4a Opinion Monday, April 23, 2001 For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com Perspective Economic factors can help preserve the environment Yesterday was Earth Day. But before you handcuff yourself to a garbage truck or hand out a hamm leaflet, consider way to help the environment: market incentives. On April 22,1970,the first Earth Day celebration began. Then, few legal or economic restrictions targeted pollution. Fortunately, the logic of the capitalist market has made strong inroads into environmentalism. Earth Day marks progress toward a more effective and rational view of the environment because policies and regulations are attaching economic value to the environment. This has caused those who reduce the value of the envi- I turn the water off when I'm shaving, turn off lights and find many uses for plastic bags. I do these things to save money - economic influences can complement environmental concerns. Biodiversity in rain-forests, for example, is valuable because of its pharmaceutical potential. Drugs have value to humans. Conclusion: Sell land and drug rights to drug companies who will Scott Kaiser columnist opinion@kanan.com then direct their enormous financial reserves to protect biodiversity. If we truly want people to reduce waste and increase recycling, our policies need to speak in terms everyone can understand; money. Public policy should make the true social costs of disposal part of everybody's budget. Providing unlimited residential trash disposal service cuts directly against this rule. Likewise, it remains economically and politically unbound to expect people to dig through germ-laden garbage for recyclables, sort them and then pay to have them hauled away. Charging factories for pollution or citizens for their trash is more effective than doomsday moralizing because money is a common thread for all people. Harnessing the individual's self-interest is not a new idea. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked where it is needed most. Recycling could use some market reform. Paying to have recyclables hauled away is nothing more than a charitable donation to private industry — a reality that would bring horror to many an anti-industrial tree-hugger. A more effective approach would recognize that recyclables have economic value when businesses can make them back into sellable products. When governments ignore the law of supply and demand and set arbitrary recycling targets, they can damage the environment because they do not guarantee that sorted waste will actually be reused. Germany requires manufacturers to recycle their packaging and has more of the stuff than it could ever sell to the firms who might process it into something. So what happens if the market for a particular recyclable is weak and it is not demanded because businesses can't or won't use them for products? The answer is that the materials do not meet the definition of "recyclable" and are therefore rubbish. Unfortunately, a deeply entrenched environmental ethic prevents an efficient use of time and money. For example, many communities have demonstrated a sheepish commitment to recycling plastics, regardless of cost. But plastics break the golden rule of recycling, that recycled materials have to be able to compete on price and quality with new materials. Recycled plastics are cheaper than virgin, but extra processing raises their price. Nevertheless, local governments continued to collect plastics, but no businesses will buy them. Ultimately, the fruitless collection of plastic leaves less for things municipal leaders have been elected to invest in, such as parks, teachers or even other environmental efforts. Have you ever wondered why some people insist that others finish all the food on their plate, even when they are full? Showing that wasted food means wasted money would be more persuasive than simply criticizing. If someone pays for more than they can eat, their wallet has already suffered the consequences. This same sermonizing has long plagued the environmental movement, but it doesn't need to be this way. No doubt, some people will dutifully continue to pay to recycle, and others will water their lawns in the middle of a hot day in August. But if costs are attached to this behavior, then we cannot blame them further. This is an economic issue, not a moral one. Kaiser is an Overland Park first-year law student. Bruno Pieroni/KANSAN Kansan.com poll Last week's question: How does knowing that student body president Ben Walker refused to pass down a baseball and bat to president-elect Justin Mills affect your opinion of Student Senate? No effect. Walker was within his rights No effect. I already had a negative opinion of Senate. It damaged my opinion of Senate. It improved my opinion of Senate. Next week's question: It's been two years since the Columbine massacre. What's the most important lesson to come from this tragedy? Log on to www.kansan.com to cast your vote. This poll is not scientific. Numbers do not add up to 100 percent because of rounding. Total votes: 397 Perspective Resident assistants deserve appreciation, better wages For the year that I spent working as a resident assistant for the KU Department of Student Housing, I experienced more personal growth, met more incredible people, and made a greater difference in the lives of those around me than I had in the previous 20 years of my life combined. I was challenged in ways that I had never been before, and I faced situations that I pray to God, nobody, ever, anywhere, would have to face, but unfortunately many RAs do. People usually understand the basic things that RAs have to deal with, such as fire alarms, noise complaints and the not-so-occasional drunken residents. I can recall one Saturday morning when I was called seven different times for duty. Thankfully, only once it was it to clean vomit out of the elevator. What people don't realize are all of the other commitments that an RA is obligated to make. RAs are responsible for hall and floor programming, day and night duty, desk and Academic Resource Center shifts, community builder programs, peer counseling, policy enforcement and crisis management. Trint Homewood guest columnist opinion@kansan.com For example, when a student removes a fire extinguisher and runs down the hallway discharging its contents — the chemical cloud triggering a fire alarm — it's the RAs who clean up those dangerous chemicals for a couple of hours while the other residents wait outside at three in the morning threatening to riot, at the same time refusing to tell any authority who the clever prankster was that caused the inconvenience. practices was the concern of interest. Being an RA at a large state university is a major commitment, and