It Starts Here!
Issue 28
February 6th, 2011

Exciting news:

The ISH has a new Blog! http://it-startshere.blogspot.com/
The purpose of this blog is to allow us to discuss various debatable/controversial issues without the hassle of email.
There'll still be an ISH newsletter, and it'll work the same as always (if you see something cool, fire it in to me and I'll include it in the weekly newsletter!)
Alternatively, you can join as a contributor to this blog and not just send the link to me, but also post it up yourself.
The only change is that now, the most debatable posts will be put up online in blog form, allowing everyone's comments about the same topic to be grouped in one specific place, as opposed to being spread out in various weekly ISH newsletters.
Enjoy!

Solutions:

Growing meat in the lab, to eliminate the need for factory-farming of animals? http://ca.news.yahoo.com/south-carolina-scientist-works-grow-meat-lab-20110130-070022-058.html (from Yan Y)

Yay! for the first online electronic health records in Canada: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2011/01/30/e-health-records-sunnybrook.html (From Emma T)
- Comments from YY: Electronic healthcare records made available for patients doesn't mean 1) that the patient's ENTIRE life medical records are in one place, and 2) that doctors are using those records to streamline the delivery of care and avoid unnecessary procedures... it's a good first step, but a very small first step.

New exoplanets found that are earth-sized and within a star's hospitable range!! http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110202133321.htm (from Cody O)

Debates

Can America still solve its and the world's major problems? It's a common debate these days, and here's an interesting take. What would a Wiki-leaked, Top-Secret Chinese embassy cable say about America right now? read on....
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/opinion/01friedman.html (From Yan Y)

ABOUT "IT STARTS HERE":

ISH is a member-based information resource about all things "sustainability", started in March of 2010. Our members consist of high school and university students, including IB candidates/alumni, Queen's Major Admission Award Scholars, Loran Scholars, and Canada's Top 20 Under 20 alumni.
Members (those receiving the ISH - yes you are a member!) send in whatever materials they find (links to interesting facts, news about their organizations, etc) during the course of the week, and an editor compiles the material and sends out the ISH newsletter every sunday.
As the ISH relies on member inputs, your contribution is greatly needed and always appreciated!
You're a member if you care - about the world, about sustainability issues, and about what you can do to make things better. We hope you find the information in this newsletter interesting, informative, and inspiring. Remember: change starts here. Change starts with you.