Activist Spells Out Our Great Shame
Gus Speth, environmental lawyer, former Clinton adviser and founder of the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute, who was arrested Sunday at the White House while protesting a proposed oil pipeline, has some bad news for American optimists. (more)
Gus Speth, environmental lawyer, former Clinton adviser and founder of the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute, who was arrested Sunday at the White House while protesting a proposed oil pipeline, has some bad news for American optimists: “… Most of America’s problems will get worse or, at best, will continue to fester more or less as they currently are for the foreseeable future.”
Not convinced? Read through this list of 25 leading measures of social, environmental and economic well-being, on which the United States ranks at or near the bottom compared to 19 of its peers. — ARK
Your support matters…Gus Speth at Solutions:
To our great shame, among the 20 major advanced countries America now has
• the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children; • the greatest inequality of incomes; • the lowest government spending as a percentage of GDP on social programs for the disadvantaged;
yet accompanied by the highest
• prevalence of mental health problems; • portion of people going without health care due to cost; • consumption of antidepressants per capita;
along with …
• the lowest score on the World Economic Forum’s environmental performance index (except for Belgium), and the largest ecological footprint per capita (except for Belgium and Denmark); • the highest military spending as a portion of GDP; • and the largest prison population per capita.
Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.
You can help level the playing field. Become a member.
Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.
Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.
An interview with Johann Hari, the author of a groundbreaking new book on the roots of depression.
Antidepressants are wildly popular in the United States, where one in 10 people take them. The problem is that they sometimes cause what's called suicidal ideation -- thoughts of suicide.
England's Division of Clinical Psychology, which represents more than 10,000 practitioners, has criticized the latest edition of the field's leading diagnostic manual for its categorizing of normal behaviors -- such as shyness in children and depression after the death of a loved one -- as medical problems treatable with drugs.
A serious conversation is under way in the United States on the subject of psychiatric drugs The debate consists of three fundamental issues: first, whether antidepressants actually treat depression; second, the vast, growing body of evidence that psychotropic medications (more).
The number of Americans who are exploring the concept of better living through antidepressant chemistry nearly doubled in the decade from 1996 to 2005, according to a study published in Archives of General Psychiatry -- and that was well before the economic meltdown.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.