Dear Editor,

All across our nation one word has dominated the political scene. From town hall meetings in Iowa and New Hampshire to the intense presidential debates on major television networks, it has created the need for something much greater than the person who will fill President Bush’s seat next January. It has caused many candidates to reform their views, change their slogans, and even alter their approach at campaigning. This word that has defined the 2008 presidential election is “change”, and this talk is not a fantasy. It is the dream that with the help of millions across the country can begin a movement that will enable our fellow citizens to have faith in our government once again.

In February of 2007, Senator Barack Obama announced his candidacy for president and embarked on a journey of inspiration and faith throughout our country. Whether it’s his years of work as a community organizer in Chicago or his commitment to civil rights, Senator Obama has inspired many people of all different political ideologies to join together and fight the real problem we are facing today, a divided America.

In 2004 Barack Obama was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. His belief in our country was felt through his words of inspiration when he said, “there is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America.” On February 5th you can help restore the America we all believe in.

Michael Schulte
Local Political Activist

Dear Editor,

With interest I read the article “Kyoto basis for laws in current climate summit” issued in the Sun Star on December 11, 2007. It was stated that with “Beginning in the mid-1980s, the world began to notice a sudden change in climate, discovering a link between fossil fuel emissions and the ozone hole over the Antarctic”. This is completely wrong. First, climate change (it means warming or cooling) is a normal process and one cannot state that in the mid-1980 there was a sudden climate change. Second, a former professor of mine, Dr. Hans-Karl Paetzold from the University of Cologne, Germany, already discovered a so-called ozone hole (it means a reduced concentration within the stratosphere) over the European Alps in 1953. These observation can be found, for instance, in the “Handbuch der Physik” (English: Handbook of Physics) available in the Keith B. Mather Library at UAF. Third, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 there was no correlation between an increase of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and an increase of the mean near surface temperature, neither on a global scale nor on a hemispheric scale. As documented by the figures attached, there was no scientific reason to establish the IPCC. The results illustrated in these figures are based on the Mauna Loa CO2 observations beginning in 1958 and the temperature anomalies of the British Hadley Centre related to the period ranging from 1961 to 1990.

Ozone is considered as one of the so-called greenhouse gases because it has an absorption band around 9.6 micrometer, unfortunately in the center of the so-called atmospheric window. This means that a reduction of the stratospheric ozone concentration would be desirable. However, the absorption of solar radiation by ozone in the range from 240 to 310 nanometers (ultraviolet radiation) prevents UV radiation from reaching the ground. This means it would be better to have a higher ozone concentration in the stratosphere, even though ozone acts as a greenhouse gas. Note that the emission of CO2 has nothing to do with the ozone hole. Obviously, Dr. Kohler is, certainly, not familiar with these facts and her information is not very helpful.

Dr. Gerhard Kramm
Geophysical Institute

I was overwhelmed by the turnout on Wednesday, December 5, for my Failed Search University presentation in the Wood Center Ballroom. I had requested 50 chairs for the event and never imagined that we’d need nearly 200. As I have told many people, I will never be able to adequately express my gratitude for the support and encouragement that I received from members of the campus community that night. Thank you to the many students, staff, faculty, and friends who helped to generate interest in the event, and especially to all of you who attended and listened intently to my two-hour presentation.

In order for the University to achieve its lofty goals, we need all people at the University working together and performing their very best. I have continued to pursue answers in my case because I care deeply about the mission of the University, the people who work at UAF, and all of the students pursuing their professional goals and personal dreams.

In his extraordinary book, The Firecracker Boys, Alaskan author Dan O’Neill wrote:

“[Project] Chariot illustrates why the most cherished institutions of a free society -- a democratic government, a free press, the university, even the Church -- cannot necessarily be accepted as seats of objectivity and candor. The lesson Project Chariot offers is that a free society must be a skeptical one, that rigorous questioning and dissent protect, rather than subvert, our freedoms.”

Obviously, the stakes were much higher during the nuclear threat presented to Alaska during the Project Chariot fiasco, but the quote from The Firecracker Boys also sums up my goal with the Failed Search University presentation: We still need some rigorous questioning and maybe a little dissent in order to protect the freedoms of UAF staff members, faculty, and students.

I pledge to keep asking the University to live up to the Department of Human Resources’ own mission “to provide services which promote a work environment that is characterized by fair treatment of staff, open communications, personal accountability, trust and mutual respect,” and I hope that you will continue to demand that the University live up to it’s promise to all of us so that we can help the University live up to it’s promise to Alaska.

Best Regards,
Jeff Stepp
UAF Student Activities Coordinator (2002 - 2007)