LifeSmarts focus: what you can do to help the Earth – National Consumers League

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By Jacob Markey, LifeSmarts intern

Over the summer, many of you likely paid attention to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst offshore spill in American history. This has been tragic for so many reasons, starting with the loss of lives after the explosion on the oil rig and continuing with the devastating environmental impact along the Gulf coast. In addition, so many people along the Gulf coast now face the loss of jobs and their livelihood due to environmental destruction caused by the oil spill. Even before this tragic event, there has been a growing movement towards cleaner energy. Since the September LifeSmarts topic area focuses on the environment, a discussion about how you can help the Earth is timely.

Some of the big buzzwords you’ve been hearing include “going green” and “reducing your carbon footprint.” To “go green” means to take steps to reduce your environmental impact on the Earth; “reducing your carbon footprint” has a similar meaning. There are many different steps that people can take to go green, such as walking to school or work instead of driving your car, or donating used items you do not use anymore instead of simply throwing them away. You can even find out what your carbon footprint is.

Find other ways to pitch in and do your part:

  • Remember the 3 R’s: Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle. Don’t simply throw out that empty plastic container. Wash it out and find a way to reuse it. If you cannot, remember to place it in the recycling bin instead of the trash can. By reducing the amount of products and things you consume, you will waste less, and reduce your environmental footprint.
  • Find ways to conserve water. WaterUseItWisely has more than 100 ways to conserve water. Suggestions range from simple things like taking quicker showers and turning off the water while brushing your teeth, to more involved actions like saving rainwater to water your garden, and planting shrubs and groundcover that require less watering.

Some teens may be skeptical about whether one person can make a significant impact on the environment. And, true, there is only so much that one person can do. But teens can also encourage other family members to make positive changes to reduce the carbon footprint of the entire whole household. And, collectively, we can make a big difference. By doing even a small part, we can help ensure a cleaner and better Earth.

Feds fighting back against shocking teen smoking stats – National Consumers League

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By Rebecca Burkholder, NCL Vice President for Health Policy

Every day, nearly 4,000 kids under 18 try their first cigarette, and 1,000 kids become daily smokers. An estimated 20 percent of American high school students smoke cigarettes. As a parent of two teenagers, these statistics are shocking. What can be done to break the chain of addiction?

The FDA recently enacted new rules to prohibit the sale, distribution, marketing, and promotion of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to youth. These tighter restrictions (enacted under the Tobacco Control Act of 2009) will hopefully help stem the tide of new smokers, and prevent cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, and other health problems related to smoking.

The new rules work to reduce youth access to cigarettes by doing the following, among other things:

  • Prohibiting the sale of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to persons younger than 18 (some states already have similar restrictions on age, but this is the first federal law on age)
  • Prohibiting the sale of single cigarettes or packages containing fewer than 20 cigarettes
  • Prohibiting the distribution of free samples of cigarettes
  • Prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in vending machines, except in limited circumstances.
  • Prohibiting tobacco companies from sponsoring any athletic, musical, cultural or other social event
  • Prohibiting the sale or distribution of items, such as hats and tee shirts, with tobacco brands or logos.

Since there is a proven link between tobacco marketing (ads and other promotions) and teenage tobacco use, these prohibitions are critical to preventing kids from becoming addicted to tobacco. Support the retailers in your community who comply with the new requirements, and help promote the regulations in your community. You can even sign up for a mobile text messaging program to help give FDA feedback. And, if you see the new tobacco rules are not being followed please contact FDA by calling 1-877-CTP-1371. The new regulations will help ensure that neither rock bands nor t-shirts can promote cigarette brands, and that is something this parent is glad to hear!

LifeSmarts program launches new year of competition, curriculum – National Consumers League

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September 13, 2010

Contact: 202-835-3323, media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—The 2010-2011 LifeSmarts season is officially underway this week, with a new competition year going live at the program’s online home, www.lifesmarts.org, along with a variety of new resources for adult and youth participants. LifeSmarts is an educational competition run by the National Consumers League that tests middle school and high school students nationwide on real-life consumer issues through online quizzes and live contests. It culminates in the annual national LifeSmarts championship, where winning teams and individuals are awarded academic scholarships and prizes.

