Eco-News Roundup: Friday, August 28

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Happy Friday. Here’s a sampling of what’s happening in the realms of environment, health, and science, here at motherjones.com and in the rest of the wide world:

No chains during birth: New York’s Gov. David Paterson has signed a bill banning the shackling of incarcerated pregnant women during labor and recovery.

Remembering Cash for Clunkers: The program was wildly popular, provided a modest but noticeable amount of economic stimulus, and helps reduce US oil consumption. Not bad for $3 billion.

SODIS skeptics: There’s a simple way to disinfect water in areas where lots of kids get sick and die from bad water. So why is it so hard to get people to do it?

Stimulus for stoves: The US government will spend $300 in stimulus money to reward consumers who choose energy-efficient appliances.

Africa, sans animals: Could poaching and encroaching kill of Africa’s great herds for good?

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Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

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