Boston lost its Lion King in March with the passing of Melvin H. King at the age of 94. It is impossible to summarize the impact that Mel’s life had on the city, and on the people who endeavor to do justice to his life and vision. State Senator Lydia Edwards put it this way: …
Continue reading Mel King, Rest in Peace / Rest in Power / Rest in Love.
We are reposting this important announcement from the New Economy Coalition, in its entirety. COVID-19 Solidarity Response: We are at a fork in the road. Like many of you, we are reeling. In these uncertain times, our first priority has been to make sure our team is safe and cared for. We are adjusting internal …
Continue reading This is a fork in the road moment.Susan Murcott, Bob Lange, and Richard Komp are three grassroots environmental activists who are changing lives all around the world. Susan is a water researcher whose work on simple water filters has benefitted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people from Guatemala to Ghana. Her latest project is building a block of toilets for a school in a village in Ghana, the second project of this kind she has been involved with. Bob is a physics professor who has been doing science education in Africa for many years, an activity that morphed into installing small solar systems for villages in Tanzania and now into designing, building, and installing efficient cookstoves with the Maasai people. This year, his work is expanding into Uganda. Richard is a solar expert who has worked on everything from the physics of solar electricity to building solar stoves from scrap. He has been teaching people all around the world how to do solar as a cottage industry for about three decades now. His latest idea is to outfit a sailboat as a floating solar workshop that can teach people throughout the Caribbean how to better their lives with simple solar technologies. You can read his reports on his international work at http://www.mainesolar.org/Komp…
I consider myself immensely privileged to know all three of these remarkable and remarkably effective people.
Continue reading Toilets, Stoves, and Solar
Recent medical research suggests that the use of medical marijuana could play an important role in reducing the progression of the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is its main ingredient reduces and prevents the formation of protein deposits in the brain neuronal deep. These deposits are primarily responsible for this degenerative nerve. Medical marijuana is provided by the clinics provided medical marijuana to control the formation of these protein deposits or sticky amyloid plaques which result in neuronal damage, inhibit memory and cognition, cause a severe loss of memory, and confusion, irritability, mood swings, disorientation, and slurred speech.
Progressive and fatal disease Alzheimer’s disease destroys brain cells, causing memory loss, dementia, and motor skills disrupted with reduced intelligence and social skills. Alzheimer’s is among the ten leading causes of death among the elderly in the United States. Research indicates that Palm Desert cannabis is an effective drug treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and some of its symptoms.
Although medical marijuana (MMJ) is legal in some U.S. cities, it is mandatory that all medical marijuana card holders to obtain cannabis medical dispensary’s legal. Medical cannabis dispensary may also refer a patient in the process of obtaining their medical marijuana card in California.
Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative disorder that is characterized by a continued decline in memory and intellectual ease. It is incurable and terminal and usually affects people over 65 years. Medical marijuana reduces the production of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase neural triggering the formation of harmful protein deposits in the brain and decreases the level of the important neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
Although alcohol, heroin, cocaine and nicotine suppress and inhibit the growth of new brain cells, recent studies by clinical research based in San Diego Scripps shows that marijuana promotes the growth of neurons. It is this property that strongly supports its medicinal use along the distribution controlled and monitored through various medical marijuana dispensaries in Palm Desert.
There are a number of prescription drugs that are also known to suppress the growth of new brain cells. Apart from doing exactly the opposite, medical cannabis dispensaries Palm Desert decrease tumor growth and inflammation in clinical trials of nearly 50% of patients with lung cancer. Patients find great relief from their symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease through a licensed clinic that provides optimal doses of medical marijuana to cope with their symptoms.
Continue reading The Advantage of Medical Marijuana for Alzheimer’s disease Treatment“The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, in association with state regional groups that work on high-level radioactive waste policy, will be hosting public meetings to solicit feedback on the draft commission report (pdf alert: http://www.brc.gov/sites/defau… ). The participant host groups include; the Western Governors’ Association/Western Interstate Energy Board, the Southern States Energy Board, the Council of State Governments-Midwestern Office, and the Council of State Governments- Eastern Regional Conference.
“The meeting[s] will be held to present the draft Commission report (issued on July 29, 2011) and hear feedback from state, local and tribal perspectives – as well as from interested members of the public. The meeting will begin with a briefing from Commission staff on the draft report, followed by comments from elected and appointed state and regional representatives. The latter portion of the meeting will be devoted to facilitated and interactive breakout sessions open to all who attend and will conclude with a public comment period.
“All public are welcome to attend. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged but not required. Information about registration will be available in the near future. The meetings will not be video webcast. Transcripts of the meetings will be available on the website, along with all written comments anyone chooses to offer. Comments can either be made directly to the website at http://www.brc.gov or by email to: CommissionDFO@nuclear.energy.gov. Comment deadline is October 31, 2011.”
September 13, 2011
Embassy Suites
1420 Stout Street
Denver, COPreregister at: http://brc-wga.eventbrite.com
—————————————-October 12, 2011
Harvard Medical School Conference Center
77 Louis Pasteur, Longwood
Boston, MAPre-registration http://brc-ma.eventbrite.com
—————————————October 18, 2011
Marriot Marquis
265 Peachtree Center Avenue
Atlanta, GAPre-registration: http://brc-ga.eventbrite.com
———————————-October 20, 2011
Hilton Garden Inn, 815 14th Street N.W
Washington, DCPre-register at http://brc-dc.eventbrite.com
———————————–October 28, 2011
Radisson Plaza Hotel, 35 South Seventh Street
Minneapolis, MNPre-register at http://brc-mn.eventbrite.com
————————————-
My policy is zero emissions, 100% recycling for all wastes, including low level and high level radioactive waste, and my immediate concerns for “America’s Nuclear future” are 1) how quickly we can move commercial spent fuel from wet storage, which requires a constant supply and circulation of cooling water, to dry cask storage which does not; and 2) how many of the 35 US boiling water reactors like Fukushima have spent fuel pools above buildings outside the radiation containment structures and how soon can that be remedied? Neither of these issues are top priorities in the present Blue Ribbon Commission report as they are looking at a different scale and timeframe.
Continue reading Public Hearing Schedule for “America’s Nuclear Future”: Boston, 10/12/11Even amidst a two-day ceasefire that that began the 11th, the specter of a renewed, vigorous assault by Israeli forces similar to 2009’s Operation Cast Lead looms darkly over the war-torn Gaza strip. It’s the terrifying possibility that has haunted the rubble-strewn thin strip of land bordering the Mediterranean Sea and came screeching into full bore last week as the IDF tore into Gaza killing nineteen Palestinians and injuring seventy others. In addition to the deadly land, naval, and air attacks the IDF shut down the roads entering Gaza for a week, once again blockading medical supplies and aid from entering and causing drastic shortages of nearly 150 different kinds of medicines.
Even during the cease-fire Israeli officials have unabashedly shown their support for an escalation of the violence and bombing of the Gaza strip, with National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau publicly declaring that the IDF “needed to finish off the job in Operation Cast Lead” rather than agreeing to Hamas’ appeal for a cease-fire. Unfortunately it seems unlikely that Gaza can withstand another military action like Operation Cast Lead, the IDF’s brutal campaign that left over 1,500 dead and 6,000 injured, and the merciless blockade that accompanied it.
Continue reading Asbestos Cannot Be The Building Block Of Gaza’s Future