lewpoints EDITOR KYLA JONAS THE VOICE, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011 6 Buy local or buy smarter uy Nothing Day can help make Beer think about overcon- sumption, but may have unintended consequences and be detrimental to some businesses. Overconsumption is a problem in all developing countries, which is why raising awareness about its consequences is critical. Currently, 20 per cent of the world’s population consumes 80 per cent of the planet’s resources and this leads to disproportionately high levels of pollu- tion, environmen- tal damage and animal habitat destruction. Buy Nothing Day, which originated here in Vancouver, is heavily promoted by the Vancou- ver-based magazine Adbusters. Adbusters’s target demographic is not the same as that of large corporate stores like Walmart. People reading this magazine may be more likely to support places like the café down the street or small neighbourhood shops. Therefore, if these same people buy nothing for a day, it is those small businesses that suffer. As reiterated in the Bloomberg article of Oct. 28, “U.S. Consumer Spending Gain 0.6% Helps Economy Skirt Recession Relapse,” spending is good for the economy as a whole, and not just for the top one per cent. Many companies rely heavily on the sales they make in the month leading up to Christmas, and if they were to lose money during that time, jobs could be lost as well. This does not mean the premise of Buy Nothing Day is a bad one. Rather than just designating a day of not buying anything, however, maybe there should be a day for people to decide what sort of businesses they want to support. Thinking about overconsumption is something everyone should do, but the solution shouldn’t be to stop supporting businesses in general. A more effective approach would be for people to reflect on what they believe in, products they are purchasing and work on aligning their spending with their values. Perhaps Buy Sustainable Day would be a more suitable name. Or Buy Local Day, or Buy Smarter Day. OPINION Emma Crawford We want to hear from you Did we get a fact wrong? Tell us. Got a different point of view? Write to us. Problems with something we've said? Let us know. Journalism instructor Nicholas Read oversees The Voice. Email him at nread@langara.be.ca No plastic? Still not green ’m convinced that Langara needs to rethink their approach to sustainable consumption prac- tices on campus, especially after the recent release of findings from an environmental studies project. The water cleanliness project, which measured levels in alkalinity, hardness, and E. coli, demonstrated that there is no drawback to drinking from the campus’ water fountains or filtered water stations. The environmental studies group noted that the project was done in order to encourage more sustainable consumption of water. In other words, this project would seemingly support the ban on plastic water bottles in the Student Union Building that the Langara Students’ Union proposed earlier this fall. I support the idea of creating a more sustainable campus, one which limits the number of plastic water bottles that end up in landfills. I would also encourage students to bring their reusable bottles and take advantage of the filtered water stations which the college is continuing to put in central loca- tions throughout the school. However, this ban on plastic water bottles brings up an important question: if plastic water bottles, which at least still provide students with a healthy beverage option, are banned, will 4 é plastic soft drink bottles, which 0 Pl N | 0 N contain chemicals AlexandraGrant 2d substances which actually negatively impact the consumer’s health, be banned as well? The answer, according to Eli Zbar, LSU member at large, is no. Soft drinks are sold on campus through sponsorship deals. If the LSU wants to crusade sustainability issues, all plastic bottles should be banned. The point of banning plastic water bottles becomes moot if pop bottles are still sold for the sheer sake of maintain- ing sponsorship deals. The environmental studies project proved an excellent and informative point: since all the campus’ drinking water is perfectly safe, environmen- tally minded students should feel inclined to bring their reusable bottles to campus. The LSU should use this informa- tion as a platform to create a more positive and accessible program that would encourage students to use these filtration stations rather than implementing a ban, which disallows students from exercising a choice. Potential initiatives could be to provide students with reusable bottles each year, something which would encourage students to use the filtration systems at no cost to them. Give a student a ban and they might begrudgingly purchase a pop bottle one day. But give a student knowledge regarding sustainability issues, and they could become conscious participants for a lifetime. Sure, I'm popular — but only on Facebook friends. Most people read that number and consider me to be a pretty social person, but no. ‘: My Facebook » ™ number doesn’t : reflect that a 0 P| N 10 N large number of “friends” include Kyla Jonas strangers like: my creepy gym teacher from grade eight, some hairy foreigner I kissed once in 2009, a golden retriever from France, a self-proclaimed counterfeiter I met in summer school seven years ago and more than a handful of people I entirely forgot I knew. 0: Facebook I have exactly 392 These aren’t people I’d call if my dog died or if my dad wound up in jail. Instead, they’re people I’d expect to comment when I post a funny YouTube video link of a cat riding a turtle or kids explaining WWII. The Globe and Mail recently published an article on a study that examined Facebook friendships. Out of the 2,000 adults tested, on average, participants have only 2.03 close friends, even if Facebook reports that they have over 250 online friends. Apparently, that is one friend less than the results on a similar study published in 1985. Although Facebook hasn’t helped me create a lot of real friendships, it has turned me into a better detec- tive. I’m that type of awkward person that mentions something about you that you swear you’ve never told me about before. I wouldn’t say that I’m creepy, just very cautious. I mean, how can I honestly be comfortable dating someone without knowing who their favourite band was in 2007, or that they briefly had a goatee during their “experimental” stage. I guess I could ask them, but how enthralling is face-to-face communi- cation anymore? Sure, social media has provided a simplistic platform for connecting with old friends or distant relatives. But Facebook has also arranged an easy way to disconnect from in-person contact, a new definition for the word “friend,” and a reason to cry when only two people “like” your recent status update. The Voice is published by Langara College's journalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must be signed. They may be edited for brevity. Names may be withheld in special cases, but your letter must include your name and phone number. HOW TO REACH US PHONE 604-323-5396 FAX 604-323-5398 E-MAIL thevoice@langara.be.ca DROP-IN Room A226 Langara College There is a mailbox at the entrance to the journalism rooms. SNAIL MAIL The Voice 100 West 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. VSY 226 WEBSITE wwwlangara.bc.ca/voice EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6 Kyla Jonas PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Anne Watson PAGE 2 Leah Goebel PAGE 3 Brittany Lee PAGE 4/5 Jared Gnam PAGE 7 Jesse Winter PAGE 8 Khethiwe Rudd WEB EDITORS Celina Albany Derek Bedry Natalie Cameron REPORTERS Moma Cassidy Lynda Chapple Emma Crawford Jennifer Fong Shawn Gill Alexandra Grant Alanna Hardinge-Rooney Matthew Hyndman Patrick Johnston Ruman Kang Devon MacKenzie Daniel Palmer Jennifer St. Denis Carly Wignes Martin Wissmath Contact us: Our blog at langaravoice.com Twitter at @langaraVoice Youtube at VoiceLangara flickr at Langara Voice