“We’re thrilled to be launching the 17th year of LifeSmarts,” said Program Director Lisa Hertzberg. “LifeSmarts delivers real-world knowledge to students and allows them to shine in competitions where they demonstrate all that they have learned,” said Hertzberg. “It also provides thousands of teachers across the country access to much-needed consumer curriculum, which they unfortunately often aren’t getting elsewhere.”

Over the years, LifeSmarts has steadily grown in numbers of student and adult participants, state partnerships, and corporate sponsorships. In the most recent season, an estimated 100,000 students and teachers across the country answered more than 3.5 million LifeSmarts questions.

“As the consumer marketplace has become more challenging to navigate, LifeSmarts content is keeping up, preparing our teens and tweens to become the next generation of smart consumers and workers,” Hertzberg said.

LifeSmarts provides participants with practical advice and information on consumer issues ranging from personal finance and health and safety to the environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities. Starting online each fall, the competition progresses to live state play-offs, and then builds to a high-spirited National Championship, which will be held in 2011 in Los Angeles, California. At last year’s national competition held in Miami Beach, Florida, students on the state champion team from Frederick, Maryland were crowned the 2010 national champs.

NCL partners with coordinators in more than 30 states, including Better Business Bureaus, credit unions, state attorneys general and consumer protection agencies, State FCCLA organizations, Jump$tart Coalitions, and others, to staff and promote the program. Interested students and adults can visit the LifeSmarts Web site to connect with the program in their state.

“The National Consumers League’s mission is to inspire confidence and safety in the marketplace,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “The LifeSmarts program, our consumer education initiative for youth, fosters students’ understanding of consumer issues and provides them with real-world knowledge they will need to take charge of their lives.”

New this fall at www.lifesmarts.org are dozens of up-to-the-minute teaching resources for coaches, including innovative lessons housed within the new LifeSmarts U, curriculum divided into a campus of major topic areas. Major LifeSmarts contributors include Experian, Western Union, American Express, American Century Investments Foundation, Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Toyota Financial Services, TracFone Wireless, Inc., and others. To see a full list of current LifeSmarts contributors, visit www.lifesmarts.org.

To test your LifeSmarts, take a sample quiz at https://start.lifesmarts.org/. From there, click on “Daily Quiz” to get started.

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About the National Consumers League and LifeSmarts

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League. State coordinators run the programs on a volunteer basis. For more information, visit: www.lifesmarts.org, email lifesmarts@nclnet.org , or call the National Consumers League’s communications department at 202-835-3323.

LifeSmarts 2010-2011 season live today – National Consumers League

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By Brandi Williams, LifeSmarts Program Assistant

The LifeSmarts program year and online competition goes live today, Monday, September 13, 2010! This is the 17th year of LifeSmarts, and NCL is excited to continue bringing this free program to American youth in 6th-12th grade. Over the past year our team has worked diligently to expand the program by:

  • Launching LifeSmarts U, our virtual online classroom, which features complete self-guided lesson plans and activities for educators and students.
  • Enhancing the National Championship format by giving all state champion teams the chance to compete eight times, and raising the bar by creating a more academically rigorous competition;
  • Increasingly using interactive social networking tools like our pages on Facebook, Twitter and the LifeSmarts blog;
  • Upgrading the Web site and other behind-the-scenes tools to better support our dedicated state coordinators and coaches.

To make LifeSmarts and its consumer education and personal financial literacy content even more accessible, watch for these new features to come online in the next few weeks and months;

  • New Fraud and Health lessons in LifeSmarts U;
  • Program expansion projects in California and the District of Columbia;
  • Development of LifeSmarts’ ongoing partnership with Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and a spot in the 2011 National Championship reserved for the top FCCLA team in the country;
  • New Web tools for state coordinators and coaches;
  • The October 1, 2010, launch of TeamSmarts, a new online team competition. TeamSmarts is a 100-question quiz that focuses on one rotating LifeSmarts topic each month, with a special 200-question assessment covering all topics in February. Teams will work together to complete the quiz and see where they rank against other teams throughout the country. Monthly prizes will be awarded to the top LifeSmarts and FCCLA teams. More information about prizes will be available soon, so be sure to check out the LifeSmarts Newsroom for details!

