Monday, May 9, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 5 BRIDGET HENLEY I Off the grid Throughout my education and ships, wine bottles have become an life outside of college, I've realized integral part of the beauty. These how overwhelming environmental homes feature Reynolds' signature issues are. People don't even know domed rooms lined with concen- where to begin: from protesting tric circles of wine bottles built plastic water bottles, to driving into the walls that span from floor hybrid vehicles or even trying to to ceiling, resembling a stained live without producing any waste glass cave - now that's recycling. - the possibilities for involvement In 2007, "The Garbage War- seem endless. Yet many people rior" was released, a documentary allow themselves to believe they following the building projects are doing their part just by putting and struggles that Reynolds has their recycling on the curbside faced. The steadfast opposition every week for pickup. that Reynolds received from the Have you ever heard of Michael state of New Mexico for his build- Reynolds? No, probably not. Well, ing practices is embarrassing to he is making a difference, or at the state's legislative system. The least trying to. Using materials most appalling was the revoking that would otherwise be headed to of his architecture license in 1990, a landfill, Reynolds builds archi- for not meeting standard build- tecturally brilliant homes that are ing regulations (which he did not spacious and aesthetic while being regain until 2007). The sustain- completely off the grid - meaning able homes that he created did not the homes are not connected to fit standard building regulations. any electricity or water services, But that is exactly what he was nor do they need sewage lines to challenging with his sustainable dispose of their waste. homes. How can we make prog- Earthships, as Reynolds calls his ress if experimentation is pun- projects, are uniquely designed to ished and we constrain ourselves function without a heating system. to age-old methods? Using sunlight and angled win- Rigid laws created decades ago dows, the houses can maintain a should not continue to regulate year-round temperature of approx- how we build our homes today. imately 70 degrees. The homes We have far greater knowledge of consist of walls built with cans environmental implications, and cemented together on top of a foun- with our ever improving technol- dation of tires pounded full of dirt, ogy, we are fully capable of doing providing necessary insulation. something. If one man has been Comfortable temperatures are able to make such great strides in maintained even in the wide- the right direction, shouldn't we ranging climate of New Mexico, all feel a little inspired to practice the location of the majority of more sustainable lifestyles? Earthships, where summer days Reynolds took his passion for can exceed 100 degrees and frigid architecture and applied it to his winters can dip below freezing and concern for the environment. He even drop to subzero temperatures. demonstrates that whether or This sounds like a place where you not you have directly studied the would want a reliable heating and environment, you can incorporate cooling system and that is just other interests and hobbies into what Earthships offer - for free. contributing to the health of our Reynolds demonstrates that planet. Don't be content with sim- garbage doesn't have to be ugly. In ply taking small actions - there is many areas, wine bottles cannot always more that can be done. be recycled because they are made of colored glass. But for Earth- Bridget Henley is a University alum. - the Andrew's News: Andrew Weiner has some words of wisdom on the recent death of Osama bin Laden. Go to pod U ~1 michigandaily.com/blogs/The Podium. DOUG GALANTE E -MAIL DoUG AT IDGAI.ANTE@UMICII.EDU 5,fi,, Beth inking activism When I walk under the West Hall corridor, jostled by people on either side, endangered by weaving bik-_ ers, 5 know what's to come ina few more steps. The Diag guarantees a barrage of - flyers, post- BLAKE ers, causes OBI and fundrais-_ ers. Everyone is trying to sell you something, cure cancer or save Darfur. They want your change, your time and your conviction. The idea behind it all is valid and the participants' hearts are probably in the right places - but at some point we all need to step back and ask, what is all of this really doing? How is a flyer going to benefit anything when there is a good chance it will end up in the garbage two feet away? It's wast- ed paper and a wasted attempt to solicit compassion. Don't get me wrong, my heart hurts for Darfur too, but I'm not going to waste a bunch of trees to inform educat- ed, liberal college students about shit they already know. Convinc- ing a student at the University of Michigan that horrible things are happening in Northern Africa and Tibet and Darfur is like going down to the Westboro Baptist Church and persuading the con- gregation that being gay is a sin. You're not going to be breaking any new ground. Day upon day, flyers are shoved in my face - "Please come to our show"; "Animal cruelty is com- promising ethical values"; "Give to the Japan relief fund." I don't mean to pick on people trying to make a difference, but don't call yourself an activist for sitting at a booth in the lobby of Angell Hall raising pennies for countries that need more than pocket change. We live in a world of information technology which is following an exponential growth curve - enlightening an educated portion of the public of the tragedies and travesties of mankind isn't goingto do anything or offer anythingnew. These menial efforts are hurting and belittling the causes they are trying to support. The market of humanitarianism is so over-sat- urated; a cause that actually has merit is diminished to "just anoth- er." This is the tragedy of incessant "flyering" and the spawn for my criticism. I do care aboutorganiza- tions that are making a difference, we just need to assess our involve- ment and its impact. We need to start being kinder to the people around us. If we can't build a community and sup- port our neighbors in need, how are we going to unite the world? Activism starts small and gets big. If you want to go to Japan and volunteer in the earthquake relief forces, my hat is off to you because that's making a differ- ence. But if that's not on your agenda at the moment, quit try- ing to raise degrading pennies for people suffering and dying from nuclear radiation. A mother of one of the Japanese workers in charge of removing radiation from citizens spoke about her son on a Fox News interview, saying, "He told me (the workers) have accepted that they will all prob- ably die from radiation sickness in the short term or cancer in the longterm." These people are will- ing to die in order to carry their neighbors in times of crisis. Japan is a stable nation that's more than capable, both physically and fis- cally, to conduct a proper rehabil- itation from this disaster. Natural disasters of this scale are hor- rific and it tears at our hearts and emotions - but quick emotional responses and knee-jerk reac- tions to donate a few dollars are not going to help Japan. Those in need need more than pocket change. I am no authority on humani- tarianism and activism, and I don't have a solution or a "better way" for you to get involved, but I feel that our focus could be used more effectively. Maybe start by reduc- ingyour personal carbonfootprint, picking up trash outside or feeding someone who is hungry. These are direct actions that give results and make an impact. How much ener- gy is wasted printing those flyers and posters that are so liberally distributed to the masses? How much paper is consumed? It seems a little backwards to me - we want to help people in need, but in doing so we consume epic amounts of resources and leave those in need only superficially aided. So next time someone shoves a flyer in your face on the Diag - just keep walking. Blake Obi can be reached at blakeobi(aumich.edu.