Category: Of Interest To Our Community - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Stop Big Oil regarding Plastics - Of Interest to Our Communigy

3/3/2026

The Fight to Stop Big Oil Pumping Billions More into Plastics

Sisters of St. Francis

Plastic production has doubled in the past 20 years and is projected to double or even triple again soon. In her new book, "Plastic Inc: Big Oil, Big Money and the Plan to Trash Our Future," environmental journalist, Beth Gardiner, reports that petrochemicals—used largely to make plastic—are expected to drive future oil demand growth. As energy markets shift away from fossil fuels, oil companies are relying on plastics to sustain drilling and profits, a strategy she warns poses a serious threat to the climate. Read the full article here.

Read the Sisters of St. Francis latest Action Alert Digest here and sign up to receive their informative weekly email.

Comment on repeal of Roadless Rule

9/17/2025

A Vision for the Planet

Environmental Forum

The Roadless Rule

Are you aware that the current administration is attempting to revoke the Roadless Rule? This law was established in 2001 during the Bush administration by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect National Forest System lands. (It has an interesting and political history that is explained here.) It bans road construction and timber harvesting in roadless areas to preserve them from development.

Per Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE):
Rescinding the Roadless Rule would not only increase road construction, but would also support clear-cutting old-growth forests and increase pollution from mineral extraction. According to the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, national forests and other public lands provide the foundation for a $1.2 trillion per year industry that would be harmed by the these industrial activities.

There is currently a period of public comment. Go to Regulations.gov and enter FS-2025-0001 (or click here) and voice your opinion.

This comment period closes on 9/19 but there will be another opportunity in March, assuming this draft passes. You can describe how these roadless areas have benefited you in terms of recreation and hunting, how they reduce the potential for wildfires and help keep our water clean, and how they provide a contiguous area for animal habitat.

Lori McCollum

Half of Fortune 500 Companies founded by immigrants

9/12/2025

Nearly Half of Fortune 500 Companies in 2025 Were Founded by Immigrants or Their Children

American Immigration Council

In the 2025 New American Fortune 500 Companies list, 46.2 percent, or 231 companies, were founded by immigrants or their children—109 by immigrants and 122 by children of immigrants. Additionally, 10 out of 22 companies that were either new to the list or returning after a previous appearance were founded by immigrants or their children. These new American firms make important contributions to both the U.S. and the global economies.

View this report.

Susan Leuthauser (she/her)

Get an Easy A! - Of Interest to Our Community

5/9/2025

Do ya wanna Easy A?

Red Wine and Blue

Red Wine and Blue has created Easy A: Meaningful Actions in 5 Minutes or Less regarding the issues you care about.

Their most recent action is Spotting and Stopping Disinformation.

We all need accurate information to make informed decisions. We're exposed to information from various sources every day. Find out how you can spot and stop the spread of misinformation from this blog post.

Other topics offered include:
Modern Day Voter Suppression in America
The History of Voting Rights in America
The Right to Read
A New Era of Fighting Book Bans
The Costs of Conflicts
and much more!

Sign up for future Easy A's as they become available here.

Know your protest rights - Of Interest to Our Community

5/6/2025

Know your protest rights

ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)

The First Amendment protects your right to assemble and express your views through protest. However, police and other government officials are allowed to place certain narrow restrictions on the exercise of speech rights. Make sure you’re prepared by brushing up on your rights before heading out into the streets.

Are you going to continue to protest to stand up for your values? Are you organizing the protest or just planning to attend? What can you take pictures of when you are there? What if the police approach you during the protest? Know your rights! Read the article here.

Separation of church and state - Of Interest to Our Community

5/6/2025

Is Iowa saying bye-bye to the separation of church and state?

Bleeding Heartland

PACG's dear friend and co-founder of One Human Family-QCA, Rabbi Henry Karp, wrote this article for Bleeding Heartland. It's an important read.

As an Iowan, a Jew, and a rabbi who has served the Quad Cities Jewish community for nearly 40 years, I was beside myself when I read Dr. Thomas Lecaque’s guest column in Iowa Starting Line about the school chaplain bill moving through the Iowa legislature. Having made its way through the House and the Senate Education Committee, it is now eligible for floor debate in the Senate.

House File 884 is an offense of the highest degree to every non-Christian faith community in our state. It empowers school districts to hire chaplains “to provide support, services, and programs as assigned by the board of directors of the school district.”

If that sounds innocuous, think again, for the Senate Education Committee has already rejected an amendment that would restrict school chaplains from proselytizing students. So much for religious neutrality in our schools!

