Bamboo U creates shirts for eco-friendly students

Bamboo U, a clothing line that began in 2008, is looking to ease their way into college campuses  around the country.

Jeff Fulmer, a resident of Brentwood, Tenn. and co-founder of this eco-friendly company first launched his regular T-shirt making business with a few corporations and college bars in Atlanta, Ga.

Fulmer finally decided he "wanted to do something more positive, more green." As he began to research his way into the green movement, he came across bamboo, a plant over flowing with abundance; and thus came forth his new T-shirt line, Bamboo U, a name that shoots to attract college students in a ‘Bamboo University' kind of way.

The T-shirts are made of 70 percent bamboo and 30 percent organic cotton, with prices ranging from $19 to $30. The shirts come in all sorts of colors with logos reading ‘Bamboo U' and as the prices go up, the artistic designs become more intricate. Some shirts even have bamboos favorite pal on them, the pandas.

 All of the logos and designs are made with water-based ink, meaning more water soluble, allowing the shirts to be even more eco-friendly.

"The material feels softer than cotton; it feels silky," Fulmer said. The company is simply just trying to promote good quality clothing as one would find in Macy's, but with a better strategy in how the clothing is actually being made. Their big factory is located in China were almost all bamboo comes from. Once the shirts are made, they are shipped to Los Angeles.

The company's clothing is sporadically located throughout the United States, mostly in small boutiques and eco-friendly stores. Many of their purchases are done online off their Web site at Prostores.com. 

They also have a MySpace and of course facebook under the name Jeff Fulmer, where customers can visit. 

Fulmer stresses that it is a lot better for the environment to use plants such as bamboo or hemp, rather than polyester, conventional cotton or fur.

"Polyester is petroleum based and conventional cotton uses tons of chemicals; cotton is considered one of the dirtiest," Fulmer said. He also states that a "third of a pound of cotton is used to make one T-shirt. One pound is used to make one T-shirt and a pair of pants."

"I'm not a hardcore environmentalist," Fulmer said. "But people need to get educated about the environment."

When asked about what will happen to all the pandas if companies begin following this trend of bamboo instead of cotton, Fulmer assures that "there are 1500 different varieties of bamboo, we use the type that pandas don't eat."

The company is not in a rush to get big, they just want to target the right people and change their mindset a bit. Fulmer doesn't mind staying small. His company is "geared more toward the college age girl. College girls are more environmentally conscious," Fulmer stated.

 He believes they are definitely more apt to try new things. "We don't want to be a fashion statement. We want to make people more conscious about what they wear," Fulmer added.

Although Bamboo U is only selling T-shirts as of right now, Fulmer tells us he is thinking of expanding and creating hoodies and casual exercise wear as the company excels.

As more people begin to feel more conformable, literally, the company will make the exception of creating more clothing for different sexes and age groups.

"We want to keep our cost down," Fulmer stated. Since bamboo is considered one the fastest growing plants, it's possible. To Fulmer, it's not all about the money and managing a thriving business, although that is main goal in most businesses. It's more about promoting the good and the green for the better.

Fulmer is looking to expand into more college stores, although finds some trouble in doing so. "It's really tough to get into them. They are owned by big corporations."

 Bamboo U has been featured in other college newspapers such as Hofstra, St. Louis University, Florida State University and University of Houston among others. Hopefully, with the positive feedback from colleges across the country, Bamboo U will succeed in becoming a staple in college life.

The Web site also features direct testimonials from devoted fans of Bamboo U.  "I got my shirt in the mail today and I'm wearing it right now. I can honestly say it is the single most comfortable thing I've ever worn in my entire life! It's like heaven in a t-shirt. "A+! I totally love it!" Kaelah Beauregarde said. She was the 2009 Goodwill Spokesperson for Tennessee and was chosen as one of Seventeen Magazine's best dressed girls of America and is now an avid fan of the environmentally friendly clothing line.

