Once branded a coward, he fights for PTSD victims, originally from the Associated Press and discovered via Yahoo News. Report of one man's fight to overcome his own stigmatization by the US military and his passion in now fighting for the rights of other US soldiers struggling to get their needs met. Combat related mental illness is something that I'm extremely interested and passionate about, especially when I think of the millions of Afghan and Iraqi War Veterans and the history of our nation's inability to take care of the Vietnam veterans that we have/had. The VA system is already extremely overburdened and we will have millions more who are technically eligible for services. Since mental health still isn't held at the same importance of physical illness and so much stigmatization of PTSD/anxiety still occurs within our nation (especially in the military), its a true shame to feel that so many individuals who need assistance may never be able or willing to get it. And it's my belief (and some research demonstrates) that alcoholism and drug use are ways to self-medicate underlaying mental illness. The two hand-in-hand create a major issue for our struggling veterans.....and is something I see even within clients I currently work with now. A large majority of the homeless males that I interacted with in Portland were US Veterans--what a way to support the men (and women) who offered their lives for our country and our safety.
Washed Up Whale Found with Gallons of our Garbage in its Guts presented by Treehugger. Need further proof of why the plastic swirls in the Pacific and Atlantic are having negative effects on our marine life? Don't forget that plastic breaks down, gets eaten and accumulated in the tissues of our fish, and then passed on to us....
Alright so I know two isn't a lot, but this summarizes my thoughts from this week too. Soldiers and Earth Day. :) There was so much information out there on April 22nd, but most of it was stuff that has been discussed in the blog world about eco stuff, and truthfully it was an extremely busy work week so I didn't have as much time to follow newsworthy info!
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