2010 Heinz Awards announced

This year's Heinz Family Foundation awards include honors for a scientist documenting the effects of endocrine disruptors, a champion on the global seed vault and one of the giants in the field of 'green,' or non-toxic, chemistry. USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/09/2010-heinz-awards-announced/1

2010 Rachel Carson Legacy Conference

CHALLENGING MARCELLUS SHALE: The Consequences and Alternatives

Keynote Speaker: Karl-Henrik Robèrt, Ph.D., MD, one of Sweden’s foremost cancer scientists and the founder of The Natural Step

Friday, September 24, 2010, Mellon Institute Audtorium, Carnegie Mellon University

The 2010 Rachel Carson Legacy Conference: Challenging Marcellus Shale - Consequences and Alternatives will address the health, environmental and community effects Pennsylvania will face with the development of the Marcellus Shale natural gas fields.


We have gathered people from New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania with experience and expertise in evaluating the results of the deep shale fracking industry.


The Alternatives approach will be highlighted by keynote speaker Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt of Sweden founder of The Natural Step process for reaching a sustainable economy. He will be followed by Ken Melamed, Mayor of Whistler, B.C., who will describe the Whistler 2020 plan as implemented based on Dr. Robert's approach and a panel of renewable and sustainable energy businesses illustrating current economically viable applications of renewable energy systems.

This event is a conference. Registration with fee is required.

For more information and to register for the conference, please visit the Rachel Carson Homestead website.

Rachel would be appalled at how we are moving backwards...

Nearly a half century ago, in September of 1962, the groundbreaking book, "Silent Spring." about the danger of heavily marketed pesticides was released. Chemical corporations spent a ton of money attacking the damning content of the book and the character of its author, groundbreaking biologist and journalist Rachel Carson.

"Silent Spring" is credited with setting into the motion the birth of the environmental movement and the eventual creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

But now in 2010, the global predatory corporations that produce toxic chemicals and pesticides (think Monsanto and Dow as examples) are in ascendance, with formidable financial and political power. Then toss in the toxic impact of the likes of the oil companies, and it becomes clear that financial largesse now frequently trumps public health.

The "restoration of the America that used to be" that the right wing yearns for is one that predates "Silent Spring." The health of all Americans is endangered by such a simplistic refutation of science. Rachel Carson would, no doubt, be appalled at how we seem to be moving backwards when it comes to protection from the chemical industry.

Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
http://www.truth-out.org/

A Combination of Bad Choices

Even when they acknowledged limited risks, they seemed to consider each danger in a vacuum, never thinking the combination of bad choices would add up to a total well blowout.

Five key human errors, colossal mechanical failure led to fatal Gulf oil rig blowout. A string of mistakes, first by people, then by a supposedly fail-safe machine, sealed the fates of 11 rig workers and led to the fouling of the Gulf of Mexico and hundreds of miles of its coastline. New Orleans Times-Picayune, Louisiana.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/09/5_key_human_errors_colossal_me.html