Posted on August 14, 2018
VIDEO: CREDO activists make national news at DHS secretary immigration protest
CREDO activists made national headlines and blanketed cable news when we organized a flash protest at the home of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the senior official implementing Trump’s cruel and inhumane immigration policies, including separating families at the border.
Watch the highlight video below, or click here to watch on our YouTube channel.
Posted on August 11, 2018
What is environmental and climate justice?
What is environmental and climate justice?
When some people think of environmentalism or climate change, they might envision protecting endangered species, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and a warming planet.
These are all critically important aspects in the fight to protect our planet, but here at CREDO, we go a few steps further.
Instead of just considering the effects on the physical environment, we understand that a changing climate has a disproportionate impact on communities of color, low-income people and other marginalized communities here in the United States and across the world.
Because climate change causes drought, extreme weather, and flooding that can lead to famine, forced migration and even armed conflict, the first communities to feel the effects of a changing climate are the world’s most vulnerable.
Here in the United States, communities of color and low-income communities are also the hardest hit by climate change and the fossil fuel industry’s relentless exploitation of natural resources.
Take, for example, recent hurricanes in the Gulf, whose strengths were intensified by a changing climate, that destroyed homes and displaced tens of thousands of low-income people and people of color. Or the toxic coal, oil and gas plants and infrastructure projects that pollute our air and water and cause disproportionate adverse health effects on vulnerable communities.
That’s why our activism to slow climate change and protect the environment always considers the racial and economic impact on marginalized communities. And it’s why we’ve donated more than $19 million to progressive organizations fighting for climate justice.
If you’d like to learn more about our climate justice activism and take action, please visit credoaction.com.
Join CREDO in the Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice march on September 8. Learn more.
Posted on August 10, 2018
An update on some of the amazing work CREDO members are helping to fund
Since our founding, CREDO has supported progressive nonprofits on the frontlines of the most important fights for civil rights, climate justice, equality and more. The donations we make to these organizations wouldn’t be possible without our members. And that’s why we want to share with you what our recent grantees have accomplished with their CREDO funding. You helped make the following possible:
National Domestic Workers Alliance’s recent $52,684 CREDO grant helped the organization become an anchor in the Families Belong Together coalition that formed in response to the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies. The organization led a grassroots campaign to demand the end of family separation and detention and called for the reunification of the over 2,300 children who were separated from their parents this spring. To learn more, visit domesticworkers.org.
Since Amnesty International received its recent $60,190 CREDO grant, the organization launched a variety of campaigns to support its work to demand human rights for all people, including Troll Patrol, a global effort to stop abuse against women on Twitter through direct advocacy and using thousands of digital volunteers to track and report abuse. To learn more, visit amnestyusa.org.
Earthjustice used its recent $63,724 CREDO grant to continue fighting Trump’s efforts to roll back critical environmental and public health protections. The organization’s work included filing and winning lawsuits around safe pesticide handling in California and the EPA’s failure to protect civil rights in the environmental context. It also prevented an enormous coal export terminal from getting shoreline permits in Washington. To learn more, visit earthjustice.org.
350.org’s recent $66,141 grant supported new climate action projects across the globe, including “Fossil Free,” which encourages and supports 350’s network of volunteers to start new local campaigns to push city governments and other institutions to stop and ban the development of any new fossil fuel projects and commit to a just transition to 100 percent renewable energy. To learn more, visit 350.org.
These efforts by our partners were made possible in part by the CREDO members who use our products and services everyday. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.
Posted on August 9, 2018
Victory: CREDO helps stop Sinclair-Tribune mega-merger
Amazing news: Thanks to the activism by more than 200,000 CREDO activists and our partners, we stopped the Sinclair-Tribune media mega-merger from moving forward.
This merger would have given a single broadcast company a disturbing level of influence in the country’s media landscape. Already Sinclair is the largest broadcast group in the country, with 193 local stations. Sinclair has a long history of force-feeding local stations racist and biased must-run segments that hurt local journalism and communities.
