MISSION: Southwest Research and Information Center is a multi-cultural organization working to promote the health of people and communities, protect natural resources, ensure citizen participation, and secure environmental and social justice now and for future generations

Letter from the President

Welcome to Voices from the Earth. On behalf of staff and board of SRIC, we would like to express a warm thank you to Terry Tempest Williams for graciously allowing us to reprint selected essays from her new book RED. Her writing is rich and powerful and allows us to know about a place and its people through story.

In this issue we focus on a "simple" equation by Terry Tempest Williams: "place + people = politics." It is very accurate, especially with regards to issues important to me - Senator Pete Domenici's recent lifting of uranium ISL provisions in his energy bill, and why we don't want new uranium mining.

We also discuss more places, people and politics: Russian mining and its effects on their people, the rush to put hazardous waste landfills in New Mexico, and more news on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant front. In addition, we support giving a voice to our youth, as discussed in our Desert Voices/Voces del Desierto program.

With even more threats to our health and our environment springing up, your support is needed now more than ever. Please remember us as you make your end of year donations. Just fill in the coupon on the last page and mail it in with your check, or call Don or Annette at SRIC (505 262-1862) to make a credit card donation.

— LaLora Charles
President, SRIC Board of Directors