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Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Issue 6, Volume 85

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Looking for extra credit? Rooftop has a new owner.

All about food The bar on the strip changed owners this semester, and they plan to mix up the food options regularly to keep it fresh. | PG. 2

News For two years a student has regularly fed the feral cats that live on campus. |

PG. 4

sports

Opinion

Director of Golf Jonathan Dismuke for the last ten years has his goals firmly set on a 17th national championship for UH’s historic program. | PG. 5

The responsibility of saving the environment does fall on people, rather corporations that need to do more. | PG. 8

2 | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

NEWS ian everett, EDITOR

THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/NEWS

NEWS@THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM

713-743-5314

CAMPUS

Extra Credit Rooftop Bar takes over space on Calhoun

Extra Credit Rooftop Bar has been serving students since its soft opening on Sept. 1. | Kathryn Lenihan/The Cougar

IAN EVERETT

FEATURES EDITOR @IANEVERETTUH

Rejoice, ye bargoers of UH, for there is a new owner taking over the rooftop where Calhoun’s fell.

When the owners behind the Rooftop Bar and Grill announced on July 31 their decision not to renew their lease, they received

hundreds of comments thanking them for their time as one of UH’s two bars near campus. They passed on the baton and Extra Credit Rooftop Bar took it up a little less than two months later with a soft opening on Sept. 1., promising to bring new food choices as the bar hits its stride.

“UH is in our blood,” said

owner of Extra Credit, Michael Collins, whose brother and sister attended the University.

Collins runs the Bovine and Barley restaurant alongside Jason Lowery in downtown Houston.

Their landlord for that building also owns the Rooftop, and offered them the spot shortly after Rooftop Bar and Grill

closed.

“He thought we would be the right fit for the space,” Collins said.

Collins said he hopes to build an environment where students are treated like young adults, not just college kids, and would love to hire more UH staff. They plan to pay workers $400 extra each semester if they take at least 12 hours and earn a 4.0 GPA. Collins said that Luis Villegas, operating partner at Extra Credit, was his operations manager for five years and was promoted from within.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Villegas said. “But, it’s coming along great.”

Both Villegas and Collins said they tentatively planned for a grand opening event on Sept. 26.

“We’re trying to finish everything in the next couple of weeks for a grand opening,” Villegas said. “We want to have more games and a DJ booth, and we’d love to do a big balloon drop on the day.”

One of the more exciting prospects for Extra Credit is the partnership with the Oh My Gogi! food truck, which offers MexicanKorean fusion, and potentially

others as well.

“We don’t want to be another bar with the same food all the time,” Villegas said. “We want to have different options on different days.”

Collins said that the first week of Extra Credit’s soft opening was 21 and up admission only, to “let customers know the bar has changed ownership,” but 18 and up students are now welcome.

A Reddit post mentioned that there was a “crowd-mixing” situation at the other on-campus bar The Den while the rooftop was vacant, but Ben Pannel, owner of The Den, said he didn’t notice any large influx of bargoers while the rooftop space was vacant.

“We may have had a few extra customers while they were closed,” Pannell said, “but I haven’t noticed any dips since Extra Credit opened.”

Villegas said he is excited for the future of Extra Credit and is ready to serve UH, and wants to find ways to give back to the campus, like fundraiser events.

“We want to partner with the school,” Villegas said. “We want to be a part of the community here.” news@thedailycougar.com

dining

An inside look into the food trucks of UH and their fans sydney rose

SENIOR STAFF Writer @ sydneyrose1029

Surrounded by sizzling stoves and fryers with the heat turned up, there’s a line of students lined up in the heat waiting for one thing — that hot and tasty food truck cuisine.

Many of the food trucks that come on campus to serve students are new this year, or it’s their first time being invited to

serve the University.

Because of this, UH foodies have a wealth of options, from chicken and waffle sandwiches to Filipino street food.

Food trucks are normally located at the Technology Annex, Cemo Hall, Valenti, the Technology Bridge, Student Center South and the residence halls at night.

