OUR VIEW: One or two activists don’t make a difference

USU is now the only school in the state that has a shuttle fleet 100 percent dedicated to using natural gas. While this is an achievement that could perhaps contribute to cleaner air when the inversion hits in the near future, it’s only a small start to a large problem that will most likely not be solved by a few buses.

Pollution, like any environmental issue, is a social cost, only to be solved by individuals internalizing those costs, getting everyone to participate or mandating the solution.

One Boy Scout picking up garbage on the side of the road isn’t going to make a difference. Until there is a hose from every exhaust pipe pumping the pollution back into our vehicles and everything we throw on the ground miraculously shows up on our pillows at night, the costs of pollution will not be internalized.

Environmental improvements are improvements only if everyone participates. Getting a campus of 17,000 self-interested students to care enough about the environment to go purchase new cars, while most work at or around minimum wage is highly unlikely.

Mandating environmentally-friendly vehicles isn’t even worth considering in a town when roughly 15 percent of the population are students making less than $12,000 per year.

The new shiny buses are a noteworthy contribution the university is making and they are a good start, but the university pays all the costs, while receiving only a diluted portion of the benefits. Before a difference can be made, measures such as natural-gas engines or other alternative fuels won’t catch on until people are required to use them by law.