Over the Edge + October 28, 2009 Ls) may not agree with what you have to say, but! will defend to the death your right to say iE,” ~ Voltaire The opinions expressed in editorials or letters to the editor that are submitted to Over the Edge are not the opinions of Over the Edge or UNBC. The views expressed in a letter submitted to Over the Edge are the views of the original authors, and therefore, do not reflect the views of Over the Edge, or its staff. Over the Edge welcomes your submissions to our opinion section. To submit a letter to the editor e-mail over-the-edge@unbc.ca. Was a bust necessary? NAME WITHHELD I want to give the public a view of the busted grower since it seems all we ever read and hear about are the glorious achieve- ments of Law Enforcement. Last month the Police came to my door with the story that they were looking for a specific person who was supposed to have belonged to a gang, Let me tell you, neither of my friends or I had heard this name before. Without permission or a warrant they forced their way into my home and searched everything I own. They cuffed two of my friends and searched them for tattoos (apparently still looking for gang members) During this time my neighbours stood and watched now thinking that we are serious enough criminals to warrant 4 officers, 3 squad cars and a dog. I have a respectable job, I own my place, all the equipment I purchased legally off the internet including the marijuana seeds. The Plug and Grow box is the size of a chest freezer and was made in Vancouver, Meaning the wiring and assembly were done professionally and poses no more danger to the inhabitants of my place or my neighbours house then your fridge at home. (Something which I consider to be incred- ibly important) But to the important question, Why do I grow? I grow because it ensures I know the quality of what I smoke. And that is some- thing that people who grow for money don't care about. They may spray the bud with many different types of pesticides or rush a crop, not allowing the proper two week water flush. This flush allows the plant to use up any remaining nutrients in itself so you don't smoke it or consume it. The other big reason I grow is because it means I'm not supporting gangs or the criminal world, people who have no qualms about using violence or immoral actions to keep a monopoly and/ or protect themselves from Police Officers. So what did I have to do after the cops took my three plants? Which is just enough for me and a little left over to give to my friends. I phoned up my friendly neigh- bourhood drug dealer and bought an ounce of the good stuff, I guess what I'm trying to convey to people is that by punishing small time personal use growers the police are indirectly supporting the criminal world, thusly justifying the need for police. This is wrong and needs to be addressed either through legalization, or my preference, de- criminalization of small amounts of mari- Juana. There seems to be a common perception that people who smoke Marijuana are just “dope heads” with no cares in the world. Authority figures use this misinformation to divide and conquer as I put it, and to give themselves more power. The power to discriminate (in some cases hypocritically) without punishment. Now that this has happened, would insurance pay out if my place burned down? Or would they retreat to the convenient excuse of saying I’m just a pot grower? Will I get piss tested at work and risk losing my job? My livelihood? It is these small things that add up and can make a person desperate, because once considered a criminal you are condemned and shunned. Then you become a real criminal with nothing to lose. Your style of living is your choice, and we all want a different kind, We are your neighbours, your co-workers, the person who lends a hand at the scene of a car ac- cident. The guy who stops at midnight during -36 degrees Celsius on the highway and gives you a ride home after your truck has broken down. Good people who just want to relax in their spare time and not be harassed under false pretences, as it where, for doing what should be considered the re- sponsible thing. Avoid the vaccine First of all I am going to apologize to anyone whose family member has died of the NIGEL HANKS HIN1 virus. That sucks. But vaccination? Come on, don't further dilute our already pam- pered immune system. The reason there is an H1NI virus (which is apparently freakishly different from a conventional flu,right?) is because people are too luxurized to be sick once in while. Guess what: every now and then you are going to feel like shit, you will vomit, you will have explosive diarrhea, and be so dizzy you will wish you were dead. But most students put themselves there voluntarily anyways! I’m not telling you what to do, I’m just suggesting you don't be stupid and further weaken the failing human race by getting immunized for something that probably will not kill you unless you are frail, newborn, or nearly dead. Because next time, after adapting to the HIN1 vaccine, it'll be even deadlier, and might even make our eyes bleed. Photo Contest! Send in your photos for consider- ation. Any kind of photos. Prizes will be announced at a later date. Snap those photos! Green Talk Opinion 7 Thomas Cheney - Columnist/Staff Writer ‘There are moments when in the field of environmentally activism that one must engage in a serious round of head scratch- ing. On the one hand, the climate nego- tiations intended to create a successor agreements to Kyoto Protocol is flowing as quickly as a toxic vicious mixture of diesel oil, bitumen and molasses. One reason for the make-a-snail ashamed pace of these es- sential negotiations is that the developed countries refuse to cut emissions as much the developing countries want in order to expand their economies. It is ironic that the emphasis on poverty reduction could very likely end up wiping out 90% of the global population due to climate change in the long term. It is estimated tat the world could face up to a billion climate refugees by 2050. If this wasn't so serious, the stu- pidity of world leaders and others on the issue would have me laughing on the floor due to its Monty Pythonesque qualities. I would argue that much that much of the ity for the worsening responsibil- environmental crisis, and I don't particu- larly enjoy saying this, stems from a poor of the green movement. ‘The first big problem of the environmental movement is that the focus on blaming and making people feel guilty and not providing realistic solutions such as renewable energy and cradle to cradle manufacturing. The current method used by the environmental movement has been extensively disproved by social scientists as an effective means to encourage people to adopt environmental behaviours such as composting, taking transit or buying green energy. Much of the environmental dialogue, at least in the youth environment movement which I am slightly involved in centres around a man- tra not to far from “of stop consuming you selfish bastard”. The movement's focus on trying to change human nature and asking people to give up their modern lifestyles and go back to being peasants is a recipe for failure of not only the movement but of our planet. I am not picking on farming and agricultural pursuits, they are indeed invaluable and fundamental pursuits; we all have to eat. The problem is with that almost everybody in the western world, in- cluding myself, live a unsustainable lifestyle. From an ethical perspective, I really should give up modern conveniences and move to a small, self-sufficient farm. The reason I don’t engage in such virtuous behaviour is that I spent 8 years of life living in the middle of nowhere on the Queen Charlotte Islands and the isolation was quite detri- Balancing vari- mental to my happiness. ey ous priorities other than the environment can present a challenge to environmental behaviour. I do care about the environ- ment, but if I am hungry I will occasionally engage in the consumption of Twizzlers which inconveniently for my conscience entails a significant environmental impact due to the impact of agri-business. How- ever, the fact is we do engage in many of these environmental benefit behaviours be- cause we get a tangible benefit which is not an inherently immoral act. Right now Iam sitting in an electrically heated apartment with electricity sourced from a dam which involved the flooding of a river valley and loss of habitat. Still the thermostat is on at 15 degrees Celsius, I am not going to freeze. ‘The call for sacrifice isn’t working and time is running out; do we have an option that will let us live happy, prosperous and sus- tainable lives? In my opinion, and that of a growing number of environmental experts is that “The environmental movement thus needs to focus less on telling (guilt-tripping) people that they should be sustainable but work on making a sustainability easier, and not attacking people. “ sustainability and the economy may indeed not be such awkward bed fellows. Such a statement might sound like heresy, the fact remains there are ways that we can dramat- ically reduce our impact on the planet while living lifestyles not that different than what we live today. I am not saying, that it is good to drive a hummer up the hill every- day, instead of the bus, but sustainability does not mean a live of drudgery and won- dering whether the seeming closeness to na- ture is worth the 12 hour days of drudgery in the fields. That is not to say that we (that means me and everybody else) do not need to take action at the individual, campus and Ac- tion is no longer avoidable. If everybody lived like a Canadian it would take five planets to support us. Luckily, we do not need to live with 80% less stuff due to the fact that 50% of the ecological footprint at the global level relates to energy consump- societal levels to become sustainable. tion and land required to absorb the carbon dioxide. The Global Footprint Network estimates that we use 30% more resources than the earth can sustain and thus we are accumulating a dangerous amount of eco- logical debt that threatens our very future. If we hypothetical were to stop carbon di- oxide emissions we would be living within the means of the earth based on the current Un- fortunately, for the cause of sustainability, total global resource consumption. the global economy is expected to double by 2030 to 70 billion dollars which means that more resources are used such as more paper, plastic and even products as benign as organic cotton underwears. Without significant changes in how we consume and produce goods and services we will end up in ecological overshoot again even if we eliminated carbon dioxide emis- sions. So what can we do? Does sustain- ability inherently entail a life that is brutish, nasty and perhaps short? I don't think so. In fact a failure to address the sustainability crisis will likely lead to the aforementioned Malthusian hell (think Rwanda). Fortun- ately, we have the ability to use resources in a far more efficient way. A good example of how resources can be used more efficiently is the furniture at the university, Rather than being thrown away when they are old and worn they are simply sent back to the manufacturer, Calstone to be made into A similar approach used by the carpet company Interface where it the amount of natural new products. has reduced resources in order to create a carpet by 30 times. I feel that all parties including environmentalists such as my self have some culpability in the lack of success on the environmental front as do consumers, governments and industries. The environ- mental movement is failing as it is trying to convert people to altruistic behaviours and focusing of moral sacrifice rather focusing on a strategy of moving forward and en- gaging people and working cooperatively to A paper in the Journal of Social Issues entitled “Human Nature and solve problems. Environmentally Responsible Behaviour” found that people want to solve problems and they want to make a difference but they need real and realistic control over what they do. The environmental move- ment thus needs to focus less on telling (guilt-tripping) people that they should be sustainable but work on making a sus- tainability easier, and not attacking people. Environmentalism 1.0 with its misan- thropic tendencies will not be able to save the planet. Furthermore, it can’t try to save every square inch of the planet as is the cur- rent practice and needs a form of sustain- ability that will maintain ecological services but not alienate the population. We can't save our climate with parks and ecological restoration alone, we also need renewable energy and geoengineering by air capture as there is already to much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Sex and the City UNBC Edition Kali Flick - Columnist/General Office Assistant The other day mid argument with my boyfriend I get frustrated seeing that, as usual, the fight has begun due to jealousy. Whether a new topic or an old argument being strewn throughout this one, it’s easily wearisome to see brought up repetitively. Both men and women experience jealousy. While men and women may get jealous about different things, our jealous behav- iour and reactions are often similar. Now this is where I get confused about the sub- ject. As I believe that jealousy is not a sign of immaturity, but rather a supremely im- portant passion. Now does this mean that you don't trust one another? I don't neces- sarily think so; I see jealousy as more of an enticement to continue trying, Craving to be the best you can for your partner and for yourself, This is what I refer to as healthy jealousy. For instance, a boy voices his con- cern over having his girlfriend go out with a bunch of guys or seeing another man flirt- ing with his girlfriend. Jealousy does not necessarily merit its negative tone; after all, it's normal for men to be suspicious of their women and vice versa. Having reservations about her going to a strip bar with friends or not enjoying the sight of her drooling over some guy in a magazine are innocent examples of how some jealousy can be harmless, and a perfectly normal reaction. I see these acts as showing your loved ones how much you care, a cute jealousy. On the other hand, there is obsessive jealousy, the one that gives all of the above a bad rap. ‘This is where loyalty is questioned and ag- gressive behaviour physical or mental may follow, such as foolish actions. This obses- sive jealousy is the one that drives me and my partner insane at times, I don't know how to stop it but at times we are unable to be happy together; too hung up and concerned with past incidents. It’s okay to feel jealous, as long as you can contain and channel it in a positive manner. Keep in mind that flirting and chatting is normal to an extinct; just consider it as flattering on both your parts. Remember that trust is the foundation of any relationship, and you shouldn't let your insecurities destroy the trust. So, is jealousy a cute illustration of compassion and love or the rival within any relationship?