After an amazing and exciting 2010 National Championship in Miami Beach, FL, the LifeSmarts team buckled down to prepare for the coming year. With the support of industry volunteers, NCL staff, interns, and state coordinators, we’ve written tons of new questions for 2011’s state and national competitions! And with help from our 2010 Summer Intern Jacob Markey, a Wisconsin LifeSmarts alum, we were able to refresh and expand our Web content. You will also see Jacob’s posts here on the Savvy Consumer Blog over the coming year.

Here’s to our best program year yet!

Study concluding Toyota drivers at fault – not so fast, advocates say – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

A Washington Post editorial recently endorsed a government study concluding that sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles were largely the fault of drivers and not a defect in the cars themselves. The Post cited findings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which tested 58 data recorders – in 35 of which, NHTSA said, the brake pedal was not depressed at the time of the crash. In other words, the problem is with the drivers.

But there are skeptics about NHTSA’s findings. One auto safety expert, Sean Kane, wrote on his Web site, Toyota Dealers to Customers: It’s Not Me, It’s You:

“Toyota has never had any good choices in extricating itself from the Sudden Unintended Acceleration problem it has been in for a year and counting. (Except admit the problem, work diligently to resolve it, take your lumps and move on.) But as many a public relations expert has opined already, they have won themselves a place in the pantheon of business school case studies in the “What-Not-to-Do” category.”

“I just don’t think that sudden acceleration can be explained by floor mats, driver error, or sticky pedals.” Kane said recently, “We’ve heard from consumers who reported …. that long before the issue became a daily news staple, when they took their vehicle in for servicing after an SUA event, mechanics made remarks along the lines of: we’re seeing a lot of this. We’ve heard from consumers who’ve reported that the techs at the dealership observed the phenomenon themselves, or found fault codes, but told the customer it was the floor mat.”

I’m partial to Kane’s skepticism. In my decade handling auto safety issues in Washington, DC for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, we found that government analyses too often discredited consumers’ first-hand experiences. Consumers would provide dramatic accounts of cars breaking down, catching fire spontaneously, or careening out of control, but rarely could government analyses find the problem. That is why I’m wary of this recent NHTSA analysis and sympathetic to the hundreds of consumers who have described terrifying incidents of sudden acceleration. I just don’t think they all could be wrong.

Labor Day’s children – National Consumers League

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By Guest Blogger Brigid O’Farrell

Brigid O’Farrell is an independent scholar living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her new book, “She Was One of Us: Eleanor Roosevelt and the American Worker,” will be released by Cornell University Press in October. She is affiliated with the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, George Washington University, and a member of UAW Local 1981.

“Labor Day,” wrote First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in her My Day column, “must be one of the most significant days on our calendar. On this day we should think with pride of the growing place which the worker is taking in this country…That is as it should be in a democracy.”

This year, workers don’t have much to celebrate. Unemployment is at a record high, reaching over 12 percent in California. Union membership in the private sector has declined nationwide to just over seven percent, a level not seen since the Great Depression. The most vulnerable workers are children.

Human Rights Watch reports that hundreds of thousands of children continue to work on farms and orchards picking tomatoes, corn, melons, berries–all the fresh fruits and vegetables we enjoy at our Labor Day picnics. Children under 18 work as seasonal and migratory workers, exempt from the laws governing other children. Many work long hours in extreme temperatures, often receiving poverty wages, exposed to hazardous materials and dangerous equipment.  By some estimates their school drop out rate is 50 percent, contributing to future poverty.

At the age of 74, and in failing health, Eleanor Roosevelt, a union member for more than 25 years, joined the National Farm Labor Advisory Committee. She testified before Congress and in her column praised a report recommending that “all farm workers, who are now usually exempted, should be included in Federal and State laws requiring union recognition and collective bargaining, setting fair standards for wages and hours of work and providing for unemployment compensation.”

