occurring now. The plans to bring more beds in crowded and shared living facilities in one large room or Auditorium in the followings months or years will not be sufficient to accommodate those in need. Furthermore, during an Extreme Cold Weather Alert there is NO Warming Centers at ALL for the entire City. In order to prevent more deaths and suffering, we request the City of Los Angeles enact an Emergency Plan. The aim Emergency Plan to provide the framework for extraordinary arrangements and measures that can be taken to protect the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the City of  Los Angeles IMMEDIATELY ~ TODAY !!°°. It would allow the Mayor to MANDATE the following Emergency ACTIONS to  implemented immediately today ! 1. Make a formal statement declaring that homelessness and the social housing situation are an emergency necessitating immediate action. 2. Request help from the Federal and State  governments for funding and resources necessary to deal with this deadly crisis. 3. Establish an Emergency Task Force from relevant departments at the City, including Public Health; Shelter, Support and Housing Administration; Emergency Management; Real Estate; Parks, Forestry and Recreation; for the purpose of resolving issues related to the crisis.   4. Create a Building Team from all three levels of government that would identify vacant buildings owned by the City, Federal and Provincial governments that can be used to immediately shelter the hundreds who are homeless. 5. Redeploy staff from various City departments to implement the decisions of theEmergency Task Force and to provide support at respite sites, warming centres, and overnight drop-ins. 6. Invite the Red Cross to assist with emergency respite and warming centre operations, as they did in the winter of 2017-2018. 7. Start and have open a minimum of 20 permanently open Respite, Cooling, and Warming Centers through out Los Angeles County.  8. Create Intake/pick up sites to more accessible and spacious site throughout the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles County.  9. Create four to six additional Warming Centres throughout Los Angeles County  that would allow people to easily access them. 10. Improve the safety and health outcomes in all Respite Centres that have 100 or more people staying in them by reducing capacity by one third. 11. Fast track breaking ground and building a minimum of one new low income apartment building in every city of Los Angeles County. 12. Implement the recommendations of the Faulkner Inquest, including the distribution of survival equipment and supplies (sleeping bags, fire retardant blankets, safe heat sources) to people who are living outside. Tents must be added to this list. Fund additional outreach teams to distribute these items. 13. Impose a moratorium on evictions of people living in all public spaces, including parks, ravines, and encampments. 14. Impose a moratorium on the removal of all encampments. 15. Create an emergency rent supplement program to prioritize the housing of vulnerable people including seniors and those with disabilities. 16. Allow the Building Team to devise and implement a strategy for the creation of 2,000 permanent shelter beds. 17. Allow the Building Team to devise and implement a five-year strategy for the building of transitional, supportive and rent-geared-to-income (RGI) social housing. 18. Expropriate buildings, left unused and vacant by owners, for immediate conversion to RGI social housing such as single room dwellings or transitional housing. 19. Extend the timeframe of all emergency shelters and Respite Centres so they operate year-round. 20. Create one hundred beds to replace those lost when the Out of the Cold program shuts down in April. We believe that homelessness needs to be declared as a state of emergency in the City of Los Angeles NOW. . We have witnessed homelessness increase in recent years and the municipal response has proved to be totally inadequate, UNSAFE, and with NO real response implemented into action. Enough meetings and/or canceled meetings to "Plan" possible "solutions" , not real-life actions or even implemented to address or identify any of the that are out there Real Life Solutions on the streets to help the actual people that are out there, new committees without real life speeches , , focus groups, surveys, proposals, and endless political rhetoric and hot air.  ALL OUR LIVES ARE PUT AT SEVERE RISK  by our smear not implementing nursing immediately for every day he waits he puts more and more and more and more LIVES that will be lost to this pandemic Mayor not immediately implementing actually work Lives are at stake   On any given night, there are over 158,000 homeless people in California - 24% of the entire nation’s homeless population. In L.A. County, for example, the number of homeless people climbed 14% in a year to just over 60,000, according to the latest point-in-time count. **The Los Angeles County count found a 24% increase in homeless youth, defined as people under 25, and a 9% jump in people 62 or older.  Officials estimate about 21% of people experiencing homelessness in the county are mentally ill or coping with substance abuse problems. About two-thirds of all people on the streets of metro Los Angeles are male, just under one-third are female, and about 3% identify as transgender or gender non-conforming. This year’s Count revealed that 24% of the unsheltered people experiencing homelessness—more than 9,200 people—were homeless for the first time last year. The majority (57%) cited economic hardship as the cause.  