S

upporting a small business 
can 
mean 
supporting 
environmentalism 
even 
when it might not be obvious. As 
local businesses in Ann Arbor shut 
their doors, students bemoan the 
loss of their favorite unique stops. 
Recent closures include The Local 
Bike Shop, Elixir Vitae coffee shop 
and Elevation Burger. With their 
closures, we lose not only some of 
Ann Arbor’s small-town charm 
but some of the city’s built-in 
environmentalism.
Supporting small businesses is 
not a new idea. Advocates tout the 
advantages shopping small has for 
the local economy and local job 
creation. It is also widely understood 
that businesses offering products 
made locally are sustainable since 
they don’t require a large energy 
expenditure 
for 
transportation. 
The main selling point for some 
small businesses is that they 
are 
environmentally 
friendly 
alternatives, 
like 
the 
People’s 
Food Co-Op, which sells locally 
grown produce and products. 
Oftentimes, a sustainable local 
business may openly advertise its 
environmentally friendly practices 
to help attract environmentally 
conscious customers.
The sustainable habits of local 
businesses can go under the radar, 
and sometimes small businesses 
practice sustainability without 
even trying. The Mail Shoppe, a 
local mail processing, packing and 
shipping store is an unexpectedly 
sustainable business. The store, 
that looks like a house, has been 
open for more than 30 years on 
South Division Street between 
William and Liberty. The shipping 
and mailing industry as a whole is 
not an environmentally friendly 
one — however, The Mail Shoppe’s 
personalized way of doing things 
is a step above industry standard.

The Mail Shoppe doesn’t have 
more 
environmentally-friendly 
practices because they go out of their 
way to be a green business, but simply 
because, as an independently owned 
store, they have the freedom to do 
what they want. The Mail Shoppe 
uses donated boxes and shipping 
materials that would otherwise have 
been thrown away.
Ryan Powell, who has worked 
there for 12 years, said, “In the 
corporate setting, they wouldn’t 
be allowed to accept previously 
used materials like we do.” Reusing 
materials is more environmentally-
sound than using new, recycled or 
sustainable products.

Another example of a small 
local 
business’s 
unheralded 
environmentalism 
is 
Literati 
Bookstore. At first glance, a store 
selling new books and magazines 
does not seem like a sustainable 
business, though the bookstore 
has a reputation for being very 
community-focused. 
However, 
the bookshelves and tables inside 
were bought used, and the sign 
was designed and constructed 
locally. 
Both 
reusing 
furniture 
and utilizing local resources are 
environmentally-friendly business 
practices that may not be possible 
with a corporate-owned retail 
store. Public places, like Urban 
Outfitters or Starbucks, focus 

on curating a national brand 
with standardized signage and 
consistency in their interior 
decoration.
At a time when environmentalism 
is becoming a high-profile issue, 
some 
businesses, 
especially 
ones looking for good press, are 
transitioning to more sustainable 
practices. 
Initiatives 
like 
only 
offering straws upon request, 
giving out compostable ware or 
encouraging buyers to bring their 
own bags could make a difference 
in 
lessening 
the 
business’s 
environmental 
footprint. 
However, this practice of starting 
from an unsustainable position 
and working backward is slow-
moving and often has a minute 
impact. 
The 
businesses 
with 
sustainable practices that do not 
go out of their way to advertise it 
deserve more credit.
Small businesses also have 
more of a stake in the community 
as a whole. Because of their 
reliance on the local community, 
they are more likely to want to 
get involved in local politics. 
For instance, small businesses 
may advocate for more walkable 
infrastructure since walkability 
is related to a street’s economic 
productivity. A corporation does 
not have the same stake in the 
success of downtown Ann Arbor.
As the trends point toward 
more 
consumer 
support 
of 
environmentally-friendly 
businesses, it should be kept in mind 
that local businesses without an 
advertised environmental purpose 
may indeed have one. Even if a 
restaurant is not offering a wide 
vegan selection and utilizing all-
natural cleaning products, it may 
very well be providing a larger source 
of sustainability to the community.

