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KANSAN.COM | MONDAY, SEPT. 14, 2015
Text your #FFA submissions to 785-289-UDK1 (8351)
Nap dates are the best kind of dates
Kinda feeling like the Underground's new straws are going to be the best thing about this year
Ban smoking on campus? More like make every stressed out student rip their hair out during finals week. Designated smoking areas are the way to go.
If you don't follow
@babylfk, do you
really even go to KU?
RICH PEDRONCELLI/AP PHOTO
A big thank you to the student who came with two umbrellas to help us out Thursday night during the storm when we were loading boxes into our cars in Ellsworth parking lot. Girl, you rock!
Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown, flanked by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, left, and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, announced that they are scaling back a proposal to address climate change, during a news conference, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015, in Sacramento, Calif.
Petition for KU to have a puppy daycare on campus where people can drop their dogs off while they go to class.
Making a cooler for a guy is like going to the Hawk. Sounds like a good idea at first and then just gets really bad really fast
People are just talking about hot boys. Hot boys. Hot boys. Hot boys.
You know what I care about?
Hot pizza.
Amirite?
That hilarious moment when you're running to a class you think you're going to be late to and you almost run into the professor of the class, who's running the opposite direction
The weather is so nice right now! Can it please be like this more often?!
Ladies, please stop asking me what house I'm in as an icebreaker.
More like Jameis LOSSton amirite?
Jameisn't good at football
When the basketball team gets the loudest cheer at the football game.
Coldcuts
FireBeaty
FireZenger
FireWeis
Current U.S. climate change regulations need an update
READ MORE AT KANSAN. COM
JOHN OLSON
@JohnOlsonUDK
With hardly a doubt about it in the scientific community, climate change is happening. The U.S. government is ramping up efforts to combat both the causes and effects of climate change. Many say it's going about it too slowly, and others think it has done too much too quickly.
But what if it's doing it all wrong in the first place?
For the most part, the way that government agencies are approaching the issues of greenhouse gas emissions and its knockoff effects makes a 12-year-old's organizational skills look like Martha Stewart's.
Take for example the government of California's response to its most recent drought, which has been made worse by climate change: It's a patchwork of regulations putting limits on how much water golf courses can use, requiring the use of certain types of landscaping, banning the watering of grass on street medians and more.
What makes this insane is how practically any economist (and any student who has taken an introductory economics course at this University, for that matter) could have told you that the best way to combat a shortage of something is simple: increase the price of it. Rather than pass dozens of new
regulations, all California has to do to decrease water usage is raise the price of water.
The federal government can learn from this in its efforts to combat carbon emissions. Currently, the U.S. government's plans to combat climate change are a hodge-pode of ideas: There are subsidies for certain types of energy, rebates that come and go for electric cars, different goals for limits on carbon emissions depending on the state and then some.
The problem with this command-and-control approach is that such regulations hardly distinguish between small and large busin ses. This means that a local rubber-making plant may be forced to cut emissions at the same rate as an enormous coal-burning power plant, even if cutting pollution is more affordable for the power plant.
As hinted by California's example, the federal government already has a
At the same time, these subsidies cause innovators and businesses to invest in technologies that already exist, like wind and solar, and disincentivizes them from pursuing newer technologies. What if a business has a great idea for a new clean energy source, but decides against it because the government encourages them to dump money in an existing technology?
better answer before it for reducing carbon emissions: Put a price on carbon.
If such a price existed, businesses could more easily and effectively respond. Companies that could more easily reduce emissions, like a giant chemical plant, would reduce carbon output at a greater rate than those who would face difficulty, like a family-owned manufacturer.
At the same time, people would be naturally incentivized away from carbon-polluting activities. Rather than being encouraged to use an existing activity that could warp results, individuals would be discouraged from
polluting activities simply by the prices they face. What's more, the federal government would gain additional revenue that it could use to respond to climate-related disasters or cut taxes in other areas.
Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch; the prices of many things we consume, such as gasoline and food that has been shipped long distances, could very well increase under a carbon tax. However, such a plan would remove the behavior-banning burden of hundreds of regulations, lower costs we already pay but may not realize caused by existing laws and lower carbon emissions
by millions of tons.
Some may say there is no price too high for preserving our planet's present and future. However, there are good ways of protecting our earth and there are bad ways. The mess of current and proposed laws for combating climate change is absurd especially when such a simple solution such as a price on carbon exists.
John Olson is a junior from Wichita studying economics and mathematics.
Edited by Abby Stuke
Why getting a flu shot right now is one of the best things you can do for your health
ABBY PETRULIS & KENDALL SULLIVAN @KansanNews
I have no problem admitting to anyone who asks that I have an irratic hate for getting shots. I build it up in my head for so long that the fear and horrible pain I'm anticipating end up being about 10 times worse than the actual tiny prick.
Unfortunately, these tiny pricks that many fear so much are actually some of the best things for us. Getting a flu shot is a lot more important than people often give it credit for. Thirty seconds of discomfort can prevent a week of being bedridden, ending up with further complications or passing the virus on to someone with a weaker immune system.
As flu season approaches, it's important to understand the facts and misconceptions around it.
Why is the flu shot different every year?
Last year, the vaccine had small amounts of certain strains that were believed to be common influenza viruses during that particular flu season.
virus has been able to mutate and change so that it is harder for the immune system to beat. For this reason, each year more than 100 disease control centers from more than 100 different countries have a conference every February to determine which viruses will cause the largest threat for that year. After they come to a decision, they develop a new vaccine for that upcoming flu season and begin to distribute it.
When is flu season?
However, a year later, the
The flu season is typically considered to be October through May. The peak of the season usually occurs sometime between December and February. It can be difficult to predict exactly when it will happen in your community, so you should get immunized as soon as possible. With most things, there are several misunderstandings about the flu shot and how it actually works.
Misconception #11: If my roommate has the flu, I can get the flu shot and be immediately protected.
certainly isn't perfect. Part of that is the nature of vaccines
While the flu shot is great, it
they use your immune system to really be effective. When you get a flu shot, it can take up to two weeks for you to become fully protected against the types of influenza in the shot. If someone you live with or spend a lot of time with has the flu, a flu shot won't give you any additional protection unless you get it weeks in advance.
Misconception #2: The flu shot protects against the stomach flu.
What we commonly refer to as the stomach flu is not actually the flu at all. The influenza virus only affects the respiratory system, where the stomach flu is actually called gastroenteritis. While it's still a virus, it is completely different from influenza, and there is not a vaccine for it.
Misconception #3: I can get the flu from the flu shot.
While the flu virus can sometimes outsmart us and result in a strain that we didn't predict, the flu shot is still considered your best protection against getting the flu.
The flu shot is a kind of vaccine that is inactivated. There are two different kinds of vaccines — live attenuated and inactivated. Inactivated vaccines cannot infect you
However, these kinds of vaccines still work because your body can still recognize the virus and develop protection to that kind of virus.The flu shot will not cause you to get the flu in any way.
I've heard that it's not that effective. Why do I need it?
It's also important to get the shot if you live around people who might be too young to get immunized, or are elderly. These two age groups have weaker immune systems, and while you might get over the virus easily, it's a lot more dangerous for them. This concept is referred to as herd immunity — if the majority of people are immunized, we can protect the weaker members of our "herd."
- they are essentially dead.
It's also a good idea to get immunized if you live in close contact with other people, for example dorms and apartments.
Where to get a flu shot:
For students on campus, the easiest place to get a flu shot is Watkins. However, during October, pharmacy students and nurses from Watkins will be in more convenient places around campus providing immunizations.
It's important to get your flu shot now instead of December or February so your immune system has time to get fully protected before the peak of the season. You can also get a flu shot at any pharmacy, and if you are at the doctor's office, you can ask as well.
Still think vaccines aren't safe?
To further your knowledge, I recommend visiting pubmed. com, which has a searchable database for all published medical articles. As KU students, we have free access to many of these articles.
- Edited by Maddie Farber
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