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Thursday, May 9, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION
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ANNE ELSE | COLUMN
Community voices inspire action
S
ustainability has become
an important topic on
every level. There are
large-scale patterns of pollution
and damage to the Earth that will
have lasting effects on genera-
tions to come unless adjustments
are made. With these looming
causes of climate change that are
often created by powerful corpo-
rations or governmental policies,
the sentiment that individuals
have little power in what is hap-
pening to our planet can arise.
I have heard people state that
there first needs to be big sys-
tematic alterations to help the
issue before they need to worry
about their own carbon foot-
print. While it is definitely true
that systematic dynamics need
to be changed at wide-reaching
levels, it is also important to
include the individual’s journey
towards being eco-friendly and
conscious about what we put
into the world.
Increased awareness of and
education
about
sustainabile
options in daily life can hopeful-
ly expand the demographics of
eco-conscious people. At a local
level, students at the University
of Michigan have a wide array
of resources for environmental
education and action. Through
Planet Blue, students can become
ambassadors through a simple
process of watching informa-
tive videos about distinguished
categories such as energy, food,
water and community.
If
students
utilized
this
opportunity, the amount of envi-
ronmentally aware people would
rise substantially. As described
in
Planet
Blue’s
community
training portion, it is benefi-
cial to raise the enthusiasm and
accessibility of sustainable prac-
tices and events in order to get
people involved. Many people,
whether they be students or not,
struggle with consistent engage-
ment in eco-friendly actions
in the community due to busy
schedules
or
inaccessibility.
With the University, we must
work to make it easier for the
community to join eco-friendly
programs and educate others on
how to care for the environment.
These types of programs and
access to education will allow
for open conversations about
sustainability in personal and
academic life. Through raising
our own voices to the leaders
of our school, we can hopefully
enact some change in the way
the University deals with envi-
ronmental policies and deci-
sions. On March 15, our campus
participated in the Global Cli-
mate Strike. A multitude of ages
and voices came to support the
cause. Open protests such as
this are a way for any individ-
ual to express their support for
what they believe is right for the
future of our planet. Without
sharing personal viewpoints, the
passion for action will never be
heard by mega-corporations or
elected officials.
After the strike, several pro-
testers turned this passion into
a legitimate call for change
and went to strike at the Flem-
ing Administration Building on
campus. They tried to create an
open dialogue with President
Mark Schlissel and expose the
University’s stance on climate
change policies and carbon neu-
trality. Currently, the University
has not established clear efforts
in the way of environmental pro-
cedures. Other Big Ten schools
are surpassing our less than suc-
cessful commitment to cleaner
energy and awareness.
Engineering
junior
Dhruv
Tatke explained the necessary
action the University must take
in the face of clear environmen-
tal changes and dangers. “We
need the University to com-
mit to a true and just transition
to carbon neutrality by 2030,
including immediate divestment
from fossil fuels. This goal, that
has been chosen by a group of
students who have been help-
ing to coordinate the Climate
Action Movement on and off
campus, keeps with the IPCC
Report which requires that the
world needs to cut its emissions
by 40 percent by 2030 if we are
to keep the planet from warm-
ing 2 degrees Celsius above pre-
industrial temperatures. As a
center of wealth and privilege, it
is imperative that the University
is a leader in this effort.”
This protest resulted in stu-
dent sit-ins, which Tatke helped
organize, to make these ideas
reality.
Anne Else can be reached at
aelse@umich.edu.
T
oday, a number of places
suffer from a lack of housing
being built. My home, the
Bay Area, and my adopted home,
Ann Arbor, have seen increases in
the demand for affordable housing
without a corresponding increase in
the supply. What has happened as a
result is unsustainable. MLive reports
that from 2015 to July 2018, “Ann
Arbor has added 50 new affordable
housing units. The goal was to have
420 new units by the end of the
year.” The lack of housing in Ann
Arbor also has another effect, which
is that Ypsilanti ends up being the
de facto housing bank. This will not
work in the long-term, as Ypsilanti
will eventually run out of housing as
well, and then what? Policy that could
be utilized to address this issue is
building more housing while radically
“up-zoning” much of Washtenaw
County.
Most students have enrolled in
some kind of introductory economics
course and/or understand that the
downward sloping demand line will
meet the upward sloping supply line
at a certain point, what we in the
biz call “equilibrium.” This specific
case of disequilibrium represents an
excess demand, and the easiest way to
rectify this would be to simply build
more housing — especially affordable
housing. However, there is a bit of a
catch-22.
While this would be an easy way
to address the problem in theory, in
practice it gets much harder. Building
housing does not tend to be terrifically
popular with those who already
own property in the area, because
they assume that more housing
would drop their property values. A
fundamental issue is that everyone
feels they must have a backyard and
picket fence, and this only happens
via exclusionary zoning that favors
single-family homes.
When cities had less people, that
idea worked because fewer people
needed housing; today, that is not
the case. Ann Arbor’s choice to
downzone
neighborhoods
while
suffering from a lack of affordable
housing represents a rare policy that
both looks bad now and will age
poorly — truly a parable for our times.
In fact, the exact opposite of this
should and needs to be done. People
cannot all live in single-family homes.
However, there is nothing wrong with
much more liberalized regulations on
housing. Japan did it and ended up
with incredibly affordable cities. As a
result, Tokyo is a great place to live.
Japan’s policies also offer a bit of a
cautionary tale about how much local
government can really do. According
to Market Urbanism, there are three
main reasons that Japan was able to
create the housing market they have
today. First, housing was less of an
investment in Japan. Second, public
services are not administered at the
local level in Japan. And third, the
review process to build housing in
the U.S. is different than it is in Japan,
as deference is given to local special
interests. All of these explanations
point in one direction, and it is not
a positive one for fans of incredibly
localized government. It demonstrates
that cities will not be able to act alone
to address this crisis and there needs
to be federal policies put into place
to ease the pressure of housing. In
the U.S., a house is the biggest asset
many people own. From this point of
view, it makes sense they would fight
attempts to lower that value, but that
does not mean it is sound policy. In
addition to this, where students live
determines what school they can go
to from kindergarten through 12th
grade, and this is usually funded by
property taxes. By building more
housing, it is likely that there would be
more students, something that should
generate more support than it has.
This illustrates that there is a limit
to local control. If there is continued
demonstration of an inability to solve
this problem by slashing more zoning
regulations or using tax credits, then
there is no choice but for higher levels
of government to step in and take a
more active role. This should not be
a first choice, but at a certain point
if the local government is unable
to address the problem, something
ANIK JOSHI | COLUMN
Anik Joshi can be reached at
anikj@umich.edu.
Addressing the housing crisis
There needs to be
federal policies
put into place to
ease the pressure
of housing.
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