S

ince I transferred to the 
University 
of 
Michigan 
in the fall of 2018, I didn’t 
get the chance to appreciate the 
significance 
of 
the 
Michigan 
Union 
on 
campus 
life 
until 
renovations concluded last month. 
Students starting their journey 
at the University during the 
20-month renovation period of 
the Union didn’t know what they 
were missing, and sadly, I was one 
of them.
During 
those 
20 
months 
without 
the 
Union, 
Central 
Campus lacked a heart. While the 
doors of Pierpont Commons and 
the Michigan League were still 
open, they didn’t foster the sense 
of community that the Union 
always has. The League provides 
little space for students to study, 
meet and socialize in comparison 
to the Union and is composed 
chiefly of event and conference 
space, outside of the basement 
and Maizie’s. Pierpont serves 
the North Campus community 
well, but it didn’t add to what was 
missing from Central Campus — a 
large gathering space that existed 
for students in the heart of campus.
After the renovation, with 
the block ‘M’ flag waving high 
above its tower, the Union brings 
a sense of new life to the campus 
community. I like to think of 
the Union as a great equalizer, 
where students, faculty, staff and 
alumni can catch up and bask in 
the pride of our great university. 
One lap through the Union and I 
see familiar faces from all aspects 

of my life at Michigan; we are all 
united in that space for a common 
reason. Coworkers, classmates, 
friends from Greek life and fellow 
writers at The Daily. To me, the 
Union represents the crossroads of 
my social, academic and personal 
life at Michigan.
Athlete or non-athlete, Greek 
or non-Greek, a person of any 
major or of any socioeconomic 
background 
congregates 
at 
the Union under a common 
understanding of self-perception: 
We are the student body of the 
University of Michigan. Before 
the ribbon-cutting ceremony this 
January, there was not a place on 
this campus where I could interact 
with the same range of people 
from my Michigan experience as I 
now can at the Union.
The Union’s large and stately 
presence on South State Street 
fosters a campus community that 
makes Michigan feel a lot smaller. 
Its paneled and historic halls make 
a university with an undergraduate 
enrollment of over 31,000 feel 
like a tight-knit community. The 
renovation brought this storied 
building into modernity without 
sacrificing the character or charm 
of a space steeped in history. Some 
changes had to be made to meet 
the needs of students in the 21st 
century, such as replacing the 
second floor pool hall with the new 
IdeaHub. This decision received 
some push back from alumni. I can 
recall from my first trip to the Union 
on its opening day last month that a 
middle-aged man stood on the front 

steps yelling at people entering and 
exiting the Union that this “used 
to be the best place on campus to 
shoot pool” and how removing 
it was a travesty. While this 
encounter was certainly extreme, 
I do see the validity in wanting to 
return to your alma mater and find 
it the way it was left. However, time 
waits for no man, and the needs 
of today are inherently different 
from the needs of yesterday. This 
renovation catered to the needs of 
the modern student, who needs 
space to congregate, study and eat 
more than they need space to play 
pool.
I took on a part-time job this 
semester, working as a member of 
the program staff for Conference 
and Event Services at the Union, 
helping to set up the different events 
held daily at the Union. Working 
at the Union has given me a fond 
feeling for the space, to say the least, 
and being able to assist the flow of 
such an important building to the 
campus community gives me a lot 
of pride in how I’m able to give back 
to the University, a school to which 
my character is indebted. In the 
post-renovation period, the sense of 
community and school pride I have 
felt has increased ten-fold, solely 
based on the interactions I have had 
and that I witness here nearly every 
day. The heart of Central Campus 
is back and stronger than ever, and 
may the Union last another 100 
years as we all hail back to Michigan.

Shad Jeffery II can be reached at 

shadj@gmail.com.

The 
United 
States 
was 
founded with protest. Every 
major social change, from 
ending 
the 
Vietnam 
War 
to 
working 
toward 
racial 
equity after the Civil Rights 
Movement, has been a product 
of protest, and it is often said 
that this tendency to question 
and rebel is central to the 
American 
ethos. 
Recently, 
however, “slacktivism” — or 
the proclamation of support 
for a protest’s cause without 
active participation in the 
protest itself — has saturated 
sociopolitical 
behavior 
in the U.S. This passive 
solidarity signals virtue but 
limits the effectiveness of 
practical change. Americans 
should focus on renewing 
our 
dedication 
to 
civic 
engagement, 
whether 
that 
be voting in local elections, 
calling 
representatives, 
physically 
marching 
or 
engaging 
in 
other 
forms 
of 
political 
participation. 
If our founders had only 
signalled a disapproval of 
British tyranny among their 
friends to gain popularity, 
instead of organizing public 
demonstrations, our treasure 
of American democracy might 
have never been possible.
In this regard, the U.S. 
has something to learn from 
France. Before the pension 
protests, 
working 
class 
drivers sparked the “Yellow 
Vest” movement with a fuel 
tax 
protest, 
a 
movement 
named 
after 
the 
high-
visibility jackets that French 
motorists must carry in their 
vehicles. The outcome of this 
protest included foremost a 
six-month suspension of the 
diesel and petrol tax, as well 
as a cancellation of taxes on 
both overtime and end-of-
year bonuses, and a 100 euro 