We should all follow Fulmer's example and start thinking about how we can begin to give our little share back towards Mother Nature even if it means buying a shirt made out of bamboo. As Fulmer states, "show the world you care with what you wear."

NYU suicide mystery continues from within

On Nov. 3, another student from New York University (NYU) has yet again decided to end their fate inside the infamous Bobst Library. Just as NYU thought the suicide clusters were over, Andrew E. Williamson-Noble sparks up horrific memories of NYU's reputation. His body was found at 3 a.m. in NYU's 12-story library, according to Gothamist.com.

Apparently, the 20-year-old who was a film East Asian studies major text messaged a friend an hour or so prior to his death about going on a late night run for french fries. His friend never answered.

"His tendency to be up late was something Williamson-Noble had written about previously on his facebook page, saying, ‘I wish I had more friends who were on the same sleep cycle as me. There's a considerable loneliness that comes from being awake when few others are. One feels both that one owns the world, and that despite this triumph, has no one to share it with,'" Gothamist.com said.

Many investigators believe that his facebook status was a form of suicide note, a novel way a number of suicides victims are beginning to express their states of depression.

Williamson-Noble's case has enforced the school to re-renovate their safety system again. According to Gothamist.com, "Back in 2003 and 2004 there were multiple suicides in the library which led to the installation of panels on the inner balconies to prevent further attempts." And according to Nyc-architecture.com, "Security guards were stationed at some balcony points."

Although the upper levels of the library are now closed passed 1 a.m., it didn't necessarily mean the elevators were, which evidently disclosed Noble's death.

According to The New York Daily News, NYU sophomore Irvin Camarillo stated, "It's not an easy thing to do, you'd have to be tall to flop over it, unless you had a chair or something." Because this tragic event was still possible, the NYU administration states that, according to Gothamist.com, "Now the elevators will be shut off at 1 a.m."

Since 2003, ten NYU students — three being library associated, two suffocations, one overdose and four jumping from tall story buildings around the campus — have taken their own lives. These deaths still leave investigators, higher officials, friends and family members probing for explanations and answers.

According to Theicarusproject.net, "All of these issues stem from one specific idea, the idea of a suicide contagion." Once a single person boldly does it, others who are in the same mentally ill state tend to follow.

It is a sort of contagious fad that students replicate, especially back between the years of 2003-2004. The first NYU college student to commit this heinous act, John Skolnik, in the Bobst Library sadly set an example for others to imitate. "I remember reading an article in Rolling Stone magazine about Stephen Bohler, an NYU freshman, who after only six weeks of the fall semester was the second person of the year to jump to his death in the atrium of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library," Reed stated.

Many express that the reason behind students' stress and depression is the amounts of rigorous study, which eventually leads to isolation.

Although many students do feel a great amount of pressure during the school year, in light of the suicide NYU President John Sexton sent a personal email out to students.

The email not only outlined the incident and speaks upon the dangers of suicide, he also touched upon the sense of community NYU has been striving for.

"No matter how difficult things might seem at any particular moment, your life is filled with promise, you belong in and are part of a community that cherishes your presence, you are loved, and there are many people at hand ready and willing to help you -- your professors, the staff in the residence halls, the Wellness Exchange, your family, and your friends. I am certain of this: there are many resources to help you, and harming oneself is absolutely the wrong choice," Sexton wrote.

A lot of these students who are not native New Yorkers seem to have a more difficult time assimilating. Like Williamson-Noble's situation, he was out late looking for someone he could spare some time with.

Although this city may be overly populated with an abundance of opportunities and activity, some may in fact feel lonelier with so much bustling around, but not having another to enjoy it with; or as he said, "share it with."

After all the trauma and fatalities, many officials, especially at NYU are trying to keep the sad stories at a minimal, due to the fear of increasing suicide contagion. At the city's rate, it is nearly impossible. There have already been movies, such as The NYU Suicides and endless articles revolving around the stories behind every victim. Ultimately, the media surrounding the suicides makes it even harder for the school to provide counsel to those who have been affected by other's immoral actions.