“This actually marks the fifth year of the truck,” Wokker owner Man Dao said. “The idea came about as we were growing up in Houston, being Asian and being surrounded by Southern foods, so we kind of just blended barbecue with what we were used to.”

This blend created meals like the pork belly fried rice and the brisket curly fries, which Dao says are the best selling items among students.

Have a parking ticket from after Sept. 1?

SGA and Parking and Transportation Services are partnering up to give students $25 off their citations.

Donate five cans of food to any Parking and Transportation office on campus and get the discount on the spot from Sept. 23 to Sept 27.

food trucks

Continues on page 3

The Waffle Bus food truck is one popular food truck on campus. | File Photo

NEWS

Wednesday, September 18, 2019 | 3

ian everett, EDITOR

THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/NEWS

NEWS@THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM

713-743-5314

dining

UH dining partner aims for zero food waste by 2020 end Donna keeya

senior staff writer @donnakeeya_

University of Houston’s dining partner Chartwells Higher Education is aiming for zero waste to landfills from Moody and Cougar Woods dining halls by the end of 2020.

Prior to students being served their food, initiatives are taken to spread awareness about food waste in an effort to prevent it. Campaigns are hosted to emphasize these values so students are more aware on why and how to avoid food waste.

“In order to combat postconsumer waste well before it lands on the dish return we host awareness campaigns such as Waste Warriors, Project Clean Plate and Stop Food Waste Day,” said Alexcis Mendoza, district marketing manager at Chartwells.

“The goal of these campaigns is to educate guests on the benefits of reducing food waste and monitoring portion sizes.”

Beyond events and platforms to bring awareness and encourage stopping food waste, there are also behind the scene actions being taken as well to reduce food waste.

“The Waste Not program consists of each unit kitchen carefully tracking and reporting waste by the pound, on a weekly basis,” Mendoza said, “and is focused on production waste, over production and unused or out-ofdate inventory.”

Both Moody and Cougar

Food trucks

continuesd from page 2 Dao is a Bauer College of Business alumnus and offers advice to any other UH students who are looking to start their own food truck.

“We understand the hardships, because we did go to UH,” Dao said. “Work on a truck first, then see if you like it, because it is not an easy job, but it is a job driven by passion.”

The Crispy and Grilled truck only started serving in March, according to Rogelio Ramirez, one of the truck’s workers.

Their menu is chicken based, where you can get, as you can guess, crispy or grilled chicken in the form of a sandwich, tenders or more.

“Anything with buffalo or bleu cheese on it, that’s our most popular item,” Ramirez said. “The

More than one third of all food produced is wasted, adding up to a value of $1 trillion dollars, according to National Geographic. | Donna Keeya/The Cougar

Woods dining halls follow the “Just in Time” ordering process which helps prevent overordering by receiving smaller deliveries everyday compared to larger deliveries less frequently.

“To ensure sustainable practices from the start, we cook in small batches daily using ingredients from our ‘Just in Time’ ordering process,” Mendoza said. “In addition to preparing food in

small batches, we also cross utilize ingredients to assist in reducing kitchen waste.”

A major factor in maintaining sustainability is partnerships with local businesses and food vendors. Chartwells has a variety of partners they collaborate with to achieve this.

“Partnerships are extremely important in our waste reduction journey,” Mendoza said, “We are

students love it, and it’s a little different than serving adults because the conversations are a little more normal with the students.”

Lunch time is always busy for food truck workers. Ramirez said sometimes the whole bar of tickets will get full to the point where they have to stop taking orders for a few minutes, and lines can stretch back dozens of people.

Waiting to try some of these illustrious burgers were freshman electrical engineering major David Ramos and psychology sophomore Daniella Davis.

“The food trucks give more variety than what is usually there,” Davis said. “I went to a community college that didn’t really have any type of food that these trucks offer on campus.”

Davis was trying the Burger Joint truck for the first time, and ended up getting the original

burger with fries alongside electrical engineering freshman David Ramos.

