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Show A8 OPINIONS DECEMBER 10, 2012 PHOTO COURTESY OF STOCIO(CHNG.COM Plugged into a system and source we never see, blindly accepting our own future energy sources. We cannot allow our past to become our future. The Middle-East oil crisis will soon become a thing of the past By Collin Lawrence Staff Writer claw1116@gmail.com The wind blows. The sun shines. The drills and oil derricks ... they do what they do. The waves, well they don't wave, but right now it isn't in the conversation much. And then there's all the fracking going on too. The United States is poised to become energy independent by the year 2020. Our friend to the north has already achieved this goal. Canadians don't enjoy many perks because of it though. Hopes of lower fuel prices for us, or them, would be false ones. The oil market is international. CEO's aren't going to suddenly dislike making billions and billions of dollars and lower the price at the pump. Natural gas is booming, but the infrastructure to support it must be established in the newly-tapped reserves, and the up-front cost isn't cheap. And then there are those pesky side effects. Companies maintain there is no proof of side effects, causing moderate to severe health problems in the regions where natural gas is booming like the gold rush of '49. Few Americans have been directly affected by the new TransCanada Pipeline stretching south from central Canada to the southeast of the United States, but the ones that were might have a battle in the century to come. Environmentalists continue to find horrific cover-ups in the two cleanup efforts as a result of pipe breakages. The Keystone XL Pipeline company has claimed breaks would only happen once every 100 years, but there has been twelve spills in the past year. A state-of-the-art pipeline seems to be more of a leaky faucet. The Keystone XL pipeline is This is the time, not for national independence, but a time for revolutionary individual freedom from a civilization of conformity and stagnation. bringing a whole new issue flowing into America. The oil comes from mostly from the Athabasca Tar Sands. Environmentally, it's genocide to all life forms. Water is Mei:Dow n:NM pumped deep into the ground after forests have been clear-cut. Dirty, watery, heavy crude oil spews out of the ground and is suctioned up and filtered. My own personal energy is wasted on these issues. Global and national energy issues still require our constant oversight. The independence part no longer interests me on a national scale, and it shouldn't for you either. For at least the past 12 years you've done what you should have. Whatever it was, it got you here. So what did you do with your new-found individuality, besides gotten a stupid tattoo and some skinny jeans in rebellion to those conservative commies you call parents? Not much really. This has absolutely nothing to do with energy sources. Right you are. But, it does. Go off the grid, get your own solar panels, or make them. Recycle the water from your shower to your garden fed with organic compost from the bin made from old pal- lets found behind the supermarket. Cut and weld scrap metal until you no longer notice the blood on your hands. Eventually that windmill will provide the spark of electricity you've been searching for. The next real energy independence will not come on a national level, as a corporate mandate, or in the aftermath of a natural disaster. It will sprout out of small neighborhoods in rural communities and college study groups. This is the time, not for national independence, but a time for revolutionary individual freedom from a civilization of conformity and stagnation. Be energy independent, and be free. Black Friday to Christmas from the other side of the counter PHOTO COURTESY OF POLMCSDOWNANDDIRTYBLOGSPOTCOM Black Friday isn't the best for shoppers, but retail employees aren't that lucky either By Tyson Peterson Staff Writer tysonlpeterson82@gmail.com Listen to students from both fields discuss their understanding of each other. HTTP://WWW.FLYFISHINGFRENZY.COM/IF4/1MG 4177/ A few articles have been written over the past weeks on Black Friday, and all of them were very good. I feel black Friday is something I know a little about, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the issue to make things clear. Over the past fifteen years I've participated in about 10 Black Fridays. Not buying gifts or spending all my holiday cash. No, I've been on the other side of the counter, the truly black part of every Black Friday. Before I begin, I want you to know that I think buying gifts for your loved ones during the holidays is a wonderful thing. I am in no way against businesses doing well during the holidays either, especially since those businesses have supplied my paycheck many times. What I am against however, is the loss of the human spirit during this day of blackness. There is time before Christmas to seek redemption. If this article can in any way change someone's heart or thinking, that would be wonderful. If not, I can say that at least I tried. Let me start by painting you a picture of what it has looked like from my point of view on the other side of the counter. The following has happened to me over the past fifteen years. I've been kicked, screamed at, pushed, threatened and have had my car vandalized. I've also dealt with somewhere around 30 shoplifters, hurt children and stressed out mothers and fathers. I had a customer tell me she wanted to return some shoes because they made her son's feet smell bad. I had a customer tell me the March of Dimes should donate to her instead of the other way around. I've had to work thirteen hours without a break, and this is just to give you a small glimpse. Now I'm not saying that working long hours and dealing with some customer problems doesn't come with the territory. What you can never plan for is what this day does to you. I remember my family having to bring me food Christmas day because I was at work. I remember they also had to come take a family holiday photo at work because, once again, I was working. You might ask: Do I know what it looks like from the other side of the counter? Yes, I have shopped on Black Friday, not much, but I have. This year I felt sorry for my wife. She was going to shop alone on Black Friday, so I told her I would go with her and our twin two-and-a-half-year-old boys to support her. I stood there with my boys at Wal-Mart Thanksgiving night in front of a shrink-wrapped pallet of kid's slippers and underwear. There was somewhere around fifty people around this pallet alone. An elderly woman bent over my children sitting in their stroller to get a better look at That's all I ask, a little humanity please. the sizes inside the pallet. My wife looked at me as if to say, "Are you kidding me?" That's the question I ask myself after every Black Friday: Are you kidding me? There are a lot of days during the year when shoppers can get crazy, but it seems that black Friday is usually the worst. Here in Utah, one of the worst cases of Black Friday violence happened in 2006 when 15,000 shoppers rushed the Fashion Place mall and local police were called to break up 9 different fights. May I make a plea from the other side of the counter? May we not lose sight of what's most important? Especially on Black Friday, let's take care of each other. Sometimes it doesn't take much. As my wife was checking out Thanksgiving night at Wal-Mart, she looked at the cashier with genuine concern and said, "I'm sorry you have to work today, but thank you." That's all I ask, a little humanity, please. You have some time left. As I sit here writing this article, there are 23 days until Christmas. No matter your religion, or what you believe, Christmas has the power to bring out the best in anyone, if you chose to allow it. So I plea, allow it to change you. |