Party People is a monthly forum in which members of the Young Republicans and Young Democrats at Lawrence High School address the same topic in point-counterpoint style, writing columns from their respective political viewpoints. The feature runs on the second Tuesday of each month during the school year. If you have ideas for topics that you’d like the columnists to address, please send e-mail to Mindie Paget at mpaget@ljworld.com.

Environmental issues can’t compromise capitalistic values

By Nick Birney – Special to the Journal-World

One of the most complex issues facing the world today is the environment. The effects of pollution reach beyond state or national borders, so the debate over the environment is not just a matter of simple left-versus-right politics. It is a matter of gravity that requires innovative solutions. These solutions must be far-reaching but cannot compromise the capitalistic values on which our nation’s economy stands.

Recently, Kansas lawmakers denied permits for the construction of seven coal-fired power plants. Environmentally speaking, that is good. It is not sufficient, however, to simply halt the creation of new power plants. What the Kansas Legislature did was basically sacrifice economy for environment. That’s not a solid plan for either entity. The economy and the environment do not have to be diametrically opposed. For example, create a nuclear plant instead of a coal-fired one. No, it is not ideal, but it is realistic. France has been safely using nuclear power for a very long time. People need power, and if the use of fossil fuels is not desired, then something else must be used.

It is very bad for everybody when the environment gets hurt because of industry, but the opposite is also true. The economy doesn’t have to suffer to have a cleaner environment. Methods that are good for both the environment and the economy should be used, and lawmakers should take into account the effects of their actions on both industry and the environment.

Balance is the key issue when talking about the environment. Something must be done to make the world “greener,” and industries must become more environmentally friendly. The key is to reinvent heavily polluting industries in a way that is both environmentally friendly and economically viable.

– Nick Birney is a member of the Young Republicans at Lawrence High School.

Partisan politics have no place in global crisis

By Timmia Hearn Feldman – Special to the Journal-World

When Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize last month, “peace” and “environmentalism” were both redefined. Climate change was labeled, as it should be, as an issue of international and bipartisan importance that has the potential to cause more damage and conflict than any war.

World temperatures have risen more than 1 degree, glacial ice is melting, dry areas are getting drier, people are being displaced due to rising water levels – and still, the United States does not take decisive action. When the United Nations held a high-level summit to tackle the issue of global warming, President Bush was conspicuously absent, instead holding his own climate-change summit, which accomplished nothing. Presidential hopefuls in the 2008 race have been addressing the issue, led by John Edwards and Barack Obama.

However, no one is seriously discussing the important differences between energy independence and environmentally friendly energy. Ethanol has been a big part of nearly every presidential hopeful’s energy platform (and who can blame them, with the agriculture voting block in Illinois?), but rarely has it been mentioned that ethanol, besides hurting the world’s poor by raising food prices, is in fact a dirtier energy form than even natural gas, though not as dirty as coal.

Kansas’ decision last month to deny permits to coal plants because of their CO2 emissions was a huge positive step. That such a step was taken first in the country by such a well-known red state shows that partisan politics have no place in the battle to save the environment. I applaud the environmental policies of Edwards and Obama – both of whom advocate cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050 – and hope the rest of the nation will follow by moving away from discussions centered on energy independence and toward real action to create environmentally sound energy sources.

– Timmia Hearn Feldman is vice president of the Young Democrats at Lawrence High School.