Campaigns with impact
Together with our campaign groups Environment America and PIRG, Fund for the Public Interest has a proven track record of success. Here are just two examples of the countless results we've helped win:
Saving the bees
We've all heard for years that bees are dying at alarming rates, and colonies are collapsing. In an effort to address this, Fund for the Public Interest worked with Environment California — canvassing across the state to save the bees by building people power and public support for a statewide ban on some of the worst bee-killing pesticides — neonicotinoids (or “neonics”).
Neonics are a class of pesticides that attack bees' brains, paralyzing and then killing them. Eliminating these needless or easily replaceable uses will make a big difference for bees in peril across the state. So, since the summer of 2017, we've knocked on tens of thousands of Californians' doors, engaging the public on this environmental crisis. And it worked! We spent years organizing the public and persuading California leaders to care about bees, largely through our canvassing. Environment California knocked on doors and held thousands of conversations, lobbied elected officials and collected 30,000 petitions in support of saving the bees.
California is now the 10th state to ban some of the worst uses of these bee-killing pesticides. We couldn't have won this vital bee-saving action without canvassers like you knocking on doors and building support across the state. This new law will make a big difference for California's bees, including the 1,600 native bee species that buzz throughout the state. And as the world's fifth largest economy, California's action will set a strong example for the rest of the country that we don't need to use bee-killing pesticides.
This victory is an example of the type of work you will do, and the impact it will have. And, you'll be part of an entire team building support for a campaign like this. Watch the video below for highlights from last summer's California offices, and their work to build public and people power to save the bees!
Stopping the overuse of antibiotics
We rely on antibiotics to treat infections, but misuse and overuse of these life-saving medicines is breeding antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" — which experts estimate may kill up to 162,000 people every year and make millions more sick. The biggest offender? Factory farms that use antibiotics on livestock and poultry. So, PIRG is calling on the restaurants that buy from factory farms to stop serving meat raised on routine antibiotics.
The Fund has been integral in helping PIRG build public support around this campaign, which has led to important progress. In early 2015, we helped convince McDonald’s to stop serving chicken raised on routine antibiotics. Then Subway and KFC also made commitments. In the summer of 2018, we focused our efforts on rallying people to call on McDonald’s to make a commitment to phase out antibiotics from its entire supply chain — including its beef supply. On Dec. 11, 2018, after we talked to more than 500,000 people and gathered more than 100,000 signatures, McDonald’s announced that it would monitor the use of medically important antibiotics in its beef supply chain and agreed to set reduction targets by the end of 2020. But as of late 2021, McDonald’s had announced no such targets — so now we’re mobilizing to keep the spotlight on the fast food giant and make sure it keeps its promise to help save our antibiotics.
Photo: Staff
“The canvassers going to the doors to talk to interested residents is really something that makes a huge difference on the legislative process.”
— Pennsylvania State Representative Tim Briggs