increase in social minima for 
employees. 
The 
movement 
also encouraged protests in 
Iraq and Jordan. Due to help 
from the SNCF (Frane’s state-
owned railway company) and 
the CGT union, the pension 
protest’s victory in rolling 
back 
Macron’s 
proposed 
reform serves as a reminder 
to the American public of how 
remarkably effective public 
protest can be.
Throughout 
France, 
protests shut down cities, 
derail 
infrastructural 
systems and force significant 
concessions from Macron. In 
comparison, protests in 2020 
America are largely symbolic 
in nature, occupying massive 
space 
in 
the 
political 
imagination but little space 
in legislative change. For 
instance, some of America’s 
most 
prominent 
protest 
movements of the past five 
years have been #MeToo, 
Black Lives Matter and the 
annual 
Women’s 
March. 
While these are all worthy 
causes, it is difficult for these 
influential social movements 
to demand concrete legislative 
changes since their objectives 
target behavioral and cultural 
structures 
in 
Western 
culture. And while protest 
turnout has increased since 
President 
Donald 
Trump 
took office in 2016, still only 
one in five Americans have 
gone to a protest since he was 
inaugurated.
Perhaps the most narrowly 
tailored 
American 
protest 
movement in recent memory 
was the March for Our Lives, 
which has earned national 
recognition for stricter gun 
legislation but has led to 
little 
institutional 
change. 
Many in the U.S. may feel 
disillusioned with the lack of 

government response to civic 
action, but we can learn from 
France’s 
civic 
engagement 
that protests are effective 
when they are specifically 
action-oriented and routinely 
disruptive. The most effective 
protests, as we have learned 
from France, are those that 
target 
specific 
legislation 
with widespread and highly 
visible public support. We can 
only achieve this in the U.S. 
through continued practice.
Many protests in the U.S., 
and more locally in Ann 
Arbor — like the No War in 
Iran protest and the Climate 
Strike — enjoy social media 
support, but lack attendance 
relative to the levels of French 
activism. Civil engagement 
is a muscle that needs to be 
exercised continuously or it 
may wither. The more you 
engage — and not just repost 
and like in online message 
boards 
— 
the 
more 
you 
motivate change. As Franklin 
D. 
Roosevelt 
once 
said, 
“Democracy is not a static 
thing. It is an everlasting 
march.”
While 
French 
protests 
rage 
on 
with 
impressive 
physicality and scale, modern 
American efforts fail to match 
a similar spirit. Resist the 
cozy nook that “slacktivism” 
provides. Avoid free riding 
for 
a 
commonly-shared 
public good achieved only 
by the small minority who 
actually make an in-person 
appearence. Only by inspiring 
Americans 
to 
learn 
from 
our 
French 
counterparts, 
can we rumble the streets 
with voices and fill the air 
with picket signs. American 
protests can become more 
compelling, 
acknowledged 
and successful. But it starts 
with you.

Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Thursday, February 20, 2020

Alanna Berger
Zack Blumberg
Brittany Bowman
Emily Considine
Cheryn Hong

Krystal Hur
Ethan Kessler
Mary Rolfes
Michael Russo

Timothy Spurlin
Miles Stephenson
Joel Weiner
Erin White 
Lola Yang

ERIN WHITE
Managing Editor

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St. 
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
Editor in Chief
EMILY CONSIDINE AND 
MILES STEPHENSON
Editorial Page Editors

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.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

SHAD JEFFERY II | COLUMN

How the Michigan Union serves the community

LEAH ADELMAN | COLUMN

Small business’s unheralded environmentalism

FROM THE DAILY

What we can learn from the pension protests in France
F

rench President Emmanuel Macron recently backed down from his proposal to 

streamline France’s pension system, a proposal that would have awarded pensions at 

a later age based on the number of points accrued over one’s lifetime. This prompted 

protests that shut down public transport services for over six weeks and gained nearly 70 

percent public support. The demonstrations are the latest installment in a series of labor 

protests that have rocked France for two years.

Leah Adelman can be reached at 

ladelman@umich.edu.

CASEY RHEAULT | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT CRHEAULT@UMICH.EDU

The sustainable 
habits of local 
businesses can go 
under the radar.

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