“The type of food I usually go for is exotic food, like I’ve been to the Asian food truck two times before,” Ramos said. “But, if it’s not exotic, then I go for burgers.”

If you look on the social media pages of each truck, UH students make up a large part of their audience.

People on campus are looking where the trucks will go each day and even following them out to the locations when they are offcampus.

“I think there should be more food trucks on campus,” Davis said. “The trucks I go to, it depends on what they serve and how close they are to my classes, but I wish some of them were closer.” news@thedailycougar.com

proud to share that we partner with Campus Kitchen, Food Recovery Network and Second Servings to donate surplus food to the campus community and surrounding areas.”

Chartwells also works with local businesses to further sustainability, including the Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program.

With food waste that is not

able to be filtered out through the prevention campaigns, alternate courses are taken to responsibly dispose of it.

“Because having post-consumer waste is inevitable,” Mendoza said.

“We are proud to be working on a partnership with a local facility that will compost any food left behind.” news@thedailycougar.com

Students love the many food trucks on campus. | Lino Sandil/The Cougar

4 | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

NEWS ian everett, EDITOR

THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/NEWS

NEWS@THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM

‘Little Coogs’ - campus cats students love

713-743-5314

i

The Cougar

thedailycougar.com

About the Cougar The Cougar is published every Wednesday during the fall and spring semesters and online everyday at thedailycougar. com. The Cougar is supported in part by Student Service Fees. The first copy is free. Additional copies cost 25 cents.

Copyright No part of the newspaper in print or online may be reproduced without the consent of the director of Student Publications.

Issue staff Closing editors

Michael Slaten Morgan Horst COPY EDITING

Mason Vasquez COVER

Kathryn Lenihan

i

Center for Student Media uh.edu/csm

About CSM

“The population fluctuates, but some cats don’t actually leave campus. They just migrate around,” psychology junior Aleah Johnson said. | Claudette Vega/The Cougar

The Center for Student Media provides comprehensive advisory and financial support to the university’s student-run media: The Cougar newspaper, CoogTV and Coog Radio.

Part of the Student Life portfolio in the Division of Student Affairs, the CSM is concerned with the development of students, focusing on critical thinking, leadership, ethics, collaboration, inter-cultural competence, goal-setting and ultimately, degree attainment.

While our students are engaged in producing and promoting media channels and content, our goal is to ensure they are learning to become better thinkers and leaders in the process.

Center for Student Media

(713) 743-5350 csm@uh.edu www.uh.edu/csm N221 Student Center University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-4015

“Usually community and feral cats can’t be adopted because they aren’t suited for domestic life,” psychology junior Aleah Johnson said. | Claudette Vega/The Cougar

Advertising

(713) 743-5340 advertising@thedailycougar.com thedailycougar.com/advertising Design Team Ruchi Khakta

“Whatever a cat’s circumstances, the term ‘community cat’ reflects the reality that for these cats, ‘home’ is within the community rather than an individual household,” Houston animal shelter BARC said. | Claudette Vega/The Cougar

“Community cats hold a spot close to my heart because I want to take them all home,” said psychology junior Aleah Johnson. | Claudette Vega/The Cougar

Wednesday, September 18, 2019 | 5

Sports jhair romero, EDITOR

THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/sportS

Sports@THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM

713-743-5303

Men’s golf

A decade in, Dismuke hasn’t lost sight of a 17th national championship

Jonathan Dismuke (left) is heading into his 10th season as head coach and hopes to continue Houston’s charge for championship No. 17. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

jhair romero

sports editor @justjhair

One number means more for director of golf and head coach Jonathan Dismuke.

Seventeen.

It’s been the magic number for Dismuke since he arrived at Houston 10 years ago.

For the Cougars, it has been on the brain since 1985, the year they

won their 16th and latest national championship.

A decade into the job, Dismuke still longs for lucky No. 17, and he is glad those above him still believe in the goals he set back in 2009.

“Ten years is a long time in the coaching world,” Dismuke said.