Such neutrality is dead when these school chaplains have been given the go-ahead to use their positions to promote their faith among the students. It should go without saying that doing so makes every non-Christian student in Iowa’s public schools—Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Shinto, Sikhs, Atheists, and so on—vulnerable to the evangelizing efforts of these chaplains. That is simply not acceptable. Read the article here.

Get free seeds at the Seed Library - Of Interest to Our Community

5/6/2025

Davenport Seed Library

Davenport Public Library
Main Library
321 Main Street
Davenport, IA (map)

Davenport Public Library

Davenport Seed Library provides free seeds to residents to promote lifelong learning and encourage stewardship of natural resources. It is available during open hours for patrons of all ages! Supplies and varieties vary, but the collection usually includes vegetables, flowers, microgreens, and herbs. Seeds are available while supplies last.

There is no cost to borrow seeds. There is a limit of five (5) seed packets per month per household. You are not required to return any saved seeds to the library, but may if you wish! We may accept donated seeds but prefer clean, open-pollinated, or heirloom seeds. Please share your gardening success when using seeds from the Seed Library! Add #dplseeds and tag @davenportlibrary wherever you post!

For more resources on starting, growing, and harvesting vegetables and flowers in your own backyard, visit the Seed Library Growing Companion LibGuide.

Davenport Public Library
563-326-7832

The Reality of Project 2025-Of Interest to Our Community

4/29/2025

The Reality of Project 2025

Red Wine and Blue

A grassroots organization Red Wine & Blue has been keeping track of the implementation of 2025 projects. They also provide recommendations on how we can fight back. For more information go here,

You can contact them or subscribe to their email update here,

Red Wine & Blue

Progressive calendars of events and actions in the QCA - What You Can Do Now

3/26/2025

Progressive calendars in the QCA

PACG Forums

Want to explore more ways you can get involved in progressive actions and events in the QCA? We are collecting calendars for our Community Events page! They are posted at the top of the website page, so if you are looking for information about a particular event, you will have to do some scrolling.

Here's the link for the PACG events calendar.

Our friends at One Human Family-QCA started the QC Activism calendar in 2024 and we have put it on our Community Events page. You may add events to this calendar here.

Activist Leslie DuPree, President of Quad Cities National Organization for Women (QC NOW), is single-handedly managing the QC Action Calendar as a Google Document. Her contact information is at the top of it.

Clock, Inc is dedicated to creating a safe and supportive community center, offering vital resources, mental health programs, empowerment, and advocacy for the LGBT+ community to thrive without fear of discrimination. The Clock, Inc Events calendar is here.

MainStream, formerly known as The Real Mainstream, is a progressive, intersectional, LGBTQ+ affirming publication serving Illinois and Iowa, and available online and in print. They have a number of calendars for eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois, including a filter for adults-only and spiritual Sunday gatherings. The MainStream calendar for Quad Cities Events is here.

If you know of other groups in our area who are compiling calendar events and actions, please contact us at [email protected].

International Migrants Day - Of Interest to Our Community

12/15/2024

International Migrants Day
Wednesday, December 18th

The Civil Rights Forum has started a new initiative to recognize immigrants as our neighbors! December 18th is International Migrants Day. We have submitted the following Letter to the Editor to our local papers:

International Migrants Day is December 18th

According to the United Nations website, on December 4, 2000, the General Assembly
of the United Nations, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants
in the world, proclaimed December 18 to be International Migrants Day. On that day in
1990, the Assembly adopted the “International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.”

On International Migrants Day, we reflect on and celebrate the contributions of millions
of migrants worldwide. Migrants and displaced people represent some of the most
vulnerable and marginalized groups in society. Migrants have proven to be a source of
prosperity, innovation and sustainable development to the countries in which they
reside.

Locally, we recognize (im)migrants as our neighbors, especially when we hear their
personal stories, like Eduardo’s, a local nurse and cardiac sonographer. Eduardo
gained citizenship 30 years after crossing the border when he was 9. His parents made
the decision to cross the border to protect their family. A Mexican cartel had targeted
Eduardo’s father, who fought for better equality in the Mexican healthcare system. He
was very involved in social justice and publicly denounced the injustices and threats
brought on by the cartels, which exposed the family to danger. Once across the border,
Eduardo’s parents remained undocumented but worked hard to provide their two sons
with the American Dream, which Eduardo is happy to say he has been able to pursue.

Today, let’s celebrate our (im)migrant neighbors!

Allison Ambrose
Davenport
(This was written on behalf of the Civil Rights Forum of Progressive Action for the
Common Good.)