Kids are so awesome. We get tired of reading about the bad kids, we’d rather celebrate the good ones.
Go Abby!
Abby Goldberg is trying to stop the use of plastic bags in her hometown, Grayslake, Illinois. She ran into a problem when a bill started moving through the Illinois legislature which would prohibit towns from making their own decisions about things like plastic bags. This ridiculous limitation of local government is supported by the plastics industries, under the guise of improving recycling programs. So Abby’s goal of restricting plastic bag use in her town hit a roadblock at the state legislature.
Did she give up? No! She took to the internet and started a petition urging her governor, Pat Quinn, to veto the bill. Over 130 thousand people have joined her cause.
Did I mention that she’s just 12 years old?
It would have been so easy for her to give up. When we were young we heard: “You can’t fight City Hall.”
Abby says that you can. Abby fights not just city hall but also the State house. She’s not backing down.
We hope our kids will be like her, the kids who stand up to bullies! Whether these bullies are on the playground, in the statehouse, or just transnational corporate conglomerates.
We hope our kids will not give up when faced with an obstacle, but will find a way around it or through it. We hope our kids will be as righteous as Ms. Abby Goldberg. Abby, your energy inspires us. We will join your ranks and do what we can to stop this bill so that you can stop plastics from polluting your town and our world.
Sign and share her petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/governor-quinn-don-t-let-big-plastic-bully-me
Follow her campaign on twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/ActivistAbby
Abby posted this update recently:
“Governor Quinn was in his Chicago office and spoke with me!
Thank you to everyone who supported this petition! Without your help I would not have gotten as far as I did. On Tuesday, in Chicago, we held our press confrence, delivered the petition and Governor Quinn was actually there and said this: I, a one-time grassroots activist who ran petition drives that collected millions of signatures, promise to have Abby back when I reach my decision.” Let’s hope he vetoes bill sb3442!”
Go Abby! We all hope so too!
Abby posted the following update:
“Last Spring, I was given an assignment in my 7th grade environmental awareness class to design a project. I decided to convince my village board to ban plastic bags, similar to other cities across the country. Then I found out that a bill was moving through my state’s government to prevent cities and towns from enacting bans like this in our communities. I couldn’t just sit by quietly while Big Plastic tried to push this bill through my state of Illinois.
That’s why my mom and I took action and started a petition on Change.org. And guess what? After more than 174,500 people — including you! — signed our petition asking Governor Quinn to stop this law, he listened!
Governor Quinn heard loud and clear that local communities should have the right to make their own decisions about plastic bag bans in Illinois. He even met with us personally when my mom and I delivered the petition signatures to Chicago! I care too much about animals, our environment and our future natural resources to be silent, and I’m glad that Governor Quinn took a stand for the environment.
After the governor vetoed the bill, the story of our petition was even on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. Big Plastic was trying out this kind of legislation in my state — but because of our work, other state decision-makers know that industry and lobbyists can’t bully our towns.
I hope other people get inspired to start their own petitions about issues that matter to them.
I’m very proud of everyone who came together to stop this bill — and thankful my state’s governor is listening to a 7th grader like me. Many people left supportive comments on our petition, too. Your words made me feel like anyone, no matter what age, can really make a difference in the world.
Thank you so much for signing our petition! And congratulations — we won!!”
Way to go Abby!