“There has been a lot of people that have gone out of their way and made me feel comfortable and

believed in the vision that I’ve had.”

But the first was former UH athletics director Mack Rhoades, the current head of Baylor athletics that hired Dismuke in June 2009.

“Jonathan is regarded as a rising star in the business, a quality individual and will serve as a great role model for our student athletes as he helps to prepare them to be champions for life,” Rhoades said in a 2009 announcment.

He has also garnered support from his staff, with former assistant Chris Hill telling The Cougar in 2014 that Dismuke “is the best coach in golf.”

It’s fitting he coaches one of the most successful programs in collegiate golf.

Lured by legend Like many who pass through the program, Dismuke said, he was enticed by Houston’s history.

“Much of what attracted me to the University is the past success of the golf program,” Dismuke said after his hiring over a decade ago.

“It is one of the most decorated programs in collegiate golf history.”

Houston, which is second only to Yale (20) in number of national titles, is ranked No. 1 on the Golf Channel’s list of all-time best programs.

The Cougars’ standing in the record books, Dismuke said, contributes to recruiting.

“It’s definitely a conversation piece,” Dismuke said. “I have had players say that that was a part of the decision-making process.”

But the biggest factor in helping Houston reach its goal is obvious for Dismuke — budget.

Big bucks for birdies Dismuke’s arrival at Houston coincided with a boom on campus that skyrocketed UH’s enrollment numbers from a little over 36,000 in 2008-09 to 46,324 in 2018-19.

With the expansion came the University’s renewed focus on athletics, which included pumping hundreds of millions of dollars in football and basketball facilities

in the 10 years Dismuke has been here and, of course, more money for Dismuke to build a successful program.

“It’s night and day,” Dismuke said. “We had almost zero budget for golf when I showed up.”

In his first year, the former Auburn golfer said, Houston had about $22,000 to spend but have “infinitely more” to spend today.

While Dismuke won’t take credit for it and prefers to refer to himself as a “facilitator” of UH’s success during his tenure, he is responsible for much of the fundraising and leg work that went into the Cougars’ upgrades, namely the Golf Club of Houston being designated its home course.

“We had no facilities when I showed up,” Dismuke said. “We have a world-class facility at Golf Club of Houston now. The whole landscape for the athletics department and the University has

Dismuke

Continues on page 6

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6 | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Sports jhair romero, EDITOR

THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/sportS

Sports@THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM

713-743-5303

football

Houston hits the road for AAC opener vs. Tulane jhair romero

sports editor @justjhair

Just six days after Houston’s 31-24 loss to now No. 19 Washington State in the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff, UH must take the field again in New Orleans to face Tulane for its Thursday night American Athletic Conference opener.

The Cougars, whose nonconference schedule included two top-25 teams that they lost to, are going into the game with a team in the middle of an 18-day span in which they’re playing four games.

Despite the cramped scheduling, head coach Dana Holgorsen said the Cougars are not worried about having only six days to prepare for the Green Wave.

“The biggest game of the year is in six days,” Holgorsen said after the loss to Washington State.

“We start conference next week.

Nobody cares it’s a short week.”

Tulane head coach Wilie Fritz shares Holgorsen’s sentiment.

“We got a short work week,”

Fritz said after the Green Wave’s 58-6 blowout win over the Missouri State Bears. “We’ve been preparing all summer. We knew it was going to be a Thursday night game a long time ago.”

Much like Eastern Carolina and Navy’s matchup in Week 2, Houston and Tulane’s game will be the only AAC game of the week.

Evenly matched After three rough weeks against non-conference opponents, the Cougars are finally kicking off their AAC season.

Houston, a year after going 5-3 in the American last season and being just a win against Memphis away from clinching the AAC West and a spot in the conference title game, is going into the game as underdogs.

This is despite both teams’ offenses, their strong suits, being evenly matched.

In total offense, the Cougars and the Green Wave have averaged 385 and 384 yards, respectively, through Week 3.

