[artdutra04]

I usually try to stay out of the extremist deep-end of politics, so you probably won't find me chaining myself to a tree to prevent a logging company from taking it down. The fact of life here is that people need [cheaper] goods, industry wants to make money, and the environment needs a lot of help. It's quite hard to find the magic bullets to solve all three problems.

The only way to save the environment is when business can see the "what's in it for me" argument; or in other words, how can I save money? Some companies have noticed that going green can actually save them money, through such measures as planting grass on their flat roofs. (The grass drastically cuts down their heating/air conditioning bills.)

So if there is a moral to this story, it is that we need FIRST to inspire more engineers. We need to find better ways of creating more efficient products, cleaner engines (or a totally new technology), maximizing the recyclable content in goods, creating cheap biodegradable plastics, among many other engineering tasks.

FIRST is not a global warming advocacy/lobbyist group; we are an organization that's determined to inspire students. FIRST shouldn't force the environment issue upon students as a "game challenge". Rather, FIRST should continue to keep inspiring students into science and engineering, and the students themselves will find ways of bettering the world.