Rachel's News — Helping community
activists, local officials
and small business owners protect nature, human health and democracy
Help us raise $100,000 to expand Rachel's
News and outreach programs
Together, we can take back our communities
from the polluters!
Be one of 2,000 supporters to make a $50 donation to help us achieve our goal of $100,000 |
"The
natural world is deteriorating and human health is declining because
those who make the important decisions aren't the ones who bear
the brunt. Our purpose is to connect the dots between human health,
the destruction of nature, the decline of community, and the rise
of economic insecurity that allow us to be divided and therefore
ruled by the few." |
2006 Marks The 20th Anniversary
of Rachel's Democracy & Health News!
Dear Readers,
Rachel's
Democracy & Health News is the backbone of our program to strengthen
grass-roots activism, to affect national policy and most importantly,
to change American culture. We aim to affect the same kind of change the
abolitionists did (1775-1865) — by making certain ideas and practices
repugnant and unthinkable.
Thanks to you and the thousands of activists we support, the Precautionary
Principle is steadily catching on! We began writing about it in 1991 and
since then we have been one of the nation's leading advocates for precaution.
In September we published our first issue of Rachel’s
Precaution Reporter (RPR) to spread the word about how precaution
is being discussed, put into practice and relentlessly attacked by the
critics. You can find the latest issue here.
We need your financial support to keep these publications free
and to keep real freedom of information alive! You can help us
raise $100,000 to expand our readership and outreach programs helping
community activists, local officials and small business owners protect
nature, human health and democracy. Please make a special donation
online today. Or call 888-272-2435 to donate by phone. Click
here for a printable form that you can mail or fax.
With your help we will achieve our three overarching goals: for society
to incorporate the precautionary
principle, the public
trust doctrine and sustainable
development into all of its institutions and ways of achieving ‘success’
so that future generations can have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Please support building a vibrant democracy today and make a
special donation online today to help us raise $100,000 and reach
these goals.
We
have big plans for the new year and with your help we will:
•
Continue publishing Rachel's Democracy and Health News every two weeks.
• Publish Rachel's Precaution Reporter weekly.
• Help plan, and participate in, a national "Promoting Precaution"
conference during 2006.
• With the Science and Environmental Health
Network (www.sehn.org), we will continue to put on workshops on precaution
for governments and community groups.
• We will continue to "answer the critics of precaution."
We analyze how the precautionary approach is denigrated, so that "our
side" can develop and use effective counter-arguments FOR precaution.
The list of our activities
for 2006 continues here, but suffice to say that we
need your support to make all of this happen. If 2,000 readers donate
$50 each, we will achieve our goal of $100,000. Please make
a special gift today. And thank you for your continued support and
readership.
Sincerely,
 |
 |
|
Ed Begley, Jr. |
Peter Montague Executive Director |
Privacy Policy: Environmental Research Foundation keeps your contact info strictly confidential.
Here's more of what we are up to in 2006...with your help:
•
We are continuing to develop our web-based database of grass-roots organizations
to help groups answer two questions: (a) who else is organized and working
in my geographical area? and (b) who is working on my issue no matter
where they are located geographically?
• We are continuing to develop the "What's Working Now"
section of our web site, to give communities and community activists good
ideas of what's possible, what's being done elsewhere. These real-world
projects will begin to appear in Rachel's Democracy & Health News.
• Give talks and speeches, mainly on precaution, but also weaving
in the bigger picture of what kind of deep cultural change we are all
seeking and how such change has occurred in the past.
• Writing a Peoples' Guide to Risk Assessment, including "alternatives
to risk assessment for decision-making."
• Providing specific information to people who are stirring things
up: answering phone calls and emails from activists, journalists, librarians,
and government officials seeking help with specific problems.
• Local work on environmental justice: To keep our work grounded
in the real world, we will continue to work locally in New Jersey, promoting
a precautionary approach actively within the Environmental Justice Alliance.
This local work provides a place for us to advocate for precautionary
approaches, which gives us direct feedback. It also helps develop an inter-racial
coalition, which is essential for creating the deep cultural change we
seek.
• Organize a conference on steady-state economics for 2007.
Precaution
is an idea whose time has come!
When San Francisco
(city and county) adopted the precautionary principle in 2003, they cited
our book as their main source of ideas and inspiration. (See Mary O'Brien,
Making Better Environmental Decisions. MIT Press, 2001; ISBN 0262650533.)
Since that time, Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, have taken
steps to embed precautionary approaches into municipal policy. Towns in
Texas, Florida and New Jersey have adopted precautionary approaches to
pest management in schools, minimizing the exposure of children and staff
to toxic chemicals. Precaution is an idea whose time has come!
Please make a special donation
online today. Or call 888-272-2435 to donate by phone.
Click here for a printable form that you can mail or fax.