ENVIRONMENT NEWS Fekimry 16,2§05 1
Students meet with environmental organizations at
SURGE conference
PIPER PETROCEIXI
Contributing Writer
On February 5, students
came together along with
131 local, national, and in
ternational organizations to
discuss the state of the world.
SURGE (Students United
for a Responsible Global
Environment) coordinated
the event on the UNC Cha
pel Hill campus, but also had
participation from other col
leges and universities such
as Meredith College, Wajfen
Wilson College in Asheville,
NCSU, Duke University,
and Appalachian State. This
massive conference was an
attempt to bring thinking
students up to speed on the
activities of organizations
that represent sustainability.
Many people began to
recognize the obvious sev-
a^Q:. .The wgy?. in
which we use the earth and
the people on it is not sus
tainable, now or into the
future. SURGE recognizes
that building sustainable
healthy communities starts
at home, but doesn’t end at
the county line. The global
impacts we have on human
ity and on the environment
outside of the continental
United States, are inextrica
bly linked to our day to day
consumption of resources.
Workshops, films, and semi
nars focused on the intercon
nectedness of the globe and
the social condition of the
people that live on it. Work
shops brought together rep
resentatives of organizations
to present the latest news and
views from various fields of
interest, such as: Develop
ing renewable energy sourc
es, establishing a fair trade
agenda, clean transportation,
sustainable agriculture, the
future in Palestine, Israel,
and Iraq, balance and accu
racy in journalism, womens’
rights in the 21st centiuy,
oi^anic agriculture and pes
ticides, and students build
ing sustainable campuses.
^Oiu" massive per person
consumption of everything
frtjm gasoline to groceries
drains resources from what
ever we touch. We know
that we consume oil, and
that we are at the mercy of
oil producing countries in
regards to how much money
they choose to make on our
consumption. Oil is a nasty
business frt>m start to finish.
Pulling it out of the earth
destroys the environment it
came from. Tankers splash
their poison from one end of
the globe to the other, kill
ing countless animals on the
way to its destination. Oil
processing and turning it
into gasoline pollutes the ar
eas for miles around storage
facilities, and it is no surprise
that nothing, plant or animal,
survives near these process
ing tanks. We bum these fos
sil fuels and warm the globe,
and we call this living.
Making our environmental
resources sustainable has ac
tually become do-able. The
speakers and presenters from
multiple organizations cel
ebrated the good news about
sustainable energy projects
here in North Carolina and
across the coimtry. Chapel
Hill’s Million Solar Roofs,
Southern Energy Manage
ment, and NC W.A.R.N.
elaborated on the huge suc
cess of new photo-voltaic
panels that are powering lo
cal buildings and businesses.
Students from UNC Chapel
Hill and Duke University are
riding local buses using the
bio-diesel that they helped
develop, and NCSU is not
far behind. People driving
hybrid cars present one of
the best arguments for sus
tainable technologies: sav
ing enei^ saves not only
the environments we live
in. It also saves us money
that we would have given
away to the fossil producers.
People who recognize a
lack of sustainability also
recognize that our consump
tion is not limited to oil. Ox-
fam, the Institute for South
ern Studies, the Carolina
Farm Stewardship Council
and countless other organiza
tions brought the latest infor
mation to light on the status
of issues such as social jus
tice, globalization, sustain
able and organic agriculture.
Students from Warren
Wilson College spoke of the
environmental leadership
approach they have taken
to making their campus sus
tainable. Their EcoDorm is a
state of the art architectural
triumph. Resources used to
build the new dorm incorpo
rated sustainable materials,
and the students living in the
dorm are committed to shar
ing their successes. Using
natural light through walls
of windows, collecting rain
water, and using sustainable
materials and technologies
have made their EcoDorm
a living example of what
can be done well, and done
right when students put their
minds to it. State schools and
universities such as UNC
and NCSU have adopted
sustainability coordinators,
and have seen enormous cost
savings by implementing
sustainable technology ideas
on campus. Duke University
has saved so much money
that they have put flieir sus
tainability coordinator, a re
cent Duke gradxiate, on the
university payroll. Univer
sities and businesses have
begun to realize that energy
independence is an invest
ment with a future. Whereas
sustainable technologies
payoff in the present tense
while investing in our future,
fossil fuels are being seen
for what they are represent
for the future - dinosaurs.
Mock
Interviews
Tuesday, February 22
9 a.m until 4 p.m.
Career Center
Employers say, ‘^students need to be pre
pared for the interview process.” Practice
your interviewing sills with a human re
source professional from local business or
industry. Limited space available. Call the
Career Center to reserve your 1-hour slot.
Contact Phone: 760-8341
YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO FAR TO FIND THE SUN
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2 .Weeks Ujitonited
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Oak Park Shopping Center ■* OQTQ^
. 520feA Holly Ridge Dr' V /‘''V
Raleii, k 2^12 ^ ^
Pfione: 781-4064 Ofto Good thruilarch 31,2005