Because People Matter

Maybe we just shouldn’t eat high fructose corn syrup

By Jacqueline Diaz

In January 2009 Environmental Health published findings concluding that a process often used in the production of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) creates a mercury presence in foods http://www.ehjournal.net/content/8/1/2. The study also found that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had found similar levels of mercury in HFCS samples in 2004 but apparently didn’t think it was important to share with the public.

Since January, the HFCS industry has been countering the study with their own facts and “studies”–because those should be unbiased right? Their own “expert” assessments have found “flaws” in the study conducted by eight reputable researchers including a neuroscientist and chemist. They’d prefer to stick to the “facts” produced by studies funded by big Ag groups and “independent” panels that profess HFCS as safe and equal to table sugar.

Controlling Human Population: A Challenge We Must Face

by Jack D. Forbes

All over the Earth human beings are multiplying at staggering rates, threatening the human future as well as that of all other forms of life. Our struggles against global warming, against environmental degradation, and against terrorism stemming from poverty and hopelessness, are all doomed to failure unless we stabilize population and even reduce it where we can.

Unfortunately, some countries are still committed to population growth or are unwilling to

A Migration Metaphor...We Are In This Boat Together

by Evan Jones 

     We are all passengers on the “Titanic,” our Earth; migration is a wind storm buffeting the ship; border control is an umbrella.  We quickly discover that...

1. Wind is not the problem; let it blow!  Of 1.3 billion potential immigrants worldwide, fewer than 0.10% actually settle in  the US each year, even with our virtually non-existent border control.  We could save ourselves $8 billion/year in wasted INS costs, by recognizing what now exists; open borders!    National borders are becoming archaic in our time; witness  those of the European Union. 

Editorial: It's Not That Easy Being Green

How People Matter

By Muriel Strand, Co-Coordinating Editor for this issue

As I write my first BPM editorial, my mind wanders back to when I helped start the Sacramento Greens, before the Green Party, when we met in Dale Crandall-Bear’s New Society bookstore. Why the Greens? Because the integration of social and ecological sustainability is a key Green principle.

A few years later this newspaper was created Because some Sacramentans believe People Matter. People can make a difference, and people deserve consideration from others.

But how much do people matter?

Farms Not ‘Burbs

Healthy communities still more useful than sprawl

By Rick Bettis

The dedicated group of young volunteers at "Food Not Bombs" prepares and serves weekly meals to those in need. Their name makes a clear and cogent statement about the need to change our national priorities. Thinking of this organization makes me long for a "Farms Not ‘Burbs" because the history of land use in the Sacramento area has been characterized by poorly planned urban sprawl.

This development pattern is largely a result of our car culture that rapidly developed following World War II. The private automobile had made earlier inroads following Henry Ford’s invention of the assembly line, making cars affordable for many. However during the post-