Page 4- The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, October 30, 1997
The Behrend College Collegian
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
News Editor
John Grolier
Sports Editor
Matt Plizga
Business Manager
Dana Greenhouse
Photography Editor
Jessica Trzeciakowski
Assistant Photography Editor
John Hoderny
Assistant Sports Editor
Dylan Stewart
Postal Information: The Collegian is
published weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie, The Behrend Col
lege; First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed
Union Building, Station Road, Erie,
PA 16563. The Collegian can be
reached by calling (814) 898-6488 or
(814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN 107(-
9288
Global Warming:
by Propaganda
By Donella H. Meadows=Special to
the Los Angeles limes
, Listening to climate-change talk in
the United States and in Europe, I
have to wonder whether we're all liv
ing on the same planet.
Several European governments
have detailed plans for cutting their
economies' 1990 fossil fuel use
(hence emissions of the greenhouse
gas, carbon dioxide) by 15 percent or
20 percent by 2005.
Meanwhile, President Clinton has
generously offered to get U.S. emis
sions back down to their 1990 level
twice as high per capita as the Eu
ropean level _ by 2008 or 2010 or
maybe 2012.
• The European media don't ask
commentators like me whether glo
.lbal warming is real. They take seri
ously the consensus of the 2,400 sci
entists who participate in the ongo
ing global forum called the Intergov
ernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Editor in Chief
Andrea M. Zaffino
Managing Editor
Anne M. &One
Features Editor
Kristi McKim
Layout Editor
Nathan Mitchell
Advertising Manager
Mike Advertising
Associate Editor
Brian Ashbaugh
Office Manager
Gina Gaskey
Leiter Policy: The Collegian encour
ages letters to the editor on news cov
erage, editorial content and Univer
sity affairs. Letters should be no
longer than 400 words. Letters
should include the address, phone
number, semester standing and ma
jor of the writer.
They ask "What can be done?" and
"Why is the United States such a lag
gard on this issue?"
Meanwhile, American media seem
to be mesmerized by a handful of sci
entific doubters, most of them funded
by coal or oil companies, utilities or
right-wing think tanks. The doubters
point to every uncertainty in climate
science, while ignoring the certain
ties.
Not a scientist in the world doubts
that carbon dioxide traps heat or that
burning oil, coal or gas releases car
bon dioxide. No one questions the
measurements that show carbon di
oxide increasing in the atmosphere.
Starting at about 270 parts per mil
lion 100 years ago, its concentration
is now above 360 parts per million.
The global climate conference in
Kyoto, Japan, this December will de
cide whether we should try to level
off at 450, 750 or 1,000 parts per mil
lion, all of which would require sig-
Advisors
Alan Parker
Robert Speel
Editorials
Former UA fraternity member
remembers rush hazing
By Dustin Bowles
Arkansas Traveler
A few weeks ago, some guy in a
fraternity at LSU drank himself to
death. I mean, he actually drank so
much alcohol that he fell over and
died. I don't know the circumstances
that actually led to this drinking binge,
but I can't figure there's any reason
in the world to drink as much as this
guy did.
Unless, of course, you're in a fra
ternity.
I was in a fraternity my freshman
year here at the UA. I'm not going to
say which fraternity it was, mostly
because I don't want anyone associ
ating me with it, and I'm quite sure
the relationship is mutual. But it was
the greatest lesson in humility I have
ever experienced.
It's a lesson no one should ever
have to endure.
I don't want to group all these fra
ternities together. There were some
good ones, I'm sure, and there were
many of them that didn't haze their
pledges. But I spoke with a lot of the
Ege on
Ue
in local
Vote
elections
by Anne Rajotte
managing editor
• &lay, l9calc4i7ens wiltbe
heading to the polls. The number of
Behrend students voting with year
round residents will be extremely low.
Many students aren't from Erie, and
many students just aren't registered
to vote, and this accounts for the low
numbers. The fact that this is just a
local election, and not presidential or
gubernatorial, results in low turnout
among all residents of Erie County
and Harborcreek Township.
This year there are races for Erie
City Council, Superior Court, Town
ship Supervisors, Erie Mayor, and
Erie County Sheriff. These positions
affect residents, including students,
immensly. For example, Donna
Mindek, a Republican running for
Harborcreek township supervisor, is
working to extend the public water
system past Behrend to the interstate.
