4A - Friday, September 5, 2008 ).pinioll, The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 74C fiC41*gan4:aly V Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu ANDREW GROSSMAN EDITOR IN CHIEF GARY GRACA EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR GABE NELSON MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position oftthe Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations representsolelytheviews oftheirauthors. F THE DAIY Go (Planet) Blue 'U' conservation program is worthy of praise Maybe the increased carbon dioxide in the air is throw- ing off people's minds or maybe high energy costs have finally convinced people that conservation is important, but big green ideas are taking the United States by storm. Everyone wants in on the green game. The University is no exception, and now with the scaled-up Planet Blue program, it has hit a home run. But like all successful ideas, the bar is now set high - the University must exceed its current commitment in the future. NOTABLE M"OTA LE I lied under oath:' - Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, admitting in court that he lied while testifying during a whistle-blower trial last fall, as reported yesterday by the Detroit Free Press. Kilpatrick will resign from his position as part of a plea bargain he agreed to yesterday. Undercover brothers E very woman knows that when a right to respond "no." Disease Control and Prevention. A she gets involved with a new So is he lying? No. However, is he 2003 study from the same source also man there are a few ques- being deceptive and unfair? Yes. showed that 34 percent of black men tions she must Here's why. Many men and women who have sex with men also reported ask to see if he's in the LGBT community have fears havingsexwithwomen, whereasonly the eligible bach- and worries caused by their sexual 6 percent of black women reported elor she's looking identity. Many of us assume that sex- knowingly having sex with a bisexual for. There are the ual orientation is a black-and-white man. standard questions issue. Either you're gay or you're This datareflects an issue especial- about career, cred- straight. But that is not always true. ly pertinent in the black community it, mental health Men who are questioning their sexu- of men on the "down-low," mislead- history, criminal ality have their own identity issues ing their partners and putting their background, fam- they are trying to understand. They lives at risk. While it's safe to say that ily and relationship SHAKIRA can't give you a concise answer ifthey alienation from your community may status - because no SMILER still have uncertainties themselves. make you feel bad, contracting HIV woman wants to be ~_Furthermore, in many communi- from a dishonest partner could kill out with her new ties, especially the black community, you. beau, only to have his wife storm in being gay or bisexual is still consid- with a smelly brat on her hip scream- ered largely immoral and licentious. log about child support payments. Men can put themselves at risk of After years of trialand error, women being completely alienated from The dangers of have learned how to avoid this situa- their families, loved ones and the tion by asking the right questions in entire community if they come out. hiding sexual advance. This leads some to feelings of loneli- Similarly, ever since "Brokeback ness, emptiness and despair. Fear of orientation. Mountain," women have started slip- exclusion, partnered with the confu- ping another precautionary three- sion about their sexual desires, could word question onto our relationship force any manto take a more avoidant application: "Are you gay?" approach in a sexual situation. That's This is not only an issue that While we exhale after receiving a not to mention that hate crimes are plagues the black community. This very relaxed response of "no," what still committed against gay people problem crosses all racial and socio- we fail to realize is that we have just every year. economic communities. While I been bamboozled. "Gay" is a very Sure, we can come up with plenty consider myself an ally of the LGBT specific term. Although a man may of reasons why gay or bisexual men community, I can't support dishones- have an intimate or sexual attraction might hide their sexual identity ty and deception. Men who are dating to another man, he may very well not from the women they are dating. But both women and men and engaging be gay. Sure, many people will argue regardless, it is still selfish and dan- in sexual activities with both are put- that having any kind of attraction to gerous. By choosing not to disclose ting themselves and their partners at someone of the same sex makes you that kind of information, these men an even greater risk of contracting gay, members of the LGBT commu- mislead these women emotionally. sexually transmitted diseases and nity have clear definitions and terms, Furthermore, if sex is involved, they deadly viruses. like bisexual, that differentiate one put their partners at risk of diseases Coming clean to your partner may identity from another. and death. cause you to suffer a broken ego, but Unfortunately, dealing with this In the black community, for exam- continuing to hide your true identity is like a "don't ask, don't tell" type of ple, HIV/AIDS was the leading cause may cause you to take someone's life. thing. If you ask him if he's gay and of death amongblack women between he identifies as bisexual (or in many the ages of 25-34 in 2004, based on Shakira Smiler can be