The proposed mega-merger would have left Sinclair with an incredible 223 stations covering 72 percent of U.S. households.
Because of our massive grassroots pressure, even Trump’s FCC had to acknowledge that this deal was bad for the public interest.
This victory was all possible in part because of CREDO members and activists who proudly stand up for our media and democracy – so from all of us here at CREDO, we’d like to say thank you for all that you do.
Posted on August 7, 2018
Tuesday Tip: How Mobile Payment Works
Tuesday Tip: How mobile payment works
Two years of your life. If you’re an average American, that’s the amount of time you’ll spend waiting in line.
Some of it can’t be helped. Like airport security. But some of it is uncalled for and annoying. Like when that person in front of you at the cafe takes 5 minutes to pay for a $3 latte with a credit card to get—what?—a few feet’s worth of airline miles? Aaargh!
Luckily, help is at hand. Mobile payment options speed transactions and shorten lines—and they’re increasingly popular. By the end of 2018, one-quarter of U.S. smartphone users over the age of 14 will have made a mobile payment in a store.
Here’s what you need to know to get started.
What are mobile payments?
A mobile payment means just that: making a payment with your mobile device. The payment can be at a restaurant, grocery store or any other store that accepts mobile payments.
Or it can be person to person, such as paying back a friend who spotted you for dinner or paying an eBay seller for a pair of shoes. Because they happen over the internet, payments can be done anywhere. Just open the app on your phone and tap a few times to send money. The payment may be made with your bank account, debit card or credit card. Popular P2P payment apps include Venmo, Zelle, and PayPal. Paying via your bank account or debit card is usually free while using a credit card will incur a small fee.
What is a mobile wallet?
This is an app on your phone that stores the information from your credit or debit card and enables you to make purchases with your phone, without having the actual card with you. The big three mobile wallets are Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, which come integrated on their respective devices. iPhones have Apple Pay, Android phones have Google Pay and Samsung phones have Samsung Pay.
You can also download a mobile wallet app from your bank or credit card company. If you have a card from, say, Chase, or Capital One, you can download their wallet app to your device and use it wherever it’s accepted.
Mobile wallets make purchases quick and easy. When you arrive at the register, just open the wallet app, hold your phone up to the compatible reader and you’ve paid. Mobile wallets can also be downloaded to tablets and smartwatches.
What is a merchant wallet?
Megachains like Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Walmart offer their own “closed loop” payment apps that work only in their stores. For example, you can download the Starbucks wallet app (now the most popular mobile payment app in the world), put money in it, then use it to pay for your coffee.
These merchant apps are particularly popular because they give users rewards, like one free coffee after you buy 100. (If you do go to Starbucks, we encourage you to bring your own mug, since Starbucks paper cups still are not recyclable—although we did recently pressure Starbucks to begin development of a recyclable cup.)
Can you earn credit card rewards with a payment app?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is sometimes not. Yes, if your credit card gives you points, miles or cash back on your purchases, you’ll still earn those rewards if you use that credit card via a mobile payment app, same as you would if you used the plastic card.
But if your credit card gives you bonus rewards when you use it in specific places, like, say, 3% cash back when you use it at a restaurant, your mobile wallet may not categorize the payment exactly and you may not earn those bonus rewards, so check with your card issuer to be sure.
Some mobile wallets offer you their own rewards for using them. For example, Samsung Pay gives you rewards points you can use when you buy Samsung products, in addition to the rewards you get from your credit card company.
Is a mobile wallet secure?
Security is a primary reason more people have not embraced mobile payments. Many fear that when they transmit their credit card information into the atmosphere, some hacker might vacuum it up and go on a spending spree.
In fact, a mobile wallet is among the safest ways to pay. Think about it. When you write a check, a fraudster can easily steal all the private information that’s printed on the front of it: your name, address, bank, account number and routing number. They just take out their phone, snap a photo and it’s theirs.
