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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2000)
Stand up for Earth through Internet This planet has some big problems. The atmosphere is getting warmer, and extreme weather events are increasing. More species and ecosystems are threatened now than during any other time since the dinosaurs. The frontiers of biotechnology and genetic engineering are pushing forward at a fantastic pace, but there is no real way to know what unintended conse quences there may be. Our land is being gobbled up at a ferocious rate, and as we spread out, we buy more cars, pave over more open lands and put more pollutants into the air and water. And still, these environmental threats are not at the top of the news. They aren’t on the lips of candidates, and they aren’t on the forefront of voters’ minds. Why? It’s partly because many folks believe it is a problem for the government to solve. Mostly, how ever, it is because the problems and the decision makers in indus try and commerce who could ad dress them seem so very remote and out of reach to influence. There are many simple, cheap, practical and efficient environ CpMMENTARY Erin Pursell mental solutions out there, but time is running out. We must take immediate, corrective actions to safeguard the global environ ment, and we can’t count on the government to solve the problem. Students can solve this prob lem by joining together in ecopledge.com, a campaign to identify leading companies in all major sectors of the economy and asking them to take specific, fea sible and economically sound ac tions to protect the environment in the long run. As individual companies agree to be “eco-lead ers,” responding to the direct voice of consumers, investors and job-seekers, other compa nies, no longer at the short-term disadvantage, will follow. This Earth Week, students at the University have the chance to pro mote long-term solutions to pro tect the environment. The Univer sity is one of 150 campuses across the country that is joining the ecopledge.com campaign, asking companies to take simple steps that do something in the long run. According to ecopledge.com, there are two companies that have refused to take a step to pro tect the environment, Coca-Cola and BP Amoco. During Earth Week, 75,000 stu dents will take the pledge to make sure that Coke starts using recycled materials in their plastic bottles and that BP Amoco stops its plans to drill in the Arctic Na tional Wildlife Refuge, according to ecopledge.com. The threat of students refusing their employment to these com panies scares employers. In six short months, this campaign has proven to work. Ecopledge.com already pushed Ford and General Motors to pull out of the Global Climate Coalition. Ecopledge.com will make these companies do the right thing, too, but we’ll need your help. Take the pledge right now, online at www.ecopledge.com, send this Web site to friends. We’re taking the environment by storm, one company at a time. Erin Pursell is the OSPIRG chapter chair. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the paper. THE FEARS CLAUSTROPHOBIA (FEAR OF ENCLOSEt> SPACES). I ACHLUOPMOBM (Fg4R OF THF D4RK) #35 THE ADVENTURES OF SKuity &y WILLIAM MORTON ELVIS sm YOUNG SKULLY ELVIS. t #26 Bonny Bettman is endorsed by: Organizations Campus Green Party Oregon League of Conservation Voters Oregon Natural Resources Council Sierra Club Elected Officials Bill Dwyer Gary Rayor David Kelly Peter Sorenson Scott Meisner Betty Taylor Floyd Prozanski Members of the Campus Community John Baldwin Jerry Berk Shawn Boles Howard Bonnett Tom Bowerman Suzanne Clark Paul Engelking Joan Fariel Eben Fodor Linda Fuller Jerome Grzybowski Chuck Hunt Robert Long Greg McLauchlan Sandi Morgen Robert O’Brien Chris O’Conner Paul Prew Cheyney Ryan Nathan Tublitz Ray Wolfe Authorized and Paid for by Bonny Bettman for City Council Little Caesars Saturday & Sunday 1711 Willamette (next to Blockbuster) 343-3330 Advertise your events in the Oregon Daily Emerald. We have special university rates.Call 346-3712 P.O.Box 3159. Eugene OR 97403 The Oregon Daily Emerald is published daily Mon day through Friday during the school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. A member of the Associated Press, the Emerald operates inde pendently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. NEWSROOM — (541H46-5511 Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz Managing Editor: jack Clifford Community: Sara Lieberth, editor. Andrew Adams, Darren Free man, reporters. Freelance: Eric Pfeiffer, editor. Higher Education: Ben Romano, editor. Adam Jude, Serena Mark strom, reporters. Perspectives: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas, editors. Jonathan Gruber, Beata Mostafavi, Whit Sheppard, Mason West, columnists. Pulse: Jessica Blanchard, editor. Rory Carroll, Joe Walsh, reporters Student Activities: Jeremy Lang, editor. Emily Gust, Simone Ripke, Lisa Toth, reporters. Sports: Mirjam Swanson, editor. Matt O’Neill, Scott Pesznecker, Jeff Smith, reporter*. News Aide: Lorraine-Michelle Faust. Copy: Monica Hande, Molly Egan, copy chiefs. Jonathan Allen, Michael Kleckner, Tom Patterson, EricQualheim, Heather Rayhorn, Jamie Thomas, copy editors. Photo: Catharine Kendall,editor. Kevin Calame, Azle Malinao-Al varez, Ryan Starkweather, photographers. Hiroshi Nakamura, Katie Nesse, Tom Patterson, Lindsey Walker, photo technicians. Design: Katie Nesse, editor. Katie Miller, Melissa O’Connell, Russ Weller, designers. Bryan Dixon, Giovanni Salimena, illustrators. On-line: Jake Ortman, editor. Timur Insepov, webmaster ADVERTISING — (541) 346-3712 Becky Merchant, director. Melissa O’Connell, Van Nguyen, advertis ing assistants. Rachelle Bowden, Doug Hentges, Nicole Hubbard, jesse Long, Adam Rice, Amy Ruppert, Hillary Shultz, Chad Verly, Emily Wallace, Lisa Wood, advertising sales representatives. CLASSIFIEDS — (541) 346-4VK Trina Shanaman, manager. Erin Gauthier, Lauren Howry, Tara Rothermel.sfojy. BUSINESS — (541)346-5512 Judy Riedl, general manager. Kathy Carbone, business supervisor. Sarah Goracke, receptionist. Il-ju Chang, John Long, Sue Ryan, Gretchen Simmons, distribution. PRODUCTION — (541) S46-4S81 Michele Ross, manager. Tara Sloan,coordinator. Laura Lucas, Katie Nesse, Melissa O'Connell, Laura Paz, Ross Ward, ad designers.