When broken down into passing and rushing, Tulane and Houston remain balanced.

Both have averaged just under 150 passing yards while rushing for 235-plus yards a game.

Considering some of the opponents each team has faced to start off the season, namely Oklahoma and Washington State for Houston and Auburn for Tulane, the two teams’ offenses have performed well.

History on UH’s side To further gauge Houston’s chances against Tulane, one must also look at the history behind the two programs.

The Cougars have lost only one AAC opener since the inception of the conference in 2013, including those on the road.

UH’s lone loss, a 12-17 defeat to UCF in TDECU Stadium, was five years ago.

Houston’s record against Tulane is not half bad, either.

UH leads the all-time series 17-6, and since 2003, the Cougars are

Houston’s offense, led by senior quarterback D’Eriq King, and Tulane’s attack are almost statistically even in passing and rushing yards. | Trevor Nolley/The Cougar

13-2 against the Green Wave.

Holgorsen took part in two of those wins when he was Houston’s offensive coordinator 2008-09. In the two wins, UH outscored its opponent 86-30.

Even after Holgorsen left for Oklahoma State in 2009, the Cougars’ offensive dominance over the Green Wave continued.

Since the start of the decade, Houston has more than double the amount of points Tulane has

scored in the teams’ matchups.

The totals?

A lopsided 316-150 in the Cougars’ favor that includes 2011’s 73-17 victory in New Orleans and 2018’s 48-17 win in Houston.

Yes, the Green Wave will be the favorite Thursday night, but if history says anything, Houston’s chances against Tulane aren’t small. sports@thedailycougar.com

cross country

DeRouen looks toward improvement in sophomore season Armando yanez

Houston cross country team that is currently made up mostly of freshmen and sophomores. This season will put her to the test to see how she will improve on an impressive freshman season with the Cougars.

Her best event of the year, a sixth place finish at the Houston Spring Break Invitational, saw the Houston native run 2:29.06 in the 800-meter dash.

Coming back for year two means DeRouen gets to reflect on how things went last season and what she can do to make this year better for herself now that she has experience heading into the cross country season.

The team is currently constructed mostly by underclassmen. She’s faced with the new challenge of taking a leadership role on the team, especially for the current freshmen and future cross country runners that will come within the next few years.

DeRouen is one of three sophomores for the Cougars, and she knows she will be one of the few who will be there when the new runners come through.

“For us three sophomores there’s a gap that we have,” DeRouen said.

“After this year, it’ll kind of be just us, and we are going to have to shift into new roles. We are trying to become more responsible and be more like leaders, so we know that we are going to have to take that on next year and years after as well.”

DeRouen looks to build on her first season with the Cougars but is focusing on bettering her performances at events where she knew she could have done more.

“I had a pretty poor performance at conference last year,” DeRouen said. “I would like to do better at conference and maybe not get last (on) my team.”

DeRouen also recognized how UH helped her a lot in her first season and why she looks forward to coming back this year.

“I am definitely more appreciative,” DeRouen said. “I

don’t think you realize how good of a culture we have around here that (head coach Steve Magness) and some of the girls have set up.”

Seeing all the freshmen become a part of their culture for the first time amazed DeRouen because of how much it reminded her of last years team.

The Aggie Opener was cancelled due to inclement weather, so the Rice Invitational was everybody’s first look at this year’s cross country teams.

The men struggled, taking fourth place, but the women cruised to a first-place finish. Throughout the course of the season, DeRouen and the team’s performances will show how she has improved from last season to this one.

Although the Cougars have gotten close, in 2014 finishing 10th in its first NCAA Championships appearance since 2001, they have not yet been able to seal the coveted No. 17.

Still, Dismuke’s vision remains, and it has trickled down to his players in the past.

“We have a job to do,” Roman

Robledo, a former Cougar who plays professionally, told The Cougar in 2011. “Our job is to bring that NCAA championship back to UH to bring that legacy back.”

A few years, later that sentiment remained among players.

