Act: Inspiration

Oregon Public Health to planners: ‘human health simply cannot be sustained in an unhealthy environment’

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Letter to Oregon Department of Planning and Development: “There is a dangerous disconnect between land use planning and development on one hand and population-based health on the other that can be remedied by recognizing and utilizing the specialized expertise Public Health provides. … Biology dictates that human health simply cannot be sustained in an unhealthy environment, and the use of our land – in urban, suburban, exurban, rural and frontier settings alike – is one of the most powerful determinants of our environmental health.” (Comment from a planner: “challenging comments… I’ve never seen anything like it before.”)

Most “preppers” are men? Ha – Check the kitchen!

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Preparedness, at its root, is more than anything about making sure people get dinner. Yes, we can prepare to fight off zombie attacks, build earth shelters in case we lose ours (although odds are most of us will move in with a friend or relative), learn how to handle background radiation – but the first tier problems most of us face – and the ones most people prepare for first, are the ones we’re familiar with – what will we eat? How will we cook it?

Matthew Simmons has bad news for Vermont

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You think the financial crisis unfolded quickly? That’s nothing compared to how fast things could happen with oil. That’s the message Matthew Simmons, chair of the oil investment banking firm Simmons & Company International, delivered last month at a conference on peak oil. Vermont is unprepared for change of that rapidity.