Los Angeles County has the second largest population of homeless people of any region in the United States, according to a government report released Wednesday. In Los Angeles, 600,000 people are considered "severely rent burdened," which means they spend half their income on rent. More than 8,000 people became homeless here for the first time last year, according to the 2019 Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority report. "We are reaching levels of inequality that we have not seen since the Gilded Age," said Tracy Rosenthal of the Los Angeles Tenants Union. The union helps organize tenant boycotts against things like rent increases and gentrification. **Updated 9/19** In L.A. County, for example, the number of homeless people climbed 13% in a year to just shy of 60,000, according to the latest point-in-time count. Within the city, the number soared to more than 36,000, a 17% increase. Los Angeles County's total — 59,988 — was behind only New York City's 76,501, according to the 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, 96% of people experiencing homelessness in New York City were sheltered, the report found, while only 11% of those experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles were sheltered in 2019. The HUD report findings were similar to the results of the 2019 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count released in June by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which put the county's homeless total at 59,994 — an increase of 24% over the previous count. The HUD report found that on one night in January, nearly one of every four people experiencing homelessness in the United States was in New York City or Los Angeles. According to the report, overall homelessness increased nationwide this year for the first time in seven years, by slightly under 1%  compared to 2018. On a given night across the country, 593,742 people were homeless, with nearly two-thirds housed in shelters or transitional housing programs and one- third living on the streets, according to the report L.A.'s big increase in homelessness had a significant impact on the national numbers. Between 2016 and 2017, individual homelessness increased by 9% (19,540 people) in the nation's major cities. Los Angeles accounted for over 60% of this increase. According to the report, Los Angeles County ranked:- *second nationally in the percent of unsheltered homeless, at 84.3 percent; - *first in the number of individuals who are homeless, at 57,082; - *first in the number of unaccompanied homeless youth at 5,963; and *first in the number of homeless veterans (4až,476) and *first in the   of unsheltered veterans (76.1 percent). California had 194,278 homeless people, and while the Golden State has the nation's largest population, the rate of 34 homeless residents per 10,000 people was twice the national average, according to the report. Of those, 68 percent were living on the streets, by far the worst percentage. The report said half the nation's homeless live in California and New York. Counties across the state are facing a pervasive and deepening homeless crisis that imminently endangers the health and safety of tens of thousands of residents, including veterans, women, children, LGBT, youth, persons with disabilities and seniors.  Nowhere is this more evident than in Los Angeles County at least  134,278 men, women and children -- 11,000 to 13,000 in Downtown, including more than 8,000 parents and children in the San Fernando Valley alone -- are without homes or safe  shelters.  More than 59,000 homeless people, or 43% of the state’s total, live in Los Angeles County. That number is up from about 36,000 just six years ago. There are beds for less than one third of the homeless in Los Angeles county, comprehensive services are available to far fewer than half, and the county jails are routinely used as a substitution for mental health facilities.  In Los Angeles county the tremendous scale of homelessness threatens the economic stability of the entire region by burdening emergency medical services and the social services infrastructure. It is time to treat this crisis like the emergency it truly is.  The increasing numbers of displaced homeless people and the lack of ongoing resources to stably re-house them require immediate and extraordinary action. That is why We in LA County are taking the lead in a statewide effort to ask Governor Brown to declare a state of emergency in California to address this growing humanitarian crisis. ***********We need:*********** *Provide 50,000 more vouchers, through a combination of Housing Choice Vouchers and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers, two longstanding key programs that provide needed rental subsidies for extremely low-income Americans; *Increse the value of those vouchers to account for the high cost of rents in America’s cities and counties; and, *Create a program based on best-practices to incentivize landlords to work with voucher holders to find stable housing Specifically, we urge you to implement the following recommendations: (1) Create a system for secure storage of the personal property of people experiencing homelessness. Without reasonable provision for the storage and safety of homeless people’s possessions (for example, a site with a sixty gallon tub or shopping cart - sized public locker system), homeless encampments are inevitable. (2) Meet the basic medical and hygienic needs of the homeless people in our midst. Beyond simply assuring access to public restrooms throughout our cities / county during the day, we ask that you: a) Establish a system of easily accessible medical / hygienic facilities (perhaps through medical vans or hygienic equivalents) to be made available to homeless people during the day, so that they could be treated for simple ailments like colds or the flu, as well as have their persons and their belongings “deloused” (freed from bed bugs / lice) b) Establish a system of infirmaries and, if needed, one-night quarantine wards for those arriving ill or infested with bugs, so