NYU continues to take steps towards preventing any more suicides from occurring on campus, giving NYU a more notorious reputation than they would have liked.

Precious Pearl Paint locations rumored to close its doors

It turns out that one of the world's largest art suppliers is closing its doors here in our lovely artsy farsty City of New York. As of last weekend, rumor has it that one of the three Manhattan Pearl Paint stores has been closed down for good.

Pearl Paint's frame shop on Lispenard St. has permanently transferred all of their stock over to their Canal St. location. The art supplier chain has been shutting down all of its stores around the country since last month. Two stores that were located in Long Island, NY in the towns of Selden and Woodbury were shut down as well.

All of the smaller chains, like those located in Maryland, Georgia and many other states were closed down simply due to the lack of customer purchases in suburban areas.

During the close-out of these stores, the price of every item, no matter how expensive or cheap it was, dropped down to 75 percent off. For most artists it was the best thing in the world, but at the same time, the worst.

Whatever items that have not finally sold off were shipped off to the bigger chains, such as the ones in New York City and Los Angeles, where young thriving artists are sticking it out. Hopefully, these stores will continue to remain open for the time being.

Many students and big time artists fear that the drastic loss of business in such a short span of time might begin to affect the other Pearl sister store on Canal St.

"I go to Pearl all the time. I love it there. I really hope it doesn't close. The one on Canal Street is like a New York Institution," senior Alexandra Gauss said. "The merchandise is cheap. They have everything I ever need. It would be a huge inconvenience for me if they close. I'll have nowhere else to go. I can spend all day there."

The first Pearl Paint store was built during the Great Depression in 1933 in New York City. It would be a big loss to see it vanish away.

"It's a shame, because it's a good resource for us since it's so close to the campus," sculptor and Pace University Professor Charlotte Becket stated.

Many famous artists during that time period —and even now, according to the stores web site, Pearlpaint.com, — have come to and from our city streets to visit the store's five-story building that is overflowing with the finest artist's materials from around the world.

The place has become a landmark for the Downtown area.

Senior Stephany Cardet, who has been going to the shops over the years while attending the University explained, "It's really sad that one of the Pearl Paints closed. The people that work there are knowledgeable about the materials and mediums."

"The closing of Pearl Paint is inevitable. I just feel bad for the older people, they don't know anything else besides this place," one employee from the famous red and white Pearl Paint building on Canal St. claimed.

Inevitable is the perfect word. The Internet seems to have taken a toll, with the latest dispense of getting anything you could possibly want delivered right to your door for even cheaper than its regular price.

Although the shock doesn't seem to be hitting us yet, the art scene may soon start to crumble, first with its disintegrating art shops.

Self-owned stores are definitely doing financially better than companies. Most self-proclaimed artists enjoy the boutiques more, but as the prices continue to get higher and the demand lower, those little shops full of color and life won't last for long.

If for some unfortunate event our precious Pearl Paint on Canal St. does go under, there is always the store's web site you can browse through, but we know nothing is the same as touching and seeing the items for yourself.

HIV patients live longer but get older faster

Through scientific research Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is gaining both setbacks and progression. According to New York Magazine, recent studies show that a number of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients who were diagnosed back in 2000 are still HIV infected, but luckily not yet AIDS infected. Their survival is because of all the drugs and medications, however patients are now facing another dilemma.

HIV patients who seem to live longer are growing older at a rapid rate rather than naturally. New York Magazine presents the story of James L. 46, who was diagnosed with HIV back in 2001. Over the years, he took multiple ‘drug cocktails' that were prescribed to him.

Eventually, James' life returned to normal; he went back to school and has a master's degree. At his current job, he was promoted to a six figure position at a telecommunications firm "and his personal life flourished."

In the past year, a number of doctors are becoming skeptical of their prescriptions due to James L's condition. It all started when he was at the movie theater watching the film Syrianna, but he soon recollected it was not his first viewing of the film. "He sat through about half the movie before he realized suddenly that he had seen the same movie two weeks earlier," Doctor David Simpson said.

