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mpn r\ I 1 Oregon Daily Emerald Monday, May 16, 2005 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 |EN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR JARED PABEN AYISHA YAMYA NEWS EDITORS MEGHANN CUNIFF PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTERS MORIAH BAI.INGIT ADAM CHERRY BRITTNI McCLENAHAN EMILY SMITH EVA SYLWESTER SHELDON TRAVER NEWS REPORTERS C1AYION JONES sRorts editor JON ROEFMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR AMY LICHTY SENIOR PULSE REPORTER JOSHUA LINTEREUR PULSE REPORTER * CAT BALDWIN JOHN PALMER PULSE CARTOONISTS AILEE SLATER COMMENTARY EDITOR GABE BRADLEY ANNEMARIE KNEPPER CHUCK SLOTHOWF.R JENNIFER MCBRIDE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR IAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHERS KATE HORTON ZANERITI PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHERS BRET FURTWANCLER GRAPHIC ARTIST DUSTIN REESE SENIOR DESIGNER ELLIOTT ASBURY WENDY KIEFFF.R AMANDA LEE JONAH SCHROG1N DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY JFANNIE EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD JOSH NORRIS SPORTS COPY EDITORS GREG BIIS1AND AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS JENNY GERW1CK PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR WEBMASTER (541)346-5511 JUDYRIEDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY C ARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER IAUNA l)E GIUST1 RECEPTIONIST IERED NAGEL PATRICK SCHMLRBER HOLLY STEIN I ANA SWANSON ROB WEGNER CAROLYN ZIMMERMAN DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541)346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER MAT! BETZ HERON CAIJSCH-DOLEN MEGAN HAMLIN KATE HIRONAKA MAEGAN KASER-LEE KELLEE KAUFTHEIL MIA LE1DELMEYER SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES CLASSIFIED (541)3464343 TRINASHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KORA1YNN BASHAM ANDO KATY GAGNON KER1 SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541) 3464381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA CinAN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR |EN CRAM LET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT SABRINA GOWETTE IONAH SCHROGIN DESIGNERS The Oregon Daily Emerald is pu6 lished daily Monday through Fri day dunng the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Ore gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. Bret Furtwangler | Graphic artist ■ In my opinion A ‘peak’ into oil’s future In the last few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about Peak Oil. Peak Oil means the rate of oil production in re lation to consumer need reaches the highest it will ever be, and if con sumers want oil, it can be obtained easily and for a relatively low cost. Every second after Peak Oil is another second that our world’s capacity for oil production is shrinking; it’s like reaching the top of a bell curve — the only place to go is down. Although estimates vary, most re cent studies agree that the world will see a global oil peak by the year 2020 at the latest. This means that in fewer than 15 years, after the peak, oil just won’t cut it. Rapidly declining supply will lead to high and unstable oil prices; not to mention that in a na tion that depends on oil to fuel its economy, almost every facet of life in the United States will be affected by peak oil. Republicans and Democrats sit around and whine that the world’s energy crisis is based on botched for eign relations or touchy emotions over drilling sites. The truth of the matter is much simpler than that. It’s not Saudi Arabia’s fault, nor is it staunch environmentalists who protest drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oil is a limited natu ral resource, and neither humans nor their demand for oil is decreasing. The time has come to take a world wide step back and stop blaming our energy problems on everyone except ourselves, the people who have been trained to depend on a resource that by definition cannot sustain itself. One solution to diminishing oil that recently has come forward is nuclear power. In some ways, nuclear energy seems like just the silver bullet we’ve been searching for; It’s powerful, releases fewer greenhouse gases -— —T.:„ _ AILEE SLATER FURTHER FROM PERFECTION than fossil fuels and has been in development for years. However, the problems associated with nuclear power are surprisingly numerous. Nuclear power still generates a large amount of carbon dioxide and doesn’t make substantial ly lessen climate change, as some supporters claim. Another set of issues comes with the extremely high cost of building and maintaining nuclear power plants. Most important, a crack in a nuclear energy facility is not just an inconvenience, it is a serious threat to the surrounding population. And, speaking of threats, how about the re sulting nuclear waste from power plants? Besides the conspiracy theo rist fear that terrorists will steal nu clear byproducts and create weapons, there is also a very real concern about what to do with radioactive byprod ucts from nuclear material. Huge amounts of money and safety are be ing compromised in the quest to mainstream nuclear power. For what it’s worth, here’s a woe fully unscientific opinion: Whatever happened to hydrogen energy? Maybe as a Bachelor of Arts student I’m missing something here, but