University of Utah Student Newspapers | 2008-08-29 | Page 5

www.dailyutahchronicle.com 5 OPINION Friday, August 29,2008 THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW Chartwells still lacking Cafeteria-goers will notice this week's addition of tuxedo-wear-. ing greeters welcoming them to Chartwells. Beside the greeters, Chartwells has added a condiment bar outside the food court and swinging entry gates. The company appears to be making an attempt to improve its image. If the new features are indeed a public relations attempt, students should not be fooled. The changes have in no way fixed most students' major concern—the dismal quality of Chartwells food The fopdservice provider has a near-monopoly on campus dining. This leaves „ students ^vith some pretty bleak - options. Other campus vendors, such as Tbny Caputo's and the few locations of The Point, do offer better choices but are too * • small to serve the masses and are located on the fringes of campus. Instead of providing decent food, Chartwells has delivered a few cosmetic and mostly useless changes to win students' hearts. A man in a tuxedo is fine, but edible food would be better. By granting our business to a single corporation, the U has done students a disservice. Administrators should explore other providers and get rid of the Chartwells deal as'soon as possible. At the very least* competitors should be invited on campus. For example, many other universities offer mall-type food courts. Perhaps, rather than risk losing students' patronage, Chartwells would be inclined to improve its product. [e-mail] 1 ^B^B^y^^^^ i ^^^^^^^MBMflfl^ ' fl ^iflfliOBi£^y^-Lyjv ^M^t vHHPaflhflflflf JIB BV Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah C/ironide Editorial Board. Signed editorials, editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on . ? the Opinion Page is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time tv demanding tolerance and respect. Material defamatory to an individual or group because of Tace, ethnic background, religion, creed, gender, appearance or sexual orientation will be edited or will not be published. All letters to the editor will now be published online at www.dailyutahchronicle.com. Letters that the editor deems best represent those received p : will be printed in the newspaper. '.•'• •' - ,r>.; " •' ,• • .;; r...v •Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^^^^^ Deify Utah Chmkk Obama chose the right running mate A fter weeks of water-cooler speculation and off-target talking head telepathy ("I know he'll choose..."), Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, global celebrity and ersatz savior of mankind, chose his vice president last Friday, naming Sen. Joe Biden, D-Delaware, to be his right-hand man. In this era of technological ubiquity, the message was delivered to sotne"'Ob'aina supporters via text message in an effort to distribute the news with conspicuous techsawy. One can imagine the ruckus caused by legions of liberals checking their BlackBerrys while driving their Priuses home from a fundraiser at a trendy sushi place. As of this writing, there doesn't appear to be any fatalities or seri- ous injuries, though in some sectors disbelief and chagrin were the dominant emotions accompanying the announcement. In this historic election year.'many were hoping the message of change would permeate the campaign and influence every last decision the Exalted One made. (Un)fortunately, it turns out that Obama is not entirely idealistic and, being an astute politician and observer of the political landscape, he knew that choosing a fresh young face would compound his problems, not solve them. Who ever heard of Evan Bayh before yesterday? Not many people outside of Indiana. Tim Kaine? Ditto. Granted, these men have solid—if not lengthy—records, but Obama needed to shore up his image as a JAMES SEWELL newcomer to the national political scene, specifically in regard to the little problem of our entire foreign policy strategy and the whole Iraq thing, which, in case you haven't been paying attention, is still going on. Choosing Biden means that Obama will have (if he were to win in November) a vice president who is less than a quarter as evil as Cheney, and at least twice as smart. He may be a typical wealthy, white, the polls in droves. She'll make a male senator, but that doesn't wonderful Supreme Court Justice automatically make him the wrong (a position for which she's likely to choice. We need a vice president be nominated). At any rate, Clinton who knows that the United States will have plenty of opportunity to has lost its moral compass and how shine down the road. Look at Nobel it might be fixed. Someone who laureate Al Gore. knows the differences between ShiMcCain will soon have to make ites and Sunnis, a distinction lost his decision. Will Mitt Romney on the wealthy, white, male senator catch the vice-presidential ball? Or from Arizona, who is the Repubwill it be Joe Lieberman, the man lican Party's (inexplicable) choice who embodiesflip-floppery?Of for president, and who'cidnH6VJ J "" '" course,ffie1"dream Choice of some ' comprehend such high-tech things Republicans is Condoleezza Rice, as text messages and the Internet, who would counter Obama's blackmuch less inter-Islamicfactionai " ' ness, Hillary^ femaleness, and who dynamics. brings serious foreign-policy cred Clinton supporters are pissed off, to the ticket. But these factors are but their rage will be more effective precisely the kinds of things that if directed at the atrocious behavior scare away the conservative masses. of the current obtuse Oval Office On we go. occupant and at getting voters to [e-mail] Bikers, motorists Students critical to green effort must share roads E S GUEST COLUMN arth Day 2008, U President Michael Young joined more than 560 campus presidents CRAIG and provosts by signing the American College and University PresiFORSTER dents Climate Commitment, aiming to achieve a climate-neutral campus. Meeting this goal is far from trivial, could take decades to achieve and will require the active collaboration created when government regulaof students, faculty and staff. Since tions place caps on the GHGs that becoming climate neutral, the U is can be emitted by a single source. eliminating, or offsetting, the greenCongress has already begun debathouse gases that are emitted when ing the legislation (although it hasn't fossil fuels are burned to maintain yet passed) needed to regulate GHG and operate the university. emissions. Whether or not you acMost electricity used to cool and cept the premise of human-caused