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There is a national crisis happening right now in America. It’s not the economy, or the war, or mad cow disease. It’s picnics. According to Harvard professor Robert Putnam, America is facing a national picnic crisis. Putnam says that in 1975 the average American went on five picnics. Today, the average American only goes on two. He also says that social isolation may be as big of a risk fac tor for death as smoking—it may even be bigger.

Can websites like Meetup.com help solve this problem? Can they get Howard Dean elected president?

Links:
Visit the Meetup.com website
The Official Howard Dean For America website
More on Robert Putnam’s book, Bowling Alone
Robert Putnam’s faculty page at Harvard University