SDSU’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT N E W S PA P E R SINCE 1913
Kennedy preaches renewability Anthony Mendiola
WEDNESDAY March 7, 2012 Volume 97, Issue 86 W W W.T H E D A I LYA Z T E C . C O M
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staff writer Last weekend, San Diego State hosted the “Forging a Sustainable Future” green solutions symposium, sponsored by local group UnitedGREEN. The weekend included panel speakers, in addition to presentations by local environmentalists and sustainable activists. The highlight was keynote speaker Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a longtime activist and supporter of green initiatives and conservation efforts. He spoke at length about the damages, both ecological and social, of a controversial mining technique called mountaintop removal. This practice is common in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia and is viewed by activists such as Kennedy as a result of the United States’ “rapacious appetite” for using coal, rather than renewable resources such as wind or solar. In Kennedy’s address, he recounted his experience of riding in a truck that glided on an asphalt road, leading in and out of the mining towns where mountaintop removal is practiced, as if it were a sheet of ice. According to Kennedy, the asphalt was 22 feet thick on certain stretches of the roads. This extreme thickness is designed to accommodate trucks that weigh more than 200 tons. Kennedy also discussed his extensive fight to protect the nation’s resources, a struggle he outlined in his book, “Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy.” In his book, he attacks former President George W. Bush and Republicans for deferring energy and environmental policies to corporations. He said a concerted grassroots effort is what is needed to take the nation back to citizen oversight, claiming the various bureaus and agencies that were supposed to be watching out for the environment were supervised by those associated with big oil and timber lobbying firms. Kennedy encouraged audience members to seek out his new film, “The Last Mountain,” which won an award at the Sundance Film Festival for best environmental documentary. Local sustainability innovator and president of 4 Walls International, Steven Wright, also gave a presentation. The presentation documenting a grassroots effort to provide housing and sustainable agriculture to people in desperate need. Wright spoke about his work in Southeast Asia, as well as “Plan Mexico Hambre Cero,” which is a
WORLD NEWS Anwar al-Awlaki killing justified by administration On Monday, United States Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said the U.S. can kill an American citizen living abroad who poses a terrorist threat if he or she meets a three-step legal test.
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The Daily Aztec is hosting the Associated Students debates today from noon to 1 p.m. at North Campanile Walkway. Make sure to follow @TheDailyAztec for live coverage and join the conversation using #ASdebates. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke against former U.S. energy policies at SDSU last week. Wed. March 7, 2012. | DUSTIN MICHELSON, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Kennedy also discussed his ... fight to protect the nation’s resources ... outlined in his book, “Crimes Against Nature: ...” grassroots effort to deliver food and help create sustainable agriculture for the Tarahumara people, who suffer from starvation in the mountains of Chihuahua, with little or no help from the Mexican government. Wright holds a degree in evolution and ecology from the University of California at Riverside. He has worked aside his colleagues in the nonprofit organization he founded, 4 Walls International, along the border on the eastern edge of Tijuana, Mexico. Work is focused specifically in areas near canyon lands and along dry creek beds, where citizens scrape together material to make homes. A PowerPoint slideshow displayed images of him and other members of the 4 Walls International team, as well
The administration gave its legal justification for killing Anwar al-Awlaki, the man who allegedly inspired several terrorist plots, namely the Fort Hood massacre and the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber. Al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen who also spent time studying at San Diego State, was killed in Yemen last September by an unmanned drone attack. Now, Holder has come out with a legal justification for why the attack was carried out, in spite of not having a trial and evidence brought to court. He stated killing a U.S. citizen is legal when the government has decided after “careful review” that three qualifications have been met: the citizen poses a threat against the U.S., capturing the citizen is not feasible and his or her act is consistent with the laws of war.
as local community volunteers building walls from used tires. They formed a sustainable home from the reused and recycled materials, including a rain-capturing cistern system designed to funnel irrigation water to a small vegetable garden. Richard Anthony of Zero Waste International delivered a speech about the need to become a zero waste-producing society. He said Americans have actually slid backward as a society. Anthony explained that during World War II through the 1950s, the U.S. had mandatory separation of all renewable items. Anthony cited the shift toward “conspicuous consumption,” with manufactured or produced products and packaging that was “dis-
Recently, there have been lawsuits filed against the Obama administration to force the release of the legal justification contained in a secret Department of Justice memo. The Associated Press also filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the memo, which was subsequently turned down. Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union was quoted by the Huffington Post as saying that “Few things are as dangerous to American liberty as the proposition that the government should be able to kill citizens anywhere in the world on the basis of legal standards and evidence that are never submitted to a court.” University of Notre Dame international law expert Mary Ellen also stated in the article the memo should be
posable,” with only “planned obsolescence” in mind to show regression. He said this is still occurring with cell phones, e-waste and computers. Anthony said landfills are reaching maximum capacity, and what does not make it to the landfill ultimately pollutes the oceans. “Do we like the fact that after it rains, you can’t go in the ocean to swim or surf?” Anthony said. He said the only solution is to “require separation at the source of generation” and not at the landfill. Oscar Romo, the head of the Baja California Task Force, presented a video documenting the struggles of Tijuana residents forced to live in the Colonia San Fernando, where the children play in dirty, sewage-ridden water that fills the canyon floor. According to Romo, because there is no running water, a truck comes to fill a barrel with fresh water that families have to make last for a week. All of this, Romo said, is happening within sight of the border. Additional speakers included former sustainability consultant and researcher Jim Bell, as well as local politicians, such as Lori Saldana and Congresswoman Susan Davis.
released to gain more insight about the administration’s position. She said these memos sound “highly reminiscent of the torture memos written during the Bush administration.” Wall Street recap Stocks fell Monday morning as the Dow Jones industrial average fell 14 points to 12,962, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell to 1,364 and the Nasdaq fell to 2,950. Stocks continued their fall into Tuesday with the Dow down 164 points to 12,798, the Nasdaq down 42 points at 2,907 and the S&P 500 down 18 points at 1,346. Data compiled from the Monday close and the Tuesday open on Wall Street.
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E N T E R TA I N M E N T Drinking, shenanigans and general tomfoolery inevitable in “Project X.”
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Recognizing a moment for drama and an opportunity for Bambi to wave her Sicilian flag, I egged her on. B A C K PA G E
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W E AT H E R : SUNNY HIGH: 62 LOW: 41 SUNSET: 5:51PM