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.
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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
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