Why do we think the #CitizenWishList is necessary?  Because frustrations all over the world are high between those governed and decision makers in democratic societies. Still others not only hunger but are protesting in the streets for a more democratic style of self-determination yet although we are richer, more educated and more connected than any time in history on a general level, the gap between rich & poor is destroying us. Corruption by government leaders is rampant, big business has little or no reguard for the individuals who make their companies a success or the environment which all of us are dependent on.

Under this category of the Cultural Compass Good News Revue's blog you will find a steady stream of examples why we are spearheading this social experiment. The #citizenwishlist is a bold adventure to provide a platform for positive citizen engagement in the democratic process and try to restore a measure of responsiveness and confidence again with decision makers. Join the conversation HERE: http://tinyurl.com/CitizenWishList

Be the change you'd like to see . . .

Got a good idea about how to make FAMILY relations better? Want to share a best practice example re. good FAMILY relations or public policy that supports the family? Share Your WISH HERE.

1. Got a good idea on how to improve COMMUNICATIONS in any way? Want to share a real life example of what's working for you, your friends, company, city, state or region re. good COMMUNICATIONS? Submit Your WISH HERE.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris is suing the Australian government to overturn public health laws aimed at reducing teenage smoking. Chevron has hired *2,000 lawyers* to avoid paying Ecuador $19 billion in damages due for the horrific oil spills they inflicted. And Bayer is suing Europe to overturn their ban on bee-killing pesticides -- all while investing millions with Monsanto to defeat an effort to label GM foods in the US. All of this is actually happening, and happening right now.

This is corporate power gone crazy, and the world’s biggest corporations are determined to defeat any efforts of our democracies to hold them to account. By investing billions in dirty legal battles, corrupt backhand payments and lobbying campaigns, corporations are taking over our democracies -- and only people power can stop them.

As powerful as these companies may appear, they are at the mercy of consumers -- us. We might not be able beat a team of 2,000 corporate lawyers in court, but we have the numbers to hit back where it matters -- their bottom line.

If all this is ok with you, you don't have to do a thing. But if you truly care about what kind of near future we are about to have and care even more what kind of world you want your children to inherit, then ENGAGE NOW and participate in the CITIZEN WISH LIST.

The conversation starts HERE:  http://tinyurl.com/CitizenWishList

What happens when a Chinese economist and an award winning reporter end up in New York City and India in the same week? These two observant, sensitive people have a life changing experience when they notice the stark differences in what foods people are able to buy while living at the poverty line. This begins a whole new project to document what life if like around the world for and what's for dinner for the poorest.
See their photo documentary broken down by country, monetary amount, food group and food type.: 

http://www.thepovertyline.net

Environmental awareness, recycling, Clean-up - How do you do it?  Our friend and colleague in West Kilbride, Scotland has come up with a very clever idea to keep the coastline where he lives clean of rubbish and debris and turn that junk into artful sculptures . . .
The whole community has begun to respond . . .Bill Borland knows how to use a Cultural Compass for his Citizen Wishes.

Share your good ideas, wishes & examples of 'What's working?'   with us. We'd love to know.  Thank you, Roy MacGregor for the great little film piece.

Sharing some interesting stats, Wishes & Good Ideas of 'What's Working?' from 2013 posts. The Citizen Wish List project is a civil society, completely open and transparent social experiment open to everyone worldwide. Share your Wishes TODAY.

Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage company, is suing to crush the world’s best recycling program.

When a state government in Australia considered creating a 10-cent refund on recycling plastic bottles, Coca-Cola poured money into a misleading campaign to oppose the plan. Then, when common sense won out and the plan passed, Coke sued the government to stop the program.

Coca-Cola runs similar campaigns all over the world. We can only convince Coke to back off from its ridiculous anti-environmental lobbying by raising a global outcry every time it tries to quietly fight recycling programs at the national or local level.

Tell Coca-Cola to drop this dangerous lawsuit and stop trying to block recycling programs.

When plastics aren’t recycled, they often end up in the ocean, where they devastate marine wildlife. Seabirds mistake pieces of colored plastic bottles for food and feed them to their chicks, who can no longer ingest food. Baby seabirds are literally starving to death with full stomachs.

Coca-Cola sells nearly 2 billion bottles every day, and if these bottles aren't recycled, that's a totally unsustainable level of pollution -- there are already Texas-sized islands of unrecycled plastics Pacific. If Coke wants to get serious about sustainability, it needs to start supporting recycling programs, not suing to stop them.

Click here to speak out against Coke’s reckless anti-recycling lawsuit.

Coke says it supports recycling, and it even has a whole website to advertise how much it cares. But all over the world, Coca-Cola opposes public programs that encourage people to recycle plastic bottles.

The recycling program Coke is suing over, which is called a “container deposit scheme,” or a “bottle bill” in the United States, won’t cost Coca-Cola anything. Instead, consumers pay an extra ten cents for each bottle, which they can get back by recycling the used container. Coke claims the program is a tax that hurts its sales, but container deposit programs have been implemented in 44 countries and states, and studies have shown that there’s no evidence for Coke’s argument. Coca-Cola’s crusade against recycling is just knee-jerk anti-environmentalism -- and the consequences are massive.

We know that container deposit programs are the single most effective way to get more people to recycle. In some areas, more than 90 percent of bottles are recycled when it’s implemented. The Australian program Coke is suing to stop has already encouraged people to recycle more than 35 million containers since implementation a year ago, doubling previous levels of recycling.

Click here to stand up for the environment and sign our petition to Coke.

Thanks,

Rob, Kaytee, and the Team at SumOfUs.org

Re-posted from content courtesy of the Team at www.SumofUs.org

Thank you for engaging by signing the petition, sharing and helping to instill some common sense back into environmental policies around the world . . .

The Federal Reserve, fractional banking policies, unmitigated greed and a system run amouk. Can we break this cycle? Do we have the intestinal fortitude and leadership to get back to real polices that are not build on a house of cards?

This fun animated clip explains how we got there . . . Share your ideas about what to do now.