Chemicals, Obesity and Diabetes: How Science Leads Us To Action

Friday, October 14, Colby College in Maine

Registration is open for a unique, one-day conference organized by the Environmental Health Strategy Center and Colby. This is your chance to learn about the latest, cutting-edge scientific research linking chemicals to obesity and diabetes, and discuss policy implications and strategies.

The science will be presented by the leading national experts in this area. Both Maine and national public policy and public health experts will share their insights and lead discussion about policy strategies. Workshops will offer the opportunity to delve more deeply into the science, policy solutions, impacts on vulnerable populations, and how to build this new information into public health and medical work. More information appears below at the linked pages.

Conference info: https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/338/mtgdetail.asp?formid=meet&caleventid=11128
Registration: https://www.colby.edu/administration_cs/special_programs/goldfarb-event-registration.cfm

Please register now to attend if you want a space (the event will sell out), and feel free to circulate the announcement by forwarding it widely.

Plastic Pollution Coalition

Plastic Pollution Coalition is a global alliance of individuals, organizations and businesses working together to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, animals and the environment. http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org

With its work, Plastic Pollution seeks to put plastic pollution at the forefront of global social, environmental and political discourse.

Plastic Pollution Coalition Strategic Goals

To achieve its mission, Plastic Pollution Coalition has defined the following strategic goals:

• End the global dependence on disposable plastic, the primary source of plastic pollution;
• Reduce the overall global plastic footprint for individuals, businesses and organizations;

Achieving these strategic goals requires collaboration on a global scale between individuals, organizations, businesses and policy-makers to raise awareness and improve understanding of the complex problem of plastic pollution; to create solutions; and to pursue these solutions relentlessly, with a sense of utmost urgency.

Plastic Pollution Coalition Core Initiatives 

Educate and inform. Elevate the discourse about plastic pollution to the forefront of the public attention; deliver access to information about all aspects of plastic pollution and their interconnections;

Connect globally. Connect all involved parties—local communities, environmental organizations, public health organizations, environmental justice organizations, individuals and businesses—to each other in their work to end plastic pollution;

Strategic Initiatives

(1) Encourage, inspire and support individuals, organizations and businesses to end their dependence on disposable plastic, and to reduce their plastic footprint;
(2) Encourage, inspire and support plastic product manufacturers to own the end of life of their products; to invest in truly biodegradable products; and to self-regulate the output of non-biodegradable matter;
(3) Encourage, inspire and support the creation of economic incentives for businesses willing to invest in plastic alternatives; legislation that curbs irresponsible proliferation of disposable plastic;
(4) Encourage, inspire and support international leaders to form global alliances against plastic pollution

What was in the World Trade Center plume? Ten years later, what exactly residents and rescue workers were exposed to remains at least a partial mystery. The question is: did all those toxicants – whether dust particles or air pollution – harm human health? Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-was-in-the-world-trade-center-plume

Conserving and developing more sustainable systems is not boring or depriving -- it's actually engaging and innately satisfying. Questioning where things come from and how they're made helps us become deeper, holistic thinkers and will have a major impact on our children. If we truly change our ways we will not diminish or "lose" our lifestyle -- we will gain enormously. We'll lead more thoughtful and meaningful lives together. When people reflect on the highlights of a past year, they often mention a time they have slowed down and connected with family or friends, taking notice of something beautiful in nature. We can have lots more of this.

-- Quote from Peg Winship's last Ask Beth column, February 27, 2007  For the health of our children and the world, fight global warming, February 27, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/02/27/for_the_health_of_our_children_and_the_world_fight_global_warming/

U.S. researchers find Roundup chemical in water, air

Report: Roundup is Everywhere in Air, Water | Safelawns Daily Post and Q&A Blog

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

 Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 One of the All-TIME 100 Best Nonfiction Books

By Bryan Walsh. When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1962, there was no Environmental Protection Agency, no Endangered Species Act, no Earth Day. Ecology was considered a second-class science, and most people thought of nature as something to defeat, not preserve. Corporations and governments alike had license to blanket the earth with toxic chemicals, all in the name of science and progress. And except for a few lone voices in the wilderness, we all thought this was normal. So much of that changed with Carson's book. The quietly relentless marine biologist showed conclusively that industrial chemicals were contaminating America — most notoriously the pesticide DDT. Carson's work would help lead to the ban of DDT in the U.S. as well as the creation of real legal protections for the environment. But its lasting impact was on the spirit of the American people: no longer would we passively accept being poisoned.

Read TIME's profile on Rachel Carson.   

Find this article at:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2088856_2089109_2089112,00.html

Mosquito resistance to bednets fuels malaria worries

www.reuters.com

LONDON (Reuters) - Mosquitoes can quickly develop resistance to insecticide-treated nets, a study from Senegal shows, raising fears that a leading method of preventing the disease may be less effective

Ann Beyke as “Rachel Carson: A Chautauqua Performance”

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?” Rachel Carson

August 1, 2011 from 2pm to 3:30pm, Del Webb Alegria   http://dce.unm.edu/osher.htm 

This lecture, FREE to Osher Members and residents of the Del Webb Community, will be held at Del Webb Alegria, in Bernalillo, NM 

For more information visit http://dce.unm.edu/osher.htm or call Maralie W. BeLonge at (505) 277-6179.

Rachel Carson was a marine biologist when few women dared even tread the water... Her lifelong love of nature and science led to research on how uncontrolled chemical use in our cities, towns and farming communities devastated wildlife and food sources. Silent Spring, her bestselling book on the topic, detailed this devastation and led to the eventual ban on the use of DDT in the United States. Carson’s work made environmentalism an integral part of our lives.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is an active and self-motivated group of people age 50+ who share curiosity and a love of learning. Keep yourself updated on current Osher events by becoming a fan of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/UNMOSHER