Life & Style: Multimedia Belt

Alex Steffen thinks we're doing almost everything wrong when it comes to sustainability.

The editor and cofounder of WorldChanging.com suggests we need to think big to handle a big problem. Driving less and eating less beef are important choices, but they only represent a fraction of what we can do to enact major changes to the system. 

All his life, Pat Manley heard the criticisms of the Syracuse student section at the Carrier Dome. It was always too quiet, too boring. That it lacked the creativity of other, better student sections around the Big East. 

It is a perception Manley, a current SU graduate student majoring in political science, set out to change. So when the opportunity arose to do something about it, he made sure to take advantage. 

Her golden-blonde hair rests on the collar of her black sweater, and her soft side bangs brush the thin, silver frame of her glasses. She smiles. Her lips are full and painted a deep, dusty-rose shade of pink. She sits, hands folded together with a shiny gold band on each ring finger, waiting for the others to arrive.

It was summertime. I was 14 years old, and my life was about to change forever.

Instead of doing normal summertime things, like riding a bike or going swimming, I had crippling stomach pains. After a week, the first blast of pain subsided, only to come back with a vengeance.

I stopped eating — anything I ate increased the pain — and lost 10 pounds. My mom took me to my doctor, who said I was infected with Giardia Iamblia, a germ often found in public pools. That was wrong.