I’m proud to have been the final signatory to this letter by faculty & staff to support a union for Penn State graduate students. I was one. I work with them & their families. It was emailed today. Dear President Barron, Provost Jones, and Dean Vasilatos-Younken, As you know, on February 9, the Pennsylvania Labor … More I support a graduate student union at Penn State
Today is Palm Sunday, a day when people celebrate Jesus as the Prince of Peace. While I am not a Christian, I’m joining today’s Peace Walk and praying (in my own way) that we be filled by the spirit of peace, the will to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, and to love our neighbors … More As we walk for peace today, I’m thinking about Jillian Robbins again.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about this because I knew a shooter, Jillian Robbins. Not really well. We were in math class. I remember her as a generally quiet and quirky girl who wore flannel shirts and drew pictures of faeries and magical worlds. She painted a really great mural in our school, the Delta … More What if Jillian Robbins, the HUB lawn shooter, had an AR-15?
Newsflash: Water is less bad for you than soda. Earlier this week, Nestle employees trotted out some ideas about how good bottled water is and how it’s less bad than soda. Forgive me if I’m non-plussed by the idea that the world’s largest food and beverage corporation tries to sell the public on the idea that … More Newsflash: Water is less bad for you than soda, but plastic bottles and privatized water are worse than soda. Way worse.
If you are interested in: a. the new reports about micro plastics in bottled water, b. how the new EPA is eliminating rules on toxics, c. how Neslte and other plastics-dependent beverage companies affect your daily life… you should come to the Palmer Museum of Art’s Entangled Conversations tomorrow. My old boss, Dr. Denice Wardrop, … More Water doesn’t just go into bottles. Plastics go into water. That means it goes into us.
The No to Nestle forum was held on March 14th at CPI. Thank you to the individuals who brought this together, the staff at CPI who helped them set up the meeting, and the organizations who were present: the newly-formed Concerned Citizens of Pleasant Gap, Clearwater Conservancy, Food and Water Watch, Nittany Valley Environmental Coalition, … More My remarks at the No to Nestle forum
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” ~Upton Sinclair Last night, three Nestle representatives came out to the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology to pretend to provide the public with answers about their proposed $50 million plant. Led by their natural … More There’s no blue heaven with Nestle: A rebuttal to their PR
How much of your soul are you willing to sell to make a few bucks? That’s really the question you should ask about the Nestle plant in Centre County. But it’s not the question that Nestle Waters representatives want you to consider. They’d like you, your neighbors, and your representatives in government to “soberly” weigh … More The soul of our community is not for sale
I just did a back-of-the-envelope calculation about the proposed Nestle bottling plant in Spring Township. On plastic alone it’s not pretty. Just so that you know, I’m interested in the systemic impacts and the ethical issues. So far, I’ve been looking into Nestle’s business practices (awful), what economic development should be for the region (regenerative), … More Does that sound fair? I think not Nestle.
Peter Walks for Democracy 