Posted on March 27, 2018
Tuesday Tip: How to Take a Volunteer Vacation – The Alternative Spring Break
How to Take a Volunteer Vacation – The Alternative Spring Break
What’s your goal when you travel? Taking selfies – or is it finding yourself? If you’re in search of meaning more than museums, try a volunteer vacation this spring. Research wildlife in Nepal, build housing in Trinidad and Tobago, or restore a bird habitat on the Big Island in Hawaii. You’ll learn about the local people, do meaningful work and meet other travelers like you.
Take a trip, make a difference and come home with experiences that will never leave.
A lot of people are doing it. Service travel is now the second-fastest-growing travel sector, after adventure travel. Many of these travelers are young people, but many are also families, career-breakers and retirees.
If you do choose to volunteer on your next vacation, you’ll need assistance from people who specialize in service travel. You can’t just show up and offer to pitch in. Luckily, there are a lot of organizations that arrange volunteer vacations.
Choosing one that suits you will require research. But here are three reputable groups to get you started.
Earthwatch Expeditions take you into the field with respected scientists who are investigating urgent environmental issues. You’ll make a make a personal contribution to the research while experiencing the nature and culture of your destination. Expeditions cover four areas of interests: wildlife and ecosystems, climate change, archeology and culture, and ocean health. Choices this year include exploring lions and their prey in Kenya, rewilding the Scottish Highlands and studying orcas in Iceland.
Habitat for Humanity Global Village
You have no doubt heard of Habitat. You may not know that the organization offers opportunities to build or improve housing, schools, clinics and other essential structures in 40 countries around the world. You can help build a house or make minor home repairs. You can assist with disaster recovery or join an energy-efficiency project. You’ll experience another country and meet other volunteers from many different nations.
Sierra Club Volunteer Vacations
Sierra Club arranges around 90 enjoyable, affordable volunteer trips each year. They involve hands-on conservation work like building and maintaining trails, removing invasive plants and assisting on archaeological digs. You’ll meet the people who know the local area best – forest service and park rangers. Most trips also include free time for hiking and exploring. Opportunities this year include park maintenance in Hells Canyon, Idaho (with transportation by jet-boat up the Snake River Canyon), forestry service at the New York Botanical Garden (a 50-acre urban old-growth forest) and native-bird habitat restoration on the Big Island of Hawaii (with hiking in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park).
We hope this list will inspire your travel plans and encourage you to make a real difference during your next vacation. And, if you’re not already a member, we hope you’ll consider CREDO, the mobile carrier that empowers you to make positive change in the world every day, just by using your phone.
Posted on March 26, 2018
Victory: CREDO members pressure Starbucks to reduce plastic
Activism to hold corporations accountable works. We’re proud to announce that CREDO and our partners at Stand.earth and the Break Free from Plastic Coalition successfully pressured Starbucks to create a 100% recyclable cup. The coffee giant announced it is putting $10 million into research to create a 100% recyclable and compostable cup to be introduced in stores within 3 years.
More than 85,000 CREDO members signed a petition urging the company to “go beyond its 2008 commitments, including a switch to recyclable cups and a 25 percent increase in reusable cup usage.”
Because of CREDO members’ activism, Starbucks was feeling the pressure, as they made this announcement the day before their annual shareholders meeting – exactly when our petition signatures were to be delivered.
But our work to hold Starbucks accountable isn’t over. We will have to keep the pressure on because Starbucks has gone back on similar promises in the past – but they are definitely in the spotlight to take real action now.
Posted on March 21, 2018
CREDO is building the capacity of progressive activists in key states
Across the country, millions are mobilizing in opposition to Trump and his dangerous, racist agenda –- and thanks to the CREDO members who use our products every day, CREDO is now leading the charge to train an “army of activists” in key states to resist Trump and fight for our progressive values.
With our new program, Project Fierce Urgency, we are training progressive activists and volunteers in effective digital skills to mount aggressive issue-based political advocacy operations to organize the resistance in key states.
At these free two-day trainings, we’re teaching activists how to use digital media to organize in their communities, construct simple yet effective messages, identify clear targets, and tell powerful stories to evoke emotional responses and get local communities to take action.
For example, we teach the best practices of Facebook live streams to amplify live events over social media, how to utilize tools like Slack to stay connected with local organizers and the power of creating engaging online content and how to distribute it effectively.
