by Lilly Gioia

USA Today recently reported on a new study by a think tank called Groundwork Collaborative. They looked into what they call the "high price of annoyance."

I don’t know about you, but I think the list of annoyances we’ve accumulated in recent decades has an impact of the quality of our lives every day. First, I am sick to death of TV commercials about medicines. Anyone watching TV coming to America from somewhere else, must think our entire country is sick, sick with itchy rashes, or constipation, or allergies or every disease under the sun.

But the Groundwork Collaborative attempted to quantify what it called “a torrent of small abuses” familiar to most consumers. They include the time we lose dealing with unwanted robo-calls, junk emails and scams. It was estimated that collectively this costs us $166 BILLION a year in lost time and money.

Waiting on calls with health insurance companies is bad for our wallets too costing $216 billion a year. Junk fees tacked on to bills from ticket providers, hotels, and other transactions add another $90 billion.

Here's how much the 'annoyance economy' costs consumers:

• Junk fees: $90 billion a year 
• Phone scams: $25.4 billion 
• Calls with health insurance administrators: $21.6 billion 
• Waiting for medical services: $19.4 billion 
• Robocalls: $8 billion 
• Waiting for government services: $1.6 billion 

According to the think tank this is getting worse. Over the past two decades, for example, time spent on the phone with customer service agents has increased 60%.

Personally I believe these frequent frustrations are a result of business consolidations and monopolies. A few mega corporations control too much. With reduced competition, customer service has so deteriorated. These huge companies don’t care how much our time is worth or how long we sit waiting on hold because they won’t hire adequate staff. What we really need is trust-busting, and corporate reforms, but I’m not holding my breath.

America’s ‘annoyance economy’ is booming. Here’s how much it’s costing you. USA Today

Taking on the Annoyance Economy  Groundwork Collaborative

by Eoin Carroll

Fireflies, lightning bugs, glow worms, whatever you call them are for me one of the highlights of the Summer when I see their almost magical flashing in the evening.  Of course, as a beginner naturalist, the first thing that I have to point out is that they are neither flies, bugs, or worms.  Instead they are a type of beetle. There are more than 2400 species of fireflies in the world and about 30 in Pennsylvania including one that is our official state insect.

They are not threatened but their numbers have been declining due to the very familiar problems of habitat loss and increased pesticide use.  Before I talk about what you can do to help fireflies, it helps to understand more about their lifecycle.

The fireflies you see flying around and perched on vegetation are the adults.  The flyers are the males who are flashing in order to find a female to mate with.  The perching firefly is a female who will respond to a flashing male with a flash of her own.  Each species of fireflies has its own specific flashing pattern which is how the female can detect whether the flash she sees is from a suitable male.  This mating time is the shortest part of their life cycle lasting only a couple of weeks.  Many fireflies will not feed at all during this time but some will occasionally feed on nectar.

Once mated the female will lay her eggs on wet ground or on organic matter.  The eggs too are bioluminescent although they emit a much softer glow.  The eggs then hatch in a few weeks to a couple of months and the newly hatched larva then burrows down into the ground.  The larva also glows giving it the name of glowworms.  This is the longest part of its lifecycle as it stays in this form for between six months and two years and is the stage when it needs a steady supply of food.  The larvae mostly eat the decomposers of the food chain; worms, snails, slugs, and sometimes other firefly larvae.  Finally the larva pupates and from the pupae an adult emerges with a very short time to find a mate.

We can help the fireflies by improving their habitat.  An important step is to avoid over tidying of our landscape.  When we remove all of the leaves and plant matter then we are removing the food that the decomposers (the worms, slugs, snails) eat.  This eliminates the larva’s food source.  We are also sometimes inadvertently removing the firefly eggs and larva.  So leave the leaves when you can.

We are also killing the fireflies with pesticides.  Spraying for mosquitos is not only ineffective but it is very indiscriminate in its killing of all sorts of insect life.  This also applies to lawn chemicals and agricultural pesticides which can be quite deadly to larva.

