Free Spech Friday

Kudos from London

(in response to “Experiments in religion: Islam — how the media gets it wrong,” by Doris Wu, Jan. 31)

I am writing on behalf of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to commend you on your excellent report regarding the AMSA organization in Seattle. The head of our worldwide community, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, is kept aware of stories such as yours and such well-balanced stories are always appreciated.

— Abid Khan, international press secretary

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, London

Getting away with murder

I am dismayed and outraged at the prominent role that Philip Morris plays in UW Career Center events throughout the year, including last week’s “Featured Employers Night.” This inclusion of the largest producer of the world’s most addictive and deadly drug not only undermines the work of our renowned medical center (where tobacco-related diseases are the primary cause of disease and death) but also the humane mission of our University.

In light of the strong stand the UW has taken against smoking on campus in the past decade (by banning tobacco use, sales, ads and investments), it seems that we should be able to take the next step and not accept contributions or funding of any kind from this rogue industry. Welcoming Philip Morris to our campus in this way perpetuates the company’s charade of being a legitimate, socially responsible employer and belies its true identity as a mass murderer, responsible for the deaths of half a million people in this country each year (and ten million more around the globe).

— Abigail Halperin MD, MPH

Department of Family Medicine

Biofuels not the way to go

(in response to “UW pushes forward with biodiesel,” by Anthony Michael Erickson, Feb. 6)

The only thing that is being sustained with this plan is the business-as-usual transportation system. It is very disappointing that the University of Washington can’t muster enough analytical power to evaluate the unintended consequences of these actions. Considering the developing evidence of the negative impacts of biofuels outweighing any positives, the University’s decision makes no sense. The reality is that the rain forest destruction needed to support the palm oil feedstock for the biodiesel produces more carbon in the atmosphere than it constrains. In addition, the conversion of acreage from food production to biofuel production is putting the poorest in the world at risk of food shortages.

This is of particular importance given the damage to both Canadian and Chinese wheat crops this winter.

None of the biodiesel being supplied to the UW Motor Pool is produced from waste cooking oils. At this time, the biodiesel supplier Imperium Renewables uses canola as a feedstock. Nobel Prize winning professor Paul Crutzen calculated that the global warming effects of the fertilizer needed to grow energy crops like canola and corn are worse than the fossil fuels they replace. So the fact that this particular feedstock is not palm oil is meaningless. The only acceptable feedstock at this time is waste oil.

The UW’s reasoning for doing this seems simple: public relations. Where is the research that was done before implementing this plan? Where are the support documents indicating this is the proper course of action to help mitigate both global warming and peak oil? If it had been done, there would be no proposed use of biofuels, given the current feedstock regime.

If the UW were truly committed to reducing its carbon footprint, it would cap the total miles driven by UW vehicles and reduce that mileage by two percent annually in the future. This would fall into line with the Oil Depletion Protocol developed by the Post Carbon Institute.

The Green Fleet Initiative is a step in the right direction with the effort to reduce the number of vehicles in the UW Motor Pool. Motor Pool management should place the emphasis on reducing the fossil fuel consumption by reducing usage. Stopping the growth in fuel use would have a far greater impact on CO2 production than substituting biofuels.

The UW should be leading in the reduction of both CO2 and dependence on fossil fuels. They have the opportunity to confront the two biggest issues our nation and the world will face this century: global warming and peak oil. The use of biofuels not only is an inadequate response to these problems but it is also a danger to the world’s food chain. The UW should bring its tremendous resources forward to solve this problem, not make it worse. Following the biofuels fantasy by the UW Motor Pool is the worst possible course of action by this great institution.

— Jim Hansen

UW class of 1974