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Volume 43, Issue 12
Serving the University of North Carolina at Asheville since 1982
December 1, 2005
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Office Max gets heat from environmentalists
By Allie Haake
Staff Writer
Local citizens and activists
protested in front of Office Max on
Nov. 10 to demand that the nation
al office-supplier commit to a more
environmental-friendly policy.
Dogwood Alliance, a regional
environmental organization based
j in Asheville, leads the push for
Office Max to increase recycled
content of the paper they sell and
discontinue paper purchases from
endangered forests.
“There are some places that are
left that you can’t find anywhere
else in the world,” said Dogwood
Alliance Communication Director
: Scot Quaranda. “We want to make
sure those places get special pro
tection.”
Dogwood Alliance, which
works with a network of over 70
grass roots organizations, con
vinced Staples and Office Depot
' to publicly commit to a new poli
cy and hopes Office Max will
quickly follow suit, according to
Quaranda.
I “Everyday, I open up a new
j report that says our world will end
in 50 years because of global
warming or this catastrophe or
that,” Quaranda said. “We have
time to do something about it, but
we need to start taking action
-now.”
Mex Bumgardner, junior stu
dent, participated in the Office
Max protest and said protecting
the old-growth forests of the
Southeast area is more important
• than most people realize.
“Southern Appalachia is home
to one of the most ecologically
diverse areas in the world,”
Bumgardner said. “If we destroy
all these trees and forests, then we
destroy all the species that create
our food chain.”
A disrupted food chain leads to
many problems that affect the
lives of humans on a day-to-day
basis, according to Bumgardner.
“We start to see more things like
animals that don’t have predators
and who begin to come into our
lives,” Bumgardner said. “Forests
are also counterweights to carbon
dioxide build-up in the atmos
phere and prevent soil erosion.”
Photograph contributed by the Dogwood Alliance Web page
Environmental activists from Dogwood Alliance and other organizations gathered outside Office Max in Asheville to inform shoppers and by-
passers about their push for Office Max to increase recycled content of the paper they sell.
Dogwood Alliance recently
went to the source of the problem
and convinced Bowater, Inc., the
fifth largest paper producer in the
South, to stop converting natural
forests into pine plantations.
“You don’t see their name any
where. But if you pick up a news
paper, it’s usually printed on
Bowater paper,” Quaranda said.
“That was a big commitment for
them to make, and something
we’re really proud of.”
Dogwood Alliance is a positive
influence to people everywhere,
according to Bumgardner.
“They have some really great,
passionate people involved with
it,” Bumgardner said. “I’m happy
they’re out there doing something,
and hope they can teach people
they can empower themselves and
make a difference. All it takes is a
little organizing, solidarity and a
strong will to make a change.”
Dogwood Alliance Campaign
Organizer Eva Hernandez said
students and consumers play a
very important role in convincing
major corporations, such as Office
Max, to make a commitment.
“The reason we’ve been so suc
cessful with our market-based
campaigns is because we get peo
ple involved at the grass roots
level,” Hernandez said. “When
the companies we work with stall
in negotiations, we’re able to
bring them back to the table
because they’re getting negative
publicity, and that’s the last thing
they want.”
Although joining a club like the
Active Students for a Healthy
Environment is one of the best
ways to get involved, there' are
several less time-consuming ways
to help, according to Bumgardner.
“Sign a petition, quit buying
those products and tell your
friends,” Bumgardner said.
“That’s it. If you’ve done that,
you’ve contributed a whole lot.”
Doing things like recycling,
driving an energy-efficient car,
turning down the heat or inflating
the pressure on your tires are little
ways that make a big difference,
according to Quaranda.
The fastest way to let major
corporations know you want to
see a change is how you spend
your money, according to
Quaranda.
“We’re voting with every dollar
we spend,” Quaranda said. “If you
spend your dollars on good prod
ucts that are recycled, made local
ly and organic, then you’re voting
for the marketplace to be filled
with those types of products.
“We can send a message to cor
porations that it’s going to be
good for (the company’s) bottom-
line to do things the right way.”
While Dogwood Alliance is
focusing on Office Max at the
moment, there are more cam
paigns to come, according to
Hernandez.
“We’re always looking for the
next company that is causing the
most damage in this region,”
Hernandez said.
UNCA
mourns
student
death
By Melissa Dean
Staff Writer
Students and faculty voice their
sadness after the unexpected death
of Shelton Elizabeth Sanders, a
friend and fellow student.
“Our hearts and thoughts contin
ue to go out to the family,” said
Keith Ray, chair and associate pro
fessor in the heath and wellness
department. “This has been a very
difficult time for the campus com
munity and we will miss her.”
Sanders’ boyfriend found her
body in her dorm room on the
morning of Nov. 18, according to
Detective Ernie Welborn, Criminal
Investigations Division of the
Asheville Police Department.
“We do not expect foul play,”
Welborn said. “However, the
ongoing investigation is confiden
tial. It may be several months
before the release of a cause of
death.”
The university is cooperating in
whatever way is needed by the
Asheville Police Department,
according to Ray.
A memorial service was held in
memory of Sanders last Saturday
in Lumberton.
“It was at one of the biggest
churches in Lumberton and it was
packed wall to wall,” said Cole
Sigmon, of Lumberton and envi
ronmental science student. “You
could just see how much people
loved her and miss her. They
showed a slide show of her and
everyone talked about positive
memories.”