If this happens in the near future, busi
nesses like fast food restaurants will
be able to move in near Behrend, dras
tically changing student life.
Other local politcians affect
Behrend students. Local laws and or
dinances sometimes have as much or
more effect on individuals than state
of federal laws. Local government is
U.S. Immobilized
nificant reductions of current green
house gas emissions and all of which
are almost sure to cause major
changes in the climate.
But Americans still are told there
might not be a problem.
American industry just beamed
into Washington $200,000 worth of
radio spots in which a "Harry and
Louise" couple complain that protect
ing the climate could raise gasoline
price by 50 cents a gallon.
Europeans pay four times as much
for gas as we do without whining
about their sacred right to drive
minivans. They compete on the glo
bal market while driving high-mile
age cars and riding attractive, conve
nient, efficient mass transit systems.
Europe subsidizes trains and trams;
America subsidizes highways and
parking lots.
Last month at a business confer
ence ir, Salzburg, Austria, European
executives were waving around a
pledges from other fraternities that
year, and from what I could gather,
they went through the same things I
did.
It wasn't that we were beat or that
we had the senior members enslave
us or anything. The hazing that we
endured was strictly mental, but to be
quite honest, I would've preferred
mowing the lawn at 4 a.m. every
morning than what I went through.
Mostly it was the peer pressure. I
mean, I was a freshman from a mod
est-sized town. I had drunk alcohol
maybe once or twice in my life, and I
know I wasn't alone among the pledge
group of my fraternity or any other.
These guys would round up beer,
vodka, whiskey, and whatever they
could find and just force it on us. It
was like we supplied the entertain
ment for these fellas. They'd get kicks
out of watching us stumble and retch,
and most of the time, they would take
advantage of our inebriation (I was
once coerced into buying a round of
tacos for an entire restaurant).
And for those who didn't drink,
they were more or less shunned. I
closer and more responsive to the
people. Traffic laws, school bgard_
decisions and budget and tax deal. ;
sions impact the day to day life of resi
dents.
There are four universities in Erie
County and students make up a sig
nificant portion of the population.
They are not, however, a substantial
part of the voter population. In a small
local election, students can make a
tremendous impact. If students don't
vote, this impact is diminished.
Many Behrend students and col
lege students in general, seem to be
fairly apathetic when it comes to poli
tics, especially local elections. It could
be lack of knowledge about the can
didates, or it may be that students
aren't even aware that there are elec
tions. Whatever the reason, these elec
tions are far more important than
many people imagine. Merely read
ing the paper can give voters the in
sight they need to make an informed
decisions.
These local elections affect every
one in Erie County. Most students
care about their surroundings and lo
cal issues, but may not be aware that
they can vote here. Local elections are
an opportunity to let Erie know what
its college students are dealing with.
best-selling German book, "Faktor
Vier" (Factor Four), by Ernst von
Weizsacker of the Wuppertal Institute
in Germany and Amory and Hunter
Lovins of Rocky Mountain Institute
in the United States. The book shows
how industrial society could get four
times as much productivity out of
energy and materials with known
technologies at costs that are not only
affordable, but probably negative.
That is to say, we could run our
economy while reducing our assault
on the atmosphere by 75 percent. Or
double economic output while cutting
emissions in half. "Faktor Vier" is
crammed with case studies of com
panies, buildings, towns, banks, cars
and farms that have reduced energy
or resource consumption, typically by
that factor of four. In almost every
case, not only have energy and mate
rial costs gone down, but labor pro
ductivity, comfort and convenience
have gone up.
mean, sure, the older guys would say,
"Hey man, that's cool. You don't have
to drink or anything. We're not going
to force it on you, and we're not go
ing to think any less of you or any
thing."
But, the younger guys could tell that
they lost a few points of respect by
turning down a shot of Crown Royal.
After the second or third week, most
everyone would just break down and
chug the stuff. And the guys around
us would just cheer and rave like we'd
won the World Series single
handedly.
This became positive reinforcement
for heavy drinking.
There is one incident that I remem
ber quite well. It was one of those big
steps in initiation that would suppos
edly "make or break" my member
ship. The risk-management guy
would talk to all of us pledges and tell
us not to be scared because hazing
wasn't allowed in our fraternity. That
was always what he'd say right be
fore we got hazed. I mean, it gave us
the impression that everything was
dandy and nothing was going to hap
pen. It eased our minds for the suffer
ing we were about to endure.