And when you use a physical credit or debit card, the data can be stolen by a skimmer at an ATM, gas station or restaurant.
Payment apps and mobile wallets, on the other hand, create a random, one-time number—a transaction token—for every transaction. Even if someone is able to learn that number, it’s not valid for other transactions. Although you load your card information into your payment app, your card number is not shared with the merchant when you pay. Many payment apps also require a PIN or your fingerprint to authorize payments, so the app can’t be used by someone else even if your phone is stolen.
One other benefit of mobile payments: if more people don’t use credit and debit cards, that’s less plastic pollution fouling up our planet. Here’s another way you can help fight the plastic problem: try these alternatives to a plastic water bottle.
Posted on August 6, 2018
Transgender people’s rights and lives are under threat. Transgender Law Center is fighting back.
We are in a moment of intense violence and hatred, and there is a lot of fear in transgender and gender nonconforming communities. The number of transgender women of color murdered continues horrifically to rise. We are criminalized and arrested at alarming rates, while Trump and his bigoted Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledge to put transgender people in prison in unsafe and abusive conditions by denying us housing that corresponds to our gender identities.
Transgender women are fleeing deadly violence across the globe and seeking asylum in the United States, only to be held in inhumane detention conditions that can quite literally kill them. Roxsana Hernandez, one such woman who undertook a brutal journey this spring in the hope of finding safety in the United States, died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody shortly after presenting herself at the border. If Trump succeeds in adding another conservative extremist to the Supreme Court, its radical majority that will likely target the rights and safety of transgender people for decades to come.
But it’s important to remember that when Transgender Law Center was founded 16 years ago, the rights and visibility we have today were not even in sight. Before all of our legal and policy wins, we took care of each other and we fought for our rights and for justice. As a trans-led organization with a strong legal arm, we know that while the legal system can be used to provide relief for injustice, it was built to maintain unjust systems of power and marginalize our communities.
That’s why Transgender Law Center has long held that we must resist not only through courts and legislatures, but through rallying together, organizing and supporting each other as we have always done. Through programs like the Black LGBTQ Migrant Project, TRUTH, TIDE and Positively Trans, TLC continues to center those of us who are most targeted, including trans folks who are Muslim, Black, living with HIV, young, undocumented, and who have disabilities. And of course we continue to fight fiercely in the courts as we work on the ground to build up a trans-led movement for justice.
Trans and gender nonconforming people are resilient. We know how to fight for ourselves, our families, and our communities, and we know how to keep each other safe. TLC is drawing on that history and that strength as we continue doing what it takes to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.
Kris Hayashi is the executive director of the Transgender Law Center, an organization committed to keeping transgender people alive, thriving and fighting for liberation. This past June, CREDO members voted to donate over $34,000 to the organization.
Posted on August 6, 2018
CREDO reaches $86 million in donations to progressive groups
We’ve got some really exciting news to share: CREDO has recently surpassed the milestone of having donated $86 million to progressive groups since we opened our doors in 1985!
That’s $86 million in donations to organizations like the ACLU, United We Dream, Planned Parenthood and so many more that are fighting for civil rights, climate justice and the environment, peace, women’s rights and other progressive causes.
This achievement is only possible because of the loyalty of CREDO members who use our products every day. From our mobile phones and long distance to our credit cards and now our new energy product – our members are fueling the progressive movement in incredible ways.
So if you’re a current CREDO member, we’d like to say thank you. If you’re interested in joining our progressive movement, click here to learn more about the products that fund it: CREDO Mobile and CREDO Energy.
Again, thank you for believing in our vision of creating positive social change every day. Here’s to $87 million – and beyond!