The last major issue is light pollution.  The firefly’s mating signaling of flashing can be easily outshined by night lighting which is magnitudes brighter and blinds the female from responding to the male’s flashes.  Installing timers or motion sensors on your outdoor lights can help reduce this problem. 

by Brian Dugas

The Social Action Committee initiatives Meeting next Tuesday: Immigration, Voting, the Environment. Things are starting to move, people are waking up to the risks we face. Some of the things I want to share.

UU the Vote- We’re investing in the foundations of a democratic society–care, relationships, safety, and collective action. UU the Vote 2026 will feature three critical elements to advance our values:

1. Voter Contact: Scaling our impact to reach millions of voters, combat suppression, win critical ballot measures, and fortify state and local partnerships.
   
2. Community Mobilization: Organizing public actions and gathering to build relational power, and creating hubs of democratic activity that last far beyond Election Day.
   
3. Community Safety: Equipping our communities with tools, training, and strategies to stay safe—at the polls, in the streets, and wherever democracy is under threat.
   

March 25, 2026 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM ET
Our faith calls us to build a movement beyond voter turnout. It calls us to strengthen relationships, shared leadership, and durable infrastructure that build and sustain democracy. Join us for the launch of UU the Vote 2026: Ignite Solidarity, Reimagine democracy -- an expanded program to meet this moment and the next. Learn more about our collective commitment to strengthening democracy and mobilizing our communities for the season ahead. The work will require clarity, discipline, and bold public witness. But the foundation is already beneath your feet. You helped build it. And we will meet this moment — as we always have — with moral grounding, strategic focus, and love powerful enough to shape public life.

I know that many of us are asking what’s next for UU the Vote. The answer is clear: we’re going to continue to organize. In this spirit, I am excited to announce that we have signed on to participate in the April 5th “Hands Off!” day of action. On Saturday, April 5th, communities nationwide will take to the streets to deliver a clear message: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their billionaire allies must stop undermining our democracy and our rights. This mass mobilization is a collective stand against the dismantling of essential services, healthcare, jobs, and democratic structures.

Poll Working - Poll workers fill a vital role in our communities, ensuring that polling locations are sufficiently staffed and the nuts and bolts of election day go as smoothly as possible.

Letter and Postcard Writing - Writing postcards and letters are one way to make sure potential voters have timely and accurate information to make their vote count. Postcards and letters can reach voters for whom we don’t have phone numbers and/or cannot be reached through door-to-door canvassing. We partner with the Center for Common Ground and Vote Forward for this work!

Vote Forward runs numerous RCTs (randomized controlled trials) to test the effectiveness of our voter turnout programs. Then, in our continued pursuit of innovation and commitment to transparency, we share our learnings with our volunteers and supporters, peer organizations, and the public.

Since launching in 2017, Vote Forward has been committed to scale, impact, and partnership. We’ve written over 40 million letters to voters with the help of over 285,000 volunteers and numerous nonprofit, political, and corporate partners ranging from Patagonia to Daily Kos to the Milwaukee Bucks and more. Now we’re hard at work developing new and innovative tactics for the upcoming election cycle. Volunteer-powered, Evidence-driven, Collaborative and Innovative.

Singing Resistance - A choir is forming in Honesdale, and all are welcome to participate. No experience required. The choir is being organized in response and in solidarity with a national movement of citizen singers called Singing Resistance. Led by theatre artist, Tannis Kowalchuk, the choir will develop a repertoire of songs (learned by ear) that gives voice to our concerns about rising authoritarianism and threats to democracy. The intention is to develop a group of singers that can join public gatherings such as No Kings Day and other events where music can be used as a tool for positive action, community strength and connection. Practice takes place Monday nights at 6 PM at Dem Headquarters 967 Main St. Honesdale starting February 16th. Let’s join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center our message of equality. Road Trip.

The Johnson Amendment 1954 prohibited all 501c3 organizations from participating in political campaigns or endorsing /opposing candidates. Loss of tax exempt status 2025 policy shift IRS clarified that houses of worship may now endorse or oppose candidates during religious services without losing their tax exempt status. IRS now treats internal communications to a congregation during worship service as a family discussion rather than prohibited political intervention.