H. Patricia Hynes

H. Patricia Hynes is a retired Professor of Environmental Health from Boston University School of Public Health and current Chair of the Board of the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice. She has written and edited 7 books, among them The Recurring Silent Spring. She writes and speaks on issues of war and militarism with an emphasis on women, environment, and public health.

Articles by this author

As in past years, the Department of Defense (DOD) is allocated an increase and the lion’s share in the proposed budget (more than 60%), while every other department and agency that contributes to Americans’ daily well being is cut. (Photo: Shutterstock) Views
Wednesday, April 03, 2019
The Measure of Our Happiness
For the past seven years ago, the United Nations has issued a report titled the World Happiness Report. While this report may sound somewhat lightweight, it actually ranks countries by serious measures including income, freedom, trust in government, social support, life expectancy and how happy...
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Venezuela, like Cuba and the social democrat countries of Europe, dramatically lowered child poverty, infant mortality, illiteracy, and homelessness when compared to the wealthier US. (Photo: Franco Fasuli/Getty Images) Views
Friday, March 01, 2019
Hands off Venezuela
Hope and US Aid at the Border: the title of a recent New York Times video deodorizes the US attempt to overthrow President Maduro of socialist Venezuela and replace him with a hand-picked member of the Venezuelan elite, capitalist class. As the major media presents it, the US is altruistically...
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Sunday, June 03, 2018
JFK, the Pentagon, and Two Roads Diverged
Fifty-five years ago this weekend—on June 10, 1963—President John F. Kennedy delivered a commencement address at American University that, in fewer than 30 minutes, turned traditional national security policy on its head. Kennedy proclaimed that world peace is “the most important topic on earth…...
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Saturday, March 10, 2018
Youth, Gun Control and the Pentagon
To my astonishment, I began receiving daily news updates from the Pentagon, innocuously named the Early Bird Brief, about a month ago. One particularly perverse news brief warrants mention: the number of out-of shape and unfit youth is an imminent national security crisis— not because they matter...
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Women are the Biggest Losers: Reflecting on the War in Iraq
In the third week of December 2011, a confluence of political events profoundly affecting Iraqi and American women took place.
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Thursday, June 23, 2011
Reflections on Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan
On Wednesday June 22, President Obama announced that 10,000 US combat troops will return from the war in Afghanistan by the end of 2011 and that all troops will be withdrawn by 2014. The news is profoundly welcomed by the military families. It’s also hailed by the significant majority of Americans who do not think the war is worth fighting and the growing number of Americans who feel that the killing of bin Laden achieved the original US goal of the war.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
25 Years After Chernobyl: Lessons Learned
In the early morning of April 26, 1986, an explosion in the Chernobyl nuclear power reactor #4 released a radioactive plume which by nightfall had hurtled four miles into the atmosphere. An intense fire burned in the reactor core for ten days, continuously spewing radioactive particles and aerosols. Belarus, western Russia, and rich farmland of the Ukraine were immediately and severely contaminated.
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