Across the Change-i-verse

14-year-old Alec Loorz, founder of Kids vs Global Warming

Highlights of the past week's blogging by the smart, talented, and good looking editors at Change.org:

Youth Taking Action: Kids vs. Global Warming: The Social Entrepreneurship blog chats with Ashoka Youth Venturer Alec Loorz, 14, founder of Kids vs. Global Warming. On positive ways to make change, Alec says, "Even though the actions we need to take might seem small in comparison to the enormity of the problem, every thing we do brings us one step closer to making the shift that we, as a whole society, need to make," says this remarkable peer organier. "It's also true that we can recycle and ride bikes all day long and we still won't be making a huge dent in the problem. Our whole world needs to get serious and make big changes. We need to be involved in the changes that governments and businesses need to make too."

Is Oil Ever NOT Connected to War? On the occasion of Sudan joining the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA), Stop Genocide editor Michelle notes that the membership is composed of nations with striking histories of civil war and human rights abuses. "And to Energy Gluttons elsewhere in the world: How often do you stop to think about the human cost of your weekly fill-up?"

Climate Change, People and Poverty: Humanitarian Relief editor Michael Kleinman has put together a good resource page on the Humanitarian Impact of Climate Change.

The Slave Behind Your Bargain: Another example of just how interlinked human rights abuses and environmental pollution have become: "[H]ave you ever wondered why that bookshelf or tennis ball or t-shirt is so cheap?  Have you ever wondered if a slave is paying the cost of your bargain?", writes End Human Trafficking editor Amanda Kloer. "The Human Trafficking Project writes about the prevalence of slave-made consumer goods on the market...They also share some hopeful ideas, like whole towns committing to selling only fair trade goods.  However, the fact is that slave-made goods are in every part of our lives, and in many cases they are bringing us the bargains we so love."

Amada frequently highlights Fair Trade products on the HT blog in her "Red Light Specials." This week it was Cocoa Minty Lip Balm.

A caricature-buster, via Dave Bennion at the Immigrat Rights blog: GOP Voters Support Path to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants

Immigration Restrictionists Make Bad Environmentalists: Dave also makes a great catch on the real motivations of immigration reform opponents who make an environmental case for their arguments: "[T]he members of Congress that NumbersUSA, [an anti-immigration John Tanton-organized] outfit, rates most highly on immigration policy voted against the recent Waxman-Markey climate change bill by a margin of more than 5 to 1."

Dave's Open Letter to John Tanton on Global Warming asks, "Will you ask Congress to support ACES and other environmentally-friendly legislation?  Or will you continue to assert that policies that limit immigration, rather than those that limit carbon emissions, are the key to slowing climate change?

Obama's Nominee for FWS: No Friend to Endangered Species: According to Animal Rights editor Stephanie Ernst, "Obama has nominated, to enforce the Endangered Species Act as head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sam Hamilton: the FWS official with 'by far the weakest record on Endangered Species Act enforcement of any comparable official in the country'...Obama is no animal rights advocate, but surely he can do better--and the animals deserve better--than Sam Hamilton."