“Our expectation is the national championship,” former player Wesley McClain told The Cougar

in 2014.

But what has kept Dismuke at the helm of Houston golf for 10 years?

All the work Dismuke has put into the program since the day he was hired has made it worth it.

“It’s been extremely calculated,” Dismuke said. “We have vision, we have goals and a lot things we are

trying to accomplish over time.

We’ve been able to knock a lot of that out.

“I think that’s the reason I’ve been okay staying here, and I think that’s the reason the University has been okay having me in this role,” he said.

staff writer @odnam16

Sophomore runner Megan DeRouen is coming back for her second season with Houston, and to her it means nothing short of improvement.

The runner out of Cypress Creek High School now has a year of collegiate cross country running experience and will look to use that to her advantage in year two.

“It’s fun to see everybody and be back and have more things that I learned last year that I can apply to this year,” DeRouen said. “Going from (high school) to college is a bit different, so everything, including expectations, shift, because it’s a whole different thing now.“ DeRouen is one of many on the

dismuke

Continued from page 5 vastly improved.”

Project 17 Along with Dismuke, “Project 17”, an umbrella term used by Dismuke referring to another national title win, is going into its 10th year.

Megan DeRouen is a returning sophomore. | Courtesy of UH Athletics

sports@thedailycougar.com

sports@thedailycougar.com

Wednesday, September 18, 2019 | 7

Universal Crossword Edited by Timothy Parker September 26, 2018

ACROSS 1 Like prank candles 6 Just beats 10 Mess-hall dish 14 Ville of horror?

15 Champagne choice 16 Cookbook writer Rombauer 17 Picnic side 20 Surgeon’s instrument 21 Droplet on a bib 22 Theater feature 25 Yuletide warblings 26 “___ here” (order request) 30 Pound or smash 32 Bad way to be caught 35 Senators play there 41 Shred an alibi 43 Emulates bulls 44 Make weak 45 “What ___ can I do?”

47 Stuff fed to a PC 48 Backless couch 53 Indian state 56 Biscotti flavor source 58 Has a sample

9/26

63 One of two on Thanksgiving 66 Hard-tocontrol desire 67 Shipwreck site 68 Do more than just tri?

69 Pet sound 70 Start of a conclusion 71 Pub potable DOWN 1 CAT scan units 2 Send forth 3 Type of pond or pad 4 “___ have to wait” 5 Categories or ilks 6 Peacock network 7 Perturb 8 Throbs 9 Bit of progress 10 In the know about 11 Rugged crest 12 Knee-high to a grasshopper 13 Cottontail relatives 18 Addams cousin 19 Immoral act 23 Cain’s brother 24 Like Teslas 26 Has dinner

27 At a later date, super old 28 Strong shark 29 Still-life piece 31 “The Tao of Pooh” writer 33 Back in the water?

34 Deception 36 Title word, often 37 ___ the line (obeyed) 38 Actress Jessica 39 Whipping upraising 40 Floating on the Caribbean 42 Wad builders 46 Fire engine attachment 48 Singular of 47-Across

49 Toughen, as to hardship 50 Sign of late summer 51 Slightly off-center 52 Namechange indicator 54 Cash dispenser 55 Sail supports 57 Jane of Thornfield Hall 59 Proofreader’s save 60 Band leader Puente 61 Brown relative 62 Three-hand card game 64 Avg. size 65 Conspiracy theory vehicle

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

9/25

© 2018 Andrews McMeel Universal www.upuzzles.com

PUNCTURED By Timothy E. Parker

8 | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Opinion Maryam baldawi, EDITOR

THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/OPINION

713-743-5304

OPINION@THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM

environment

Push for green products does not address the real problem

Editorial Board editor in chief

Michael Slaten managing editor

Morgan Horst

creative director

Jiselle Santos News editor

McKenzie Misiaszek

features editor

Ian Everett

sports editor

Jhair Romero photo editor

Trevor Nolley opinion editor

Maryam Baldawi assistant editors

Kathryn Lenihan Autumn Rendall Juana Garcia Katrina Martinez

Chief Copy Editor

Mason Vasquez

Staff editorial The Staff Editorial reflects the opinions of The Cougar Editorial Board (the members of which are listed above the editorial). All other opinions, commentaries and cartoons reflect only the opinion of the author. Opinions expressed in The Cougar do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Houston or the students as a whole.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Students should recycle and be green, but some products try to blame consumers instead of the real problem: corporations. | Trevor Nolley/The Cougar

anna baker

OPINION Columnist

Not too long ago, videos of turtles with straws stuck up their noses went viral, understandably upsetting people.

