Sustainable South Bronx is one of the best organizations in the city, addressing environment, health and poverty all at the same time. Here are a couple of excellent upcoming events for Sustainable South Bronx.

Happy Hour with Sustainable South Bronx
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Bruckner Bar and Grill
1 Bruckner Boulevard
Bronx, NY 10454-4411
Cost $25 in advance, includes 2 free drinks and appetizers
RSVP by March 19, 2010 at Brown Paper Tickets
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/99880
Contact: Laura Johnson Avanessian at ljohnson@ssbx.org or 646.400.5433

4th Annual Hunts Point Hustle
5K Run/ Walk Race

on the future site of the South Bronx Greenway

Saturday, May 22, 2010
9am
Hunts Point Riverside Park
Calling for Volunteers!

To volunteer, call 646.400.5432 today.

Sponsorship Opportunities! Call 646.400.5433 today for information
on a variety of sponsorship opportunities.

Not able to give right now? Ask about other ways in which you can support
the Hunts Point Hustle and Sustainable South Bronx!  read more »

Among the recent anti-science, ignorant drivel from right wing Republicans was the tirade by radio talk show host Michael Savage. In the same tirade where he showed his ignorance and insensitivity towards children with autism, Savage also attacked children with asthma:

"[W]hy was there an asthma epidemic amongst minority children? Because I'll tell you why: The children got extra welfare if they were disabled, and they got extra help in school. It was a money racket. Everyone went in and was told [fake cough], 'When the nurse looks at you, you go [fake cough], "I don't know, the dust got me." ' See, everyone had asthma from the minority community."

This is just stupid. Really literally stupid, as well as mean-spirited. There is real science out there regarding the asthma epidemic and related allergy epidemic.  read more »

Here's an interesting rundown of the polluters in Brooklyn from the Josh Skaller for City Council website. The worst polluters in Brooklyn are (not in order): Con Edison - Hudson Ave Station, Gowanus Generating Station, Kings Plaza Total Energy Plant, American Sugar Refining Inc, Brooklyn Navy Yard Cogeneration Plant. These people are poisoning our air and water. Just a reminder of how bad pollution in Brooklyn can be, let me remind you of what the Gowanus Canal looks like: (two out of five lovely pictures of the canal taken by my wife July 26th, 2008)

See the lovely phase change between the solid slick and the water? Here's what it looked like on the opposite bank:

Yes...that is a glass bottle embedded and suspended by the muck.  read more »

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists recent newsletter, the antibiotic resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that has been an increasing problem in hospitals around the world is now infecting apparently healthy schoolkids outside of hospitals. This is a major development. Up until now anti-biotic resistance was only occasionally a problem outside of hospitals (so-called community-acquired" cases). This may be changing. According to the Centers for Disease Control, MRSA was responsible for almost 19,000 US deaths in 2005.

Another part of this development is also important. Evidence from Europe indicate that the community-acquired cases of MRSA are often associated with livestock operations. This is yet further evidence that the idiotic practice of pouring massive amounts of antibiotics into the feed of healthy animals is contributing to the public health risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria that treatens our children and people with a compromised immune system.  read more »

We only have a couple of weeks left in this legislative session and rather than attempting to impress voters with a long record of accomplishment, the strategy of the Senate leadership seems to be to avoid doing much of anything. That said, it is an Albany tradition to always seem to save most of the legislative work – for better or for worse – for the last few days, so I haven't completely given up hope that we can still get some important legislation passed.

Before the session began, I outlined a number of key priorities – issues that I hoped the pressure of a hotly contested election season might prompt action on – one of which was the Healthy Teens Act (S1342). This year the bill passed the Assembly on March 17 by a vote of 130 to 14, and passed the Senate Health Committee May 20 by a vote of 13-4. This is the farthest the Healthy Teens Act has ever come in the legislative process.  read more »