Posted on March 17, 2018
Samsung Galaxy S9 is now available
With all the bells and whistles available these days, it’s hard for a new smartphone to create buzz. But the Galaxy S9 does just that. Ringing in with a number of notable innovations, the S9 proves there is still room to push the envelope in the smartphone space.
The Galaxy S9 includes a groundbreaking camera that adjusts to light like the human eye, a brighter, more colorful, more durable display and an updated design that gives you the full-frontal screen Samsung is famous for in a package that’s easier than ever to wield with one hand.
The Galaxy S9 is now available from CREDO Mobile. Let’s take a look at the highlights.
Camera
The S9 has a 12-megapixel rear camera that sets a new standard for smartphone photography. It’s the first dual-aperture camera in a phone, working much the same way as a standalone point-and-shoot camera. It adapts automatically to available light to deliver clear photos with no adjustment necessary.
Outdoors on a sunny day, the S9 narrows the aperture to avoid overexposure. Indoors at night, it automatically opens the aperture to let in more light. After you snap, the S9 deploys improved signal processing to reduce image noise and produce fine detail in almost every picture. The camera app even has a “food” mode that slightly boosts saturation to make colors warmer and the food look more tempting.
The Galaxy S9’s front camera is 8 megapixels with autofocus capability. The S9 shoots 4K video at 60 frames per second, as well as slow-motion video and super slow-mo.
Display
The S9’s edge-to-edge screen is like a little infinity pool in your palm. The 5.8-inch OLED display renders vibrant colors and sharp images. Peak brightness has been stepped up to 605 nits, which is 10 percent brighter than the Samsung Note 8’s 540 nits. Turn on the auto brightness function and contrast increases when you’re outside so you can see what’s on your screen even in full sun. DisplayMate called the S9 screen “the best-performing smartphone display” it’s ever tested, citing its higher color accuracy, increased brightness and improved visibility outdoors.
Security
Last year’s Galaxy S8 placed the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone to the right of the camera lens, rather than at the center. This bothered some users accustomed to a centered sensor because they kept pressing their finger to the camera lens by mistake. The S9 moves the sensor to the center and solves that glitch.
You can also open your homescreen via the phone’s novel combination of face recognition and iris scan. If face recognition needs help, iris scan steps in to verify you—and vice versa. This means your phone can ID you even in low light. Or you can open the S9 the old-fashioned way, with a tap, pattern, PIN or password.
If you use your S9 for work, you’ll appreciate Samsung Knox, a security feature that keeps personal and work data apart. This means you don’t have to carry a separate, secure “work” phone with you wherever you go.
Design
The Galaxy S9 is built to fit comfortably in one hand. It features curved glass on the front and back, which makes it easy to hold. But if you do drop it, Samsung built the S9 with improved impact protection. The body transfers 20 percent less shock to the glass display if it hits the ground.
The S9 comes with IP68 water and dust resistance: the 6 means it’s dust-tight and the 8 means it’s protected against submersion in 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes. (In case you’re wondering, the IP stands for International Protection Rating.)
The Galaxy S9 has a headphone jack, which is an increasingly rare feature in a flagship smartphone these days. For listening without headphones, it has a pair of impressively loud stereo speakers—one top, one bottom—tuned by AKG Harman and enhanced with Dolby Atmos surround sound.
Hardware
The Galaxy S9 is equipped with the brand-new Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, which is one of the fastest mobile chips on the market. That means better performance—fluid gaming, quick multitasking and no more waiting around while an app launches or a website loads.
The S9 battery offers all-day life and support for fast charging and wireless charging, although you have to buy separate chargers for both those functions.
For storage, the phone comes with 64GB built in. For more storage, there is a microSD card slot that gives you up to 400GB of expandable storage.
If you’re a current CREDO Mobile member, sign into Member Services and order the new Samsung S9.
New CREDO Mobile customers shop here.
Posted on March 14, 2018
Download Protest Posters for March for Our Lives
On Saturday, March 24, students from across the country will be leading the March for Our Lives. They, their families and their communities will take to the streets in Washington, D.C. and cities across the U.S. to demand gun control and directly challenge the NRA.
If you plan to join the protest march—or just want to show your support—we have March for Our Lives protest posters available for download here.
