Rx: save the old-growth forests

Pet owners have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels than non-pet-owners and recover more quickly from surgery, according to a recent article by physician Howard Frumkin in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Frumkin also cites studies which indicate that gardening promotes mental health and reduces violence in prisons and other institutions; viewing natural landscapes reduces fear, anger and the incidence of headaches; and that wilderness experiences are therapeutic for psychiatric patients, emotionally disturbed children and adolescents, bereaved people, rape and incest survivors, patients with cancer and end-stage renal disease, post-traumatic distress syndrome and addiction disorders.

Frumkin, a doctor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Emory University, writes that this evidence supports John Muir’s declaration that "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."

In a commentary on Frumkin’s article, Harvard zoologist Edward Wilson writes that "the engagement of the new forms of preventive medicine envisioned in Frumkin’s essay will be welcomed by environmentalists for much the same reason that the intervention of physicians in peacemaking and the care of refugees has been rewarded by two Nobel Peace Prizes, thus far. One of the principal goals of environmental thinkers today is the formulation of a sound conservation ethic grounded in the deep psychological and spiritual needs of human beings. Dr. Frumkin has shown, among his other enlightenments in this essay, why it is wiser, for example, to save the last of the rich old-growth forests in the permanent service of preventive medicine than to cut them down for the short-term purchase of more pharmaceuticals."

Fundamentalism
and globalization

Religious fundamentalism can be a reaction to globalization, Indian author Arundhati Roy said in an interview with The Progressive (4/01). "Indian intellectuals today feel radical when they condemn fundamentalism, but not many people are talking about the links between privatization, globalization and fundamentalism. Globalization suits the Indian elite to a ‘T.’ Fundamentalism doesn’t. It’s also a class problem. When people stop some film from being shot or burn a book, it’s not just that they are saying, this is against Indian culture. They are also saying, you Westernized, elite, English-speaking people are having too much of a good time."

Navigating like a man

Erin Swenson, an ordained Presbyterian minister who chose to undergo male-to-female sex-change procedures, writes in The Other Side (5-6/01) about experiencing patriarchy in a new way.

"In spite of ourselves, many – perhaps all – of us continue to hold the status of men above the status of women," Swenson writes. "Nothing has illuminated this for me more than my own transition from the social role of male to female. During the first few months after I began living full-time as a female, I had a problem bumping into people. At first I thought it was simply a kind of emotional dizziness that had come from finally allowing myself full expression of my true identity. But I began to notice that my collisions were almost exclusively with men.

"It took much self-analysis before I realized that men and women navigate public spaces differently. Men tend to walk directly toward their destination, and women tend toward the more circuitous routes. I realized suddenly one day, after another such collision (again with a man), that men take precedence over women in public space. The same man who might hold open a door for me in one situation would walk right into me on the sidewalk. I realized that men have the right of way! Having navigated most of my life as a man, I simply was navigating like a man in public while men were expecting me to navigate like a woman. Hence we collided!"

Death penalty COs

The newsletter of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund reports that a member of the Illinois legislature has introduced a bill that would extend conscientious objector status to death-penalty opponents.

"The legislation would call on the state to redirect income taxes paid by people who hold religious, ethical or moral objections to the death penalty by putting the money into the common school fund. Arguments against the measure make points that are familiar to those of us who lobby for the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill: It would be too costly to carry out; the Illinois Department of Revenue cannot assume the unusual duty of certifying a person as a capital punishment objector; it can be very difficult to determine the sincerity of someone’s belief; it would set a precedent that could open the door for other groups to set their own priorities for how they would like their income taxes spent.

"Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw, the bill’s sponsor, says, ‘The proposal does not call for the objectors to pay less in taxes but gives them the comfort that taxes they do pay will be spent on something else.’"

"Erasing the life of a fellow human being is an issue of greater moral magnitude than other issues and so stands separate from others," the Peace Tax Fund newsletter adds.

‘Torture trade’

An Amnesty International report on the "torture trade" provides "numerous examples of U.S. products being used by torturers overseas, as well as in the U.S.," Multinational Monitor (4/01) reports. "Amnesty has compiled a list of more than 80 U.S. manufacturers and suppliers of electro-shock weapons and restraints.

"Amnesty International is urging the U.S. and other governments to ban the use, manufacture, promotion and trade of police and security equipment whose use is inherently cruel, inhumane or degrading. The group includes leg irons, electro-shock stun belts and inherently painful devices such as serrated thumbcuffs in this category. Amnesty is also calling for a suspension of trade in equipment that has shown a substantial risk of abuse or unwarranted injury, including legcuffs, thumbcuffs, restraint chairs and pepper gas weapons."

‘Jazz funeral’

Soulforce, an interfaith network of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals and their families, protested anti-gay Southern Baptist teaching at the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans, La., in June. The protest culminated in a jazz funeral procession carrying a coffin filled with letters from and about those who have been hurt by Southern Baptist teaching. Supporters tried to take the coffin into the Superdome, but were stopped by police and ordered to leave. Thirty-four people were arrested and charged with trespassing.

Volunteer opportunities

The Commission on Voluntary Service and Action’s new 2001 catalog of volunteer opportunities, Invest Yourself is now available. It lists over 200 non-government agencies that seek volunteers. CVSA, P.O. Box 117, New York, NY 10009; 718-638-8487. l