Illustration by Treasure Frey (www.treasurefrey.com)
October 2005 | Evergreen News
Getting Out the Smoke (Vote)
When the smoke clears on Nov. 8, Election Day, Initiative 901 will make a lot of people happy—and a lot of people unhappy. That’s because I-901 is a hotter personal issue than the coils inside a car lighter. If it passes, I-901 calls for all public places in the state to be deemed smoke-free.
If smoke gets in your eyes—and nose, throat and psyche–vote yes on Nov. 8. I-901 would ban smoking in public places where it now is allowed, including taverns and bowling alleys. What’s more, a win will create a 25-foot no-smoking zone at business entrances and exits.
No more rushing through the smoke cloud outside your office building, Or wondering how a smoke-free restaurant adjoin the smoky bar area of the same establishment.
If passed, a long overdue action among anti-smoking activists, the initiative still technically puts Washington in the progressive forefront of eliminating the health threat of secondhand smoke. Only nine states have healthy indoor air laws, along with countries such, think about it, Italy, Ireland, India, Norway and Sweden.
Where our state looks less than cutting edge is when you consider hundreds to thousands of U.S. communities have adopted some version of clean indoor air laws.
--Andrew Mulholland
Better late than never.
I-901 takes on more urgent status here in Washington because in 2004 the Pierce County Board of Health passed an ordinance requiring all workplaces and public places in that county to be smoke-free. It was the first of its kind in the state. Yet, early this year, the Entertainment Industry Coalition filed and won a lawsuit to repeal the ordinance, arguing state law prohibits local communities from taking the smoke vote into its own hands.
I-901 is the anti-smoke answer to the lost Pierce case. It’s now up to us voters to decide on just how much smoke is too much.
--Andrew Mulholland
Music and Technology to Our Ringing Ears
Know how a song tends to stick in your head, even one you don’t like to admit you are humming to your brain synapses?
Well, new Dartmouth University research shows has determined that the auditory cortex in the brain is responsible. It passes information from the ears to the brain, including building our musical memories. Even when a song stops, our auditory cortexes can keep on “playing.” For many us, the play button can last for hours, even a whole annoying day.
An interesting note: The Dartmouth scientists found we dig into our more basic musical memories to recall instrumental songs while songs with words process through the more complex part of the auditory cortex.
In any case, keep your volume turned down lower if you are a dedicated iPod user. Researchers at Purdue University have found portable music players with headphones can lead to increased hearing loss, especially in younger individuals who like their music loud.
One reason is the iPod and its knockoffs allow for “more of a full-day listening experience, as opposed to just when you’re jogging,” says Purdue’s Robert Novak. Plus, long-lasting batteries encourage all-day listening.
Novak added that he and hearing loss colleagues are seeing too many “older ears on younger bodies.” It is not uncommon for specialists to administer to people in their 30s and 40s who report mild ear-ringing or trouble following conversations in noisy places.
A problem is “noise pollution” itself. Lots of people use iPods and the like to drown out ambient noises on the bus, train or just walking down the street.
If you are looking for a guideline, here is late 2004 research published by the Boston Children’s Hospital. Listening to a portable music player at 60 percent of its potential for one hour a day is “relatively safe.”
To that end, educators in Oregon have developed a Web-based program, www. dangerousdecibels.org, that helps provide more information on safe listening—and keeping that song from going out of your head.
—Andrew Mulholland
Compassionate Listening from Seattle to Middle East
Twenty delegates will journey through Israel and parts of Palestine to listen compassionately to people caught on both sides of the huge divide in the Middle East.
The Indianola, Wash.-based Compassionate Listening Project, from Nov. 6 to 20, is focused on bringing folks together to talk in a non-judgmental way about difficult issues.
If you are wondering, Indianola is a community tucked between Kingston and Suquamish. It happens to be one of the Northwest’s best places for watching the night sky and, evidently, promoting peace.
The November delegation starts in Jerusalem with a full day of training in compassionate listening techniques, to prepare them for visits with Israelis and Palestinians.
The plan is to encourage an airing of all of the complex feelings and issues that keep people from peace in that region, hoping this openness will lead to more opportunities for peaceful and fruitful interactions.
Leah Green, founder and executive director, has been leading delegations to this part of the world since 1990. She talked about what keeps motivating her in this work.
“When you work in a war zone, it’s typical to need to work over many years — to build trust and credibility so people come to your trainings with diverse groups of people that they never would trust to come together with,” says Green. “These people, both Israelis and Palestinians, have been my teachers in this process. Some of the most incredible peace workers are living there and doing this work their whole lives, every morning.”
Green adds “these people desperately need the support of the international community and I would feel I let them down if I stopped doing this work.”
There is still time to join this expedition, for those who have $2,300 plus airfare or who can raise those funds in time.
Eric Kuhner, administrative director, says “there are very few requirements, aside from eagerness, desire for peace, openness to others’ points of view and the ability to face the emotional challenges of a trip like this.”
Delegates have come from all over the world to gain this experience, which many have felt to be a life-changing event. For more information, visit www.compassionatelistening.org or call 360-297-2280.
–Miryam Gordon
Cycling Through Fremont Bridge Repairs
If your biking or exercise walking habits take you through Fremont, be advised that the Burke-Gilman and Ship Canal trails closed until at least the spring or summer of 2007. The city’s Transportation Department has started a project to replace roads leading to and away from the bridge.
Cyclists will be detoured to North 34th Street, where a westbound traffic lane has been shut to cars and converted to a bike lane. There is already an eastbound bike lane on North 34th.
For now, no auto traffic will be rerouted. But that time will come—as it has for the roads repair project. Those roadways were built in 1917.
New Report On Toxic Breast Milk
Seattle-based Northwest Environment Watch has teamed with the California Environmental Protection Agency to provide more disturbing but important news about contaminant levels in breast milk.
In this case, the 40 women studied were mothers from Oregon, British Columbia, Montana and Washington state.. A high level of toxic flame retardants known as PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), were discovered. The flame retardants are a sinister cousin to PCBs, a class of chemicals used in insulating fluids for electrical equipment before they were banned in the late 1970s when studies indicated they cause cancer.
The analysis of breast milk samples showed that 30 percent of the mothers tested in the Northwest study had higher levels of PBDEs than PCBs.
“The comparison with PCBs suggests that toxic flame retardants have emerged as a major environmental health concern,” said Clark Williams-Derry, research director for Northwest Environment Watch.
Some of the data from the study was originally released by Northwest Environment Watch in 2004, but the comparison of contamination levels was just completed, researchers said. Overall, the levels of PBDEs 20 to 40 times higher than levels found in women from Europe and Japan.
—Bob Condor
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