CONTACTING US
NEWSROOM:
(541)346-5511
E-MAIL:
j ode@oregon. uoregon edu
ADDRESS:
Oregon Daily Emerald
P.0. BOX 3159
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Perspectives
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Holly Sanders
Solving global warming requires
government to be part of team
Help Wanted: Intelligent
consumers needed to save
the planet while powerful
governments try to destroy
it.
Sound like something from an OS
PIRG or Students for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals pamphlet? It’s
not. The U.S. government actually
sent this call for help, if not in so
many words.
The White House issued this mes
sage after a U.S. Department of Ener
gy report last week found a sharp in
crease in industrial pollution in
1996. While President Clinton
played with voting polls and Paula
Jones, greenhouse emissions rose in
Jonas
Allen
one year nearly half
as much as they had
the previous six
years.
Apparently, U.S.
industry grew out of
its britches in 1996.
Oddly enough, it
dirtied them along
the way.
Carbon dioxide
released by U.S. in
dustries was ol ma
jor concern to the energy department.
But according to Associated Press re
ports, White House advisers felt a cut
in emissions would hurt the econo
my. Rather than take responsibility
for their industrial mess, government
officials immediately contacted the
nation’s on-call diaper service — tax
payers.
One day after the pollution report,
government-funded researchers from
the Arthur D. Little Company an
nounced a sudden breakthrough in
automotive technology. The firm
claimed they had made a small, elec
tric fuel cell that used gasoline to
recharge itself, got double the gas
mileage of current automobiles and,
coincidentally, could make a car “vir
tually pollution free.”
This announcement was the gov
ernment’s discreet version of a “help
wanted.”
See, Arthur D. Little’s environ
ment-friendly toy can only succeed if
consumers show an interest in it, and
the government knows that. The gov
ernment also knows it doesn’t want
to help the other boys and girls clean
Industry and the White
House can 7 expect
consumers to save the
environment by themselves
up the mess. As a result, efforts to
push the new technology were fast
and furious as U.S. industry tried to
divert the flood of environmental
guilt onto the public.
The White House also had interest
in the fuel cell's promotion and suc
cess.
The energy department report
doomed Clinton’s 1992 proposal to
curb greenhouse emissions by the
year 2000. As a result, a recent
speech to the National Geographic
Society revealed the president’s new
goal for lower emissions. The AP said
Clinton’s target year is now around
2010, more than two years after
Arthur D. Little expects its new fuel
cell to be common in U.S. automo
biles.
Coincidence? It’s doubtful.
According to AP reports, White
House advisers, reeling from the en
ergy department’s attack on industry,
hailed the fuel cell as “real evidence
of President Clinton’s belief that we
can develop new, clean technologies
that help our economy and our envi
ronment at the same time.”
Quick translation: “We made at
mospheric mud pie, but we still have
environmental goals. Buy our fuel
cell and reduce emissions by 2010 so
our industries won’t have to.”
Not surprisingly, the fuel cell was
partially a government project.
Arthur D. Little did its research in
conjunction with a government
weapons lab.
The fuel cell uses gasoline to
recharge its electric battery, then re
leases half the amount of carbon
dioxide of internal combustion en
gines.
Gregory Bothun, a physics profes
sor at the University, described the
new fuel cell as “much friendlier to
the environment."
That’s exactly what the govern
ment wants.
What the government doesn’t want
is to take the initiative and curb
greenhouse emissions. It passes that
responsibility onto the consumer. It
also doesn’t want to admit that the
new engine doesn’t solve our depen
dence on fossil fuels; it just uses them
at a slower rate.
No matter how fast we use natural
resources, someday they’ll be gone.
If U.S. industry isn't hit with emis
sions limits, the only resource we’ll
have is gas. And not the natural type.
The White House staff doesn’t
seem to realize there is no “I” in “T-E
A-M.” Consumers can’t, and should
n’t, be held solely responsible for
cleaning up industrial pollution. We
are in this mess together, government
included. Meeting Clinton’s new
emissions goals needs to be a group
effort.
You’d think after all these games,
U.S. officials would’ve learned how
to share.
Jonas Allen is a columnist for the Emer
ald. His work appears on alternate Fri
days. His views do not necessarily repre
sent those of the Emerald.
Drawing
GO P loots TO
OVERHAUL THE
IRS.
Clinton tools, 10
OVERHAUL THE
IRK
1
..TORA!
TORA'
TORA!
Thumbs
1/
To coverage of the
IACP report:
The report has
been cited by The
Register-Guard and
the Eugene City
Council as somehow
vindicating police
behavior in the June
1 protest. While the
report did generally
side with the police,
its focus was far too
narrow to be consid
ered a validation of
police actions. First,
the report only con
sidered the official
procedures for deal
ing with conflict situ
ations, rather than
thd specific actions
police took on June
1. Second, the re
port found several
flaws in police pro
cedures, despite the
general approval of
regulations. Rnaily,
the report was from
a police group—
hardly an unbiased
agency. The real vin
dication of the po
lice, if it comes, will
be when an indepen
aeni Doara consia
ers the specific ac
tions taken by
individual officers. If,
after listening to tes
timony from pro
testers, officers and
third-party ob
servers, the Eugene
police are found to
have acted appropri
ately, then The Reg
ister-Guard and the
city can exalt in the
legitimization of
their methods of
control. Unfortu
nately, the police
have refused to co
operate with the cur
rent investigation,
complaining that
they have been
screwed over by
management and
city officials. Still,
the official investiga
tion will conclude in
a matter of weeks.
Until then, there is
no reason to declare
the police depart
ment vindicated.
The caption of
the photo for the
design charette
(ODE, Oct. 30) was
incorrect. It should
have said the event
took place in 206
Lawrence Hall. The
Emerald regrets
the error.