Fully Charged
Conservation Made Simple
If you have been reading me since the beginning, you probably noticed that my opinions have an environmental bent. However, you may not have realized just how strongly I feel about environmental issues. Next year, I will be working as an entry-level video game programmer for a very big corporation, so my time on the soapbox has just about run out. So, as my swan song, I want to enumerate some easy ways we Americans can take better care of our environment.
I am proposing these changes because the proper stewardship of our environment is the single most important issue facing the world today. Contrary to how environmentalism can be portrayed, the environment isn’t something “out there” that needs saving—it is also where we all happen to live, and had better make sure it continues to be a hospitable place for us.
Root for the Underdog
The year that is just ending, although perhaps marginally better than 2009, has brought little to celebrate. There’s been the earthquake in Haiti, the disastrous BP oil spill, unimpressive unemployment statistics, and setbacks in Afghanistan. For the less politically savvy, 2010 might be remembered as the year Conan lost his show, “Lost” ended with many unresolved questions, and Transportation Security Authority employees saw us all naked over Thanksgiving.
It’s no surprise that, in this bleak political and financial climate, a renegade free-speech bomb thrower from down under has emerged as a folk hero. Julian Assange, the self-styled “editor-in-chief” of the new media non-profit WikiLeaks, famous for publishing classified documents, represents the promise that we can still make the world a better place.
Seat Computers at the Cool Table
Harvard generally doesn’t respect “teen comedy” stereotypes. Jocks also play for the chess team, debaters and newspaper editors are received like rock stars, and family money is treated like a terrible secret. But despite all the culture-defying norms on campus, computer nerds are still consigned to the short table at the activities fair. The Harvard College student group directory doesn’t even have a category for internet or computing organizations, probably because there are more martial arts clubs than computing clubs.
Sure, there’s the Harvard Computer Society and political websites run by students like VoteGopher. Facebook started as a site run by Harvard students. But the culture of the university does not support these endeavors as though they have equal validity to political, athletic or performing arts programs. There is no institutional advocate for computing like the Office for Arts. Even on the Crimson, most editors are not taught how to update the website and significant changes are made by a dedicated IT staff. There is a campus-wide attitude that worrying about how computers work is someone else’s job.
Like Firesheep to the Slaughter
Chances are you’ve heard of Firesheep, the web plug-in that lets anybody access other people’s Facebook and Twitter accounts over the same wireless network. The application is dangerous but eye-opening, and it may redefine the Internet as we know it.
Don’t be put off by its silly name, which is a bad pun on the offbeat title of the browser it enhances, Firefox. If anything, the names of the two programs should be reversed, as it is the Firesheep users who prey upon the great, defenseless herds of the Internet. It may soon reach the point, however, when the legions of lazy hackers outnumber their victims. The software was downloaded more than 104,000 times in the first 24 hours, and it has grown to at least 700,000 this week.
Forgotten, But Not Gone
News about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico used to be everywhere. For months, it was impossible to open a newspaper or turn on the television without seeing a picture of an oil-covered pelican or a photo of black plumes gushing from an underwater vent. But as soon as the leaking oil well in the Gulf was plugged in September, the story dropped off the national news faster than a sinking rig.
Of course, the Gulf is still reeling from the damage. Just last weekend, miles-long stretches of weathered oil were found floating off of the coast of Louisiana, threatening the closure of fisheries that had just been reopened. However, without as many visible signs of damage, the American public has moved on, devoting its limited cognitive energy to more pressing issues like the rescue of the Chilean miners or NPR commentators who get nervous when flying with Muslims. The few public opinion polls that even contain questions about the oil spill have found that concern about the spill pales in comparison to the economy, budget issues, or health care reform.