The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, July 09, 2001, Image 5

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VU nday, July 9, 2001
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PINION
Page 5
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THE BATTALION
an additional c j m
fl new wave of activism
iJonservative students deserve praise for protesting Kyoto Treaty
always looking:!
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The CAD pactej ^^olletre students -are meet-
EER, Analysis caM T - i
and the manJM in £ 111 Europe next week
anufacturing. OrHpto participate in a series
:s of a cnc Mill 0 j p ro tests in reaction to the
m Monday thro.: J>'oto treaty. Recent years
exibie schedules ®ive seen young protesters
Sront^:I r ner headlines through
is improvementsr;m)lorful, and sometimes vio-
95 demonstrations.
ynntech@iynnter Such protests, with a few exceptions, have
bring resumeto advocated positions advanced by the political
Eastmark This time, however, things are different.
■rom July 13 to 20, a group of students from
Hie .United States will join others in London,
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ships. Call vfeHrussels and Bonn.
32. Ask for Rid H Sponsored by the Leadership Institute, Colle-
busy medica * ans f or a Constructive 'Ibmorrow and the Sci-
Send resume tc ^
Suite-3i2.cs rl fnce and Environmental Policy Project, the goal
g. apply at 113-vi. is environmental activism of a different variety.
ideiivery.com I 1 One A&M participant, senior political sci-
er. part-time resi|4nce major Jack Long, said, “We are going to
s. Cal ® 79, -®H jUro p C t 0 help break the perception that
post college students are opposed to the
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ipies.
Student participation in politi
cal activism, no matter the
specific position, can be a
positive contribution to
political debate. It should be
encouraged, and college
students should make it a
point to get more informed
and more involved.
^resident’s agenda.”
Student participation in political activism, no
natter the specific position, can be a positive
contribution to political debate.
It should be encouraged, and college stu
dents should make it a point to get more in
formed and more involved.
The emergence of conservative students
nifiking their voices heard on this important is-
sue is a refreshing change from the usual left-
B * u9 ^ ?of-center youth activism. And with the Kyoto
JTreaty, their protests are right on.
ias feimes for Sr The Kyoto Treaty, undertaken by 180 na-
ixcept rabies and«®j ons hi 1997, calls for reductions in the emis-
3610, 15-min.frOfflC: g. £■ •«
r ; gsion or greenhouse gases.
ESTATE i It is based on the premise that global tem-
2 brand new sf peratures are increasing, caused by human
ft at the premie ' Imissions of greenhouse gases. The proposal
vce* condominpPT sound good, but there are some major
s left for Sale! W problems largely ignored by the environmental
make protesters President Bush encountered on his
its! Enjoy beachvo: Erst European tour last month,
pool, spa and?- National Academy of Sciences report
)0 call J; n 5; | ecen cly released contends that “there is no
lome today andHonsensus, unanimous or otherwise, about
Ise Is A Comprori
#101 in College!
58 or Toll-Free: 1 »
long-term climate climate trends and what
causes them,” according to panel member
Dr. Richard Lindzen.
The Kyoto Treaty calls for the United States
to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 to 40
percent over the next 10 years. But that could
never be achieved without a severe reduction in
energy use. In adequate energy supplies, as Cal
ifornia has so aptly demonstrated, can severely
hamper an economy. Ironically, California has
gone far beyond any other state in pushing the
energy efficiency and alternate energy pro
grams so beloved by environmental extremists.
The students should commit themselves to
pointing some of this out. Conservation is im
portant, but is nowhere sufficient enough to
meet the U.S. energy demand. Roughly two-
thirds of the nation’s energy comes from oxidiz
ing carbon-based fuels, and without the de
structive consequences so hauntingly predicted
beginning in the early 1970s.
"The United States certainly consumes more
energy compared to the rest of the world but is
far more productive and economically viable
compared to the rest of the industrialized na
tions. This treaty punishes America while let
ting some major polluters off the hook. The
U.S. Senate rejected the proposed treaty 95-0
and with good reason.
The protocol does not include developing
countries who are among the world’s worst pol
luters of the environment. In addition, it allows
for the industrial nations that are big users of
coal and petroleum, like Australia, to continue
to increase emissions.
The Kyoto treaty has also been criticized for
the lack of enforcement capability and a per
ception that several of the nations who signed
have no intention of meeting
their targets. Finally, no con
sensus has emerged that
global warming
even exists as a real
threat. Assume
for a moment,
however, that it is.
