Page 4 - LIONS EYE - February, 1999 Opinion LH Review ‘The Environmental Club Promotes Positive Change By Amy M Hurley Lion's Eye Staff Writer I do agree with the widely held notion that some environmentalists go overboard with both their beliefs and practices. In fact, I’ve personally met a few people who called themselves environmentalists, but seem more to me like masochists. Once during a class (not at this campus), the issue cof natural disasters came up. One person raised their hand and, when called on, said these words that I will never forget: “ Sometimes when I’m watching the news and I see a hurricane or something that kills a lot of people, I think to myself ‘Yeah, nature is making a comeback.” This self-proclaimed “environmentalist” gave me a frightening first-hand example of the inhuman side of the environmen- talist movement. Past experiences like this one made me a bit wary when entering the first meeting of the Environmental Club last semester. Once I got a chance to get in on the conversation, however, I was pleasantly surprised. One girl (whose name I didn’t catch) had done hazardous waste testing in West Phila- delphia.. She suggested that the club might take up the cause of a Fairmount Park clean-up. Others offered similar people-friendly ideas. This is the kind of environmentalism that gets my vote. Helping people either in reaching an awareness of the natural systems around them or pro- tecting the unaware from unnecessary environmental hazards should be among the primary goals of any self-respecting environmentalist. In other words, there needs to be a human element or people like myself are immediately alienated. At the most recent Environmental Club meeting I went to, Dr. Kelly Estrada, our faculty advisor, suggested that the club take up the cause of organizing the construction of an organic garden in Chester. The group of about ten people that attended took off with the idea. Many there had done previous environmental work, but I didn’t feel left out because of my lack of experience. So, even though the signs up around campus advertising the club’s meetings ask only, “Care about the environment?” I would add that anyone who cares about people would also feel perfectly comfortable with what these so-called environmentalists have to say. The Environmental Club meets ame other Friday in the Red Room of the Academic Building. Pro Sports on Brink of Self-Destruction By Rob Coyle - Editor-in- Chief A wise man might have once said, “Sports is one of the few things 1 in this life that will never let you down,” and except for a few occasions, he would have been right. It was beautiful — baseball was in the summer, which led to football in the fall, which gave way to basketball and hockey in the winter. It was a child’s game played by men, and the stadiums were always full. If was a time when the superstars stayed on a team for life, not until the next bidder stepped up; it was a time when free agency did not even exist and nobody ever held-out for more money. But those days have come and gone. Today, professional sports are a business like any other business, only to the nth degree. Professional sports has gone from a serene Norman Rockwell painting to something that not even Quentin Tarrentino on LSD could conjure up. It has fallen into a coma so deep that not even George Clooney and Anthony Edwards can bring it back. And nobody seems to care. Did it come as a surprise to anyone that, when polled, a majority of the fans really did not care whether or not the NBA played a season this year? The apathy level concerning pro sports these days is higher than Tom Petty standing on Shaquille O’Neal’s shoul- ders in New Orleans on he last day of Mardi Gras; and that is pretty darn high. “But what can be done?” you may ask. Beats me. Do you think that if I knew the answers to fix pro sports I would be sitting here at PSU Delco writing for a campus paper with so little funding that we have to buy our own film? I think not. The only people who can save the leagues are the owners, and they are too busy putting a down payment on their fourth house to care about the little things like the sky-rocketing salaries and the continual diluting of the talent pool by expansion. Why does Nashville need a hockey team? Why does Vancouver need a basketball team? They can’t even support the hockey team they already have. If major changes do not occur in the way pro sports are run you can kiss them goodbye, because no business, no matter how powerful, can run in such an inefficient way. But judging from past experience, by the time the people i in charge try to change, it will be too late. And then all we will have is Jerry Springer and William Jefferson Clinton to entertain us. What a hor- rible place this world will be. ‘Campus Activities: Lease campus van $4,000 Handbook/Calendar 2,500 Cheerleader Coach 1,140 Speakers for classes: 550 Total: $8,190 Equipment: Video equipment $2,775. Keyboard 1,200 Decline bench 229 SGA campus flag 200 Total: $4,404 Facilities: Lion’s Den new rug $5,000 Program Support: Orientation Program $1,715 Leadership Conf. 442 Lion’s Eye issue 430 Speaker series brochure 170 Total: $2,757 PENNSTATE ACTIVITIES FEE ALLOCATION COMMITTEE REPORT ON FALL 98 ALLOCATIONS Recreation: Lion’s Den supervision $7,000 Ice Hockey Club | 6,000 Total: $13,000 Diversity Programming: Speakers Series $18,000 Music Series 1,000 Caribbean Club Dance 200 Total: $19,200 Support Services: Student Security Corps $720 Just-in-Time: Leadership Retreat $6,600 Orientation T-shirts 3,150 New Lion’s Suit 1,200 Family Day 1,050 Miscellaneous 400 Total: $12,400 TOTAL: $65,671 BY Delaware County Office of Student Life
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