LifeSmarts: Empowering Teens to Be “Green” Consumers – National Consumers League

/in /by

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

It seems not a day goes by without a warning about threats faced by our environment. From toxic runoff to climate change to endangered species, the planet has never been in greater need of protection and care. Fortunately, there are small things that individual consumers can do to help protect the planet. From recycling trash, to using less energy-intensive forms of transportation, to just turning off the lights when leaving a room, small actions can add up in a big way.

It is these individual contributions to “green” living that LifeSmarts seeks to teach teen participants. LifeSmarts competitors learn how to lessen their impact on the environment in the numerous hours spent studying for the online and live competitions that form the heart of the LifeSmarts program.

The theme of this year’s National Consumer Protection Week is “NCPW.gov: Your Information Destination.” Fortunately for our LifeSmarts teams, information on how to live greener is only a mouse click away. The LifeSmarts program features numerous study guides to help teens get smart about being more environmentally conscious consumers.

As the teens get closer to their competition dates, they learn about the meanings of terms like “carbon footprint,” “greenwashing,” and “smart meters.” Getting educated about these topics not only helps teams do better in the competitions, but also provides teens a solid grounding in living responsibly.

For more information on LifeSmarts, visit LifeSmarts.org.  For more information on National Consumer Protection Week, visit ncpw.gov.

LifeSmarts: Teens’ Health and Safety Information Destination – National Consumers League

/in /by

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

As a child of the 1980’s I vividly remember looking forward to taking my daily “Flintstones” vitamin. It was such an ingrained part of my daily ritual that I can recall being disappointed when my mother shook an orange Barney — not my preferred purple Dino — out of the brightly-colored bottle at breakfast. Many of my fellow Generation X’ers tell me they did the exact same thing as children. Why? Because “common knowledge” was that kids should take their daily vitamins, a message reinforced by frequent marketing on children’s television shows.

As a 33-year old father of two today, I’m hypersensitive about my kids’ health. I compare labels on cereal boxes at the grocery store. I try to steer them towards healthy snacks instead of the rapidly dwindling supply of leftover Halloween candy. Instead of a daily Flintstones vitamin, I try to make sure they get servings of fresh fruits and vegetables at every meal.  Why?  Because “common knowledge” about kids nutrition has been replaced by a near-infinite supply of information online.  Instead of relying a word-of-mouth, marketing, and infrequent advice from a pediatrician, I can stay up to date on the latest developments in children’s nutrition at the touch of a button.

With a growing obesity epidemic in America, particularly among teens, the value of this information is greater than ever. This is why one of the five sections of NCL’s LifeSmarts curriculum is devoted to health and safety. LifeSmarts participants gain an understanding of the value of a healthy lifestyle and the tools to help them achieve it. Teens in the LifeSmarts program study a variety of topics in this part of the curriculum, including how to effectively compare nutrition labels, what to do in case of a food recall, and what kinds of foods are best for maintaining a healthy weight.

The goal of the LifeSmarts health and safety curriculum is to reach teens at a critical juncture in their young lives, when they are developing the consumer habits that they will likely maintain for a lifetime. This information is conveyed in a fun, competitive manner that helps teens stay focused on the topic areas and feel real accomplishment in their progress.

For more information on LifeSmarts’ health and safety curriculum and to learn how you can organize a LifeSmarts team in your own schools, please visit www.LifeSmarts.org.

 

LifeSmarts: Teens’ Personal Finance Information Destination – National Consumers League

/in /by

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

If the recent economic meltdown taught consumers anything, it’s that “common knowledge” about personal finance topics shouldn’t be relied upon. For instance, the old axiom about real estate always being a safe investment is little comfort to the millions of consumers who have lost their homes to foreclosure.

Unfortunately, too many consumers today leave high school without the basic personal finance skills they need to avoid the tricks and traps that litter the marketplace. For example, students unable to balance their own checkbooks are very likely to incur significant overdraft fees from their banks. Young adults without a firm grasp of how a credit card works are likely to rack up big balances that can cripple them financially for years to come.  Recent graduates in the market for their first car may be lured in by unscrupulous dealers who trap them with a high-cost loan that they barely afford.

Perhaps now, more than ever, consumers understand the need for a solid education in the fundamentals of personal finance. For the thousands of teens that participate in NCL’s LifeSmarts competition every year, this component of their schooling gives them the tools they need to be an informed consumer.

Teens participating in LifeSmarts form teams with classmates under the direction of an adult coordinator. They use the LifeSmarts.org website to learn about a variety of topics, including personal finance. They take practice tests to sharpen their knowledge and eventually compete in online competitions.  The teams that score the highest move on to a live, “Jeopardy”-style state championship, with state winners heading to the LifeSmarts National Championship.

Given the impact of the real estate bust on the state, it is especially apt that this year’s LifeSmarts National Championship will be held in Los Angeles, California. With proper education in the fundamentals of personal finance, teens can learn to spot a good load from a bad one and avoid being put into a situation where they take on more home than they can afford. As we begin National Consumer Protection Week, the lessons of LifeSmarts are more valuable and necessary than ever. Consumers interested in getting a LifeSmarts team started at their local high schools and middle schools can visit LifeSmarts.org to get more information.

