Opinion - The Daily Cardinal

OPINION

Eating organic: Is it really worth the cost?

By Samantha Egelhoff | Jan. 19, 2010

If you haven't heard the term ""green"" within the past few years, it's likely you've been living under a rock. The green movement has become a nationwide cause, endorsed by countless celebrities and philanthropists. Even large-scale companies have started making ""green"" products or using renewable energies, all steps toward reducing the effects of global warming in our immediate future. Organics have also become a huge player in the movement. Organic food, clothing and even cleaning products have slowly started to work their way into the American home, despite their higher costs. But is the higher price worth the benefits?

OPINION

OpenCourseWare brings both new benefits and questions to universities

By Qi Gu | Jan. 19, 2010

Today is the time to mine the Internet for higher education resources. Just recently, California passed a law requiring that all college textbooks be available in electronic form by 2020. Some institutions have taken steps no less progressive. MIT, for example, has successfully run its OpenCourseWare (OCW) project for eight years, injecting a rare dose of philanthropy into higher education. By offering its course content online for free, MIT initiated the noble cause of open course projects. Many top universities, including Yale and Carnegie Mellon, have since joined the party. However, ideas to take the project further are somewhat more controversial.

OPINION

Pray a dull fall doesn't become a boring spring

By Todd Stevens | Jan. 19, 2010

Winter break is now over, and it is time for all of us at The Daily Cardinal to shake the dust off our word processors and get back to work. Surely we're in for four months of exciting breaking news, insightful commentary and pulse-pounding investigative reporting.

OPINION

New campus grocer gets approval of Captain Planet

By Kathy Dittrich and Elliot Morris | Jan. 19, 2010

Fresh Madison Market opened its doors to the public two Saturdays ago, and as the only full service downtown grocery store it is sure to change the face of Madison and the downtown living experience. It is difficult to believe that downtown Madison has, up until now, lacked a full service grocery store. For years residents of downtown Madison, and the surrounding area from the near east side to the Vilas neighborhood, have been forced to drive or take a bus to the Hilldale Metcalfe and Copps, the southside Copps, or fork over for the inflated prices at Cap Center or Open Market Pantry.

OPINION

Future movers and shakers: Serve society by joining Teach for America

By Jill Klosterman | Jan. 19, 2010

I firmly believe the greatest gift you ever received did not come packaged. It did not have a bow or a box. It did not have a note attached. I firmly believe the greatest gift you ever received came from a teacher—perhaps many—who poured love into you in the form of education.

OPINION

Do your part to help Haiti

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Jan. 19, 2010

The swift response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti has been impressive and encouraging. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush stumping for the same thing is a good indicator of how Americans are putting aside disagreements to help our neighbors to the south.

OPINION

Take a clean look at nuclear energy

By By Rachel Slaybaugh | Dec. 15, 2009

In 2007 Governor Jim Doyle created a task force to investigate how Wisconsin can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The task force identified short- and long-term goals and provided policy recommendations to achieve those goals. A variety of stakeholders, including environmental groups, utilities and citizen groups, participated and agreed to endorse the set of recommendations. This spring, Wisconsin lawmakers will debate the legislation that encompasses these policies. This legislation should be passed as a whole.

OPINION

WISPIRG essential to UW campus

By Letter to the Editor | Dec. 15, 2009

I was upset to read a recent Cardinal editorial depicting WISPIRG's staffing infrastructure as a misuse of segregated fees. The editorial overlooked several important points, including WISPIRG's history and methods of success and the nature of the segregated fee process in this university.

OPINION

Keep student activism strong

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Dec. 15, 2009

Let's admit something that has been fairly obvious for the past few months: this semester was pretty slow for news. Compare this to last fall, and there's no presidential election, no new chancellor. There were no big local electoral races or campus decisions like last spring's ASM constitution vote either. Overall, it was an incredibly boring time to be a politically involved Badger.

OPINION

Ensuring justice

By By Sarah Obernauer | Dec. 15, 2009

If you're familiar with the term ""environmental justice,"" you've likely heard it used in a technological context. Do phrases such as ""e-waste,"" ""toxic components of electronics"" or ""developing nations"" ring a bell?

