2
MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2004
Energy group propels action
BY LAUREN HARRIS
AND JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ
STAFF WRITERS
Members of UNC-Chapel Hill’s
Green Energy Campaign are trying
to start an energy conservation
movement throughout the
Southeast —one pedal at a time.
On Thursday, members of the
group gathered in Polk Place for
“Fossil Fools Day” and presented a
display that included two bicycles
hooked up to devices that allowed
energy to be directed to power
radios, hair-dryers, incandescent
light bulbs and fluorescent bulbs as
riders pedaled.
Students observed the signifi
cantly smaller amount of energy
required to fuel fluorescent bulbs,
which Green Energy members
advocate using.
Liz Veazey, founder of the Green
Energy Campaign, and Charlie
Anderson, chairman of student
government’s Renewable Energy
Special Projects Committee, said
they hope these types of events will
foster student interest.
“We’re putting energy out to
prove to people that it is viable and
useful right now,” Anderson said.
The group also has sparked
interest at schools across the state
and has reached students from
Texas to Florida.
Almost 200 students from more
than 40 schools gathered in
Durham and Chapel Hill this
weekend for the Southeast Student
Renewable Energy Conference.
Veazey said she was excited by
the large attendance and the
potential for sweeping change in
the way both universities and
states use energy. “A lot of (the stu
dents) were just exploring different
options and different things,” she
said. “A lot of them are really excit
ed about going to their schools and
DTH team earns award for investigative work
STAFF REPORT
A six-part series produced by
The Daily Tar Heel received the top
award for student work Thursday
from a national investigative
reporting organization.
“Raising the Cap,” a comprehen
sive series that examined aspects of
UNC-Chapel Hill’s plan to increase
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starting a campaign.”
Last year, students at UNC-CH
passed a referendum to increase
student fees by $4 per semester to
establish a Green Energy Fund. The
fund, which takes effect next year,
will be used initially to install solar
panels on Morrison Residence Hall.
Veazey said that UNC-CH has
set an example for other schools in
the Southeast. “UNC(-CH) was one
of the first in the Southeast to mobi
lize student initiative and raise stu
dent fees,” she said. “We have cat
alyzed the movement.”
She said that in addition to
spreading interest, the conference
also united students from state
schools who want to pursue green
energy legislation at the state level.
“I feel like this conference real
ly helped bring together a network
and a cohesion in the Southeast,”
she said. “There’s a lot of excite
ment about working together with
North Carolina schools and push
ing for policy initiatives.”
She said such initiatives could
include renewable portfolio stan
dards, which mandate that a per
centage of the state’s energy sources
are renewable. Some schools in the
Southeast already have implement
ed renewable energy.
In March, Appalachian State
University passed a green energy
referendum and increased student
activity fees by $5. Veazey said
UNC-CH officials pushed ASU to
start their own campaign.
“They hope that (their cam
paign) will be similar to our cam
paign,” she said.
The University of Tennessee-
Knoxville increased student fees
$8 for renewable energy, and The
University of the South at Sewanee
also in Tennessee wants to require
that 5 percent of its energy be
renewable.
enrollment of out-of-state students,
was recognized by Investigative
Reporters and Editors Inc., for
using computer-assisted reporting,
public records laws and in-depth
interviews to increase the level of
debate about the issue.
A vote on the issue was ulti
mately tabled by the UNC-system
>„ -v. \ H
DTH/KIMBERLY CRAVEN
Senior Matt Kirk (left) rides a stationary bike in Polk Place on Thursday
to generate energy to run a fan, a light and the radio being held.
Anderson said other schools
have been inspired by the UNC
CH’s initiatives to the point where
they have surpassed them.
“We’ve set the tone for these
projects, but now that other
schools know what they’re doing,
Board of Governors.
The series, which ran Oct. 6
through Oct. 9, was produced by
the DTH’s Projects Team.
The IRE awarded the certificate
to DTH staff members John Frank,
Jamie Dougher, Matt Hanson, Joe
Rauch and Lynne Shallcross.
Projects Team member Suzanne
News
they’re doing better than us,” he
said, naming schools in the
Northeast. “It’s spreading around
the country so quickly.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
Presto also contributed to the series.
“Winning this award, especially
in the first year that the DTH
entered, is amazing,” said Frank,
the Projects Team Editor. “The
staff worked hard, and they
deserve it. But what I’m most
proud of is how much the series
contributed to deliberations.”
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Some cure ills
with home fixes
BY MEGHAN GAMBLING
STAFF WRITER
When UNC junior Sarah
Desforge, a resident of Asheville,
was diagnosed with stage two cer
vical cancer last winter, her
boyfriend’s mother encouraged her
to supplement traditional medical
care with alternative health reme
dies.
Shortly after her diagnosis,
Desforge visited General Nutrition
Centers and left with a slew of
products that were supposed to
help her body fight cancer.
In addition to cryogenics and
surgery, Desforge uses products
such as lycopene pills, green tea,
folic acid and noni juice to aid in
her battle against cancer.
Now, almost four months later,
the cancer is gone, and Desforge
said her alternative medicines have
helped her stay healthy.
Although Desforge was pleased,
she said doctors were not support
ive of her quest for alternatives to
prescribed treatments. “The advice
doctors give you is that the health
ier you are, the better your body
can fight cancer,” she said. “This
stuff makes you healthier.”
While Desforge relied mostly on
GNC for alternative medical treat
ment, a recent study conducted by
researchers at Wake Forest
University and UNC concluded
that nearly 46 percent of people in
rural western North Carolina use
home remedies to treat various
medical conditions.
In 1999, researchers inter
viewed 1,059 adults in 12 rural
western counties about access to
and use of health care resources.
The findings are published in the
current issue of Complementary
Health Practice Review.
“These rates are not surprising,”
said Thomas Arcury, professor and
research director for the
Department of Family and
Community Medicine at Wake
Forest.
“Home remedies are widely used
everywhere. They are just not being
well documented,” said Arcury, who
helped conduct the research.
The study, “Complementary and
Alternative Medicine Use Among
Rural Residents in Western North
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Carolina,” was part of a larger study
examining whether or not geogra
phy plays a role in people’s access to
more convenient health care.
The study looked at health care
usage specifically in counties west
of Asheville and was intended to
document what alternative thera
pies people use and why.
“We found about 238 different
home remedies,” said John Preisser,
who also helped conduct the study
and serves as a professor in UNC’s
Department of Biostatistics. “We
had to classify each one.”
According to the study, the most
common at-home remedy falls into
the honey-lemon-vinegar-whiskey
category.
“Many students can relate to the
use of home remedies,” Preisser
said. “Using honey in tea, vitamin
C for colds. Talk to people; every
one does it.”
Other remedies included tur
pentine and gasoline or the use of
kerosene taken orally to treat a
cough. Desforge said the noni juice
she drinks is supposed to help
rebuild damaged cells and is good
for a cold or any type of sickness.
But while nearly half of the peo
ple in the study relied on home
remedies, most of them also
sought professional medical treat
ment when necessary.
“All evidence suggests the use of
regular health care,” said Arcury,
who ascertained that while the
study only included parts of west
ern North Carolina, it was indica
tive of a widespread use of at-home
remedies across the state.
“We learn them as children and
don’t think of them as anything
different. It’s part of our culture,”
he said. “People are very creative in
trying to take care of their health.”
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
®ljp ©ar Hppl
P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Elyse Ashbum, Editor, 962-4086
Advertising & Business, 962-1163
News, Features, Sports, 962-0245
One copy per person; additional copies may be
purchased at The Daily Tar Heel for $25 each.
Q 2004 DTH Publishing Corp.
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