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news Panther Prowler • Dec. 16, 2016
Shoppers plagued by 10 cent bags Maya Chari Staff Writer Daria Azizad Staff Writer The California Plastic Bag Veto Referendum was approved as a proposition in the recent election. Although the new instatement is more eco-friendly, some are concerned that it is not entirely human-friendly. Instead of getting a single-use bag with groceries, customers have to either bring their own reusable bag or buy a paper or heavy plastic bag for 10 cents. Any plastic bags sold in stores now have to be designed for 125 uses rather than the previous single use norm. The money for the bags goes back to the business, but with more expensive materials needed to manufacture the new bags, it is unclear whether this will help or hurt them in the long run. In addition to affecting businesses, this law also affects shoppers; people no longer have the previous freedom of having countless bags at their disposal. Camille Lish, sophomore, is against the new implementation. “I don’t think that we should have to pay for it,” she states, “this is not the direction we should be going”. Her concerns lay with the economic aspect of the bags, “My family, we buy a lot of food, so when we have to pay a lot for bags, it’ll add up to a lot of money,” she explains. Lish believes that the environmental point of the bags is not withstanding. Instead, she thinks that we should be pushing recycling and donating to environmental foundations. “We can [help
College Board 101:What really 101: happens in college Kavita Rai Staff Writer
the environment] on our own time, instead of spending the money we were using on food,” she finishes. On the other hand, Brooke Merrill, sophomore, has a different perspective on the bags. “It’s an inconvenience just because we’re not used to it,” she says, “once everyone is used to bringing their own bags or paying for it, it won’t be a big deal”. “People won’t want to pay the ten cents every time, so people will start reusing bags,” Sam Church, sophomore, explains. “It’s a really good way to be more conscious about what they’re doing and how much plastic we’re using”. For Veronica Seixas, sophomore, the environment is her main concern. “The new bags make business and people both more mindful of all the plastic they use,” she tells. “The businesses are profiting from the environmentally friendly bags, so it’s a really good idea to make the environment and businesses have the same goals”. Although she agrees that the ten cent bag law will reduce the amount of plastic in landfills, Elizabeth Wilson, Sophomore, thinks that it may burden some lower-income families. Robert Martin, IB Environmental Systems and Societies teacher, is completely for this new law. “When reusable bags began to get publicized, a lot of people thought that it was a great idea,” Martin explains, “but we always would forget to bring them”. He believes that the ten cents is “basically nothing, but it provides enough of an incentive to bring your own bags.” From an environmental perspective, the planned obsolescence of the bag “isn’t exactly ideal,” because of the “amount of energy and material for something with such a short lifespan”. While the new implementation will help the environment, many still feel unsure, due to the fact that the luxury of not needing to remember to bring a reusable bag to the store is no longer feasible to the shoppers of California.
High School students have a vision of what college is, but wouldn’t it be nice to know what really happens in college? NPHS will be hosting their 7th Annual College 101 Forum in the Performing Arts Center on January 5th, 2017, at 7 p.m. The goal of the event is to help students get a clearer picture of their future. Many high school students, especially juniors and seniors, get stressed out when thinking about college. To help alleviate this stress, a panel of recent NPHS alumni will talk about their experiences and give honest information about college life. These panelists will be discussing what they wish they knew beforehand -academics, financial aid and social issues - to further prepare students for their college journey. College 101 gives students an opportunity to ask successful graduates what classes they should be taking now to get into their dream college. Students can ask panelists about what college life really is, including such topics as living with a roommate, the safety on campus or even dealing with a transfer process. High school students of all ages, including their parents, are welcome to come and listen. Having a student perception of college, rather than an administrators, provides a more open atmosphere of conversation. Ask questions that are not normally provided on school websites, and take this opportunity to get some mentorship and wisdom from past NPHS students.
Dictionary.com names Xenophobia “Word of the Year” Caitlin Henderson Chief Photographer “The presidential election” was a phrase anyone living in 2016 could not ignore. Whatever the news outlet may be, and whatever political ideology people aligned themselves with, it was impossible to avoid its presence in the media. Dictionary.com defines xenophobia as, “the fear or hatred of foreigners, people from different cultures, or strangers.” The website explained why they chose this word, saying, “news stories have centered around fear of the ‘other.’ Fear is an adaptive part of human evolutionary history and often influences behaviors and perceptions on a subconscious level.” Citing 2016’s rise in fear to “cultural discourse” and the online dictionary’s trending lookup data, Dictionary.com named xenophobia the word of the year. Xenophobia is a word stemming from Greek, xenos meaning “stranger” and phobia meaning “fear.” The word saw surges in lookups starting in April 2015, spiked once more July 2016, along with the word “populism,” and once again on Nov. 9, the day after the US presidential election. Dictionary.com described the word in terms of world events, referring to the Syrian refugee crisis, the rise of the alt-right and “other ideologies that promote hate, especially
directed toward Muslims, Latinos, Jews, trans and queer communities, black America, and other nondominant groups.” Since Nov. 9, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate-based incidents have increased, mostly consisting of vandalism and verbal harassment, though few reported cases of physical harassment. Despite the website mentioning world events surrounding xenophobia, it noted that “While our lookup data can tell us what Dictionary.com users are interested in, it doesn’t tell us the reason for the interest. Perhaps some of our users were unfamiliar with the word xenophobia, while others might have looked it up to double check the spelling or pronunciation. Maybe our users looked it up to affirm what they already knew about the meaning, or to share the definition with others.” However, the online dictionary asserts that the word does connect to politics and world issues. “What we do know is that from global events to political rhetoric, xenophobia was a recurring subject of discourse in 2016,” Dictionary.com said. “Despite being chosen as the 2016 Word of the Year, ‘xenophobia’ is not to be celebrated. Rather it’s a word to reflect upon deeply in light of the events of the recent past.”