amleenology

By Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day



What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.

Actually, the idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political "limelight" once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.

I continued to speak on environmental issues to a variety of audiences in some twenty-five states. All across the country, evidence of environmental degradation was appearing everywhere, and everyone noticed except the political establishment. The environmental issue simply was not to be found on the nation's political agenda. The people were concerned, but the politicians were not.

After President Kennedy's tour, I still hoped for some idea that would thrust the environment into the political mainstream. Six years would pass before the idea that became Earth Day occurred to me while on a conservation speaking tour out West in the summer of 1969. At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called "teach-ins," had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me - why not organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment?

I was satisfied that if we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda. It was a big gamble, but worth a try.

At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air - and they did so with spectacular exuberance. For the next four months, two members of my Senate staff, Linda Billings and John Heritage, managed Earth Day affairs out of my Senate office.

Five months before Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the astonishing proliferation of environmental events:

"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...."

It was obvious that we were headed for a spectacular success on Earth Day. It was also obvious that grassroots activities had ballooned beyond the capacity of my U.S. Senate office staff to keep up with the telephone calls, paper work, inquiries, etc. In mid-January, three months before Earth Day, John Gardner, Founder of Common Cause, provided temporary space for a Washington, D.C. headquarters. I staffed the office with college students and selected Denis Hayes as coordinator of activities.

Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.

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Doktor,
Saya tidak boleh minum teh, kopi atau susu kerana saya menghadapi masalah angin di perut apabila meminum minuman tersebut.

Kemudian saya beralih ke susu soya untuk sumber kalsium. Saya serasi dengan susu soya. Perut saya tidak meragam apabila minum susu soya.

Saya minum susu soya satu kali pada setiap pagi sejak setahun yang lalu. Bagaimanapun, baru-baru ini saya menerima e-mel daripada kakak saya yang menyatakan kita boleh mendapat pelbagai jenis kanser jika kita minum susu soya secara berlebihan.

Adakah kenyataan itu benar? Tetapi setahu saya, susu soya elok untuk mengelakkan penyakit jantung dan elok untuk merendahkan tahap kolestrol badan.

Bagaimana pula dengan orang yang mengamalkan pemakanan sayur (vegetarian)? Mereka bergantung kepada susu soya untuk diet harian mereka. Adakah mereka berisiko menghidapi kanser?

– MAS, PETALING JAYA

Jawapan:
Saya telah menerima beberapa e-mel serupa yang mengaitkan produk soya dengan kanser tertentu.

Produk kacang soya sememangnya mengandungi bermacam jenis phytohormon yang belum lagi dikaji sepenuhnya fungsi dan tindakannya.

Dakwaan yang mengaitkan kanser dengan kacang soya bagaimanapun mungkin hanya khabar angin dan ketepatan maklumat yang disampaikan agak sukar ditentukan.

Namun, jika anda mengambil susu soya sebagai sumber protein, anda juga boleh menimbangkan sumber protein lain seperti produk vegetarian lain yang juga kaya dengan protein seperti dhal, sayur-sayuran dan pelbagai jenis kekacang.

Jika anda mengambil susu soya sebagai suplemen kalsium, maka anda patut menimbangkan pelbagai jenis daging dan juga sayur-sayuran untuk sumber kalsium.

Walaupun teori kanser di kalangan pengamal minuman susu soya belum lagi dibuktikan, amalan meminum susu soya sekali-sekala mungkin adalah selamat.

NEW YORK 28 Jun - Harga minyak dunia telah melepasi paras tertinggi AS$142 setong buat seketika semalam sebelum kembali jatuh lebih rendah apabila nilai mata wang dolar Amerika Syarikat terus lemah.Peningkatan harga minyak itu juga disebabkan oleh kejatuhan bursa saham dunia di tengah-tengah kebimbangan terhadap keadaan ekonomi sejagat, sebagai mengakhiri minggu yang menyaksikan urus niaga pasaran tidak menentu.

Harga saham yang melonjak sekali ganda berbanding tahun sebelumnya, mencetuskan kebimbangan terhadap peningkatan kadar inflasi dan keadaan ekonomi AS yang lebih buruk lagi.

Kontrak hadapan utama minyak berkualiti tinggi yang diniagakan di New York, bagi hantaran bulan Ogos ditutup 57 sen lebih tinggi kepada AS$140.21 setong.

Kontrak berkenaan sebelum itu mencecah paras harga tertinggi dalam urus niaga antara hari pada paras AS$142.99 setong.

Keadaan yang sama juga berlaku di London, apabila kontrak utama minyak mentah Brent North Sea bagi hantaran Ogos, naik 48 sen untuk ditutup pada paras tertinggi AS$140.31 setong.

- AFP


matilah kalau macam ni..harga barang akan makin naik..yang susah akan bertambah susah..yang kaya akan bertambah kaya..dunia2...huhu :: amleenology08