She told the story of a 12-year-old girl, Christine Hayes, whose “scalp and most of her face were ripped off by a potato-digging machine while she and other child laborers were helping to harvest the potato crop on a farm near Blackfoot, Idaho.” She wrote that the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, a pillar of the New Deal, had exempted children doing agricultural work from its protections. “Therefore, there are legally, hundreds of thousands of children between the ages of 10 and 13,” she wrote, “who are permitted to work, and many, many more—some of them as young a six and seven years old—who are illegally employed. This should be corrected by law immediately.” It was not.

Fifty years later, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is taking action. The daughter of immigrant farm workers and former Congresswoman from California, she is has initiated an effort to enforce the existing laws by hiring more investigators and increasing employer fines. Congresswoman Lucille Roybal –Allard of California, has introduced the “Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE), to stop 12 and 13 year olds from working in the fields, to limit working hours by 14 and 15 year olds, to keep teenagers out of dangerous jobs, to bring pesticide exposure levels into line with the EPA, and to increase employer penalties.

More farm workers are employed in California than in any other state. As we enjoy our Labor Day picnics and watch our children return to school, let’s remember the children who have helped to feed us, many of whom have been injured, and even more who have dropped out school. Eleanor Roosevelt said that these children “represented the future” just as much as all the other children we know and love.

Labor Day reflections – National Consumers League

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By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

On Monday, September 7, Americans across the country will enjoy a day of in observance of the Labor Day holiday.  This Labor Day marks the 128th time the holiday will be celebrated and the 116th Labor Day since it became a federal holiday in 1894. For the National Consumers League, Labor Day is especially significant as many of the early leaders of the League came out of the labor movement. Unions continue to play a key role in the advocacy of NCL to this day.  Indeed, our mission statement makes clear that NCL is as much concerned with helping workers as consumers.

So what does this mean on Labor Day?  While we enjoy the last days of summer, take a moment to reflect on the many ways that unions have benefitted consumers and workers.  Things we take for granted today – the 8-hour work day, a guaranteed minimum wage, weekends, safe workplaces, paid sick leave, and employer-based health insurance are just a few of the achievements that America’s labor movement that benefit us all.

Consumers play a role in consumer and worker advocacy with every purchase.  Florence Kelley, the founder of NCL articulated this concept beautifully when she  said “to live means to buy, to buy means to have power, to have power means to have responsibility.”  Consumer spending accounts for approximately three quarters of all spending in the U.S.  What we choose to spend our money on has an enormous impact on how companies treat their workers.  When we as consumers choose to buy products and services from companies that treat their workers fairly, look out for the welfare of their customers, and maintain responsible stewardship of the environment, we are standing up for the principles that Kelley laid out more than 100 years ago.

This Labor Day, remember that every dollar you spend in the market is a choice.  With each responsible choice you make, another brick is added to the foundation of the just and fair society that NCL strives to create every day.

On Labor Day, Remember These Striking Workers – National Consumers League

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By Reid Maki, Director of Social Responsibility and Fair Labor Standards

With Labor Day upon us, think for a moment about the workers at Mott’s apple juice plant in Williamson, New York. The workers are striking because the company that owns Mott’s—a conglomerate called Dr Pepper Snapple Group—tried to cut workers’ wages as it recorded record profits. “It’s disgusting, honestly, the they want to take things away from the people who made them profitable,” Michell Muoio, a $19-an-hour machine operator who works in the plant told the New York Times in a recent story about the strike.

There is a pretty good chance you consume one of Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s products. In addition to Mott’s, Dr Pepper and Snapple, it makes Sunkist soda, 7UP, A&W, Canada Dry, Crush, Squirt, Hawaiian Punch, Penafiel, Clamato, Schweppes, and Venom Energy.

According to reporter Steven Greenhouse, Dr Pepper Snapple Group–despite running at a very healthy profit–tried to lower workers’ wages $1.50 an hour because it felt that the facility’s pay was too high for the area, which is economically depressed after years of layoffs from firms like Kodak and Xerox. Dr Pepper Snapple Group made $555 million in 2009. Not surprisingly, the workers—numbering 300-plus–said, “no” and went out on strike. That was in mid-April and the workers are still picketing with the company refusing to negotiate.

