Sample copy of Rachel's Issue #921
August 23, 2007
............................
By PETER MONTAGUE
TIM MONTAGUE
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Rachel's Democracy & Health News #921
"Environment, health, jobs and justice--Who gets to decide?"
Thursday, August 23, 2007............... Printer-friendly version
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Table of Contents Edition
Carbon-free and Nuclear-free: A Detailed Energy Plan for the U.S.
A new report offers a blueprint for a U.S. energy system with no carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and no nuclear power plants, achievable within 35 to 60 years. The blueprint provides a solid platform for climate justice activism. Has your favorite Presidential candidate taken a position on this report yet?
Teflon Chemicals Are Affecting Babies in the Womb
Chemicals used in stick- and stain-resistant products are reaching children in the womb and may be tied to "small decreases" in the size and weight of newborns, two studies by Johns Hopkins University researchers indicate.
Study Links Autism To Pesticide Exposures
Many scientists suspect autism may be a genetic disorder that is triggered by environmental influences. Now researchers are beginning to home in on the environmental triggers.
Arctic sea ice is disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Just last year the National Snow and Ice Data Center said that the Arctic was "right on schedule" to be completely free of ice by 2070 at the soonest. Now they say that day may arrive by 2030.
Marine Bird Populations Declining
"If we have declines in the birds, it means the ecosystem that supports those birds is in trouble."
Decline of Bluefin Tuna Stirs Concern
Commercial fishermen across New England who have hunted the once- plentiful and long-desired bluefin tuna for years say they are ready to give up after a four-year plunge in the population of bluefin tuna longer than 6 feet, the minimum size fishermen are allowed to sell.
A Challenge To Gene Theory, a Tougher Look at Biotech
"Evidence of a networked genome shatters the scientific basis for virtually every official risk assessment of today's commercial biotech products, from genetically engineered crops to pharmaceuticals."
Rachel's Democracy & Health News (formerly Rachel's Environment & Health News) highlights the connections between issues that are often considered separately or not at all.
The natural world is deteriorating and human health is declining because those who make the important decisions aren't the ones who bear the brunt. Our purpose is to connect the dots between human health, the destruction of nature, the decline of community, the rise of economic insecurity and inequalities, growing stress among workers and families, and the crippling legacies of patriarchy, intolerance, and racial injustice that allow us to be divided and therefore ruled by the few.
In a democracy, there are no more fundamental questions than, "Who gets to decide?" And, "How do the few control the many, and what might be done about it?"
As you come across stories that might help people connect the dots, please Email them to us at dhn@rachel.org.
Rachel's Democracy & Health News is published as often as necessary to provide readers with up-to-date coverage of the subject.
Editors:
Peter Montague - peter@rachel.org
Tim Montague - tim@rachel.org
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