April 2026: corporate accountability
Each month, we break down our topic into four weekly modules. Catch up on previous editions here.
This week's module: ACT
- ✅ CONNECT | Dream about the role corporations play (or don't play) in your ideal future
- ✅ LEARN | What are some success stories of holding corporations accountable, including employee-driven activism campaigns?
- 🎯 ACT | Actions for corporate accountability and grassroots organizing
- REFLECT | Art, poetry, and commitments
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Here's what we'll learn today Reader
HI!!! I'M BACK from vacation! And the day after I got back, I got a phone call from one of our Soapbox founding members, Joe Schiarizzi. He's been involved with Soapbox since... 2021 maybe? (Wild.) He was one of the first 100 people to join our membership community and he helped us launch our Soapbox DC pop-up last April.
Anyway. Joe told me he had some news.
He told me to sit down.
And wow, was it worth sitting down for.
(Okay fine I didn't actually sit but I DID lean against a tree which is much better in my opinion.)
The news:
One of our Soapbox founding members, Joe Schiarizzi, is RUNNING FOR UNITED STATES CONGRESS!
Yes, that Congress. Like, the one that makes legislative decisions. In the US of A.
Also he grew an amazing mustache since the last time I saw him, so yeah. Two equally important pieces of news.
He's running on affordable housing, sustainability, and accountability, and I could not be more proud to see this climate cutie put himself out there. (Are you allowed to say that about a political candidate? Yes.) The thing about Joe is, ever since I met him, he's walked the walk and biked the bike. He understands that change happens in the annoying rooms of white-haired bureaucracy. For the five years I've known him, he's been SHOWING UP to every obscure city council sub-committee meeting and getting stuff DONE.
Yes I am That Mom. Ok but tell me you wouldn't want to sit next to him on a park bench and fix the city <333333. The last pic is an official photo and the other three are me freaking out.
Soapbox is a 501(c)(3), so we do not endorse political candidates, so I am simply sharing this news with you to prove that any average Joe can become an extraordinary Joe. You can really get involved with your community, care about your people, and then run for national office.
So two actions for you to do today before we even get to our topic-specific actions:
- Learn about Joe Schiarizzi, especially if you live in Virginia and care about sustainability and the housing crisis. And smile back at his face, knowing that this is the kind of community you're part of at Soapbox. Wowowowowow!!
- Expand your imagination through climate fiction at our free online writing party THIS FRIDAY. You can't do big if you can't dream big. Especially these days, with so much 💩 going on in the world, we NEED to build an imagination for what's possible. (And yeah, Joe came to our climate fiction workshop in 2022, so... just saying.)
What an exciting week!! Now, let's get onto our April topic on how do we hold corporations accountable?!?!?
A lil note 💚
Hello hello! If you enjoy the work we're doing at Soapbox through these Changeletters and more, pleeeasse consider contributing. If you donate at our monthly tier of $28, you will also get you an invite to our membership community!
Love,
Nivi
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Your bite-sized action plan Reader
✅ ACT by holding corporations accountable.
We hear often that corporations are responsible for the vast majority of climate change. Yeah. True. But we are all part of corporations. It's not some random floating entity.
So, let's do something.
Options:
- Follow Climate Defiance on Instagram next time you're tempted to doomscroll. It will give you laughs and inspiration to mobilize against dirty energy coalitions and more.
- Understand your personal levers of change. Are you an employee? A consumer? Do you own stocks? What are your personal relationships with the companies that need to be held accountable?
- Organize your workplace, especially if you work for a large company. Learn how to fight for a union. Explore the ways your employee resource groups can go beyond corporate-sanctioned affinity activities.
- Go through the climate policy obstruction scorecard by ClimateVoice and ask your company to live up to its values. I know we're in a time when a lot of companies are actively reneging on their values, but many are still legally required to make climate commitments. You'll want to poke around this tool by ClimateVoice; there's even a sample email template and social media copy linked.
- Explore one of the most underrated tools for corporate accountability: shareholder resolutions. Capital hellscape means "maximizing profits for shareholders." And guess what? Many of us ARE shareholders. We invest our money in the stock market and in our pensions/retirement funds. As You Sow does some incredible work on shareholder resolutions.
For example, one from this year for Amazon: "BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request that Amazon issue a report explaining how it will meet the climate change-related commitments it has made on greenhouse gas emissions, given the massively growing energy demand from artificial intelligence and data centers that Amazon is planning to build."
Get involved with As You Sow!
- Sue a company! You can sue Chevron! You can sue your university for violating their fiduciary duty by investing in fossil fuels! Check out Columbia Law's tracker and the Planetary Law Project created by our own Soapbox member Matthew Karmel.
- Divest from fossil fuels. I feel like I say this every single month lol but I'm not going to stop until all 8,000 of us on this Changeletter have switched our banks and our retirement. Check out Mighty Deposits/bank.green for banks and Carbon Collective for retirement. Your hard-earned money may be going to some shady companies that are bankrolling the climate crisis, but it doesn't have to.
- Do literally anything I beg of you. If you can't cancel your Amazon account, at least cancel Prime. If you can't get rid of your Ring doorbell, at least put a sign next to it that it cooperates with ICE and the cops. Switch your search engine from Google to Ecosia or DuckDuckGo. Find 1 talking point you can insert into any conversation like this legend who railed against hedge funds buying up residential property when asked about a snowstorm in NYC.
Do anything. Run for Congress like Joe. Come to our climate fiction writing party. Have dinner with a neighbor instead of doomscrolling on social media platforms demanding your attention. We've gotta get through this together, and it only works if we're all pushing ourselves to be courageous.
Love,
Nivi
A lil note 💚
Hello hello! If you enjoy the work we're doing at Soapbox through these Changeletters and more, pleeeasse consider contributing. This is how I make my livelihood and pay my rent (and my team!) and I would appreciate any support you can give. Thank you for being here!
Love,
Nivi
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