reached cases, he may not know), then he has information from the Centers for at stsmiler@umich.edu. KATE PEABODYVE NT Planet Blue is the successor to a pilot pro- gram that began in October last year. In five campus buildings, the pilot program combined an intensive education campaign with energy-saving technology to reduce costly energy consumption, giving fac- ulty and staff the message and the means to make a change. For example, instead of just suggesting that people turn off their electronics when they leave their room, it also provided people motion-sensing power strips to help. And the pilot program was wildly suc- cessful. The five buildings reduced con- sumption by 8 to 25 percent. The program is sure to save the University a nice chunk of change. Just consider that one of the five buildings, the Chemistry Building, uses more than $4 million worth of energy a year. Reduce that by 10 percent, and you just saved a quick $400,000. Now, Planet Blue is scaling up. Over the next three years, it hopes to do for 30 build- ings what it did for three last year. And it expects big results: an overall 10-percent reduction in energy consumption. Backing up that goal is roughly $15 million from the Plant Operations budget - money the Uni- versity expects to get back in two years. The University deserves a round of applause for this effort. Silently, the Uni- versity has been making some great eco- friendly changes in the past few years. It has also done its fair share of greenwashing - selling itself as a leader on environmental issues when it really isn't. But Planet Blue is something to be proud of. It capitalizes on the newfound enthusiasm for environmen- talism that is sweeping our country by pro- viding people with the tools and knowledge to make a difference. Hopefully it won't just change the University's energy bill, it will also change people's attitudes. The program has a few inconsistent quirks, though. Because the initiative is financed through general funds, it doesn't extend to some very significant facilities, including athletic facilities, the hospital and residence halls. Further, instead of simply upgrading facilities and technology for every building, upgrades will be made upon request. This way, a building's staff could decide that instead of installing a new dual-flush toilet, they could keep the old toilet around, for example. But why give them the option? More importantly, the University's ener- gy-saving education overlooks a key group: students. Granted, this semester's theme for the College of Literature, Science and the Arts is "Energy Futures," which will hope- fully educate students. But it would be nice to see a little more attention focused on some of campus's biggest wasters. Start young. It should go without saying that Planet Blue can't be the end of the University's foray into real environmental change. As long as there are still vacant computers turned on for hours in the Fishbowl, empty rooms with lights on all night and buses not using hybrid technology, there is a lot left to do. That doesn't dismiss the initiative all of need to take. But the University is in a posi- tion to prod a lot of people on. Valuing Internet input EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Harun Buljina, Emmarie Huetteman, Emily Michels, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, Imran Syed The Daily is looking for smart people with an interest in campus issues and excellent writing skills to be members of its editorial board. E-MAIL GARY GRACA AT GRACA@MICHIGANDAILY.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION RACHEL VAN GILDER I VIEWP. IT Parenting, not olic Yesterday, when I finished reading Emily Michels'sviewpointintheDailyaboutsexual education (The opposite of sex, 09/04/2008), I set down my newspaper and picked up my laptop. Michels argued that the abstinence- only sexual education program now taught in public schools is the root cause of rising teen pregnancy rates in the United States. She condemned the Bush administration for backing a program that "puts an entire gen- erations of teens at high risk for disease and unwanted pregnancies." And you know what? She was right. Absti- nence-only education isn't working. We've got the numbers to prove it. But that's not the only problem, and blam- ing everything unfortunate that happens on the government - Bush administration or otherwise - is a bad habit to get into. We need to take some of the blame, too. We need to start making some changes. Rather than a naive teen populous caused by poor government policies, the root cause of teen pregnancy is a culture in which casual sex has become a way of life. Our society teaches young people that having sex at a young age is perfectly acceptable. The media glamorizes celebrity teen preg- nancy. Mainstream music and television has transformed sex from a private act between two people committed to each other into a cheap thrill. Bombarded from every direc- tion, young people think free love is just another part of the American way. Somewhere along the way, giving youths a realistic impression of the consequences of their actions got lost. On television, the pretty, popular girl never gets pregnant with a baby for which she can't care. In the songs, the one-night stand doesn't end with an innocent child in an impoverished, sin- gle-parent home. Pop culture teaches young people to forget about the consequences of their actions. Young girls are taught that having sex is a choice they can make, an action to prove how mature they are. Sex is not a form