Thursday, February 26, 2009
Mandatory
environmental
class considered
By Lorin Mallorie
Staff Writer
LMMALLOR@UNCA.EDU
As the nation’s fresh administration
hits hard with a new environmental
agenda, students discuss the possibility
of a more aggressive policy on environ
mental education in the UNC Asheville
curriculum.
“Members of society need to be envi
ronmentally well-informed to behave in
responsible manners and to elect politi
cal leaders who will make wise decisions
that bear on our interactions with our en
vironment,” said J. William Miller, envi
ronmental studies department chair.
“Our well-being and perhaps exis
tence may depend on how we choose
to live in our earth environment,” said
Miller, who has been at the university
for 20 years.
A liberal arts school
at a public price. Mill
er said UNCA has the
strongest environ
mental studies depart
ment he’s seen in two
decades of teaching.
Collectively, the de
partment acknowl
edges the importance
of an informed public
regarding current and continually devel
oping ecological concerns.
UNCA students suggested Intro to
Environmental Science as an additional
ILS course. Currently, ENVR 130 is of
fered to all majors as a cluster course or
elective. #
Junior Georgia Frierson’s concentra
tion is environmental management and
policy. Due to continually modified re
search, propaganda and global policies,
Frierson suggested the creation of an
environmental studies class focusing on
contemporary issues instead.
Some aspects of the ENVR 130 course
may not benefit the average student’s en
vironmental awareness, she said.
Associate Provost Edward Katz sug
gested students communicate their ideas
to two faculty groups, the Faculty Senate
See environment Page 7 |
{The Blue Banner}
Page 4
J. William Miller
Ditch the car, hop on the hus
By Rhys Baker
Staff Writer
RDBAKER@UNCA.EDU
The Asheville City Transit System add
ed a park and ride shuttle to its bus service.
Free parking at Biltmore Square Mall and
Goodwill Industries on Patton Avenue will
be provided for patrons of the buses. The
service is called Hop & Ride, and its first
day of action was Feb. 14.
The Hop & Ride program is designed
to help commuters in South and West
Asheville avoid the hassles of parking and
driving in downtown Asheville, according
to the city of Asheville’s Web site.
UNC Asheville students ride city buses
for free with a UNCA One Card. A trip on
the bus costs $ 1 without an ID.
John-Carl Brew, junior and chair of Ac
tive Students for a Healthy Environment,
lives at The Grove and catches the bus
about once a week to get downtown. He
used to ride the buses more.
“I used to live in West Asheville right
by the Goodwill. If I moved back, I could
use the park and ride service, but I did live
close enough to the Goodwill to walk,”
Brew said.
The service will only be of use to
UNCA students who live in South and
West Asheville and need to commute into
town or to the other areas on the affected
buses routes.
The Hop & Ride will service bus routes
1 and 9. Each location will have 10 park
ing spaces located near a bus shelter.
The Hop & Ride for Route 1 will serve
residents of West Asheville. It arrives at
Goodwill between 25 and 30 minutes past
the hour, every hour, from 5:30 a.m. until
6:30 p.m.
The bus operates Monday through Sat
urday. It goes through Haywood Road,
West Asheville, the North Carolina Divi
sion of Motor Vehicles, Goodwill, the Hop
& Ride location, Malvern Hills and Sul
phur Springs Road.
The Hop & Ride for Route 9 will serve
residents of South Asheville. It arrives at
Biltmore Square Mall every hour on the
hour from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
The bus operates Monday through Sat
urday. It goes through Merritt Park, Cling-
man Avenue, Haywood Road, Pisgah
View Apartments, Ingles Market, Brevard
Road, the Western North Carolina Farm
er’s Market, 1-26 exit 33 Hotels and the
Biltmore Square Mall Hop & Ride.
Brew condones the use of buses be
Cassidy Culbertson - Photography Editor
Trevor Hall, 19, boards the Asheville City bus In front of Govenor's Hall.
cause he believes that mindful behavior is
necessary in the era of climate change.
“Even if riding the bus hasn’t been
proven to prevent wide scale damage to
the climate, it at least encourages the prac
tice of considering the impacts of your de
cisions,” Brew said.
The Hop & Ride increases the capac
ity of the Asheville City Transit System by
decreasing traffic in downtown Asheville.
This is great because the city of Asheville
plans to make itself into a hub of sustain
ability in the United States, according to
John Stevens, a UNCA chemistry profes
sor and the chair of the Blue Ridge Sus
tainability Institute, which has the motto,
“BCnowledge Into Action.” The BRSI’s
headquarters are in downtown Asheville.
According to Stevens, the purpose
of the BRSI is to collect and build upon
knowledge that can be used to provide
leadership for sustainable growth in West
ern North Carolina through the area’s bio
diversity and its pioneering history of eco
logical awareness and self-reliance.
The City of AsheviUe’s Web site states
that Asheville buses provide a service for
Asheville bikers in order to support more
sustainable transport options. Bikes can be
taken onto the city’s buses whenever pos
sible for no extra charge. Stevens supports
the development of bike-friendly commu
nities.
“Another interesting example of what
is happening around the world is the city
that is being built in the Middle East,
which is being designed to have a zero-
carbon footprint - this is a city that is being
designed with no vehicles being allowed.
Here in WNC we need to be more bold
in our thinking as we engage in the new
green economy,” Stevens said.
The Asheville transit system provides
24 bus routes that extend around Bun
combe County from Black Mountain and
Warren Wilson College, to Weaverville, to
the Asheville Regional Airport and to the
NCDMV.
For more information and routes
visit ashevillenc.gov