In addition to the wage cut, the company hopes to eliminate pensions for future workers, freeze pensions for current workers, decrease its contributions to the 401 K plan, and increase employee contributions toward health care premiums and co-pays. These moves might be acceptable if the company were losing serious money and in danger of going under, but for a company that is making lots of money to do it is pretty frightening and one can’t help fearing that this type of action will spread if the corporation is successful in Williamson.

The race to the bottom is becoming an increasingly familiar refrain in processing facilities and factories in the United States: Why pay workers decently if you don’t have to? In the early 1900s, Henry Ford realized that if he wanted to sell cars to the masses, the masses had to make a living wage. Today, though, many corporate bosses see no responsibility for their workers’ and their consumers’ well-being. The more they lower costs, the more their stock prices go up—and often the larger their bonus is. It’s Gordon Gecko thinking: Greed is good!

Larry Young is the CEO of the company. According to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Young made $6.5 million last year and he’s averaged nearly 30 percent raises for each of the last three years. By contrast, veteran plant workers like Ms. Muoio earn less than $40,000 a year without overtime. The National Consumers League believes that kind of salary chasm between the CEO’s salary and a rank-and-file employee’s salary isn’t healthy.

When visitors go to Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s home page, they are immediately told about the company’s $1 million tuition giveaway, the company’s corporate philanthropy program, and their civic “play day” program.  But we’re left wondering why their corporate philanthropy can’t start with treating their workers well. How does driving down wages and benefits fit with corporate philanthropy?

In late August, 29 members of New York’s congressional delegation asked the company to return to the negotiating table. We hope the company listens.

FDA official offers open ears to consumer advocates – National Consumers League

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Recently, NCL convened a consumer roundtable with the Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. NCL has historically convened consumer advocates to meet with – and ask questions of – the FDA Commissioners.

Dr. Sharfstein opened with general remarks about his experience at the Administration, and offered some insight into how the FDA is truly a public health agency. He also remarked on many of the internal changes underway at the FDA, much of it aimed at greater transparency and access to the public. For instance, the FDA has now made itself more accessible to the new media. The agency has also established FDA Track, which provides performance data for 100 different offices.

The consumer and food safety advocates were each given an opportunity to ask the Deputy Commissioner questions. Questions and answers touched on a variety of topics, including risk (in medicine and in food safety), the medical device approval process, evidence-based decision-making and the regulatory process, public outreach and involvement, recalls (OTC products), antibiotics in animal feed, the food safety bill, working with Congress, inspection and deceptive advertising, among other topics. The Deputy Commissioner was very candid and listened with open ears to what the consumer advocates had to say.

NCL hopes to reconvene the Deputy Commissioner and consumer groups again in the near future for similarly fruitful discussions. Pew Charitable Trusts graciously hosted the event.  NCL also thanks the FDA and the Office of the Commissioner for their support and time.

Let kids be kids! – National Consumers League

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By Mimi Johnson, NCL Director of Health Policy

With new reports that girls are hitting puberty at alarmingly young ages and as the nation increasingly focuses on the obesity epidemic ravaging our youth, we need to remember that they are still children.

We’ve created an environment that pins children against typically adult problems. Diabetes. Early signs of heart disease. Early puberty – and all that comes with it.   We need to remember, however, that they are still kids beneath it all and we need to treat them in a way that they can emotionally and psychologically understand.

The BBC reported recently on a girl who had stopped eating because she saw a letter that contained the results of a national health survey, which found that she was overweight. Her solution? She decided she needed to stop eating. While we as society recognize that the younger generation is not as fit as they should be, and that it can have long-lasting effects on their health and society, we also need to develop better ways of addressing it. In other words, our solution should not encourage an 11-year-old girl to lose weight by inadvertently drive her to anorexia.

When we talk about behavior change in adults, we often emphasize the importance of meeting them where they are. The First Lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign is a wonderfully kid-appropriate effort to combat childhood obesity.

Remember, just because she’s hit puberty earlier does not mean we should encourage them to abandon their youth altogether.