Ann Arbor observes
May Day by social
inequality protest
University research buildings
honored in competition for
increased energy efficiency
Hundreds of students
and organizers gathered
for festival with social
and political focus
By EDUARDO BATISTA
Daily Staff Reporter
On Monday, hundreds of students
and organizers gathered in Ann
Arbor for the May Day Festival of
Resistance, an event with a social and
political focus.
The origin of May Day dates back
to 1886, when the Federation of
Organized Trades and Labor Unions
proclaimed on May 1 that eight hours
of work would constitute a legal work
day. Since then, workers from all
around the globe gather on that day
to protest against harsh and illegal
working conditions.
Despite the protest’s historical
focus on denouncing poor labor
conditions, May Day has grown
throughout the years to tackle other
issues, such as social struggles and
liberation movements.
In
Ann
Arbor,
specifically,
protesters said they strived to not
only criticize capitalist practices, but
also to raise awareness about the
water crisis in Flint.
Rackham
student
Katherine
Crocker said she joined the protest
because she is against both fascist
and capitalist movements.
“A friend texted me saying there
was an anti-fascist, anti-capitalist
protest, so I got my red-shirt from
my office and joined,” she said. “I
am
personally
strongly
against
capitalism and all of the many racist
policies and laws we have that were
enacted by the Southern colonial
project.”
At this year’s May Day event,
representatives
from
several
nationally-organized
social
movements protested in the streets
of Ann Arbor. Among these groups
were A Day Without Immigrants, the
Movement for Black Lives and the
Women’s Strike Committee.
Protesters were also careful not
to identify themselves as leaders of
the movement, calling it instead a
“leaderless protest,” in the words
of historian Peter Linebaugh. Now
retired, Linebaugh has taught history
at several universities including
Harvard and Tufts University. He is
also the author of “The Incomplete,
True, Authentic, and Wonderful
History of May Day.”
Linebaugh explained May Day
is a celebration of life, as well as a
gathering meant to enlighten students
of the false information being
conveyed to them. He referenced
the struggle for water in South
America. In an article Linebaugh
wrote for CounterPunch on Sunday,
he mentioned the struggle for clean
drinking water in Cochabamba,
Bolivia.
“May Day is a festival of life,”
Linebaugh said. “It’s a festival of red
blood whose basis is water. This is
what is being threatened around the
world, our blood and our water…The
indigenous people of South America
have fought for water as a human
right rather than something to be
privatized by the corporate pigs and
butchers who rule us and through
the International Monetary Fund
with false ideological concepts such
as progress and development. These
are sham notions that are conveyed to
our students as if it was knowledge.”
Students walking by the Diag said
they recognize the protest’s aim to
discuss social issue, but were having
trouble identifying the main message
of the protest. One student, Business
sophomore
Christina
Panagoulia
Triantafillopoulos,
believed
the
protest was about police brutality.
“I really don’t know what it’s
about; I think it’s about race brutality
perhaps,” Triantafillopoulos said.
Education sophomore Madeleine
Caughey said she thought the protest
was about mass incarceration due to
the group’s chants.
“I think it might be about mass
incarceration,” she said. “They were
saying abolish slavery, abolish mass
incarceration.”
Linebaugh said that ultimately, the
overall message of the protest was to
bring awareness to, as well as change,
the current class system based on the
wealth of the one percent.
“In fact what we have organized
is a class system for the enrichment
of the 1 percent,” he said. “The final
thought is that we can change this
Kellogg Eye Center
achieves annual
savings increase of
$15,000
By CORY ZAYANCE
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan’s
Kellogg
Eye
Center
and
Medical
Science
Research
Building
III
were
honored
last week after dramatically
increasing
their
energy
efficiency during the Michigan
Battle of the Buildings — an
energy reduction competition
for businesses in the state of
Michigan.
The Michigan Battle of the
Buildings is a program that
honors reductions in energy
use and is open to all industrial,
commercial and multifamily
residential buildings in the
state that runs from March 31
to Dec. 31 every year.
Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for
the Battle of the Buildings,
shared the competition’s goals
for Michigan companies and
buildings.
“It is a friendly competition
designed for buildings to be
more
energy
efficient,
and
they also provide information
for companies to become more
energy efficient,” Boyd said.
“It’s all about promoting energy
efficiency. There are easy steps
buildings can take to save
energy and money.”
The 2017 Energy Summit
celebrated
the
2016
competition’s “biggest losers”
and welcomed new competitors
for 2017. In addition to the
awards
presentation,
the
Summit featured peer-to-peer
learning platforms for attendees
to
learn
how
Michigan
companies
are
reducing
their
energy
consumption
without sacrificing comfort or
productivity. Keynote speakers
were
also
in
attendance,
discussing a range of energy-
related topics.
Cheri Holman, Battle of the
Buildings creator, shared the
main focus of the competition.
“The overall goal is to educate
on energy efficient practices
within the state and to gather
energy leaders so they can all
learn from each other,” Holman
said.
The University of Michigan
Kellogg Eye Center, Michigan’s
number
one
ranked
eye
center, achieved an energy-
use reduction of 5.30 percent
and annual savings increase of
$15,000. This feat was achieved
by adjusting the exhaust fans to
rebalance the air flow through
the building.
David Shaw, Regional Energy
Manager of University Energy
Management, provided a reason
for this change.
“As buildings are used and age,
the controls can drift or fail,”
Shaw said. “Recommissioning
brings our systems back to what
they were designed to do and
restores them to their original
efficiency.”
Medical
Science
Research
Building
III
managed
to
increase its energy efficiency
by
implementing
a
series
of
conservation
efforts.
These
advances
included
recommissioning the facility’s
office
and
lab
ventilation
controls, the installation of
occupancy sensors in offices and
encouraging building occupants
to turn off lights and close fume
hood sashes when not in use.
These efforts resulted in a net
decrease in energy use of 21.5
percent.
“The education is that there
is simple, low-hanging fruit
to
innovative
technology,”
Holman
said.
“A
mix
of
everything is what we are
encouraging.”
The
Energy
Management
Team’s five managers, who
worked on both the Kellogg
Eye
Center
and
Medical
Science Research Building III’s
renovations, are now tasked
with helping the University
reach its goal of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions by
25 percent by 2025. Up to now,
the University has managed
to reduce its emissions by 8
percent per year.
“The
energy
savings
achieved at the Kellogg Eye
Building and Medical Sciences
Research Building III directly
contribute to this goal,” Shaw
said.
The University hopes to
meet their sustainability goal
by looking for efficiency gains
from energy they buy and
produce and how energy is
used in current buildings.
Planet
Blue,
the
University’s multidisciplinary
sustainability
initiative,
is
committed
to
fostering
sustainability
education,
research
and
community
engagement on campus. By
2025, the University aims to cut
greenhouse gas emissions by
25 percent, obtain 20 percent
of its food from sustainable
sources and decrease vehicle
carbon output, among other
efforts.
Shaw shared the University’s
future projections for energy
reduction and savings.
“We look continually for new
technologies and new ways
to use existing equipment to
cost-effectively maintain and
operate our buildings safely
and efficiently,” Shaw said.
The education
is that there
is simple, low-
hanging fruit
to innovative
technology, a mix
of everything
is what we are
encouraging.
9
Thursday, May 4, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS