4 OPINION ePiage 4 SNR review: Tuesday, February 15, 1983 Cutting a The Michigan Da y r: world lead By Bradley R. Cross Much local attention has focused lately on the drastic budget reductions proposed for the Tniversity's School of Natural Resources (SNR). It is important, at this point, to focus j o on the bigger problems which are oc- rring across the globe and the role that SNR Gays in solving these problems. ,..Natural resources have been in the minds of thers as well; recent global level reports by Bch groups as the U.S. State Department, the wrld Bank, and the Willy Brandt Commission, eve analyzed the future of the earth through pis decade and into the 21st century. These ,ports have independently reached similar pnclusions about global trends and negative 4pact of population growth, spread of deserts, eduction of tropical forests, and the dumping Of toxic pollutants, to name a few. ,RECENT REPORTS show that these vinous worldwide trends are due to poor man management of the resource based 43sues, not the inherent limitations of the osphere. These trends, many of which have " eversible consequences, show us that we, as -r1anagers of the planet, are not performing in a *atisfactory, sustainable manner. n All of these trends began as local or national %oblems, but as the globe grew smaller they :came global concerns. They are facets of a - re comprehensive definition of national curity that is beyond the traditional military ;ope and which calls for an expansion of the "mtional security debate to include natural -'esource issues. In tackling these complex, interdependent problems that are global in nature but :olveable at the local level, the traditional Osciplinary focus has not proven successful. The need is for an integrative approach, en- compassing several desciplines each ap- plicable to the issue at hand. =IT IS THIS new integrative approach to problem solving that has given SNR its unique I CI~.', ( r.j- -: _s '1 1 __ __ i"' i/ "/ \\\Y - __10 (BPC) recommend a drastic 33% slash, in ef- fect killing the integrative approach by going backwards in time to disorganize the best school of natural resources in the nation? And why would they do it at a time when the world faces chaos and disaster in the near future unless the human management of critical natural resource issues, among others, is significantly improved? The perilous trends are there, moving right along, but they don't have to continue; it is still possible to change them through concerted appropriate in- tegrated management. But the University seems intent on giving up one of the best schools in the field. Why does the University recommend taking funding from areas of proven expertise to redirect monies into new fields of higher risk? The Michigan Occupational Information Coor- dinating Committee released a study January 13 that found robotics would displace 13,500 to 24,000 jobs in Michigan by 1990 and that, depen- ding on sales and market share of the robot in- dustry, only 5,000 and 18,000 new jobs could be created. It also stated that current perceptions of both the robot population and robotics em- ployment are vastly exaggerated. LOOKING AT renewable, sustainable natural resources, Michigan is 50 percent forested and has been identified in recent study as the most cost-effective geographic location in the nation to build new pulp and paper capacity. Another study concluded that there exists the capacity to create 50,000 new jobs in Michigan's forest-based industries over the next several decades. These statistics suggest the potential for the forest products industry to surpass agriculture and tourism and become the second most important industry in the state, provided appropriate investments are made in the public and private sector. The BPC's action seems to be fundamentagy a political decision rather than an academic or technically-based one. Maybe the reviewers 4 feel that managing toxic wastes and water resources, and building Michigan's forestry potential are expendable goals. I maintain they are crucial to Michigans sustained economic recovery. The decision-makers do not seem to understand the importance of natural resource management in today's world. A former U. S. diplomat, Thomas Wilson, commenting on some of the causes behind the trends in the global reports previously men- tioned said: "Almost all government ihb stitutions have been designed, mandated, arId organized in keeping with academic disciplines, specialized professions, economic sectors or technical functions-equipped, that is, to work on one problem at a time when the need today is not to isolate but to integrate con- cepts, policies, and programs of action. More over, governmental decision-making machinery is generally hierarchial in structure when the need now is not vertical centralization but horizontal organization of the full resources of governance for the management of natural and man-made systems." I propose that in addition to the University reorienting its money into its higher priorities by reviewing and slashing, it should review its own vertical hierarchy and examine whether it is preparing itself and its graduates to function in the integrative, problem solving arena, what ever the field. If this were done, I believe SNR would be a candidate for higher-priority money rather than the recipient of poorly designed and miserably justified budget slashes. Cross, an SNR graduate, is a natural resource management consultant. status in the state, nation, and world. SNR is the recognized leader in developing techniques to achieve success in this vitally important, but only recently recognized field of integrative natural resource management. The University has the oldest undergraduate forestry program in the nation, was the first in the nation to expand into an interdisciplinary school of natural resources from one of traditional forestry some 30 years ago, and today is the most integrative in the nation. Charles Harris, chairman of Harvard's lan- dscape architecture department, who served on the SNR external review performed in 1970 and has since monitored SNR closely, declared in 1982, "Since 1950 when it became the world's first school of natural resources, I believe SNR has sought and achieved a unique combination of educational, research, and ser- vice activities that does not exist in any other school in the world. This includes comparisons with Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, as well as many other equally well known institutions, none of whom have anything remotely parallel with what has been brought together within The University of Michigan and SNR." This combination has not come about at the expense of forestry, where UM ranks number two nationally in the latest Gorman Report. (MSU is 19th). Unfortunately for SNR, there is no official ranking of natural resource schools in the nation. AT THE RECENT World Congress on National Parks, held every ten years and co- chaired by SNR Prof. Kenton Miller, 41% of the world's leading and most influential natural resource managers were either graduates of SNR or had participated in SNR postgraduate training programs. Why does the Budget Priorities Committee Edited and mnanaged by students at The University of Michigan Sinclair 4 2 Vol. XCIII, No- Ji2. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Pay raise symbolism 14 WITH THE STATE budget deficit approaching $900 million and state aided institutions cowering under the budget cutting axe, the pay hike slated for state officials is an outrage. The pay-scale for top state officials is already among the highest in the nation. The governor's salary is currently $70,000 and each legislator earns $31,000 a year. Next year those salaries will go up automatically by $8,000 and $2,200 respectively with no roll call in the legislature, thus letting legislators avoid having to answer to the public. Every year, the U.S. Congress goes through the controversial and drawn out decision of whether to vote itself a pay-raise. But several years ago, Michigan legislators, wary of putting themselves on the publiic record, stealthily created a separate com- mission to set its salaries. That commission, whose salaries are also presumably paid by the state, voted the pay raise for 1984. The legislature did have a chance, by a two-thirds vote, to rescind the action by Feb. 1. But as is common practice, legislators decided if they just ignored the issue, it would go away. It didn't. The deadline passed, and many taxpayers rightfully are finding Governor Blanchard's proposal for a 38 percent income tax hike difficult to swallow in light of the pay increase. While the amount the officials will receive would total less than half a million dollars a small fraction of budget cuts or the deficit - the sym- bolism of the increase and subsequent inaction in the legislature smacks of arrogance at a time when all citizens and institutions of the state are being asked to sacrifice "for the good of the state." A dozen legislators have again brought the issue before the legislature and the governor for recon- sideration. This time the vote will be on the record so all citizens can determine if the officials are willing to make the same sacrifices they expect from their constituents. I4 PI iTTERS TO THE DAILY: Daily opinion condescends to Israel LE3 ri i ,, " ,c. r uv < f " r To the Daily: Your evaluation of the Israeli Committee of Inquiry into the Beirut Massacre (Daily, Feb. 10) stresses a very misguided notion. You feel that the main reason Israel went to such lengths to locate sources of indirect in- volvement was to "heal Israel's wounds" and "show the world that they, too, are capable of maintaining principle's of the civilized world." If Israel were part of what the Daily considers the "civilized world" there probably would never have been any Committee of Inquiry at all. Perhaps the Daily would inform us of any U.S. chief of staff who has been chastised for his lack of foresight when the atrocities of the Viet- nam war surfaces. Was the U.S. government any less responsible for its "police action?" The Committee of Inquiry was established to maintain the highest degree of military justice and integrity in the world, a stan- dard which Israel has practiced since its origin. Israel need not answer to the hypocritical out- cries of the Daily's "civilized world". No other nation on the face of the earth demands the high ethical standards of its leaders which the people of Israel do. The Daily's condescending ap- proach towards Israel's Commit- tee of Inquiry is indeed ludicrous when one considers it could not beE accomplished anywhere else. -J. Michael Jaffe February 10 Nonviolent resistance best I--i To the Daily: "When must humanitarians support (monetarily) the use of violence" against Third World governments? A.M. Babu asks (Daily. Feb.12). His answer is revolution applied as well to colonialist India in 1947 as they do to other Third World countries today. The leadership of Mohan- das Ghandi proved that there are nonviolent alternatives to violent revolution, that can equally ac- n..rli alOi Ana _f T iz-r.-w-ori ,rlitn-rialc ,nrnrincr ,ntlhe laft cideonf 4 I