that homeless persons arriving at the shelters for the night can become confident that they will not simply contract the flu or pests while sleeping at the shelters. (3) Do not close shelters (that is, do not expel the people that the shelters are serving) before a reasonable hour (7-8 am). No one should be forced to leave a shelter at 5 or 6 am, literally into the cold and darkness, before most other businesses and services open. (4) Establish a system of “day centers,” often called “multipurpose centers,” so that people experiencing homelessness have safe places to go to during the day where they could have many of the above mentioned needs met, as well have places to receive counseling, access to phones and computers with internet access for jobs, possible family and/or friends to reconnect  or simply to rest /recreate. (5) Respect the right of people experiencing homelessness to file complaints against homeless service providers and allow them to document the problems and complaints they have about the shelters through photography, video, or audio recordings MUCH MORE NEEDS TO BE ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTED NOW ! Please join us! Sign our petition urging to declare the homeless crisis a state of emergency and bring the concerted effort and resources needed to tackle this crisis in a meaningful way.  Homelessness, Humanitarianism, Social justice, Human Rights, Economic Justice, Homeless crisis, Affordable housing, Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and the Right to Live Free of prejudice.  No human in our country should be homeless. Let's take the first step together. Every single man, woman, child, baby deserves a safe place to call home. Along with their cats, dogs, birds, fish, and all the other additional animals types that are "family pets/companionship and should be lovingly taken cherished in a home also. Please then Share this petition with your family, friends, neighbors, and on your social media to spread the word even further.  Thank you for your support.

We wanna make abgoosht international because it is a traditional Iranian food..ما می خوایم ابگوشت رو جهانی کنیم چون ابگشت یک غذای سنتی ایرانیه لینک استیکر ابگوشت در تلگرام____you can use abgoosht sticker in telegram:link:https://telegram.me/addstickers/ab_goosht

Amazon/Whole Foods are testing their grocery delivery service, and it is great, except for one problem: every order comes packed in plastic, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable insulation. We know too much about our ecosystem now to keep pumping out single-use, disposable plastic. If Amazon's Whole Foods delivery service scales up, it could mean tons of additional plastic in our oceans, and in our food. Whole Foods ought to be leading the way in sustainability, not taking us backwards. And Amazon actually sells biodegradable insulation on their website. I want to use their great new delivery service, but not at the price of more pollution and major problems for future generations. Please join me in asking Amazon to use biodegradable packaging for their Whole Foods service.

On June 19th 2020 (Juneteenth), Westlake (Seattle) Whole Foods Market workers adorned Black Lives Matter masks as a harmless act of solidarity with the Black community against racial injustice, police brutality and anti-black violence. Whole Foods Market management swiftly took action against workers, claiming the masks were controversial even though the store displayed Pride flags as an act of solidarity with the LGBTQIA community. When a worker stated the inconsistency, management removed the Pride flag as well in an act of "neutrality". Their actions are indicative of a disconnect from their patrons and a lack of regard for the community at large. Whole Foods Market is branded in a way that implies solidarity, with their website stating, "Racism and discrimination of any kind have no place at Whole Foods Market. We support the Black community and meaningful change in the world", however, actions speak louder than words.  Yes, Whole Foods Market states that “Team Members must wear WFM shirts/tops without any visible slogan, message, logo or advertising on them.” WFM also states that “TMs deserve to address the store about changing policy,” and that “creative TMs are always trying to imagine a better store.” This situation is no different, as we are imagining and seeking to create a better store. The vast majority of customers and Team Members are surprised to learn that Whole Foods Market is not allowing their employees to express BLM, given how essential expressing, let alone having the freedom to express, BLM is right now. This reaction is overwhelmingly consistent and evident that Whole Foods Market is failing to meet both their customers’ and employees’ expectations. Furthermore, if Whole Foods Market truly strives to see themselves as “part of a larger community whose welfare and long term survival are unalterably linked,” then they must listen to and validate what the larger community continues to say. If Whole Foods Market listens to their communities, and sets the standards for excellence, now is the time to demonstrate it.   Whole Foods Market workers are calling for tangible change in the form of the demands below: 1) Freedom of Speech: The right to show solidarity with BLM without retaliation.  2) Back Pay of the lost wages for workers who missed shifts for supporting BLM 3) Ridding the Store of Armed Guards   Whole Foods must not value neutrality over their employees' voices, supporting the minority communities who visit their stores, and the larger community as a whole. Sign this petition and join us in solidarity for our Black and POC essential workers. #WFMSaysNoToBLM For more information and action follow us on Twitter: @WfmWsl For inquiries, our email is wfmsaysnotoblm@gmail.com