Posted on August 1, 2018
Vote to give funding to these three progressive groups this August
Every month, we ask you – our members – to vote how we distribute our monthly donation to three great progressive groups. This month, you have the chance to vote for groups fighting Trump’s Supreme Court takeover, protecting Social Security and Medicare and standing up for women’s rights by casting your ballot for Alliance for Justice Action Campaign, Social Security Works and UltraViolet.
Alliance for Justice Action Campaign
We can’t allow Donald Trump to give a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court to another person who will march in lockstep with his agenda. That’s why the Alliance for Justice Action Campaign is organizing massive resistance to protect the Supreme Court from a total Trump takeover.
CREDO funding will allow AFJAC to create a dynamic digital awareness campaign aimed at stopping Donald Trump from packing our courts with right-wing extremists for lifetime judicial appointments. AFJAC will mobilize activists and make senators’ inboxes light up with powerful messages regarding preserving key civil rights and protections
Social Security Works
Social Security Works fights to protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations, safeguards the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security and maintains Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.
As Trump and congressional Republicans continue their attacks on our earned benefit programs, funding from CREDO members is now more vital than ever to ensure Social Security Works can continue its fight to expand Social Security, enact Medicare for All and lower drug prices.
UltraViolet
UltraViolet promotes a more equitable world for all women and creates consequences for sexism. It leverages high profile media moments to hold decision makers accountable, creates a cost for sexism, and shines a light on the people and policies that are improving all women’s lives.
CREDO funding will help UltraViolet educate and empower women and allies to lead strategic, mediagenic actions online and in their communities that highlight the interconnected injustices that women face while working toward long-term, systemic culture and policy change to create a more safe and equitable world for all women.
Your vote this August will determine how we divide our monthly donation among these three progressive causes. Be sure to cast your vote to support one, two or all three by August 31.
CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.
Posted on August 1, 2018
Our July grantees thank you for your support
Each month, CREDO members vote on how we distribute funding to three incredible organizations. Those small actions add up – with one click, you can help fund groups fighting for civil rights, climate justice and racial equality. In July, over 75,000 CREDO members voted to distribute our monthly donation to the ACLU, Amazon Watch and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
These donations are made possible by CREDO customers and the revenue they generate by using our services. The distribution depends entirely on the votes of CREDO members like you. And for that, our July grant recipients thank you.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
$64,142
“We are so grateful to CREDO members for helping us resist the Trump administration’s unconstitutional agenda. Thank you for standing with us.” To learn more, visit aclu.org.
Amazon Watch
$44,617
“Thanks so much to CREDO and all of its members! With your help, Amazon Watch can continue our work to stop Amazon destruction, advance indigenous solutions and support climate justice.” To learn more, visit amazonwatch.org.
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
$41,241
“Thank you for joining the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s fight for equality. Your support will help LDF combat attacks on our civil rights. Together, we can achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans.” To learn more, visit naacpldf.org.
Now check out the three causes we are funding in August, and cast your vote to help distribute our donations.
CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.
Posted on July 31, 2018
Tuesday Tip: 5 Tips to Help Ensure Your Eco-travel is Actually Green and Ethical
Tuesday Tip: 5 Tips to Help Ensure Your Eco-travel is Actually Green and Ethical
It’s midsummer and you may be dreaming of a vacation. Are you interested in eco-travel? A lot of people are these days: 87% of global travelers now say they want to travel sustainably and 68% plan to choose an eco-friendly accommodation. This is good because tourism accounts for a whopping 8% of global carbon emissions.
If you are looking for a sustainable destination, make sure you do some research before you choose. Inspired by the trend in ecotourism, a lot of hotels and tour operators are “greenwashing”— they’re marketing themselves as sustainable and ethical, when in fact, they do little or nothing positive for local communities or the environment.
The nonprofit International Ecotourism Society describes ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people and involves interpretation and education.”
If that’s what you’re after, take these steps to ensure that your next trip is truly eco-friendly.
Ask questions
There is real green and there is astroturf—and, unfortunately, there is a whole lot of that plastic stuff. So don’t choose your destination based solely on an advertisement that touts a commitment to the environment and responsible engagement with local communities. Look more closely.
