Protect Polar Bears, Defend Animal Activists, and Help Respond to the Crisis in Haiti: 10 Petitions to Sign this Week to Help People, Animals, and the Planet

Unfortunately, the world is not a very peaceful or safe place for many individuals. From conflict to abuse to exploitation, there is so much cruelty inflicted on both humans and animals. While this can get disheartening and difficult to hear about, petitions are a great way to use your voice for good. Just by signing one, you are a part of helping those who are not treated fairly. You can even share them with your friends and acquaintances to increase your impact.

Through petitions, we can reach those in power and demand justice for others. They are valuable tools for making positive changes in the world. If you are looking for a way to help animals and humans, here are 10 petitions you should sign this week, including: Protect Polar Bears, Defend Animal Activists, and Help Respond to the Crisis in Haiti.

1. Protect Polar Bears

Without aggressive Climate change policies, polar bears will likely be extinct within a century.  But Climate change is not the only threat to polar bears.  Interactions with humans also pose a surprisingly large threat—especially during the first week of November when hundreds of polar bears migrate to their winter habitat.  The town of Churchill, Manitoba, which lies along the migration route, has taken steps to remove food sources and implement a bear-spotting hotline.  But the Canadian government can do more to help fund efforts in more towns and improve non-invasive tracking.  You can sign this petition asking the Canadian government to help with these efforts.

2. Support the Saving America’s Pollinators Act

Congress is currently considering H.R. 4079, an act to protect birds and strengthen regulations of toxic pesticides. The legislation would restrict neonicotinoid pesticides, or “neonics,” which may reduce birds’ ability to migrate and even diminish overall bird and bee populations.  The legislation would also introduce a Pollinator Protection Board and improve monitoring.  In May of 2021, the EU Court of Justice upheld a ban on neonicotinoids after an eight-year legal struggle.  The U.S. should follow suit.  Sign this petition to Support new legislation to protect pollinators.

3. Help Respond to the Crisis in Haiti

More than 2,200 people have died in Haiti from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the Tiburon Peninsula.  Thousands are homeless, and violence is prevalent.  Worst of all, the earthquake destroyed many local health facilities, and the health care system is unable to provide disaster relief—let alone cope with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  The International Medical Corps is providing aid at the request of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, the Pan American Health Organization, and the Haitian Ministry of Health.  You can sign this petition and pledge to Support essential relief work in Haiti.

4. Defend Animal Activists & Protest Ontario Bill 156

In the United States, animal-rights organizations have long fought against “Ag Gag” laws.  “Ag gag” laws make it illegal for animal activists to enter or film inside factory farms, thereby exposing the most egregious, hidden cruelty.  But recently, Bill 156, the Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, went into effect in Ontario to “gag” activists in Canada.  On top of this, police arrested and charged six animal lovers who were on their way to protest Bill 156 and animal cruelty at a factory farm called Hybrid Turkeys in southern Ontario.  Since laws terribly under-protect animals, it is important to use the law to defend activists.  Sign this petition in Support of the protesters and to protest Bill 156.

5. Regulate Phthalates

A recent article by the Guardian has shed light on phthalates, chemicals that are ubiquitous in everything from food packaging to household cleaners and cosmetics.  Since the CDC recommended further studies on these chemicals, unlocking funding, studies have connected phthalates to “asthma, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, breast cancer, obesity and type II diabetes, neurodevelopmental issues, behavioral issues, autism spectrum disorders, altered reproductive development and male fertility issues.”  Like so many public health issues, phthalates exposure disproportionately impacts lower-income consumers because it is most prevalent in fast food chains.  Sign this petition and ask the FDA to regulate toxic phthalates.

6. Stop Thailand’s Tiger Temple from Reopening

In 2016, Time magazine called Thailand’s Tiger Temple a “special sort of gruesome.”  Following years of allegations about illegal Tiger breeding and trafficking, Thailand’s Department of National Parks (DNP) raided the facility and discovered forty dead cubs, 1,500 amulets, and a myriad of other trinkets.  The DNP confiscated 147 live tigers.  Now, the owners of Tiger Temple are planning to reopen a new facility.  Sign this petition to stop the gruesome business before it starts.

7. Stop Experimenting on Monkeys

At the Washington National Primate Research Center, 47 monkeys have died in the past eight years from illness.  Among these is a monkey who died from dehydration after researchers failed to properly fix a water line to the cage, and a monkey who strangled himself to death with a loose cord.  In addition, according to USA Today, “[t]he monkeys at the Mesa breeding facility are drinking well water tainted with perchlorate, a contaminant leached from ponds containing rocket fuel runoff from an adjacent defense contractor.”  The University of Washington is responsible for overseeing the facility, even though it is located in Mesa Arizona.  Sign this petition and tell the University to shut it down.

8. Help the People of Carson, California

The air in Carson, located in LA county, is filled with a noxious odor.  The source is the Dominguez Channel, which has been clogged with decaying vegetation and has, as a result, been omitting “plumes of hydrogen sulfide gas.”  The gas is highly flammable and highly toxic and has left many Carson residents sick.  Over 1,000 have evacuated.  Although the Carson city council has declared a local state of emergency, the problem persists.  Sign this petition to Support Carson’s residents and ask for faster relief.

9. Stop Illegal Hunting

Another family pet has been killed in a hunting tragedy—this time a 10-month-old puppy who was shot just outside the family’s backyard in Arkansas, within earshot of their two-year-old child.  Killing animals for sport is always a cruel and unnecessary practice, but illegal, offseason hunting jeopardizes animal populations at their most vulnerable.  In addition, as this story shows, it puts pets and children at risk of tragic hunting accidents.  Sign this petition telling the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to crack down on illegal hunting.

10. Support OTC Hearing Aids

Recently, the FDA announced a “landmark proposal to improve access to hearing aid technology for millions of Americans.”  The rule would make hearing aids accessible over the counter, and would cut back on the huge costs of medical exams and fittings by an audiologist. Currently, exams can cost up to $250, even with insurance, and hearing aids can run upwards of $5,000.  Sign this petition and Support the FDA’s landmark proposal.

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