it seems blatantly obvious that all available re sources should go into exploring nat ural, renewable energy. There is no shortage of water on this planet. The only output from hydrogen power is more water, making this energy op tion viable from both an economic and environmental perspective. How about wind energy and ener gy using tidal waves? It sounds like so much other liberal propaganda, but isn’t it just plain logical to suggest that nations work within the realm of pos sible, safe, clean energy sources? In stead of continually putting all our eggs in one basket, as with oil, our world needs to explore how to utilize a multitude of energy sources at the same time. For instance, some areas might be better equipped to utilize wind turbines; others may have a good source of tidal waves. Economically, there’s no reason any nation should be dependent on companies that burn dwindling fossil fuels to make products. The United States especially should put some se rious thought and resources into mak ing sure that when oil becomes unfea sible to use, our country and economy will be relaxing, with the knowledge that the wind and the waves are not going anywhere. The only concrete conclusion that can be derived from this global energy fiasco is that all citizens who have a woefully blind eye toward the in evitable must undergo a serious wake-up call. Citizens residing in a big white house on Capitol Hill should especially take note. As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, the United States is not immune to Peak Oil, global warming and other in evitable events resulting from our heavy dependence on energy. The issues of productivity versus resources and safety versus efficiency have reached the top of their bell curve. Until the world can rely on clean and renewable energy sources, these problems are only going to get worse. aileeslater@ dailyemerald. com OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to letters@dailyemerald.com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office EMU Suite 300 Electronic submissions are preferred Letters are limited to 250 words, and gjest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month Submissions should include phone number and address for venfication. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald ■ Editorial Keep NPR free from government influence On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times report ed that Kenneth Tomlinson, appointed head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, may be asking journalists from National Pub lic Radio to end projects that cast a bad light on the Republican Party. Apparently, Tomlin son wants to correct what he perceives to be a liberal bias at NPR. It’s no great secret that national broadcast news sources are not always as “fair and balanced” as they claim to be. Most television and radio news stations rely on the needs of advertisers rather than the general public when making decisions about what is newsworthy. A conservative news station would hardly want to air material or information that seemed to contain a liberal bias, as this would alienate viewers, causing the station to lose advertisers and ultimately profits. Likewise, much of the news on these stations is compressed in order to supply viewers and listeners with the most information possible between commercial breaks. This is exactly why news sources such as NPR remain an essential facet of free media. NPR relies on contributions from listeners and the federal government rather than commercial advertising, meaning that featured news comes from a place of true journalism rather than an attempt to appease possible advertisers or upper-level management. Anyone who has ever listened to NPR knows it is not a regular news station. NPR doesn’t have updates every five minutes on the Michael Jackson case or the latest blond woman to be kidnapped. Instead, NPR airs in-depth stories on subjects from religious schools training lawyers to the experience of running a modern day gay brothel. Sound familiar? It’s not, and that’s what remains so important about National Public Broadcasting. It is wrong of Tomlinson to meddle in NPR’s journalistic decisions. NPR represents one of the most balanced sources of information in this country. NPR doesn’t have to worry about appeasing anyone and almost always includes in-depth analysis on all sides of a pertinent issue. When was the last time you sat in front of CNN and watched a 10-minute program on a political dilemma that included history, pros and cons and personal interviews? NPR relies on actual information and investigation, not liberal propaganda as Tomlinson would like to believe. Most important is the precedent that will be set if Tomlinson is allowed to get away with influencing NPR programming. If public broadcasting is not allowed a journalistic in tegrity sans government influence, what hope is there for the rest of the media? Radio listen ers have come to depend on public broadcast ing as a non-biased news source. Letting the head of a corporation determine what is newsworthy will create just another media outlet ruled by a business head rather than an outlet that gives the American public what it actually needs to know. EDITORIAL BOARD Jennifer Sudick Steven R. Neuman Editor in Chief Managing Editor Ailee Slater Shadra Beesley Commentary Editor Copy Chief Adrienne Nelson Online Editor