So after the risk-management guy
gave us this speech, we'd all get blind
folded and shoved into a car. All the
guys would be carrying on about the
horrible episode that we were about
to endure. This particular instance, we
were led to believe that we were about
to be taken to some petting zoo and
be forced to make it with billy goats.
True story.
We finally arrived at our destina
tion, after what seemed like hours. We
got hauled up on top of some cave, I
think it was at Devil's Den. And
they'd single us out and make us re
cite the Greek alphabet and some
crazy creeds about brotherhood. If we
.§9o,wed.itttp, they'd scre s ii in ppr
faces like we were in boot camp. And
keep in mind, we were still blind
folded at the top of a cliff.
After the older guys had saturated
the opportunities to humiliate us in
The European executives were ask
ing: How do we all do this? They
talked of innovative technologies that
could get Europe to "Factor 10" - a
90 percent reduction, which is what
it would actually take, worldwide, to
stabilize the climate.
In America, the Global Climate In
formation Project, a coalition of busi
ness associations, has budgeted $l3
million for a public relations blitz to
convince Americans that reducing
fossil fuel consumption would cause
economic collapse.
Europeans, who are exposed to
more education and less PR than
Americans, question that claim. It as
sumes, they point out, that the only
way to cut energy use is through mas
sive taxes. It doesn't count the sav
ings not only from buying less energy,
but also from having less air pollu
tion, fewer oil spills, better health,
less dependency on foreign supplies
_ not to mention a more stable cli
mate. It assumes that technology will
freeze, rather than shift to greater ef
ficiencies and new energy sources. It
is, in short, a piece of propaganda.
The proposed Kyoto treaty will be
unfair, U.S. industry says, because it
will require us to sacrifice, but not
that situation, we'd get hauled back
into the car and driven, blindfolded
still, back to some bar where we were
forced to drink to the point of abso
lute sickness.
I remember, too, after the actual
initiation, we were hauled over to
Hooters to celebrate. In one of the
most embarrassing incidents of my
life, I was coerced up on top of a table
and sang to my Hooters girls. It was
one of many times as a fraternity
member that I was ashamed to be a
man. After 10 or 12 too many hang
overs and near-death experiences, I
quit the fraternity. I didn't last two full
semesters, and I really didn't care to
continue. It wasn't worth the hell I
was going through, and to boot, I had
to pay for my suffering.
To some people, these fraternities
are like religions. It's something they
need to rely on, something to have
faith in, and they will go to any
lengths to defend it.
This "brotherhood" means more to
them than some of their families.
More importantly, and the reason I
joined, it's the perfect opportunity to
meet the ladies. I'll admit, though, I
failed miserably.
Trying to get out of a fraternity is
an entirely different column, one I
choose not to go into. I'll just say, it's
almost like quitting a gang. You ei
ther have to be murdered or get mar
ried. I, myself, faked an engagement.
And even after that, I had several guys
call me and try to coax me out of it.
They swore, even after I quit, that I'd
always be a brother to them.
Four years later, I've spoken to one
of my former "brothers" since.
I want to reiterate, again, my fra
ternity may have been an exception. I
don't want to lump the rest of the fra
ternities on campus together.
Besides, I did gain a couple of very
valuable abilities from my fraternity.
1) I can drink half of a bottle of vodka
without puking and, 2) more impor
tantly, I know not to drink a half bottle
of vodka.
Mexico, China, India or other low
income countries. The Europeans I
talk to believe that those countries,
whose fossil fuel use per person is a
fraction of ours but rising fast, should
be helped not to follow our wasteful
technological path. The way to do
that, they think, is to demonstrate the
new path ourselves.
Before he boldly promised the sta
tus quo, Bill Clinton made another
speech in which he said the United
States could reduce greenhouse gas
emissions "by 20 percent tomorrow
with technology that is already avail
able at no cost." He's probably too
optimistic about the "tomorrow" part
- it would take a few years - but not
nearly optimistic enough about the 20
percent. In Europe, they're talking
about wasting 20 percent or 50 per
cent or 90 percent less energy and
helping the environment and moving
away from the dirty technologies of
the past century into the clean ones
of the next century
Why on Earth don't we try to beat
the Europeans to it?
Meadows is an adjunct professor of
environmental studies at Dartmouth
College.