RAs' contributions are grossly underappreciated. The RA at the University of Massachusetts recognized this and finally decided to do something about it by applying to the state board of labor in hopes of forming a union. When I read about this, I felt exhilarated to see that maybe somewhere, some day, RAs will finally get the compensation that they so desperately deserve. But let's put things in perspective. RAs at UMass are sick of their mealy $50 weekly stipend, and they ought to be. RAs at KU get a similar deal from student housing that, like UMass, also includes room and board. However, KU resident assistants receive a whopping $20 each week; that's well under half of what Ras in Massachusetts are preparing to strike for. It was explained to me once that the room and board portion of an RA's contract is to compensate for the time they spend on duty, doing programming work and other hall activities. The $20 a week that they receive is compensation for the six hours spent working the hall's desk and academic resource center. That comes out to be a little more than $3 an hour. The Department of Student Housing knows that it can pay this terribly inadequate sum to RAs because unfortunately, there will always be somebody who will work for it; not only because they love the job, but because they simply can't afford not to do it. Let's break this down a little more. Let's say, for instance, that it takes $5 to do laundry each week. In RA terms, that's a quarter of a paycheck. Add in one late-night pizza delivery, and they'd be lucky to have enough change to get a Coke from the food machine. A series of unrelated events last semester left me feeling bummed out about my own job. I just didn't feel happy, and I quit. Sometimes I regret that decision. The RAs who I worked with, and who are still working in DSH, are by far the cream of the crop of this university. The things that they do for KU are simply immeasurable — although it seems that $20 a week is acceptable compensation if you ask the number crunchers. If you ask me, I think it's a shame. Editorial Bush's policies on energy use short-sighted The president has covered to corporate influences and sold out the environment. President George W. Bush inherited an easy job. Instead of tough decisions on budget cuts or facing down an evil empire, he inherited budget surpluses and almost complete peace Only two major dangers loomed; a lack of electricity — especially in western states — and the continued deterioration of the environment. But instead of working to solve those problems, Bush has sold out the environment for easy, temporary solutions on the power crunch. There are two obvious solutions to an electricity shortage: produce more of it or use less of it. Producing more power is easier, but more fossil fuels have to be mined, more pollutants are released and more oil spills and gas explosions occur along the way. Cutting back on power consumption is more difficult, but fewer fossil fuels would be mined, fewer pollutants would be released, fewer oil spills and gas explosions would occur, and the power crunch would be solved, too — almost. Homewood is a Sedgwick junior in film studies. Manufacturers oppose the latter solution because energy-efficient appliances cost more to build, and that shrinks profits. Citizens generally support them because electricity bill savings more than compensate for the higher purchase price and because many Americans are environmentally conscious. in the campaign, Bush seemed concerned, too. He promised to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and to develop a "responsible energy policy." In elections, individuals make the decisions. In the White House, apparently, corporate America does. Since taking office, according to Newsweek, Bush has reneged on his greenhouse gas campaign pledge, withdrawn from talks on a global warming treaty, rolled back requirements on improving air conditioner efficiency, proposed a 6 percent cut in the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency and taken steps to abolish the White House Council on environmental quality. Solving the power crunch and preserving the environment requires leading the country, not cowering before its business leaders. We hope the president realizes this soon. This is unacceptable. Brendan Woodbury for the editorial board Free for all callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. For more comments, visit www.kansan.com. - I think Justin Mills should start his own tradition with a basketball because, hey, this is KU, and there's a lot more space to sign names on a basketball than a baseball. When is Stop Harassing Me and Trying to Force Your Vices Upon Me Day? I might actually go to class that week. - Props to Dave Grumman for preaching the gospel with rationality and poise without being derogatory. 四 Ben Walker, I went to high school with you, and I never knew you could be so petty. I'm ashamed of you. Can someone explain to me why KU faculty and GTAs get paid a lot less than what faculty and staff at our peer institutions do? But then KU administrators make a lot more than other administrators. That's not logical. I think all the GTAs at KU should shut up and quit whining. If they don't like it, they can go somewhere else. 器 I believe you should live each day like it is your last, which is why I don't have any clean laundry, because who wants to wash clothes on their last day of their life? Is it just me or does Justin Mills look a lot like Hootie from Hootie and the Blowfish? 图 J. D. Jenkins is a pimp. 国 Hey, I heard a rumor that Marion Marshall has the worst fantasy baseball team ever. - How come Amanda Kashchie is still a sports columnist when she only knows two players' names in the NBA? That's pretty pathetic. Maybe Iowa State had it right. Let's save men's swimming and diving and tennis, and let's cut baseball because we suck. B19 图 Thank God for KJHK and Delta Force. They're so avant garde. Tim Lang's editorial was ignorant. Pro-life supporters need to realize that abortions are going to happen no matter what, regardless of their legality, and it needs to be legal to be safe for women. I work at the Corbin front desk, and I'm surrounded by a bunch of drunken Raggedy Ann girls. I am in my hell. You should change that article about Jessica Bankston on the front of Friday's paper to "Rich girl copes with not getting her way for first time in her life." How to submit letters and guest columns Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions. Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run. All letters and guest columns should be emailed to opinion@kansan.com or submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924. 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