Since the Parkland shooting, the NRA has been under relentless scrutiny. Corporate partners have been abandoning the NRA in droves. And people all over the country have been publicizing and criticizing the amount of money their representatives have taken from the NRA. The March for Our Lives will be a powerful chance to build on this momentum.
For years, CREDO members have taken action to stand up to the NRA and advocate for gun control. Since Parkland, more than 280,000 people have signed our petition telling Republicans that they have to offer more than thoughts and prayers in the face of our gun violence epidemic. And we’ll be joining the March for Our Lives to amplify those demands and continue to challenge the NRA.
We hope you’ll join us—and bring your March for Our Lives poster. See you there!
Download Your Free Poster
Download Stop the NRA (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download Our lives aren’t for sale (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download Gun control now (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download This is not okay (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download This is killing us (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download Not.One.More (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download Demand Action (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download Bullets are not school supplies (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download Against Assault Weapons (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download For Gun Control (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download Another against the NRA (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Download Stop taking NRA $ (PDF) – 11×17 in.
Want your favorite posters from the March for Our Lives to be featured on our blog? Tag @credomobile on your Instagram post or @CREDO on your Facebook post for the chance to showcase your resistance!
Posted on March 13, 2018
Tuesday Tip: Why your cell phone won’t ring—and how to fix it
Have you ever glanced at your phone screen and seen that you’ve a missed call—or three or seven? Argh! How did this happen? You didn’t even hear your phone ring. In fact, you’re quite sure it didn’t ring.
Before you trek back to the store to seek help from a phone genius, check the silent switch. Certain smartphone models have a small silent switch located on the top left side, just above the volume up/down buttons. It’s there so you can quickly turn off the ringer (and other alerts) and put your phone in vibrate-only mode—when you’re in a restaurant, say, or watching a film.
But it’s all too easy to move the switch to the off position by accident and miss incoming calls.
Here’s how it works. When the switch is pushed down, away from the screen, your phone is in silent mode and the switch shows orange. Onscreen, you’ll briefly see a bell icon with a line through it . When in silent mode, the alarms you set in the Clock app will still sound and calls from Favorite contacts will still ring. When the silent switch is up, toward the screen, the ringer is on. Onscreen, you’ll briefly see a bell icon .
So keep your eyes on the switch and your ears open. You’ll never miss a call by accident again.
Posted on March 12, 2018
How Mercy Corps is building a more just world in 2018
The global order is changing, and 2018 represents a critical juncture. Mercy Corps’ CEO Neal Keny-Guyer addresses conflict, climate change and other issues that are affecting families around the world:
You’ve noted that we’re living in a time of unprecedented confluence of complex crises around the world – in places like Syria, Yemen and the Horn of Africa. Are these distinct events, or are they linked by larger forces?
The big force that’s laying the foundation for many of the crises we see today is conflict. As the World Bank has said, conflict is the number one driver of extreme poverty in the world. Twenty million people are at risk of famine because of conflict.
There’s no algorithm we could write that would magically reduce conflict. At Mercy Corps, we take great pride in the fact that we focus on the root causes. We’ve seen time and time again that you can bring people together from different tribes, religious backgrounds and sects, and if you can engage the leaders – and particularly the women and young people – you can make progress.
What you can’t do is put your head in the sand and believe these problems are magically going to go away. We are living through one of the great inflection points of our times. For the last 250 to 300 years, the locus of economic and political power has been centered in the West. That’s shifting. The global order is changing.
How has the thinking evolved around the role of conflict and violence in hunger?
During my lifetime, one of the great success stories has been the reduction in the number of people who go to bed hungry. The Green Revolution, gender equality, and investments in seeds, science and markets have made a huge difference.
Posted on March 9, 2018
International travel tips
Travel season is almost here. Your bags are packed and your itinerary is airtight, but what about your mobile device? Check out these helpful tips that will make it easier for you to stay connected while traveling internationally.
Set up your device for international travel
If you would like to use your CREDO Mobile service for talk and text while abroad, you can conveniently set up your device for international travel use through our member services portal. We recommend setting it up at least 48 hours in advance of your trip to ensure all updates are in effect before your departure. If you are taking multiple devices, please follow these steps with each device you plan to take. You will only need to go through these steps once per device. That way, if you travel internationally in the future, you are all set.
