Another Student Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

As a local graduate student who has health insurance and a limited income, I am forced on a regular basis to choose when I can afford to see a doctor. I struggle to pay my health care premiums yet my health insurance does not include many of the things that should be covered services, such as vision and dental care or even office visits to see a physician. A case as simple as strep throat or a sprained ankle could leave me without rent or groceries.

I would like to thank Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Representative Paul Hodes for supporting the healthcare reform bills so far. Seeing the cooperative efforts put forth to gain bipartisan support to move these bills forward gives me hope that soon I will be able to afford a health care plan that actually covers my needs.

As these bills move forward, I encourage Senators Shaheen and Gregg and Representative Hodes to support a public option and not the trigger option. Not only would a public option make health coverage more affordable, it would provide insurance coverage to a greater number of citizens. This would reduce overall costs of health care as people receive the medical attention they need, while also improving our quality of life. However we cannot wait for a “trigger” that would enact this public option in five or ten years, if ever. Our health care system is already not working for me and many Americans. Giving private insurance companies even more time will not fix the system.

Please contact Senators Shaheen Gregg and Representative Hodes to tell them that Keene residents support an immediate public option that will sustain all Americans into the future. Thank you.

Angela Mrozinski

Animal Rights Letter to the Editor

One of the ways that the Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program helps students hone their persuasive writing is to encourage them to write lots of letters to the editor. Here's a letter to the editor on animal rights recently published in the Keene Sentinel. It was written by Wendy Stott, one of our second year students:

To the Editor:

Recently Kenny Crammer wrote to the editor about the horrific treatment that animals are forced to endure during their brief yet excruciating lives on factory farms. Mr. Crammer made the case for a vegan diet based on these facts. I would like to thank Mr. Crammer for his letter on behalf of the animals and also add to it by making the case that veganism is also better for your health and the environment.

I think most of us are aware that eating foods packed full of fats and cholesterol can clog up our arteries and lead to illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. Those are good reasons to stay away from cheeseburgers and fried chicken but now there are new reasons to think twice about everything animal-based that you eat.

New research is being done by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus at Cornell University and author of The China Study, what may be the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Dr Campbell was raised on a dairy farm and originally set out to prove how nutritious dairy is for humans. However, his extensive research found exactly the opposite conclusions.

Among other things, Dr. Campbell discovered that what you eat during the promotion stage of cancer can have a huge impact on whether the cancer spreads or is reversed. “The nutrients from animal-based foods, especially the protein, promote the development of cancer whereas the nutrients from plant-based foods, especially the anti-oxidants, reverse the promotion stage.”

Dr. Campbell discovered that casein, which makes up 87% of milk protein, modifies enzyme activities, increasing cholesterol and enhancing atherogenesis, which is the early stage of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Campbell stated, “Our work showed that casein is the most relevant cancer promoter ever discovered.”

Animal agriculture is destroying our planet as well. The EPA has stated animal agriculture is the single largest non-point source water polluter in the nation. According to the Audubon Society, more than 1/3 of our fossil fuels and almost ½ of our water in the US is used for animal agriculture.

University of Chicago geophysicists Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin calculate that each American meat eater produces one and a half tons more greenhouse gasses every year than each vegan.

There is much more to learn on these topics and I encourage you to do further research. Here are a few websites to get started: GoVeg.com, vegan.org, massanimalrights.org.

And for the full article with information on Dr. Campbell’s findings: http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/142875/is_eating_a_plant-based_diet_a_cure_for_cancer/

Wendy Stott

KEENE, NEW HAMPSHIRE JOINS GLOBAL DAY OF CLIMATE ACTION
TO SPREAD MOST IMPORTANT NUMBER IN THE WORLD
One of Over 5,000 Simultaneous 350 Events in Over 180 Countries

Keene, NH: October 24th—Over 80 people from Keene State College, Antioch University New England, and the wider Keene community gathered Saturday for a downtown rally, a march along Main Street, and a concert at the Keene State College Student Center. At the Student Center, they also took an areal photo of people assembled to make the number 350 to represent the Keene community as part of the largest international day of climate change activism ever. These participants joined more than 5,000 communities in over 180 countries as part of a global day of action coordinated by 350.org to urge world leaders to take bold and immediate steps to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions.

“There’s no doubt now that the citizens of Keene want to see real action from the world on global warming before the problem gets any worse,” said Anastasia Dubrovina, student at Keene State.

Around the world today—from capitol cities to the melting slopes of Mount Everest, even underwater on dying coral reefs—people held rallies aimed at focusing attention on the number 350 because scientists have insisted in recent years that 350 parts per million is the most carbon dioxide we can safely have in the atmosphere. The current CO2 concentration is 390 parts per million.

“That’s why glaciers and sea ice are melting, drought is spreading, and flooding is on the increase,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and author twenty years ago of the first major book on climate change. “And it’s why we need a huge worldwide movement to give us the momentum to make real political change. Our leaders have heard from major corporations and big polluters for a long time—today, finally, they heard from citizens and scientists.”

These global actions come six weeks before the world’s nations convene in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to draw up a new climate treaty. 89 countries have already endorsed the 350 target, as well as the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, the world’s foremost climate economist, Sir Nicholas Stern, and Nobel prize-winner Al Gore.

Images of the events from around the world, including the rally at Keene State College, were featured on giant video screens in Times Square in New York as part of a 350 countdown, and are accessible at 350.org as part of a online photostream. Visual documentation From the Day of Action will be delivered to the United Nations on Monday.

“People have said the science of global warming is too confusing for average citizens to understand,” said McKibben. “Yesterday’s events prove that millions of people understand exactly what is at stake in the next few years, and that they want swift action to safeguard the future.”

Even though the forecast predicted heavy rain all day, over 80 Keene State students and Keene community members gathered together to act on our need for climate action.

ABOUT 350.ORG

Founded by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, 350.org is the first large-scale grassroots global campaign against climate change. Its supporters include leading scientists, the governments of 92 countries, and a huge variety of environmental, health, development and religious NGOs. All agree that current atmospheric levels of CO2—390 parts per million—are causing damage to the planet and to its most vulnerable people, and that government action at the Copenhagen climate conference is required to bring the earth’s carbon level swiftly down to 350 ppm.

350.org is member of a global alliance of faith groups, non-governmental organizations, trade unions and over a million individuals calling for a fair, ambitious, and binding international climate change treaty.

For more information, visit www.350.org.