DAY OF ACTION: Tell Verizon and AT&T to commit to clean energy

AT&T and Verizon use enough electricity to power over 2 million homes a year. Most of this energy is generated by fossil fuels and contributes to climate change and its devastating effects.

Use your voice today to tell AT&T and Verizon to commit to 100% clean energy by 2025. Take a few seconds to send a strong message.

Join our day of action by telling Verizon and AT&T to commit to clean energy on social media.

In response to pressure from Green Americans like you, AT&T has recently committed to purchasing up to 30% of their energy from renewables. This is a step in the right direction, but we need AT&T to commit to 100% clean energy. Verizon, on the other hand, has not budged an inch and still only uses a mere 2% clean energy. We need to keep up the pressure!

Participate in our day of action and make it clear to the telecom industry that you expect a network powered by clean energy, not dirty fossil fuels. Find social media links here.

- Beth Porter, Green America

About the Day of Action

Who: Verizon and AT&T

When: July 9th, 2018

What: Urge the companies to use more clean energy by sharing Green America's campaign goal via social media and the phone.

Why: The Telecom industry uses enough energy each year to power all the households in New York City. This is a colossal amount of energy and most of it comes from fossil fuels that drive the climate crisis. AT&T and Verizon are the two largest telecoms and collectively use enough energy to power 2.6 million homes. AT&T has committed to purchasing 30% of its energy from renewables, which is a good start, but it is not enough. T-Mobile has already committed to purchasing 100% renewable energy. Verizon is the primary laggard of the group with only 2% clean energy.

More information: 

Green America Report: Clean Energy is Calling

More Facts

Verizon or AT&T Customers Call Corporate Office:

Verizon

Call 212-395-1000 and leave a message for the board of directors using the following script:

"Hello, My name is _______ and I'm a Verizon customer. I am very concerned about Verizon's contribution to climate change. I ask Verizon to commit to using 100% clean energy by 2025. T-Mobile has already committed to using 100% clean energy and AT&T recently committed to purchasing 30% of its energy from renewables. Verizon is lagging behind its peers and needs to stand up for the planet and commit to purchasing 100% of its energy from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar. Thank you and have a great day."

(If you are a Verizon customer with account login, you can also call their customer service number. You will need to have your account and login information handy for this option. To do this, call 800.922.0204 or dial *611 from your mobile phone.)

AT&T

Call 210-821-4105, press 7 for Executive Offices, then 2 for a consumer complaint. You will be put on hold. Once an operator is available, you can use the following script:

"Hello, My name is _______ and I am a AT&T customer and I am very concerned about AT&T's contribution to climate change. I am very glad that AT&T has recently committed to purchasing 820 megawatts of wind energy, however, this does not go far enough. AT&T needs to make a commitment to purchasing 100% of its energy from clean, renewable sources like wind and solar by 2025 to curb its climate impacts. Thank you and have a great day."

Urgent action required: Tell Congress to oppose the Trump FCC’s plan to destroy net neutrality and the open internet

Note from Jana of Desktop Activist Tucson: This really concerns me because I spend hours everyday looking up references to back up the calls of action and petitions I post.  If net neutrality is destroyed it would block those sources that I count on and force me to stop posting on Desktop Activist Tucson because it will cost money to look up those sources. If the FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is successful,  they will widdle away one of our most powerful forms of free speech and our freedom to protest. They will destroy everything the net was created to be - a free exchange of ideas and technology. This is wrong on so many levels - and all for the profit of a few - like the Verizon lobby that spent millions to control our members of Congress and Trump. We can't let them erode our freedoms as Americans for Verizon's profit!  

Time is running out before Trump’s FCC and Big Cable destroy net neutrality — but we can still stop them. Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a former lawyer for Verizon, is expected to announce a vote on a plan to end net neutrality as soon as November 22, the day before Thanksgiving.

Add your name to send a message (below) to Congress:

"If implemented, the plan from Trump’s FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to end net neutrality would be catastrophic for the open internet.

"Net neutrality is the core principle that protects our free speech on the internet, and ‘Title II’ of the Communications Act is what provides the legal foundation for real net neutrality. Without strong Title II net neutrality rules, Big Cable companies like Comcast and Verizon will be able to block, censor, and control what we see and do online.

"Now is the time to stand up against this plan to destroy net neutrality — which would kill free expression and innovation online. Stand with your constituents, not Comcast.

"As your constituent, I urge you to strongly and publicly oppose Pai’s plan to end Title II net neutrality protections."

More information:

If Pai gets his way and ends net neutrality, Big Cable companies like his old employer Verizon, as well as Comcast and AT&T, will be able to slow down and block websites, or charge sites extra fees to reach an audience — fees that will get passed directly to people like you. Big Cable will be able to curtail free and open expression on the internet. This will affect online campaigning, especially among communities of color, who also rely on online media to share their stories.

