Sunday April 20, Washington, D.C.
Woke up this morning and pulled open the shades… rain. Hard rain. My fantasy of being involved in the latest of a great tradition of historic events that have taken place on the Mall-- Viet Nam war rallies, Martin Luther King, the Million Man March-- dissolved into scenes from Woodstock. Well, if we’re celebrating nature, what better way than for her to show us what she’s got. Norton’s psyched, though. Spirits are still high. We have the chance to introduce our Bag the Bag video to the hearty soles who won’t be discouraged by a little… torrential downpour.
After a short delay for a thunderstorm to pass, the rally gets going again and the giant Jumbotron’s light up with our video. The loudest cheers of the day emerge from under thousands of umbrellas when he says “paper or plastic? How about neither.” No question he speaks to this crowd. Edward is then introduced. And he’s on fire. For 5 minutes he made getting involved with environmental issues hip, relevant, and the most important challenge of our time--. It reminded me of the first Earthday rally in San Francisco. I was lucky enough (and old enough) to have been there. Country Joe and the Fish; Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Joan Baez. It was a movement. There was passion, energy, urgency. And we-- all of us-- were going to change the world. And in many ways we did. For a moment, I thought that we just might be able to do it again. Edward finishes, the crowd erupts, and so does the sky. At one point I saw a lightning bolt hit the top of the Washington Monument. Solid water. Minutes later, the Park Service cancelled the rest of the show. But we made it and it was thrilling. I’m hoping to get a recording of his talk and will post it if we do. Check back.
--Mark Shelley
Showing posts with label Earth Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Earth Day. Show all posts
Monday, April 28, 2008
On the Way to Earthday
Heading out to DC for Earthday on the Nation’s Mall. We’re launching our Bag the Bag viral video campaign for reusable bags (saying no to paper AND plastic)-- www.thegreenguide.com/strangedays. It is also the final swing of promotion for the broadcast Wednesday night.
Interesting that Bisphenol A (BPA) is in the news right now.
This is a story we were picking up on over a year ago when we started research for Dirty Secrets. Today it is getting a lot of press because new studies with lab rats given BPA show changes suggesting a potential cancer risk and and could be involved with changes resulting in early puberty Polycarbonate is made with BPA.
This is one of those unnecessarily confusing issues for the public. A google search for BPA will result in a mixture of peer reviewed study references and industry disguised sites. A parent sorting through the sites finds comforting words telling you there is absolutely no health concern with using polycarbonates countered by scientists like the one we feature in Dirty Secrets, Dr. Frederick vom Saal, telling you that there is enough evidence to avoid the use.
To illustrate, check this out—go to Fox News and read the article, Coming Soon: More Chemical Scares Than Anyone Dreamed Possible by Steven Milloy, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,25065,00.html
The tag for the story is: Anti-chemical activists achieved a major victory this week. A government-sponsored panel of scientists laid the foundation for banning virtually any chemical on a whim.
“On a whim?” This is journalism? The article goes on to state: “[Activists’] claims are based in the work of Our Stolen Future cult leader and University of Missouri researcher Frederick vom Saal. His experiments on laboratory mice supposedly show that very low doses of some chemicals — thousands of times lower than current safe standards — increased prostate weight in male mice and advanced puberty in female mice.
Now go to an article at in the peer reviewed journal, PLoS Biology (from the Public Library of Science) by Liza Gross called, The Toxic Origins of Disease. http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050193&ct=1&SESSID=b899536fe5b3780ff2782d723b0149a4
Her tag line: Researchers say endocrine-disrupting chemicals can permanently harm the developing organism and may even promote obesity. But the chemical industry doesn't want you to believe them.
What does a concerned person do—particularly if you don’t want to spend hours sorting through the controversy? You may want to look at what Canada is doing. Just last week, Canada banned the import and sale of plastic polycarbonate baby bottles. And Wal-Mart Canada is pulling baby bottles made with polycarbonate from its shelves. That’s enough for me, though I tend to adopt the precautionary principle on these issues—I had enough evidence sometime ago.
To help you—at least a little-- check out our Smart Plastics Guide at at http://www-tc.pbs.org/strangedays/pdf/StrangeDaysSmartPlasticsGuide.pdf
--Mark Shelley
Interesting that Bisphenol A (BPA) is in the news right now.
This is a story we were picking up on over a year ago when we started research for Dirty Secrets. Today it is getting a lot of press because new studies with lab rats given BPA show changes suggesting a potential cancer risk and and could be involved with changes resulting in early puberty Polycarbonate is made with BPA.
This is one of those unnecessarily confusing issues for the public. A google search for BPA will result in a mixture of peer reviewed study references and industry disguised sites. A parent sorting through the sites finds comforting words telling you there is absolutely no health concern with using polycarbonates countered by scientists like the one we feature in Dirty Secrets, Dr. Frederick vom Saal, telling you that there is enough evidence to avoid the use.
To illustrate, check this out—go to Fox News and read the article, Coming Soon: More Chemical Scares Than Anyone Dreamed Possible by Steven Milloy, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,25065,00.html
The tag for the story is: Anti-chemical activists achieved a major victory this week. A government-sponsored panel of scientists laid the foundation for banning virtually any chemical on a whim.
“On a whim?” This is journalism? The article goes on to state: “[Activists’] claims are based in the work of Our Stolen Future cult leader and University of Missouri researcher Frederick vom Saal. His experiments on laboratory mice supposedly show that very low doses of some chemicals — thousands of times lower than current safe standards — increased prostate weight in male mice and advanced puberty in female mice.
Now go to an article at in the peer reviewed journal, PLoS Biology (from the Public Library of Science) by Liza Gross called, The Toxic Origins of Disease. http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050193&ct=1&SESSID=b899536fe5b3780ff2782d723b0149a4
Her tag line: Researchers say endocrine-disrupting chemicals can permanently harm the developing organism and may even promote obesity. But the chemical industry doesn't want you to believe them.
What does a concerned person do—particularly if you don’t want to spend hours sorting through the controversy? You may want to look at what Canada is doing. Just last week, Canada banned the import and sale of plastic polycarbonate baby bottles. And Wal-Mart Canada is pulling baby bottles made with polycarbonate from its shelves. That’s enough for me, though I tend to adopt the precautionary principle on these issues—I had enough evidence sometime ago.
To help you—at least a little-- check out our Smart Plastics Guide at at http://www-tc.pbs.org/strangedays/pdf/StrangeDaysSmartPlasticsGuide.pdf
--Mark Shelley
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