The International Ecotourism Society says any organization involved in ecotourism should do the following:
- Minimize physical, social, behavioral and psychological impacts.
- Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
- Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.
- Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
- Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
- Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental and social climates.
- Design, construct and operate low-impact facilities.
- Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the indigenous people and work in partnership with them to create empowerment.
If you’re serious about going sustainable and ethical when you travel, you should ensure that the companies you deal with adhere to the above principles. So ask them specific questions, like these:
- Do you invest a percentage of your profit in environmental conservation? How much?
- How do you minimize your environmental impact? Can you give a few examples?
- Do you follow the Leave No Trace policy?
- Do you hire local people and buy local products?
- Are you involved in any community-empowerment initiatives?
- Do you have programs that promote understanding and appreciation of the local environment and culture?
- Does the trip respect the dignity of the local people and community?
Go to the website of your accommodation or tour operator and look for information on building materials used, efforts to save energy and conserve water, and initiatives to engage with local people. If you can’t find info like that, maybe the hotel or operator’s ethical claims are empty.
Look for affiliations
Affiliations are not a guarantee of sustainable bona fides but they are a good start. There are a lot of standards organizations that certify hotels, lodges and tour operators as green and ethical.
For example, LEED, TripAdvisor GreenLeaders, and the aforementioned International Ecotourism Society. Look for certification by groups like these. Also look for affiliation with organizations like National Geographic and the World Wildlife Fund. Nat Geo certifies a selection of Unique Lodges of the World and the WWF has its own tour operation called Natural Habitat Adventures.
Visit these websites
Book Different: A travel booking site for sustainable travel where you can search over 1 million accommodations.
Eco Trip Match: A free service that matches travelers with ecotourism providers.
Global Sustainable Tourism Council: The GSTC certifies certification bodies. That’s as wonky as it sounds but the GSTC website does have a good page of advice for travelers and even an online training course on sustainable travel.
Green Destinations: A nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of sustainable tourism and certification of destinations. Check out its top 10 sustainable destinations.
Green Global Travel: A colorful and detailed blog full of information on ecotourism practices and destinations.
International Ecotourism Society: The oldest and largest international ecotourism association. A great site to learn about sustainable travel.
National Geographic Traveler World Legacy Awards: Honors companies and destinations—from airlines to hotels to countries—that are driving positive change in the tourism industry.
TripAdvisor GreenLeaders: The popular travel site’s program rates eco-friendly hotels and B&Bs based on basic green practices like recycling, serving local and organic food, and supplying electric car charging stations.
Don’t take a cruise
Neither planes nor ships are good for the environment. But at least when you take a flight you can offset your emissions when you buy your ticket. There are few options to do that when you take a cruise, even though cruise ships—which burn sludgy, tar-like heavy fuel oil—emit far more carbon per passenger than planes do, as well as tons of air-polluting, climate-damaging sulfur dioxide. In fact, the average cruise ship releases as much particulate matter into the air in one day as 1 million cars.
And then there is the sewage problem. A cruise ship is, in essence, is a small floating city. The world’s largest cruise ship holds 9,000 passengers and crew. The average cruise ship, with 3,000 passengers and crew, produces 21,000 gallons of raw sewage daily, along with over 450,000 gallons of gray water, 4,000 gallons of oily bilge water, and up 19 tons of solid waste. Where does it all go? Straight into the ocean.
Avoid poverty tourism
We strongly recommend that you avoid any travel companies that peddle in “poverty tourism,” the unethical practice of traveling to, fetishizing and exploiting impoverished areas for the purpose of tourism and entertainment. Learn how to spot poverty tourism and how to avoid it.
Travel is like any other consumer industry: it follows demand. So if we choose more sustainable and ethical options when we take our trips, the travel industry will respond and, through our choices, we’ll make a positive impact—wherever we land.
