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Show Utes' hopes deflating W HAT IT REALLY MEANS TO BE GREEN BY DOMINIC GARCIA /STAFF WRITER PHOTOS BY CHRIS AYERS AND ERIN BURNS U 1mostemo, ' 4 tah's season is currently in bad shape and declining quickly, a far cry from where the Utes were a month ago when they were enjoying the best program start in history. The Utes went their first 10 games without a single loss. The strong start showed promise for the team, who only allowed four goals in those 10 contests. Once conference play began, things started to go downhill for Utah. A draw with top-ranked Stanford kept hope alive, but it was followed by three straight losses, leaving the team's confidence in shambles. A win at Oregon State was a glimmer of light in a darkening season, but after a draw and two more defeats, the Utes' preseason goals are all but lost. Utah head coach Rich Manning always describes the Pac-12 as the toughest conference to play in, and Utah is finding that to be true firsthand. "A lot of the games in the league are like that," Manning said. There are only three games left for Utah in this season. Goals that were made at the beginning of the season are now on the back burner as the team focuses on just winning a game. "Hopefully we come back next week and play together and come out with different results," said junior Megan Trabert. 10 { THECHRONY I NEWS I OPINION I ARTS I SPORTS I TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014 } Home streak snapped Before this past weekend, the Utes had an incredible streak of 18 home games without a loss, a feat that began back in 2012 with a win against Oregon. Following losses to Washington and Washington State over the weekend, the home unbeaten steak is now a thing of the past. Coming into last Friday's game against the Huskies, Utah had outscored its opponents 3611 at home but was outscored 5-2 against the Washington schools. Utah returned home from a five-game road stretch last Friday and, even with the negative results, coming home was still a relief after a long time away. "It felt good to be home," said senior Katie Taylor. "It was more relaxed because we are at home. It's good to be home after being away. Having friends and family and all the fans around, it's nice to be back." Manning Awards In Manning's 13 seasons at Utah, he has seen a lot of ups and downs. For the ups, he has received a number of awards. "It means the program has been successful," Manning said. "We've had some good teams and some good players. I feel like the players, the administration and the program in general has made some huge strides, and I'm also proud of that." Despite his humility, he has also made some serious changes for the better. In his very first season back in 2002, he helped the Utes earn their first-ever national ranking. The success of his inaugural season impressed, and he was awarded Mountain West Conference coach of the year. Manning would secure another MWC coach of the year honor in 2005 when he led his team to the top of the conference. Manning was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America West Region Coach of the Year in 2003. The award is voted on by fellow coaches, which made the honor even more meaningful to Manning. Before coming to Utah, Manning was already winning awards for his work with Los Alamitos High School. There he won the California Interscholastic Federation Coach of the Year in 1996 and the Orange County Coach of the Year in 1997. Manning's track record shows he's the best man for the task of getting the Utes out of their recent slump. His team and his coaching staff have full faith in him to help his side return to its winning ways. d.garcia@chronicle.utah.edu @dominic2295 t's no secret that eco-friendliness is rapidly becoming more popular in our world. Car commercials all but scream about fuel efficiency amidst a flurry of fireworks and flashing lights, and "green" products call to passersby from organic mega-markets on every street. Satirical hippie stereotypes aside, the media tends to encourage the return to a more natural way of life. Many of us would proudly call ourselves practitioners of a truly organic life, but are we? True commitment to bettering the environment involves more than driving a Prius and frequenting Whole Foods, and environmental degradation requires more intensive solutions as well. There are several reasons why we're tricked into ignorance by sources both internal and external, the most common being finance. Green, organic products tend to be more expensive, and for many, the benefits are simply insufficient. But attaining and maintaining a certain standard of life in any country requires various forms of sacrifice. Our campus is among a global network of thousands that host students working outside of class to support and supplement their education. A significant percentage of our wages goes toward road construction and public projects because we deem them worthy of sacrifice, and the same can be said of living more consciously. Another obstacle for many is the misconception that they've already reached the solar-powered finish line and that we don't need to do our best in terms of conservation because what little we're doing seems like enough. But is it? Our good intentions seem tragically misaligned when advertising strategies and product image have distracted us from more successful ecological efforts. We subconsciously associate hybrid and electric cars with conservation and inventiveness, but how many millions in resources and energy have gone into creating those cars instead of towards PSAs that endorse public transit? We pat ourselves on the back for buying "green" cleaning products for our homes, wholly ignorant of the little-to-no regulation that allows so many products to boast being eco-friendly without actually doing so. There's even a word for it — "greenwashing," a term used in the marketing world to describe an environmentally appealing spin on a product. Similarly, shelling out the extra bucks for organic produce does little when we think of the expense it takes for bananas to be shipped from Brazil and clementines from Costa Rica. And when we find items with the magic words emblazoned upon SELF-DRIVING OUR ECONOMY INTO THE GROUND JUSTIN ADAMS S elf-driving cars seem to be the future, but at what cost? Today, the term "smart car" generally refers to a car with a tiny frame that makes it a "smart choice" for fuel economy, but in the next decade, that term may describe cars that can perceive and react to their environment in all scenarios — a car that can both think for itself and drive itself. Now, that may sound like science fiction, but a car created by Google has already driven 700,000 miles on its own. Although this technology is astounding, it could be dangerous, but not for the reason you might think. Many of the criticisms of autonomous vehicles have been based on a mistrust of computers. Many people aren't ready to put their lives in the hands of a machine that could tell you, "404 Error: Road Not Found." But making the choice to drive is already a dangerous risk. Even if you are a safe driver, you are sharing the road with people who aren't always so safe. According to the Center for Disease Control, over 10,000 Americans died from car accidents caused by drunk driving in 2012. Self-driving vehicles, on the other hand, don't drink, text, play Candy Crush or do their makeup while driving, making them a safer alternative to our current situation. What, then, is the danger behind these machines? As soon as this technology becomes legal and widely available, every company that has to pay drivers will likely transition to self-driving vehicles in order to cut costs. That would cost a lot of jobs. According to the American Trucking Association, there are 3.5 million professional truck drivers in the United States. Add in taxis, public transportation and mail delivery, and we could be looking at a potentially devastating spike in our unemployment rate caused by an entire profession being supplanted by new technology. PAGE __ SEE CARS12 them ("natural," "biodegradable," "BPA free"), how often do we consider the process of creating those products, one that's often replete with chemicals and waste? Our psychology certainly doesn't help. It's common knowledge that breaking any habit requires mental strength and self-control, and our reliance upon what's easy means we're not always willing to change. Another psychological barrier is our dependence upon instant gratification. Our technological era has brought the world to our fingertips — what would have taken our ancestors weeks or months to achieve we can now do in minutes. And when it comes to the environment on a national and global scale, it's the hard truth that many of the changes we need to implement are not going to benefit our generation. We shrug off any responsibilities to our health and ourselves in pursuit of what feels good now, and our environmental health is just as much at risk. It may seem like an incredible obstacle to overcome our brain's wiring, but this very wiring changed when our habits did, as we became enthralled by advertising and slaves to our routines. We are not powerless. We can break our habits, find meaningful solutions to environmental problems and make sacrifices for the generations to come. It may not be a better world for us, but it will be a better world. letters@chronicle.utah.edu IT'S TIME GRADUATE PROGRAMS AT WESTMINSTER 13 GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: Business Communications Community Leadership Counseling Education Nursing WESTMINSTER SALT LANE CITY • UTAH 801.832.2200 westminstercollege.edu/grad |