' Even full adher
ence to the Kyoto
Treaty to cut
greenhouse gas
emissions might
have little to
no impact on
global warming. Graeme Pearman, chief of the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization, said stopping
the growth of greenhouse gas emis
sions will not be enough to prevent
climate change. “It is highly un
likely that we will see such stabi
lization (of atmospheric carbon
dioxide concentrations) ex
cept perhaps in the latter part
of this century, and that will
be levels at least double and
perhaps triple preindustrial
levels,” he said in a
speech to the National Press
Club in Canberra, Australia.
After three difficult years of
negotiations, the Kyoto signers
have still not agreed to sanction
countries that fail to meet their re
duction targets, and just who will im
pose them.
In short, the whole thing is a feel-good exer
cise not based on economic or environmental
reality. Perhaps the college demonstrators
can make a small difference. The next
global meeting on climate change is the
sixth conference of parties to the U.N.
Framework Convention on Climate
Change to be held at The Hague in
November.
One must hope some vocal and in
formed students, armed with com
mon sense, are making travel plans.
CHAD MALLAM/7h£ Battalion
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ANESE TO-
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History repeating
Surgeon general talks about sexual education
(U-WIRE) — It is happening again,
surgeon general is making waves in
the stagnant waters of this nation, and
ashington is getting motion sickness.
Surgeon General David Satcher recent
ly publicized a report that concluded
lifelong safe-sex education is needed,
nd that contraceptives should be dis-
ributed in school. It also found that the
ublic Deeds to strive to further under-
tand homosexuality and not treat it as
exual deviance.
Boy, are Georgie-Porgie and his mer
ry men miffed. They were hoping that
atcher’s report would go either unno-
iced or conclude that good little boys
nd girls wear their chastity belts until
hey are trapped in a suffocating, dead-
nd marriage. And that boys do not kiss
oys — ever!
| Of course, it was easy for the Bush
dministration to distance itself from
such a rational report. Exercising com-
non sense is not their strong suit.
Ari Fleischer, Bush’s spokesman, im-
nediately yelped that the research was
ommissioned by the vile, sinful, sex-
razed Clinton administration, not by
ubya’s squeaky-clean, washed-in-the-
Tlood cronies. In fact, cries for Satcher’s
Resignation have been heard.
; Does any of this sound familiar? It
|s way too much like the hulabaloo
•that went on with former Surgeon
General Jocelyn Elders, who was fired
for encouraging masturbation as an al
ternative to sex, as well as condom dis
tribution.
What is it with American people and
honesty about sex? We cannot handle it.
We get all nervous because we have is
sues with our own sexuality, and then
holler, “The children! What about the
children?” to mask our own insecurities.
Bill Mahr of ABC’s “Politically Incor
rect” is right on target when he alleges
that America is fighting a war on sex.
Even though we love sex, we try to stuff
that dirty s-word under the bed like
daddy’s secret movies and then pretend
it is not there or that we do not know
Batcher's report
correctly treats
sex education as
a health issue, not
a moral one.
what it is or what it’s for. That is bad
enough, but most people bolt the bed to
the floor and hope the children never
lift it up.
Sex is one of the most natural, in
stinctual things a human can do. We are
all here as a result of it; it is essential to
almost all life. Yet Americans spend the
majority of our time railing against sex,
calling it evil and demanding that young
adults ignore their urges and wait until
marriage, which is coming later and lat
er in life, to do the devil’s business.
Worst of all, we cannot give them a re
ally good reason to wait, except for the
good old “do as I say” trick.
It is an impossible request, and it ob
viously is not working. Honestly, sex is
too much fun to put off until you are in
your late twenties. The whole world
knows that, yet we brainiacs in Ameri
ca insist that’s the way to go. Forget
sex. Play Scrabble. Do a crossword
puzzle. And for God’s sake, do not
touch yourself.
Satcher’s report correctly treats sex
education as a health issue, not a moral
one. The rest of Washington and the
50 states should try to play catch-up
and recognize the importance, of Satch
er’s findings.
Until we can admit that sexual urges
are natural and allow young adults to be
educated in ways that will teach them to
respect sex and make healthy choices,
thus avoiding unwanted pregnancies
and diseases, we will make no progress.
Until we can become comfortable wit a
honest people in Washington, like
Satcher, we will live in a nation that
uses denial as birth control and morality
as an excuse for ignorance.
Lindsey Turner'
Sidelines
Middle Tennessee State U.
CARTOON OFTHE DAY
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