ssues & ideas

EDITOR JENNY PENG

THE DAILY VOICE, TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2014 7

Langarass 2013 Postcard Story Contest winner

Besides first prize winner Anita Shen, Karoline Pasciano claimed second and Moses Caliboso claimed third place

By VANESSA SZPURKO

er” to her name — as well as $100 to her bank account. Shen is the first-place winner of the English depart- ment’s 2018 Postcard Story Contest, now in its third year.

Students were asked to submit a short story inspired by a picture.

Shen’s story ‘Yucca Flats’ is based on a photo of the Nevada area of the same name.

English department instructor Caroline Harvey said the postcard story contest gives the public a chance to experi- ence skilled writing at its best.

“This semester, as usual, the entries we get really show how students here can create stories that are far more origi- nal and unique and outside the box than anything you see in mainstream storytelling,” she said.

“That’s why it’s so important to keep this contest going be- cause it encourages students to create on their own, without the noise of TV or other established genres that influence people to quite predictable stories and narratives.”

Harvey said the success of the contest shows that today’s youth still value and have skills with the written word despite the pervasiveness of technology in society.

“The idea that students here can produce stories like this that are so well-crafted is so encouraging, especially in a time when it seems like everybody’s hooked up to Facebook, hooked up to Twitter feeds and hooked up to YouTube,” she said.

Les student Anita Shen can now add “published writ-

Warnings from climate report

The Langara Climate Action will hold Fossil Fool’s Day where they'll simulate an oil spill in front of the A-building to- day

By BEN ZUTTER

though everyone across all continents would be impact- ed in some way, according to a new three-year joint in- ternational report on climate change.

Climate change continues to adversely affect ecological systems, weather patterns and human security, said the re- port released on Monday by the Intergovernmental] Panel on Climate Change UPCC).

It also found that greenhouse gas emissions were still at an unacceptable level and investment in alternative energy would be an important part of solving the crisis.

The goal now, according to the UN-funded findings, is for governments and the general public to adapt to an increas- ingly problematic threat by changing existing policies, in- creasing taxes and regulations on fossil fuels, and the rein- forcement of existing protective infrastructure.

The Langara Climate Action, a group of college instructors and students formed to fight climate change, are vindicated by the new report.

“The reality is that we are not going to stop using oil and other fossil fuels completely,” said event organizer Kathleen Emerson. “But making smarter choices about extraction and export, and seriously supporting development of alterna- tives, is key.”

The team will be displaying a simulated oil pipeline spill at Langara College for Fossil Fool’s Day on April 1. They are advocating a reduction in the use of fossil fuel, and investing in safe and sustainable alternatives, as well as raising public awareness.

However, not all groups agree with IPCC findings. The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) have conducted independent reviews of past and present IPCC reports and say they often exclude and misrep- resent important climate-change science.

In a report republished to coincide with the recent IPCC findings, the NIPCC found that “the human impact on global climate is small, and any warming that may occur as a result of human carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emis- sions is likely to have little effect on global temperatures, the cryosphere, hydrosphere or weather.”

T: poor, weak and elderly would be most affected, al-

n God’s ashtray, a tacky souvenir

we lost on the dehydrated escape

from our debts in Las Vegas, the

sand sifts slowly and the yucca grows sharp. The air is bright and I ask you to open the cooler and crack me an- other beer.

In the shadow of your cap you grin, laying the sweaty can over the sunburn prickling like lipstick along the back of your neck.

We are heavy, hot, sticky, and stink worse than money, crouched below the

Photo courtesy of National Nuclear Security Administration Langara’s English department called for submissions from students for a 250-word story to accompany a postcard.

YUCCA Flats sy aicsss

stolen motel curtain I am holding up against the sun. We are imagining the mushrooms which once burgeoned in this basin.

(It’s been a strange weekend.)

You take your corner of the curtain and in its shade you smoke a cigarette, gallantly offering a drag like dice you want me to Kiss.

The ashes scatter to the ground, and it is unclear if we win or lose. I think we've been lucky so far.

We do not stay for sunset. We need

to get home, and the second guy we bribed at the gate to Mercury will be off his shift at four. They were sweet, seemed to understand how hard it is to stay married for a decade, in this day and age anyway, when the future has roasted, shockwaved and imploded in on itself. The craters don’t grow any- thing but tumbleweed nowadays. Rus- sian thistle, they call it.

When the sun sets the glow is toxic and we drive into the blinding atomic death of the Strip.

How would you react if you saw stealing? Check out voice.ca

Students do it all the time. We ask strangers to watch our things for a few minutes so we can step away to grab a bite to eat or go to the washroom, just so we don’t lose our spot. But do you trust the people to actually watch your stuff? The Voice decided to do an experiment courtesy of The Ubyssey newspaper to find out how people would react if they saw someone stealing from their fellow students. Check out LangaraVoice.ca.