I
magine this: It’s Wednesday,
10 a.m. (Thursday if it’s 2016
or later).
I watch as a
volunteer trips over
her feet crossing
through two lanes
of traffic at the
North
University
and Fletcher Street
intersection.
She
drops a handful
of
candle
wicks
in the middle of
the
intersection
as she does a run-
walk to the Diag.
She’s on her way to the Art Activity
Zone, which is sponsoring The Rudolf
Steiner School of Ann Arbor in their
“Burning Bright at the Fair,” an art
project that involves the creation of
beeswax candles.
She snatches them up, right next to
my front car bumper as I wait at the
stop sign in the crowded intersection.
The streets of Ann Arbor are slowly
coming alive as Fair goers trickle
in from the outskirts, unloading
in hoards out of AAATA buses and
Trinity Park and Ride Shuttles.
I took the wrong way to work,
veering right to take Washtenaw
because I thought it might not be as
busy as my usual Packard Street route.
That was a huge mistake.
***
The Ann Arbor Art Fair actually
consists of four separate art fairs
combined for ease of services — the
Ann Arbor Street Fair, the State Street
Art Fair, the Ann Arbor Summer Art
Fair and Ann Arbor’s South University
Art Fair. The eldest, the Ann Arbor
Street Fair is celebrating its 56th year.
The others are 48-, 46- and 16-years-
old, respectively.
Attractions at the Art Fair are highly
expansive. Demonstrations on North
University
include
printmaking,
ceramics, photography, drawing and
wood projects. Artist exhibits, in all
sorts of mediums, throughout all four
fairs can be located on the official art
fair map. The Diag will be host to the
Art Activity Zone, where at least five
“kid-friendly” art projects open to all
of the public from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The
Art Fair Main Stage is located on the
corner of Willard and Church Street
and will feature artists such as the
Cadillac Cowboys and Ann Arbor’s
Keri Lynn Roche.
This year, the Art Fair has four
featured artists. Chuck Wimmer,
Katie Hofacker, Dylan Strzynski and
Ralph Rankin, that will be featured
by Ann Arbor’s South University Art
Fair, the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair,
the Ann Arbor Street Fair and the
State Street Art Fair, respectively.
***
The streets are filled with booths,
tents and stands, selling food, cheap
crafts and cliché paintings meant for
lakeside cottages. A variety of fair-goers
crowd the streets, mingling with artists
and other pedestrians as they make
their way through the collections.
I’m finally able to get to the parking
spot I rent from a student who lives on
Packard Street. I arrive at work after
an eight minute speed-walk through
a field of white tents. Maynard Street
is covered with artist exhibits and
stands with cute, but cheaply made
earrings for sale at $10 a piece. I arrive
at work and my coworker, running
around hurriedly behind the counter,
looks frazzled, her hair falling out of
her ponytail in small, ombre wisps.
Six people wait in line at the register
as the two employees on shift scurry
around, trying to finish their tasks
and help the customers that keep
piling in.
I grab an apron and jump in.
The day goes by in a blur. Our
sales are higher than they’ve been all
summer, and our stock is depleted.
Twelve people came in asking for a
glass of water; our store policy is to
only give water glasses to customers
who have bought something. I caved
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
EMMA KERR
EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
DEREK WOLFE
MANAGING EDITOR
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@umich.edu
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
4
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION
Allowing
consumers
to
choose between established
energy sources, which are
extremely costly to the envi-
ronment
and
are
unsus-
tainable,
and
renewable
energies, which aren’t harm-
ful to the environment, but are
from fledging industries and
thus pricier, would likely result
in a decrease in renewable
energy consumption. The gov-
ernment must mandate renew-
able energy consumption or
consumers will choose cheaper
energy sources, regardless of
the effects on the environment.
Consumers cannot be expected
to weigh the long-term effects
of global climate change and
the
benefits
of
affordable,
renewable energy sources in
the future over their present
needs to make ends meet; the
government must step in to act
on behalf of the best interests
of its people.
Furthermore,
the
energy
bill introduced by the Senate
includes potentially devastat-
ing changes to net metering.
Currently, energy customers
who produce renewable energy
through solar panels are cred-
ited for electricity that they add
to the grid in a process called
net metering. If the new energy
bill is made into law, custom-
ers who produce solar energy
won’t be able to use the energy
they make from their solar pan-
els. Instead, the power that is
produced can be sold to energy
companies at a wholesale rate
and net metering as we know
it will be obsolete. Amy Heart,
from the industry trade associ-
ation Alliance for Solar Choice,
claims the new bill “dramati-
cally reduces the amount of
solar that’s going to be sold in
Michigan because it reduces
the economic value of it.”
In March, Gov. Rick Snyder
released an energy message
that said he’d like to see 30 to 40
percent of Michigan’s energy
needs met by a combination of
renewable and efficient energy
by 2025. Similarly, Snyder said
it’s possible for Michigan to get
19 percent of its energy from
renewable sources. Yet, like
All in for the Art Fair
FROM THE DAILY
Dirty energy, bad policy
Not updating the renewable energy mandate is a bad decision
M
ichigan Republican lawmakers have introduced a set of bills in
the Senate that seek to eliminate the mandate for renewable
energy, which currently requires that 10 percent of energy
provided by utilities in Michigan be renewable. These bills would allow the
use of renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, to be determined
by the market. Furthermore, these bills prioritize “clean” energy over
renewable energy, and consider fossil fuel generation technology to be
“clean,” so long as “at least 85 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions
captured and permanently sequestered or used for other commercial or
industrial purposes that do not result in the release of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere.” These policies work against renewable energies
and flagrantly disregard the importance of fighting against global climate
change and the government’s role in doing so. It’s necessary for the
government to promote renewable energies through mandates to allow
them to develop into more cost-efficient and practical technologies.
Failing to do could allow these technologies to fall into disuse, doing a
great disservice to the environment and the humans who inhabit it.
the Senate’s new bill, Snyder did not
include a renewable energy mandate in
his message. Instead, Snyder is focused
on reducing energy waste through pro-
grams that help citizens update fur-
naces, water heaters, insulation, etc.
Snyder and the Michigan legisla-
ture, while valiant in their efforts to
benefit all stakeholders, are misguided
in their solutions. Without a compensa-
tory reward, it’s unlikely that ordinary
citizens who are focused on pressing
issues outside of climate change will
create the “demand” they’re supposed
to create. After all, in 2014, a Gal-
lup poll found United States’ concern
about climate change has dropped,
with only 24 percent of respondents
worrying a “great deal.” Michigan
needs renewable energy because, no
matter how aware people are, climate
change is a major issue that needs
strict, enforced policy in energy-eating
nations like the United States. Snyder
and the legislature must create better
energy policy that benefits consum-
ers and also actively promotes clean,
renewable energy.
AARICA
MARSH