National Preparedness Month 2015

National Preparedness Month serves as a reminder that we must take action to prepare for disasters now and throughout the year. Learn what we are doing and what you can do to help keep yourself, your family, and even your community safe and healthy in a disaster. Learn More >>

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Don’t Wait! Communicate! Make your Emergency Plan Today!

When disaster strikes, your family might not be together. Make a plan so that your family can get in touch with each other. Learn about your area’s emergency alerts, have a plan for finding your loved ones in a disaster, share information, and practice your plan. Get started today! Learn More >>

Staying Healthy with a Hurricane and a Baby on the Way

Shelly Lopez Gray, MSN, RNC-MNN, IBCLC; Labor and Delivery Nurse at Houston Methodist San Jacinto, recalls how she relied on her mom, her neighbors, and some emergency supplies to help her make it out of Houston, TX safely during a 17 hour evacuation in advance of Hurricane Rita. Learn More >>

Overpacker or Prepared? A Plan & a Go-bag Helped this Dad’s Family When Seconds Counted.

Ron Piedrahita has an unusual talent: he can get a lot of stuff into a very small space. He is also meticulous about keeping his family’s go-bags up to date. When a derecho blew through his neighborhood, Ron was able to get his family out of the house in minutes with everything from clothes that fit his growing toddler to her favorite stuffed animal, “piggy”, thanks in part to his well-stocked and frequently updated go-bags. Learn More >>

Public Health Emergency. Resilient People. Healthy Communities. A Nation Prepared.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Child laborers poisoned — in the US?!

09/07/2015 Nativegrl77

Children as young as 12 are being slowly poisoned because US laws still let tobacco farms hire kids. It’s outrageous, but the Labor Department can act now to stop more children from suffering. Sign now to build a call for action too loud to ignore:

SIGN THE PETITION

Dear friends,

Children as young as 12 are being slowly poisoned as they work excruciating hours in tobacco fields. Dizzy and unable to breathe, their developing bodies absorb dangerous levels of nicotine — all because US laws still let tobacco farms hire young kids to work the fields.

It’s unbelievable, but we can ban this outrage before the 2015 harvest begins.

Three years ago, the farm lobby teamed up with Monsanto and spent millions to beat back a proposed ban on under-age hiring. This time we can win — evidence of health dangers to young children has just convinced some tobacco companies to implement age restrictions, so a burst of public pressure is all that’s needed to get our government to act.

Once we build a 50,000 strong call to action that Obama and his Secretary of Labor cannot ignore, the Avaaz team will deliver the petition straight to Secretary Perez and bring child laborers’ testimonies to politicians and the media. Sign now — then share with everyone:https://secure.avaaz.org/en/us_ban_child_labor_full_/?biEWLbb&v=55386

Dear friends,

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

In the Library: 51 day War

09/07/2015 Nativegrl77

The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza

Book by Max Blumenthal

Published: June 30, 2015

Author: Max Blumenthal

On July 8, 2014, Israel launched air strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza, followed by a ground invasion. The ensuing fifty-one days of war left more than 2,200 people dead, the vast majority of whom were Palestinian civilians, including over 500 children. During the assault, at least 10,000 homes were destroyed and, according to the United Nations, nearly 300,000 Palestinians were displaced. Max Blumenthal was in Gaza and throughout Israel–Palestine during what he argues was an entirely avoidable catastrophe. In this explosive work of intimate reportage, Blumenthal reveals the harrowing conditions and cynical deceptions that led to the ruinous war—and tells the human stories.

Blumenthal brings the battles in Gaza to life, detailing the ferocious clashes that took place when Israel’s military invaded the besieged strip. He radically shifts the discussion around a number of highly contentious issues: the use of civilians as human shields by Israeli forces, the arbitrary targeting of Palestinian civilians, and the radicalization of Israeli public officials and top military personnel. Amid the rubble of Gaza’s border regions, Blumenthal recorded the testimonies from scores of residents, documenting potential war crimes committed by the Israeli armed forces while carefully examining the military doctrine that led to them.

More than a chronicle of war and devastation, The 51 Day War is an urgent warning that the aftermath of the conflict has made another military assault on Gaza almost inevitable. And while the people of Gaza will once again prove their resilience, the world can no longer just stand aside and watch.

Resource: Amazon.org