The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Opinions

Editor thanks green contributors

Thank you so much for featuring the March Georgia Magazine in Monday's paper. For those of you who aren't familiar with GM, you will be once you graduate. GM is the official magazine of the University of Georgia and is mailed quarterly to University alumni and supporters.

Although Melissa Weinman did a good job of reporting the story, I'd like to clarify our goals in creating a green issue and also pay tribute to the people who made it possible. Going green, as we say on the front of the issue, means different things to different people. For us, it meant using the magazine as a showcase for the myriad students, faculty, staff and alumni engaged in activities that preserve, conserve and protect natural resources. In addition, it meant using the magazine as an example of environmental responsibility.

Our printer, Lane Press, is Forest Stewardship Council certified, which means it meets FSC standards covering economic, social and environmental concerns for the wood fiber industry. While we regularly print GM on paper with a partially recycled content, for this issue, we went a step further, ordering paper that was made using alternative sources of energy. That decision drove up our production costs by roughly $20,000, which we were able to cover with generous contributions from the Odum School of Ecology, the College of Environment and Design, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, the Faculty of Engineering and the Office of the Senior Vice President for External Affairs.

This issue took months of planning and came together as a result of a collaborative effort by the GM staff, including managing editor Allyson Mann and art director Cheri Wranosky, both of whom have long expressed interest in reducing the carbon footprint of the magazine as much as possible. Although we may not be able to do so in every issue to the extent we were with this one, we are committed to exploring ways to reduce waste and protect the environment. As demand for alternative energy increases, the cost will come down. We all can do our part to make that happen.

KELLY SIMMONS
Georgia Magazine editor

Pickpocket comment 'unnecessary, rude'

I was happy the Russian election was covered, but after reading (Anna) Krakovski's column, I was disappointed at the P.S. on the bottom of the article about pickpocketing and the Russian mafia. I thought it was unnecessary and rude to put that.

I have studied abroad in St. Petersburg twice and loved it. I wish I could have been there at the election because I remember my host family talking about it.

Yes, being in Russia made me appreciate the U.S. and even little things like toilet paper, but I also kept in mind that it is another country. I

did encounter some anti-American sentiment, but that was to be expected. For the most part I encountered curiosity, because not many Americans go there.

As for the mafia and pickpocketing, it occurs, but that really is all the crime that happens there. I felt safer in Russia than I do on this campus. You just learn to be careful.

Yes, Russia is a little behind in democracy and there are a lot of social problems, but it is trying. Please be responsible when reporting, because little things put in the paper influence what people think about a country and its people, especially lesser-known ones such as Russia.

ALEXANDRA TURNER
Senior, Athens
International Affairs and Russian

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