OPINION

Base education system on knowledge

By Andrew Haffner and By James Meincke | Dec. 15, 2009

As the semester comes to an end, many of us start to focus solely on our grades and GPAs. How will we get into grad school, or who will hire us with a low GPA? These concerns are legitimate, but for many this is our only concern. Students often view education as a stepping stone to getting a job when they often have no consideration for the subject matter of their classes. Has school become part of an equation that hopefully ends with a good job and a lot of money? Sadly enough, for many this is a reality and changes need to be made in order to maintain and strengthen the success of our nation.

OPINION

Guest Column: WISPIRG responds to staffing concerns

By Whitney Newman and WISPIRG Board | Dec. 14, 2009

We would like to address the Daily Cardinal Editorial Board article titled ""Students should staff WISPIRG"" published in the Thursday, December 10, 2009 issue. Many of the statements made in this article are misleading and appear to have been taken out of context.

OPINION

Copenhagen talks should consider conservative ideas on global warming

By Matt Payne | Dec. 14, 2009

The debate over climate change has recently been thrust back on to the world stage at the global climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. The summit and its 15,000 delegates and 98 world leaders will attempt to cut global carbon emissions in half. Most conservatives do not dispute climate change is in fact happening, they simply disagree on the solutions that need to come about from the climate change debate.

OPINION

Techshop needs funding to tie UW to community

By Qi Gu and Kyrie Caldwell | Dec. 14, 2009

As the generation of Web 2.0, we're all too familiar with its keywords: social networking, podcasting and blogging. Most of us are content with our participation as mere users. At the receiving end, we have been savoring the creations of others for years. An interdisciplinary course at UW, Techshop, is suggesting something novel: link your passion about Web 2.0 to community service. Most students would think that such a worthwhile program could easily get funding from the university. But the truth is Techshop will be discontinued after next semester due to funding shortages. If UW is truly dedicated to its students and the future of Wisconsin, it should reconsider its decision.

OPINION

You can't beat the (environmental) system

By Anthony Cefali | Dec. 10, 2009

Climate change discussion began this week in Copenhagen, and as most expected, our global climate outlook is becoming exponentially worse. Environmental statistics get tossed around regularly when a dialogue begins on climate change, and they have a tendency to approach hyperbolic proportions. I have this sense of foreboding because of the things I'm hearing about cycles of droughts due to substantially less rainfall, which will lead to irreparable agrarian damage, cause untold extinctions and hinder our global food supply in the near future.

OPINION

Refrain from ""Going Rogue

By Jamie Stark | Dec. 9, 2009

As a card-carrying Liberal, I needed to get my hands on a copy of former Alaska governor, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's new book ""Going Rogue"" to decipher how it could sell 700,000 copies within one week. For comparison, actual President Bill Clinton, who legitimately accomplished things, sold 900,000 copies of his biography in its first week.

OPINION

Students should staff WISPIRG

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Dec. 9, 2009

Last month, Chancellor Biddy Martin approved contract status for the Wisconsin Students Public Interest Research Group, a UW student advocacy organization, allowing the group to receive student segregated fees to pay four non-student, full-time, professional staff members. WISPIRG is now the only UW-Madison student organization to receive contract status, which also allows the group to use segregated fees to pay dues to the national PIRG organization.

OPINION

Turkey's actions can no longer be ignored

By Jeff Butters | Dec. 9, 2009

Today's Student Organization Neighborhood guest editorial comes courtesy of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Society and Politics Committee. The Student Organization Neighborhood is a biweekly column dedicated to giving a voice to student groups across campus.

OPINION

New statute needed to curb racial profiling

By Whitney Newman and The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Dec. 9, 2009

The sad reality is that all to often, racial profiling occurs, with little recourse for the victim. It is time to look into this problem so that it may be deal with according to our highest values of equality before the law.

OPINION

No need to bulldoze Gordon Commons yet

By Qi Gu | Dec. 7, 2009

Most students here are familiar with Gordon Commons. Regardless of your love-hate relationship with University Housing, you have to admit it's a homey place to relax during free time. Well, fun at Pop's Club and Ed's Express will soon come to an end, as UW plans to tear down the building this upcoming summer. Even if you look at the upcoming project glazed with rosy assumptions, the $34 million project is probably unnecessary.