Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: The Rest

Each week the staff of The Et Cetera debates a topic in the news.



TOPIC: Facilities placed two new solar-powered trash compactors on campus. Is this a good idea and a good use of funds, or is this just a waste of money?

CODY: I think it's interesting that we have automated trash compactors now, but no one seems to be raising the issue of whether or not that might take away potential manual labor jobs. I also think it's the first step toward self-maintaining machinery which could eventually replace any job, not just simple manual labor jobs. So I'm kind of on the fence with this. Solar power is definitely a smart and efficient use of energy, I think we need to explore the self-maintaining issue.

KIMBERLY: I think it's dumb to spend thousands of dollars on solar-powered trash compactors, when we have stuff in the buildings that needs to be worked on - exposed wires, leaking ceilings and other things that need repair. Why not work on the inside first? I think that it's dumb when stuff needs to be repaired around the school and you're wasting money on a solar-powered trash compactor.

CORRINE: Honestly, solar-powered compactors, not so interesting, but when you consider that maintenance people only have to empty them once a week as opposed to driving around one or two times a day and wasting all the gas in their little go-cart buggy thingies, then we're actually, in the long run, helping the environment more. And yeah it's a lot of money, but we have to think about our future, our children going here, and we want the environment to not be as nasty. I think we need to get more of them and go ahead and start thinking how to make Eastfield greener.

CODY: Well, Corrine, I didn't really consider what you said about how it is kind of cumbersome as a human job and to have the majority of jobs being handled by a machine does seem like it would save a lot of time and manhours. But, at the same time looking into the future again, although I agree with that, I guess maybe me just having my pessimistic worldview I think it's sort of taking away from the simple exercise one would get from performing those activities. When less and less movement is required for the average human, I think less and less people are exercising so this may be the start of a really lazy future where everything is made convenient for us.

KIMBERLY: I kind of agree with Cody because it is taking away jobs from people. Of course picking up trash they might get paid minimum wage, but it's a job. It's bad enough that the economy is bad and people are getting fired and laid off, this is taking away another job that someone could have. You want to have a solar powered system so people won't have to make so many rounds, but that's their job, that's what they get paid for.

CORRINE: Yeah you can say that it's taking away jobs, that it's the first step toward having robots that do everything - I mean they already have robots that roam around your house and clean your carpet for you - but the thing is those are all really valid points. At some time, however, we have to decide what we're going to do toward our future. And solar power, cutting down on fuel emissions and stuff like that, that's really what we need to concentrate on.

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