Keep in mind that CREDO Mobile does not offer access to data internationally. Free access to Wi-fi can be found in many locations, though if you would prefer to have regular access to data, we recommend you purchase a local SIM card. See our Local SIM card use tips below.
To set up your device for talk and text while abroad, follow these steps:
- Login to Member Services
- Under Quick Links, select change features.
- Under International Travel, select International Voice & Text Roaming
- Click Add to Cart & Continue
- Review your New Order Summary, then click Check Out.
- Once you have thoroughly reviewed your order, click Place Order.
If you are having trouble setting your device up for international use, please contact our customer support team at 800-411-0848 for additional assistance.
Local SIM card use
If you know you’ll need regular access to data while traveling, purchasing a SIM card from a local provider may be the way to go. You may find it’s easier and less expensive to purchase a SIM card for international use once you’ve arrived at your destination.
Another option is to purchase a global SIM prior to leaving the US. There are many vendors that offer SIMs provisioned with prepaid buckets, such as GigSky. This can take some of the stress off of searching for a SIM once you arrive.
If you do decide to use a local or global SIM card, please note that you will be paying another service provider for your text and data usage, not CREDO Mobile.
Tips for purchasing and using an international SIM card:
- Purchase your SIM card from a confirmed carrier retail location. This will allow you to ask carrier representatives questions, and receive any additional support you may need.
- Insert your SIM card properly. Check out this short video on how to select the right sized SIM, and insert it into your device.
- Be sure to retain your CREDO Mobile SIM card. You’ll need to re-insert it once you return to the U.S.
Other tips for international travel
Protect your device
CREDO’s Mobile Protection Plan can help protect your device should it be damaged, lost, or stolen during your trip.
Messaging Apps
Apps such as What’sApp and Skype allow users to make calls, and send SMS and picture messages for free, so long as you have access to a secure Wi-fi connection.
Wi-fi safety
Not all connections can be trusted, so be sure to use Wi-fi safely. To ensure you’re making a safe connection, and that your information and privacy are protected:
Use verified networks. Many hotels and retailers offer free Wi-fi access, just be sure you are connecting to the right network.
- Update your passwords prior to your trip.
- If you need to, make any app or software updates before your trip.
- Avoid online purchases if possible.Chargers
Don’t lose power while you’re on the road. Be sure you have an adapter that will allow you to charge your device safely. There are a number of versatile adapters that will work in multiple countries.
Support while traveling internationally
For security reasons, we block access to our websites from international traffic to protect our members’ safety. Therefore you will not be able to access the CREDO Mobile website or Member Services portal. Should you find yourself needing support while traveling, you may contact us at globalsupport@credomobile.com or use the following number to contact our team: +1-571-730-5554.
Posted on March 7, 2018
Victory: Climate change denier Kathleen Hartnett White will not lead the Council on Environmental Quality
Thanks in part to the amazing activism by CREDO members, Trump withdrew the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White — who has a long history of climate denial and racist views — to lead the Council on Environmental Quality.
Nearly 175,000 CREDO supporters signed a petition urging the Senate to reject her nomination, and a CREDO video of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse running circles around her lack of knowledge of science and the environment garnered more than 2.5 million views.
Sen. Whitehouse runs circles around Trump’s climate denying no…
This climate change denier has no business running the Council on Environmental Quality.
Sign the petition if you agree: http://credo.cm/uGYUfd
Posted by CREDO Mobile on Tuesday, November 28, 2017
We must never stop resisting Trump’s disgraceful regime, and your continued activism will ensure we will win even more victories in the future.
Posted on March 7, 2018
Holding Democrats accountable when they attack our progressive values
When Democrats in Washington stick to their progressive values and stand up for what’s right, CREDO is among the first in line to publicly give them credit.
But when anyone, including Democrats, actively undermines or attacks progressive values, we will not hesitate to hold them accountable.
So recently, when some troubling actions by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) — the campaign arm of House Democrats that raises tens of millions and provides vital support for Democratic candidates — came to our attention, we knew we had to act – by working with our friends at Justice Democrats and Our Revolution to launch an urgent online campaign and full public relations push to call out the DCCC.
And thanks to our activism, the media – including the Washington Post, CNN, USA Today, The Hill and HuffPost – is paying close attention.
