"We went for a swim Monday, about two blocks from home, in the Gorge waterway. We swam in the salt water as the tidal currents swept under the Tillicum Bridge toward Portage Inlet.

"It was just a swim. And it was more. Because even 15 years ago, I wouldn't have ventured into the questionable Gorge waters. The swim was a reminder that even when things are truly wrecked, we can fix them. All it takes is one person with the will to start . . ."

Paper presented at the Western Political Science Association's annual convention 2010

Abstract: Recent and present-day polling evidence may seem to suggest that the federal government can do little to change attitudes on health-related issues. However, an earlier, and by now largely forgotten episode suggests the contrary. The 1964 Surgeon General's report on the dangers of smoking caused a short-term increase in beliefs that cigarette smoking was a cause of lung cancer. The passage of time did not reduce the growth in those beliefs, but rather magnified them. At least under limited circumstances, the federal government can apparently change health- related beliefs of the American public. . . "

Robert Bruce was known as 'Good King Robert' and was undoubtedly one of Scotland's greatest rulers, bringing peace and freedom to his country.

"On the lonely island of Rachrin, off the Irish coast, stood a mean and miserable hut. The chill wind of winter rattled its wooden door, demanding to be let in, sending icy fingers in through cracks and knotholes in the flimsy wooden walls. Inside, a man, his cloak wrapped close about him, lay on a straw pallet set against the wall opposite the door. A fire smoked in the centre of the rough earthen floor, and the remains of a frugal meal lay on a small wooden table.

The man was no other than Robert Bruce, crowned king of Scotland, made an outlaw in his own country by Edward I, King of England. Edward I, better known as Edward Longshanks because of his long legs, had defeated Robert and harried him and hunted him, forcing him at last to leave the lochs and craggy mountains of his native land. He had left behind his queen in Kildrummie, his only remaining castle, in charge of his brave and valiant younger brother Nigel. But alas, Kildrummie had been taken by the English, his brother executed, and his queen held captive . . ."

Weird science versus revolutionary science

"While it's true that at least 99% of revolutionary announcements from the fringes of science are just as bogus as they seem, we cannot dismiss every one of them without investigation. If we do, then we'll certainly take our place among the ranks of scoffers who dismissed (or even accidentally helped suppress) a large number of major scientific discoveries throughout history.

Beware, for many discoveries such as powered flight and drifting continents today only appear sane and acceptable because we have such powerful hindsight. These same advancements were seen as obviously a bunch of disgusting lunatic garbage during the years they were first discovered. . ."

"Considering the importance of what he had found, Becquerel did a very strange thing: he turned the matter over to a graduate student for investigation. Fortunately the student was a recent emigre from Poland named Marie Curie. Working with her new husband, Pierre, Curie found that certain kinds of rocks poured out constant and extraordinary amounts of energy, yet without diminishing in size or changing in any detectable way.

. . . Marie Curie dubbed the effect 'radioactivity.' . . . In 1903 the Curies and Becquerel were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. (Marie Curie would win a second prize, in chemistry, in 1911, the only person to win in both chemistry and physics.)"

"Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818 - 1865) was a Hungarian physician. He discovered that cases of puerperal fever, also known as childbed fever, could be cut drastically if doctors washed their hands in a chlorine solution before gynaecological examinations. . . 

His contemporaries, including his wife, believed he was losing his mind, and in 1865 he was committed to an asylum.  He died there only 14 days later, possibly after being severely beaten by guards. Semmelweis' practice only earned widespread acceptance years after his death, when Louis Pasteur developed the germ theory of disease which offered a theoretical explanation for Semmelweis' findings. He is considered a pioneer of antiseptic procedures."

"To know and not to know. To act or not to act...?

The task of the European Environment Agency (EEA) is to provide information of direct use for improving decision-making and public participation. We often provide information in situations of scientific uncertainty, in which the precautionary principle, enshrined in the Treaty of the European Union, is increasingly relevant. The growing innovative powers of science seem to be outstripping its ability to predict the consequences of its applications, whilst the scale of human interventions in nature increases the chances that any hazardous impacts may be serious and global. It is therefore important to take stock of past experiences, and learn how we can adapt to these changing circumstances and improve our work, particularly in relation to the provision of information and the identification of early warnings. 

Late lessons from early warnings is about the gathering of information on the hazards of human economic activities and its use in taking action to better protect both the environment and the health of the species and ecosystems that are dependent on it, and then living with the consequences. 

The report is based on case studies. The authors of the case studies, all experts in their particular field of environmental, occupational and consumer hazards, were asked to identify the dates of early warnings, to analyse how this information was used, or not used, in reducing hazards, and to describe the resulting costs, benefits and lessons for the future. . . "

"The histories of fourteen well-known hazards and their harm, which include some chemicals: tributyl tin(TBT), benzene, polychlorinatedbiphenyls(PCBs), chlorinated fluorocarbons (CFCs), methyl tertbutyl ether (MTBE),sulphur dioxide, (SO2) and Great Lakes pollution; two pharmaceuticals (diethylstilboestrol (DES) and beef hormones); two physical agents (asbestos and medical X-rays); one pathogen (BSE); and fisheries, have been reviewed by the European Environment Agency. The purpose of the review was to see how societies had used, or not, the available scientific information in order to avoid or reduce hazards and risks, and at what overall cost. /

Twelve "Late Lessons" were drawn which attempted to synthesise the very different experiences from the case studies into generic knowledge that can help inform decision making on potential hazards from, for example, GMOS, nanotechnologies, mobile phones, and such endocrine disrupting substances as phthalates, atrazine and bisphenol A. These emerging issues are all cases for which the luxuries of hindsight are not yet available but where there is some plausible evidence of harm, and where exposures are widespread and generally rising. The purpose of the twelve late lessons is to help societies to make the most of both past experience and current knowedge in order to anticipate and reduce the impact of future "surprises" from technologies,without stifling innovation . . . "

Discussion Paper:  This report aims to show the correlation between current health trends and the research into adverse health effects of EMR.  

Diabetes and Obesity, Cancer, Heart Disease, Strokes, High Blood 'Pressure, Asthma, Allergies, Alzheimer's, Depression and Anxiety, Sleep Disturbance, Arthritis, Memory Loss and Concentration, Male Infertility

"It is extraordinary that in Australia telecommunications carriers can still install antennas on rooves of shops, churches, schools and other public buildings without permission from owners, local councils, or those nearby, in spite of regular protests." Sarah Benson
 

Also Included: Benevento Resolution, Salzburg Resolution, Freiburger Appeal, Precautionary Principle