of self-expression, though. It is, to be completely frank, a reproductive function. Thinking about sex outside of biological terms fights against nature. That's why even the most advanced birth control techniques are never 100 per- cent effective. No amount of education can change that. However, people can change their think- ing and their habits. We're the ones allowing this misinformation and these irresponsible attitudes to reach young minds. If the peo- ple want to lower teen pregnancy rates, we need to be the ones making the change, not waiting around for the government to do so. Parents should give their children the facts and teach them family values. Movements to insert reality into the messages sent over our airways need to form. If John McCain takes office in January, it is a good bet that the abstinence-only sexual education program won't be chang- ing. Barack Obama, on the other hand, co- sponsored the Prevention First Act, a bill that supports our the teaching of both absti- nence and safe sex in public schools. But neither of these policies is good enough. We shouldn't be waiting around for the government to make a move. If America wants its young people to be making truly responsible decisions, it needs to step up and start taking truly responsible action. Rachel Van Gilder is an LSA sophomore. Why do you update your Face- book status? Maybe you're bored, but more likely you're looking for a reaction. It's the same reason you post dramatic song lyrics or updates on your emotional condi- tion - to elicit a response. Human interaction on any level is based on reactions, but the Internet is step- ping up the game. Blogs are highly interactive. Admit it: Even in the eighth grade, you lived for the comments on your LiveJournal. Maybe you gave up when people stopped commenting on the updates about your secret life of American teenagedom. But now you have YouTube, and if you don't check what people are saying about the videos you post, you are checking how many hits you got. The Internet has become our secret diary. At first, it's disturb- ing to think that rather than for your eyes only, the whole world is able to read and react. But this con- versation is creating productive dialogue. It is unfiltered and often uncensored, leaving less to social niceties and more to open interac tion. That's admirable. Take for example, the newspaper comment board. Even major news sources have reluctantly opened up commenting on their news stories. Sometimes, these comment boards play host to intelligent conversa- tions, arguments and valuable feedback. More frequently, they're filled with mindless drivel, and readers egging others on for reac- tions. Yet, most of the time, this intentional filth is countered. Anonymity plays a central role in all this. Because full names and identities are rarely disclosed,those who comment are less inhibited to stay within socialiboundaries. They are less likely to filter their reac- tions, providing a more exclusive look into internal assessments sel- dom seen in public settings. Increasingly, public figures and celebrities are taking advantage of this phenomenon, which in turn has opened up a conversation with these people. For example, it is often rumored that stories are purposely leaked in order to judge the public's reaction. Such was the case with John McCain's shortlist of vice presidential candidates. It has been suggested that his camp leaked the names of Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge as potential candi- dates to test the public and pundits, especially among the conservative Republican base. Maybe that's why he threw out his shortlist; he didn't get the reaction he was looking for. When was the last time that regu- lar people had such an impact on a vice presidential choice? At first, it may seem tactless to intentionally uncover such protect- HARUN BULINA E-MAIL HARUN AT BULJINAH@UMICH.EDU a( Experience ed information. But these experi- ments testing the fickle reaction of the public have now become a form of entertainment behind regular gossip. If the story is right, the mystery of the validity can grow the story's popularity exponential- ly. How long has the public been waiting now for Lindsay Lohan to deny or confirm her relationship with Samantha Ronson? Obviously it's a gauge that's not for everyone. "The Twilight Saga," the popular series of novels by author Stephenie Meyer, has taken a negative turn due to unintended reaction. The first portion of Mey- er's fifth novel in the series was recently leaked online. Although the reaction was anything but negative, Meyer announced a pos- sibly permanent pause on finishing the project now. Rather than use her readers' comments to further * develop the novel, she felt that such unintended insight was an intru- sion on her rights as an author. But fortunately for Twilighters, the movie studio was listening to read- ers' reactions and bumped up the movie release from December to November. Ultimately, it's all about mak- ing the most of what you read and post. There is a public conversa- tion going on around the world where reactions come from you people you know along with peo- ple you will never meet. So, maybe you'll comment on this article on michigandaily.com. Maybe not. But either way you're participating in an age of dialogue. Listen up. Kate Peabody is an LSA senior and a Daily editorial page editor. " " 0 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be less than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters., Send letters to tothedoily@umich.edu.