Sanders was a sophomore study
ing cellular molecular biology, but
had not decided what she wanted
to do following college, according
to Sigmon.
see Death page 81
UNCA reduces food waste
By Lisa Gillespie
Staff Writer
Table tents with the slogan,
“Project Clean Plate,” sit on
every table in the dining hall,
yet students have little knowl
edge of this program imple
mented by Chartwells to reduce
food waste and benefit the com
munity.
“It sounds like a good program,
it will give students an incentive to
cut down on food waste and others
will benefit,” said Lily Avery,
sophomore student. “I am
impressed that Chartwells is doing
|hat, however, it would be helpful
if Chartwells would explain the
program to us more than just the
tabletops.”
In the University Dining Hall,
300 pounds of waste a day is creat
ed. That means 2,100 pounds of
food is wasted each week, accord
ing to Danny Dawkins, senior
director of Dining Services.
“Our base line began last week
to make awareness, we take the
Weights of what we have and keep
a record,” Dawkins said. “If we
reduce down 20 percent, we will
donate 100 pounds of flour to the
local food bank.”
Project Clean Plate helps stu
dents reduce food waste and
actively contribute to local food
banks and hunger charities,
according to Chartwells.
“It’s a really good idea, but
sometimes I get crappy food that
• •
U
I feel like they are bribing us to
eat our food, like we are in
kindergarten again.
Andrea Robinson
freshman student
tastes bad, so I have to get more,”
said Greg Thuotte, sophomore
management student.
“If they enhanced the quality of
the food, they would probably
save more. The reward system
sounds good in theory, but some
people might just go to get one
piece of fruit, a candy bar or bottle
of water. They will probably lose
money that way,” according to
Thuotte.
Chartwells is looking for a stu
dent group to organize the project
further, according to Dawkins.
“It is one thing for me to tell stu
dents to cut down on waste, but for
other students to tell their peers to
cut down, it gets everyone
involved,” said Dawkins.
“It drives the message home. We
will be doing a catered event for
the student group when the pro
gram gets put together and is suc
cessful. We will stand by the exit
with a bottle of water or candy
bars for clean plates.”
Project Clean Plate was success
ful at UNC-Charlotte, University
of Miami, Louisiana State
University, Northeastern
University and Ohio Wesleyan
University.
“The savings that we have will
go to the local food banks,” said
Dawkins. “At lunch one day, there
were 82 pounds of waste for 1,000
students. Our goal is to make a
week by week comparison. It
gives students awareness for how
much waste we have. We did it at
UNC-C and, we saw a decrease by
26 percent.”
Students sometimes believe they
can eat as much food as they want,
according to Dawkins.
“I feel like they are bribing us to
eat our food, like we are in kinder
garten again,” said Andrea
Robinson, freshman student. “If
the food was good, we would fin
ish it. I get a plate of food, but I
know that two-thirds is going to
suck. The part that is disgusting
gets thrown away and I eat the
good parts. Perhaps it would be
better just to make the food more
appetizing.”
Project Clean Plate is a nation
wide program created by
Chartwells to make recycling and
environmental concerns initia
tives.
“We don’t want to take the cost
savings, it will go to a food
bank,” Dawkins said. “This is the
right thing to do, if you are not
doing it to make an impact on the
environment, do it for the candy
bar.”
Students travel to Columbus, Ga.
to attend annual protest against SOA
By Anna Lee
Staff Writer
Torture survivors and a rock
musician took turns reading aloud
the names of civilians who had
allegedly been killed by graduates
of the School of the Americas,
where the U.S. military trains
Latin American soldiers in count
er-insurgency tactics.
UNCA students, including soph
omore Katie Blanchard-Reid,
attended the annual protest against
the SOA just outside the gates of
Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga.,
on Nov. 18 and 19.
“People are just blindly sup
porting the U.S. military, and they
don’t realize that the people who
graduate from the School of the
Americas are going back to their
own countries and using these
brutality tactics against civilians,”
Blanchard-Reid said.
It took two hours and fifteen
minutes for all the names to be
read to the audience of 20,000,
including seven UNCA students.
“On February 21 of this year,
members of our community were
massacred, including a one-
month-old child,” said Maria
Brigida Gonzalez de Cartagena,
of the San Jose Peace Community
in Colombia. “All were cut up
into pieces.”
This massacre was allegedly
carried out by members of the
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‘ly
Photograph contributed by Anna Lee
Protesters demonstrate the brutality committed by graduates of the
School of Americas at a recent protest.
Colombian military under the
command of SOA graduate
H6ctor Jaime Fandino Rinc6n.
Carlos Mauricio, a torture sur
vivor from El Salvador, was kid
napped from his position at the
University of El Salvador in June
1983, allegedly by members of El
Salvador’s military.
“I was tortured, I was brutally
beaten and I was given no water
and no food for three days,”
Mauricio said.
Mauricio later sued El
Salvador’s 1983 minister of
defense and the director general
of the Salvadoran National Guard
for what happened to him and
others. Both men were connected
with the SOA.
Demonstrators attended the SOA
protest from all over the country.
“We think it (SOA) needs to be
closed,” said Bill Ryerson of
SEE Protest page sJ