light buildings at the U is generated global climate change, economic by GHG-emitting coal-fired power and energy systems are undergoing plants. GHGs are emitted when fundamental changes as others move natural gas is burned for space and forward in their effort to reduce water heating and when fossil fuels GHG emissions as rapidly as posare burned in campus vehicles, sible. transit systems, commuter vehicles A second reason to reduce fossil and commercial flights for univerfuel consumption is to gain valusity travel. Becoming more efficient . able co-benefits. Increasing concern in energy use, replacing fossil fuels about U.S. national energy security with renewable energy resources is causing significant investment in and purchasing offsets (e,g., wind major, non-GHG-emitting renewable power) to mitigate the GHG emisenergy resource developments—parsions that cannot be avoided will ticularly solar and wind—that will lead to a climate-neutral future with help increase resilience to destabizero GHG emissions. Signing the lizing events that are poised to occur PCC commits the U to combating in the international energy arena. what many consider to be the priBy committing to make renewmary cause of global climate change. able energy at least 20 percent of their energy supply, many corporate Some readers might ask, "Why and government entities (including should I help work toward this goal the State of Utah) are working hard when I don't accept the premise that to achieve the resilience needed human activity is causing climate to deal with escalating fossil fuel change?" Two responses come to mind. First, many corporate and gov- costs and potential shortages. At the same time, reducing the fossil fuels ernment entities across the nation burned for transportation and space and around the world have accepted heating reduces the air pollutant this premise and are aggressively implementing policies and strategies emissions that contribute to increasingly frequent periods of unhealthy that are changing the role of fossil air quality in many metropolitan arfuels in global energy portfolios. eas, including those of the Wasatch Carbon-specific markets, akin to Front. stock markets, are already in place What is involved in creating a clito trade the carbon credits that are mate-neutral university, and how can students and the broader U community help achieve this goal? First, the U is expanding long-standing energy efficiency programs originally initiated to slow increasing energy costs. The U's energy conservation goals can be enhanced by the individual actions of campus community members who regularly turn off unneeded lights and computers. Second, the U is using the new "Go Green, Save Green" programs to make the 17-year-old UTA Ed-Pass program—which began by issuing free transit passes to reduce traffic congestion and mitigate the need to construct expensive parking facilities—increasingly visible and accessible. Traveling to the U tby carpooling, riding transit, biking and walking can reduce the fossil fuel burned by commuting and minimize the need to buy expensive gasoline. Third, students and faculty are helping Facilities Management staff reduce the energy requirements of new and remodeled buildings by researching high-performance design features that include electricity generation with solar panels, thermal systems design, passive solar heating and using daylight to reduce lighting needs. Finally, it is critical that students continue to engage the university community in initiatives like those that instigated the purchase of wind power, facilitated the upgrade of campus recycling programs and led to the new Office of Sustainability. The student voice has proven to be a powerful force for change at the U and must continue to be heard as the U aims to become a climate-neutral campus. [e-mail] Editor's note—Craig Forster is the director of the U Office of Sustainability. alt Lake City is swarming with drivers and bicyclists. Bikers are routinely cut off by cars swerving to avoid them. Data from the Utah Department of Health shows there are, on average, more than bicycle accidents every day in Salt Lake County, with a total of 800 reported a year. Fortunately, deaths are rare, but that is small consolation to people on the streets dodging one another. Joseph Amici, a seniorfilmmajor who bikes to class five days a week, has had some negative experiences. "On campus between the stadium and the TRAX line, I was once clipped by someone's mirror because they thought they could pass me in such a narrow area," he said. That street, like many in Salt Lake City, is lacking a bicycle lane, and those traveling on it are put at risk. The people at City Hall have noticed the problem, but have so far addressed the issue vaguely at best. Dan Bergenthal, a transport engineer for the city, said the mayor's office has begun discussing ways to alleviate the problems for bicyclists but has no plans. "Education is the biggest thing we need to reduce bicycle accidents," he said, noting most accidents are caused by illegal activity. Bergenthal said that bike lanes do not, statistically speaking, reduce the rate of accidents. A study by Jerrold Kaplan at the University of Maryland found bike lanes did nothing to prevent accidents. Installing bike lanes causes narrower roads, providing more opportunity for accidents. I AARON SHADDY Education thus seems to be a better and more efficient fix. However, Kaplan's study is now more than 30 years old. Since then, there have been several refutations, most notably a 1996 study by former University of Washington professor, William Moritz. His study suggested that bike lanes, far from causing more accidents, decrease them by 38 to 56 percent on major and minor streets respectively. Education might be an important method for minimizing accidents. The current state driver education system gives drivers little to no direction on what to expect from bicyclists. The argument that education will be a better solution than building bike lanes is predicated on the false hope that education alone will be enough. How education would end the lack of space allotted to bicyclists on city streets is anyone's guess. The problem of bike lanes narrowing city streets isn't a large problem in Salt Lake City. With very wide streets, tacking on a bike lane would be much easier here than elsewhere. At the very least, bike lanes will make traffic more convenient and less nerve-racking. To attempt to solve this problem with education alone, however, sounds like a cost-effective cop-out. Let's get real. Let's build more bike lanes. [e-mail]