The U.S. public overwhelmingly supports net neutrality, regardless of political affiliations. Now, we’re hearing that key lawmakers are considering taking action to slow Pai down — but they need to hear more from constituents to push them to act. That’s where you come in.

If we flood Congress with petitions and calls, there’s a chance we can still stop Trump’s hand-picked FCC Chair Ajit Pai and Big Cable before November 22. Will you sign the petition and call Congress to let your lawmakers know you want them to publicly oppose Pai’s plan to destroy net neutrality?

Without net neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV — where the content we see is controlled by corporations like Comcast and Verizon. We can’t afford to see the internet—a place where the exchange of ideas, democratic participation and the ability to organize has flourished—turn into cable TV.

Sign the petition and call Congress today.

Sample script: "I support 'Title Two' net neutrality rules and I urge you to oppose the FCC's plan to repeal them. Specifically, I'd like you to contact the FCC Chairman and demand he abandon his current plan."

Tell your Rep to stop the Trump FCC’s attack on net neutrality

The Trump FCC is moving in 2 weeks to destroy net neutrality protections. Your member of Congress can help stop them – and save the internet. 

Call your member of Congress and tell them to save net neutrality!

No beating around the bush here, this is bad news.

Trump’s FCC Chairman Ajit Pai – a former top Verizon lawyer – is expected to announce a vote on his plan to end net neutrality as soon as November 22, the day before Thanksgiving.

It would be a disaster. Net neutrality rules are what protect the free and open internet, by stopping Big Cable companies like Comcast and Verizon from blocking, censoring, or controlling what we see and do online.

Click here to make a quick call to Congress. Tell your Rep to stop the Trump FCC’s attack on net neutrality.

But I’ve got some good news, too: We’re hearing that key lawmakers in Congress are considering taking action to slow down the Trump FCC’s assault on the internet.

But we know from experience that Congress will only act if they hear their constituents demanding it – we need to send in a flood of phone calls from constituents telling them to stand up and save net neutrality.

Click here to make a quick call to Congress. Tell your Rep to stop the Trump FCC’s attack on net neutrality.

- Demand Progress

Tell Verizon Wireless: Stop dropping rural customers!

trying to get cell phone coverage

TOMORROW, October 17, Verizon Wireless plans on dropping 8500 customers with 19000 lines across 13 states – all because they live in rural areas.1

Verizon says these customers use “too much data,” on roaming networks. So rather than honor the plans they sold these customers, or further build out their own network, Verizon is dropping them like a bad habit.

That’s not just bad business, it’s dangerous. For many of these rural customers, their wireless plan is the only way they have access to the internet, and more importantly, to emergency services.

Tell Verizon Wireless: Stop dropping rural customers!

In the last few years, Verizon Wireless partnered with firms around the country to expand wireless service in rural areas. Companies like Portland, Maine-based Wireless Partners built dozens of new towers to improve service in rural dead spots.2

Verizon then offered unlimited data plans to lure new rural customers. But once Verizon realized the cost of data for these customers was more than they expected, they decided to cut them off.

Tell Verizon Wireless: Cell service is a necessary lifeline in remote areas. Stop dropping rural customers!

This type of behavior from service providers is exactly why we need Title II net neutrality, and why we cannot trust Big Cable, ISPs, and wireless providers to police themselves.

The state of Maine, whose citizens make up a large share of the customers about to lose service, bent over backwards to induce Verizon Wireless to improve service in its rural areas.

In 2015, the Finance Authority of Maine insured, at the public’s expense, a $3.4 million loan for Wireless Partners, LLC to build out Verizon’s 4G LTE network with up to 32 towers in underserved counties.3

Now the Maine countryside has towers its local residents soon won't be able to use, and the taxpayers of Maine are left holding the bag for the loan that funded their construction.

But there is still time to stop this. Up until now the backlash has been limited to the areas affected by Verizon’s purge. If we can show that people across the country are outraged that paying customers can be summarily dropped just because of where they live, we can get Verizon Wireless to reverse their decision.

Sign our petition. Tell Verizon Wireless to reverse its plan to drop thousands of rural customers.

Thanks for taking a stand,

- Carli Stevenson. Demand Progress

Sources:
1. ARS Technica, “8,500 Verizon customers disconnected because of “substantial” data use,” September 15, 2017.
2. Bangor Daily News, “Verizon Wireless terminating service for 2,000 cellphone customers in Washington County,” September 12, 2017.
3. Stop the Cap, “Verizon Wireless' Great Rural Purge: Tens of thousands losing service,” September 14, 2017.