Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2007)
Feb ruaj^ 4 ASB needs to lend support to alternative sports a L ogan K elly __________________ Staff Reporter "The 12th Man," "The Kop" and "The Timbers Army" are names of a few of the world's well-known sport supporters groups. Every one of these groups have had their famous moments. The most recent was the Seattle Seahawks' run to the Super Bowl. All the talk was about how loud SAFECO field was. Fans can only speculate how intimidating the atmosphere was for Seattle's opponents. Anyone who knows anything about soccer kno ws the Liverpool Football Club is a prominent club not only in its home, England, but also in European competitions. The Kop is the nickname of the massive group of Reds’ fans who show their passion at every game. Their most famous song, "You'll Never Walk Alone," when chances for a win were looking dim. One spectacular moment for the Kop happened during the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul, Turkey. Liverpool was up against perennial Italy dominators AC Milan. At the conclusion of the first 45 minutes the Reds’ were down 3-0. Instead of sitting in the stands with their heads in their hands or making a charge at the "The Devils" fans, the Kop made one of the most electrifying performances of "You'll Never Walk Alone." It gave me goose bumps and brought a tear to my eye. Rafa's Men (Liverpool's manager is named Rafael Benitez) were so uplifted, they scored three goals to tie and won in penalty kicks. How's that for a thanks? Why do these stories belong in the "Amplifier? Well, we have a problem at our wonderful school: Nobody seems to support our school's lesser known athletic programs. Take for example the boy’s soccer team's thrilling game against Lake Oswego. The Laker fans did not seem to mind the trip; there were more of them there than West Linn fans. The lack of attendance by West Linn students really raised some questions in my mind. Why is it that no one seems to have respect for girl's basketball, boy's soccer, cross country, girl's soccer and all of the other activities except football? I'll tell you, it's because our own Associated Student Body makes little effort to promote these sports. They put on Homecoming Week which focuses on Varsity Football. Both the game and the dance were packed. That's the kind of attendance that will lift a team. ASB also put on a dance for boys' basketball. One ASB member commented that the goal was to "pack the gym." I went to the game and saw just how packed the gym was. Try and find someone who was there. Good luck. The ASB was trying. Now try more and try harder. It's time to start thinking outside of the box about how to bring in new fans to sporting events they would not normally go to. There need to be incentives in place that will make people feel like a part of the school community and make them want to support the lesser recognized teams. Students came to the Homecoming Carnival and then stayed and hung out. It put them in a jovial mood. The atmosphere transferred to the stadium, making for a spirited football game. In order to bring in fans to other sports than football, ASB needs to start making our school sporting events exciting. If they do, more sports will become popular and all athletes will walk through the hallways with heads held high and fans will feel like part of a school community. Think "Friday Night Lights." D uring m y research, I had an extrem ely difficult tim e finding w aste and packaging inform ation about the U.S. This alone is quite troubling as an indicator of public interest. The m ajority of inform ational w ebsites on excessive packaging cam e from China or the United Kingdom . It appears that this issue is not being addressed seriously in the U.S. We are, w ithout doubt, prioritizing profit over the environm ent. G litzy and large packaging attracts consum ers, and this appears to be the only consideration. This show s us how m uch the U.S. cares! Being one of the m ost m aterialistic and w asteful countries in the w orld, d on't you think that w e have the responsibility to pay the m ost attention to it? A ccording to The W om en's Institute in the U.K., the U.K. produced 88,000 tons of w eekly household w aste in the form of packaging, equalling 4.6 m illion tons a year. W ith five tim es the population of the U .K., even if the U.S. w ere to hold true to even their w aste am ounts, w e create 440,000 tons a w eek of packaging w aste alone. The average person in the U.S. creates 4.5 lbs. of w aste per day. W hy? Can you think of a good reason? For exam ple, an average high school student either buys or brings a lunch. If people buy lunch, num erous non-recyclable products w ill be put in the garbage w ithin a half hour. U neaten food, Styrofoam trays, plastic utensils, napkins, food packaging and m ore w ill go straight to the landfill. If they bring a lunch, it's probable that they w ill not use a reusable lunch box and bring a plastic or paper bag. Prepared foods, in individual sizes, are extrem ely over-packaged. For exam ple, if som eone brings applesauce for lunch, the little plastic cup w ith a foil cover w ill be throw n aw ay after use. W hat happened to buying bu lk and using reusable containers like Tupperware? Buying in bulk is very sm art for the environm ent and for budgets. Buying a six pack of applesauce cups costs m ore m oney (about two cents m ore per ounce) and creates a lot of unnecessary waste. Foods and toys seem to be som e of the m ost excessively packaged ™ items. Som e exceptionally overpackaged foods that I found included Lunchables and, yes it's true, individually w rapped peanut butter slices. Excessive packaging, worth harm to environment? A lex F rye Contributing Writer H ave you ever found yourself opening som ething and w hen finished found that the am ount of packaging far exceeded its contents? Or, have you ever found yourself walking through a grocery store w ondering w hy you see individually w rapped coconuts and cucum bers in the produce section? This is an exam ple of one of A m erica's and the w orld's greatest environm ental downfalls: excessive packaging. In 2005, the U nited States alone produced 245 m illion tons of w aste and only 79 m illion (30%) w as recycled. From w hat I can see, there is no excuse for producing 166 m illion tons of trash that w ill m ost likely be on this earth for several thousand years w ithout decom posing or being recycled! f ifier West Linn High School, 5464 West A Street, West Linn « § . (503) 673-7843 »fax: (503)657-8710 • wlhs-ampMer@wIhs.wlwv.kl2.or.us ......................... The A Linn o p in io n of West Linn High School, its i faculty, staff, or student body. tent: Mike Gorgone Nathan Fisher GW \y- > mm ^ ' ^ ,V:. WWÏ luces iiii fmkmm ______ ■ continued on page 15 Garden growth saves arctic bears C arly F eke tem perature to rise Contributing Writer according to w w w .w cit. Stop! Think before you o rg / tra d eis/ glossary, throw aw ay your soda htm. And at howstufjworks. can in the trash. N ot only com , they say in the last can you save energy and 100 years the sea level has alum inum m aterial by risen six to eight inches and recycling it, you can also the earth's tem perature can save the life of anim als has increased about half in the Arctic. But it's not a degree Celsius. M ay not ju st their lives that you're sound like a problem , but saving, by decreasing global even the sm allest change in w arm ing, it also could be our earth's tem perature can yours. cause m ajor damage. The Global w arm ing is w hen A ntarctic is about 90 percent heating occurs from carbon of our planet's ice, and the dioxide traps the sun's heat average cover is 7,000 feet near Earth's surface, causing thick. If all that ice m elts Earth's that w ould m ean the sea w ould rise about 200 feet. For the first tim e, researchers found evidence of polar bears drowning. The ice floes they feed and live on are getting sm aller and m oving apart forcing the bears to take long journeys into the w aters of the Arctic. Som e bears have to swim up to 60 m iles for food. The num ber of polar bears drow ning in open sea has doubled in the past 20 years. Global w arm ing could turn the polar bear's (and are own) lives upside down. Some scientists say in 100 years from now, polar bears could be com pletely extinct. Everyone and anyone can change that by doing five easy steps. 1. Drive less, w alk more (or ride your bike) 2. Reuse, reduce, recycle 3. Tell people about global w arm ing 4. Grow your own garden for fruits and vegetables 5. Turn off lights w hen not in use All of these changes can save energy and decrease carbon dioxide, w hich is the cause of G lobal w arm ing. If we don't change parts of our life, not only w ill the polar bear's life w ill be at stake, w ill our own. #