With this new hatred of plastic straws, companies have taken notice and churned out advertisements for their metal straws and other green products.

Instead of following these companies by hating on plastic straws, students can volunteer with environmental groups or even donate.

The advertisements from these companies include things like calling plastic users useless and implying that straws are as bad as cigarettes.

Even when it’s not negative, green product marketing relies on the idea that you are responsible for saving the planet, saying things like “Save the Environment One (biodegradable phone) Case at a Time.”

Basically, if you don’t buy their product, you are responsible for dying sea turtles. This idea of individual responsibility for the environment is very problematic but unfortunately effective, as shown by the media’s reaction.

There are numerous articles listing plastic straw alternatives, emphasizing an individual’s impact and how easy it is to quit straws.

If it’s so easy, people who use straws are supposedly making the conscious decision to hurt the environment. This shaming of plastic straw users has serious consequences.

For many disabled people, they need

plastic straws to drink or else they could die.

Plastic alternatives may not work for someone due to their disability, and yet disabled people are harassed for using something they need to survive.

These companies have created a culture where we believe it is up to the individual to save the environment.

This culture condemns people who use plastic, even if it’s for their own survival, and it must end. Not only is it ableist and immoral, it distracts from the real problem: corporations.

The majority of carbon emissions destroying the environment are the result of fossil fuel companies, who worked to cover up the evidence of climate change to make profits. As for plastic, most companies sell products in plastic that the consumers end up throwing away.

Big companies like Coca-Cola have billions of dollars, resources and the knowledge that their plastic is bad for the environment, yet they still sell plastic and profit from it.

Why are disabled straw users harassed but not the corporations causing the problem?

Green marketing has made us believe it’s up to us, which isn’t true. Companies emitting greenhouse gases and creating plastic impact the environment much more than someone using a bamboo straw. Yet environmentalists yell at plastic users instead of taking direct action to make corporations sustainable.

It may seem impossible since

corporations hold so much power, but there are still things we as individuals can do to hold them accountable. You can contact your representatives and tell them to stand against wasteful corporations.

For direct action, donate to or volunteer for Environment Texas, which works to protect our Texas climate, or Greenpeace, which pressures governments and corporations into helping the planet. Just last week, Greenpeace activists shut down an oil shipping channel in Baytown.

Now, you can still use metal straws. If you can be more eco-friendly, do it by all means, but don’t shame anyone because they used plastic. Instead, we must join together and demand that corporations stop killing our planet and start fighting for it.

Anna Baker is a communications student and can be reached at opinion@ thedailycougar.com

What students can do Contact representatives of corporations through call or email Volunteer to clean up the ocean or environment-friendly cleanups

Tell us your opinion, use hashtag #ReADallover

The Cougar welcomes letters to the editor from any member of the UH community. Letters should be no more than 250 words and signed, including the author’s full name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major.

Anonymous letters will not be published. Deliver letters to N221, University Center; e-mail them to letters@thedailycougar.com; send them via campus mail to STP 4015; or fax to (713) 743-5384. Letters are subject to editing.

GUEST COMMENTARY Submissions are accepted from any member of the UH community and must be signed with the author’s name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Commentary should be limited to 500 words. Guest commentaries should not be written as replies, but rather should present independent points of view. Deliver submissions to N221, University Center; e-mail them to letters@ thedailycougar.com; or fax them to (713) 743-5384. All submissions are subject to editing.

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