Medicine: a widespread culprit in ER visits – National Consumers League

/in /by

No one would argue that the point of taking medicine, both prescription and over-the-counter, is to stay healthy and prevent or treat illness. However, the opposite—in which patients become ill, or in extreme cases die, due to medicine related poisoning—is an all too common occurrence. According to a study published in the March issue of The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, upwards of 700,000 Americans are taken to the emergency room each year after ingesting (both illegal and legal) drugs, totaling $1.4 billion in ER charges alone.

The problem of medicinal poisoning is widespread; the study is based on government data on 27 million visits to 970 emergency rooms in 27 states, yet some areas and age groups remain more at risk than others. The number of drug-related hospitalizations in rural areas is nearly three times that of more developed areas, and children younger than 6 experience more ER visits than any other age group.

Health-care workers and patient advocates point to a number of reasons for the last decade’s increase in medicinal related injuries. One is the growing prevalence of prescription opioid painkillers such as methadone, oxycodone, and hydrocodone which are being increasingly prescribed. In 2007, the year covered by the reports, pain medication and antidepressants were responsible for 44 percent of drug-related ER visits.

In the face of such unprecedented rates of injury, the issue of adherence, or the degree to which a patient correctly takes his or her medicine, is becoming an increasing hot topic in health and medicine safety circles. A recent New York Times article on adherence blamed Americans’ “alarmingly low” level of health literacy, or the ability to understand and use health information, as one of the most pervasive and under-recognized problems in medicine. The article referenced a 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Education that found that 90 million Americans can understand medical instructions only when written at a fifth-grade level or lower.

To address this growing issue, NCL, with planning funds from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is organizing a groundbreaking, national multi-media campaign to improve public health by raising consumer awareness of the importance of good medication adherence. The campaign involves a broad cross-section of public and private stakeholders. 

100 years later: The triangle shirtwaist fire’s continued legacy – National Consumers League

/in /by

The deadliest industrial disaster in New York City history was over in less than half an hour, and upon its 100th anniversary, historians and labor rights advocates are honoring the young workers lost to the tragedy and the changes in American labor law it sparked. This month, labor advocates are commemorating the anniversary of the fire and examining how life has changed for the American worker.

A Look Back & A Look Ahead: The status of worker health, safety & rights in the 100 years since the historic fire

In a matter of minutes, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire of March 25th, 1911 claimed the lives of 146 garment workers, many of them immigrant, teenage girls.

The scene was truly horrifying: panicked workers fled to factory exits only to find them locked.  Surging crowds bottlenecked at narrow exit doors that only opened inward. Desperate to escape the flames, workers flung themselves out eighth and ninth story windows and down an empty elevator shaft. Many of those who made it to the flimsy, poorly designed fire escape were thrown to the ground when it melted from the heat and collapsed.

Today, the Triangle Factory disaster is remembered as a pivotal moment in American history that led to the transformation of New York’s labor legislation and served as a model for the entire nation. The incredible number of workers who died during the devastating fire was exceptional, but, at the turn of that century, dying at work was not an uncommon occurrence. By one estimate, more than 100 Americans died on the job every day during the hyper, unregulated industrial years of the early 20th century. However, unlike other workplace disasters that were followed by shock and outrage but quickly forgotten, the Triangle fire marked an important turning point in the way the way the country thought about a worker’s right to safety.

Following the fire, forward-thinking citizens, politicians, and organizations immediately began working for permanent changes in worker safety laws.

  • The National Women’s Trade Union League (NWTUL) was at the forefront of pushing legislative changes. The NWTUL sent out a questionnaire to factory workers that documented the deplorable conditions workers were forced to endure, and sent the results to local papers. The NWTUL formed the Citizen’s Committee for Public safety and urged the state legislature to form a Bureau of Fire Prevention
  • Facing pressure from the NWTUL and continued public outcry, the New York legislature created the New York State Factory Investigating Committee which passed legislation requiring that all doors open outwards, sprinkle systems be installed in certain factory buildings, no doors could be locked during working hours, and made fire drills mandatory for buildings without sprinklers
  • With the lessons learned from the Triangle fire, the New York City Fire Department was able to identify more than 200 factories with safety issues that could lead to a similar disaster
  • The American Society of Safety Engineers, committed to protecting people, property, and the environment, was created eight months after the fire.

Among those who worked tirelessly to prevent such a disaster from ever happening again was NCL Executive Secretary, Frances Perkins.  At the time of the fire, Perkins was having tea a few blocks away and reached the factory in time to witness garment workers jumping to their deaths. Perkins was instrumental in reforming working conditions, especially for women and children, as executive secretary to the Committee on Safety of New York. Perkins’ work after the fire marked the beginning of a lifetime dedicated to advocating for workers. In 1933, President Roosevelt appointed Perkins as his Secretary of Labor, making her the first woman in the United States to hold a Cabinet position—a position she held for 12 years.

