THIS WEEK on CHANGE.ORG

Costco's Fishy Secret

Plus: Africa’s Blood Chocolate • Persecuting Long Hair • Gulf Oil Cover-Up • Insulting Mexican Jersey • Disproving Climategate Smears

Dear Joan ,

The saying "There are plenty of fish in the sea" may make singletons feel better, but it's just not true.

In reality, many of the world's fish populations are on the brink of collapse. Overfishing has pushed 75 percent of global fisheries beyond the point of sustainability, and nine out of ten of the seas' big fish have disappeared.

If you want to know who's responsible for depleting the world's oceans of threatened species, there's no better place to start than Costco, the largest wholesale club operator in the country.

Everything in Costco is big - including its environmental footprint. A recent survey found that Costco sells 15 of the 22 fish listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. For this and many other reasons, Costco received the lowest marks of all national supermarket chains on Greenpeace's 2010 ranking of stores based on their sustainable seafood policies.

Costco consistently robs the ocean of its scarcest resources and sells them to shoppers at wholesale prices. Worse, the store provides no labeling information about the sustainability of the fish it sells, preventing shoppers from making the choice to avoid buying threatened species.

In response, Greenpeace just launched the "Oh-No-Costco" campaign asking the store to implement an effective and transparent sustainable seafood policy and stop selling Red List species.

Given Costco's massive buying power, improving the store's buying practices wouldn't just save the untold thousands of threatened fish in its megastores - it would create a sea change across the entire seafood supply chain.

Join the campaign calling on Costco to stop the sale of threatened fish species and stand for positive change in our oceans today.

For more news and commentary from this week in change, see the summaries of your favorite causes below:

Africa’s Blood Chocolate in SUSTAINABLE FOOD

Chocolate may be tasty, but how it's produced isn't always so sweet. Sixty percent of the world's chocolate comes from Ghana and the Ivory Coast, where 3.6 million West African children work on cocoa farms for very little to no pay, writes Sustainable Food blogger Jean Stevens. Despite documentation of these horrific conditions, U.S. candy makers like Cargill, Mars, and Hershey still source chocolate from exploitative ventures. Take action now to halt the trade of blood chocolate. Read more »

Persecuting Long Hair in CRIMINAL JUSTICE

If you subscribe to Rastafarianism or certain sects of Judaism that view hair as sacred, Virginia prison officials have no sympathy for you. Prison grooming policy requires prisoners shave their head, and if you refuse to break your faith, you'll be punished by getting sent to solitary confinement - sometimes for years. Join Criminal Justice blogger Elizabeth Renter and other Change.org members in asking Virginia officials to stop persecuting religious prisoners for their faith. Read more »

Gulf Oil Cover-Up in ANIMALS

Last month, there were reports of BP trying to block photos of dead oil-covered wildlife. Now, the Coast Guard is doing their part to make sure the public doesn't know the extent of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This week, Animals blogger Michelle Hodkin writes that several news sources reported that new restrictions were keeping them - and volunteers trying to help clean beaches and rescue oiled animals - at least 65 feet away from response vessels and booms, which are often at least another 40 feet away from shore, making it nearly impossible to document the impact on wildlife. Tell the Coast Guard that you have a right to know what's happening in the Gulf. Read more »

Insulting Mexican Jersey in IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

Coral Avilez, a 12-year-old at Big Bear Middle School in California, decided to wear a Mexican soccer jersey to school on the day of the Mexico-South Africa World Cup game. She was then insulted by her teacher with racist, xenophobic attacks. Coral ran out of the classroom in tears. Tell the principal of Big Bear Middle School to take disciplinary action against the teacher in question, and create a community free from racist and xenophobic attacks on students. Read more »

Disproving Climategate Smears in ENVIRONMENT

Climategate -- the pseudo-scandal of hacked emails and climate conspiracy theories -- officially died last week after a series of investigations fully cleared the scientists involved. Unfortunately, as Change.org blogger Jess Leber writes, the media observed its passing with a near moment of silence. This is a problem. The disinformation spread during the heat of Climategate coverage caused serious damage to the climate cause. Because Fox News led the charge, it should also be the first to give the Climategate takedown the coverage it deserves. Now, that would surely generate some attention. Read more »

Have a great week,

– The Change.org Team