A century later, the legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire remains as relevant as ever. While it may be tempting to look back at the shameful working conditions of the time as simply a thing of the past, in light of today’s recent oil and mining disasters, as well as the union busting going on across the country, how much progress has the worker truly made in the last 100 years?

‘Your Information Destination’: Test your LifeSmarts during National Consumer Protection Week – National Consumers League

/in /by

March 4, 2011

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

Washington, DC – With the focus of this year’s National Consumer Protection Week (March 6-12) highlighting access to quality consumer information for Americans from all walks of life, the National Consumers League is reminding consumers, especially the youngest ones, that it pays to be “LifeSmart.” NCL, an official partner of NCPW, along with federal government agencies and other consumer organizations, runs LifeSmarts (www.lifesmarts.org), a national program for high school and middle school youth that tests students in grades 7-12 with questions about real-life marketplace issues ranging from personal finance, health and safety, the environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities. So far in this 2010-2011 season, the program has recorded the highest participation numbers ever in its 17-year history.

“What better time than National Consumer Protection Week for consumers to learn ways to manage their money wisely, protect themselves from scams, and be smart about credit,” said Lisa Hertzberg, program director of LifeSmarts. “We encourage consumers of all ages to visit the official NCPW Web site (www.ncpw.gov) —and to log on to www.lifesmarts.org to get involved in LifeSmarts.”

The LifeSmarts competition begins online at the state level, where young consumers form teams and compete for spots at state championships across the country. This year’s state champions will go on to attend the National LifeSmarts competition in Hollywood, CA, April 30 – May 3.

“The current marketplace is a challenge for adult consumers,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “But at younger and younger ages, children are having an influence on how their families spend money.  Our LifeSmarts program, and the many resources offered by NCPW partners this year, recognize that we need to start educating our consumers when they are young. NCL is delighted to be a part of the official NCPW Steering Committee.”

As an NCPW Steering Committee member, NCL works with its consumer protection colleagues to provide free resources to help people protect their privacy, manage money and debt, avoid identity theft, understand credit and mortgages, and steer clear of frauds and scams. This year, NCPW partners—which includes AARP, Better Business Bureau, Consumer Federation of America, and a broad array of federal government agencies and others—join with federal, state, and local government agencies to devote a week to raising awareness about today’s consumers’ issues. This year’s efforts include free online resources, which can help consumers protect their privacy, manage money and debt, avoid identity theft, understand credit and mortgages, and steer clear of frauds and scams.

To learn more about the LifeSmarts program, contact Hertzberg at the National Consumers League at (202) 835-3323 or lisah@nclnet.org or visit www.lifesmarts.org.

###

About the National Consumers League

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.

WI protests spotlighting importance of unions for workers AND employers – National Consumers League

/in /by

By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

By now, most Americans are aware that state workers in Wisconsin and other states are protesting and striking to keep the right to collectively bargain with their public (state or localities) employers. Unions have taken a beating in the last three decades, and the rate of unionization of private sector workers is at its lowest point in decades: 6.9 percent. That’s actually lower than the 12 percent rate of unionization that existed in the United States before the Wagner Act of 1935 passed, giving workers the right to organize. The percent of public workers in unions is 36.2 percent, certainly far higher than their private counterparts.

The newly-elected Republican Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has cleverly tried to shift the focus on state workers as the cause of his state’s budget deficits and wants state employees to give up their right to collective bargaining. The state workers in Wisconsin have already agreed to many of his demands for concessions on salary and health care. But Walker’s not satisfied. He wants them to give up collective bargaining too.

Here’s the problem: employers – even public employers like states and localities – need someone on the other side of the bargaining table representing the interests of workers. Worker issues include, of course, pay but they extend way beyond salaries to health care benefits, pensions, sick and vacation leave, and occupational health and safety. A union can bring together the interests of all the workers, talk to employers about what are their most pressing matters, and negotiate on their behalf. The striking workers in Wisconsin don’t want to give up that bargaining right, and they shouldn’t have to. Furthermore, public workers, it turns out, don’t do so much better than private sector workers and, in some cases, given their skill level, are actually undercompensated. These state workers are not getting rich; they are simply earning a decent, middle class income.

Shouldn’t we want a middle class that enjoys livable wages, decent benefits, and vacation and sick leave? A middle class that has money to spend on the basics, but also on leisure activities like taking the kids to Disneyland or to a National Park?

My favorite take on this current stand-off is in Monday’s Washington Post. Cartoonist Tom Toles has a plane in the air labeled “US Government” and a bubble from the cockpit that says “Until we solve the problem of people taking extra peanuts, we have no choice but to shut down the engines…”  That says it all: these government workers are asking for respect and fair treatment; they are not demanding huge benefit increases. Quite the contrary.

This is union busting, pure and simple. EJ Dionne, in a recent Washington Post column, says that Scott Walker’s agenda is more about power than budgets. Walker, it turns out, is pushing to end same-day registration for voting and trying to pass onerous voter ID laws that would especially burden those with lower incomes.

NCL supports the workers in states across the country who are standing up to the bullies in Governor’s offices trying to break the union. This is a turning point for unions that we’ll be watching carefully as the protests continue.