"James ultimately pieced together evidence suggesting he'd seen the film on three spate occasions." Simpson explained, "It's an Alzheimer's-like state," which is now condemning all the little important commodities in James' life, especially the new position at his job.

Since the summer of 2009, a "large-scale multi-city study" shows that HIV patients who contracted only a few years back are all producing "cognitive impairment." Some are even having bone and organ failure, arthritis "and they suffer elevated rates of melanoma and kidney cancers seven times the rate of other non-HIV-related cancers."

In January, Weiwei Cao, M.D. and Ph.D., was evidently ahead of the game. According to The Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency, Dr. Cao conducted an experiment to determine simply "whether this premature aging of CD4 cells impacts HIV disease progression."

These are cells that everyone encompasses, HIV infected or not throughout life which tend to grow old as the person gets old. This process is called "Immunosenescence," and to analyze the issue further, Cao "examined the CD4 cell functioning of 20 HIV-positive people with rapid disease progression and 40 people with slow progression."

He discovered that HIV patients' CD4 cells happen to grow older quicker than a person without the disease. Just because an HIV-infected person's progression is slower than a rapid patients progression which eventually develops into AIDS, it is still not slower than normal.

Researchers found that the disease is trying all the possible ways to consume the HIV patients and rapidly turn them into AIDS patients by triggering symptoms of elderly people. This process seems to be occurring vastly due to the CD4 cells that are forcing the patients to grow older quicker than usual.

Although this study will disturb some HIV patients who are trying to hold back from becoming AIDS Patients, Cao believes this discovery may lead to better advancements for HIV patients. He states that the "call for studies exploring the removal of aging cells to make room for new cells and for a therapy that may rejuvenate aging cells" is now the new assignment for many researchers.

It is a process that appears to be simple, but at the same time requires a lot of research; this possibility of removing old aging cells could save the lives of many HIV patients. It will not completely eliminate the disease, but it will somehow sustain it from becoming AIDS without distributing as many medications.

If this idea works, it is possible for an HIV patient to consistently renew his or her old cells  they can somehow renew their lives. There are endless possibilities and with the technology and advancement of our country's establishment we need to begin to have faith and try out all the prospects to help future generations to come and even others in less fortunate countries.

However, like Doctor Simpson said, "It seems like the virus keeps finding new tricks to throw at us, and we're just all left behind going, What's going on?" So let's thank all the prodigious scientists who are keeping up with the race.

Manhattan walks on the 125th street fault line

After Haiti's earthquake, many New Yorkers and other Americans are probably wondering where the next disaster is going to hit.

Although it hasn't been stressed much, there is a fault line here in our own city. It has been there since as far as we can remember and is known as the 125th Street fault line, also considered the "main street" of Harlem, a hot spot where the mid-Atlantic ridge and San Antonio fault intersect.

While it seems that our precious little island is located in an area where few or no earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis or any other catastrophic events could occur, this relieving assumption is wrong.

There have been a number of mild earthquakes that have struck our city without us even being aware of it.

The earthquakes are rated 2.0 or less, but the frequency is higher and the expectancy of within the next few years experiencing a greater magnitude on the Richter scale is even higher.

The last recorded earthquakes in New York City were in 2001, dated October 27 with a magnitude of 2.6 and January 17 with a magnitude of 2.4. Both felt in upper Manhattan, Long Island City and Astoria, Queens.

The last serious earthquake, which was recorded to have a magnitude between 4.9 and 5.5 that lasted for ten seconds was on August 10, 1884 near Coney Island. The tremor was felt down from Virginia all the way up to Maine. Chimneys fell, houses shook, and luckily there were no records of any casualties.

Many scientists believe the cause of this tremendous earthquake, along with the temperate ones we've experienced thus far are due to the City's 125th street fault line.

Columbia University Seismologists were quoted stating, "It wasn't the first moderate quake, and it won't be the last. New Yorkers should expect a 5.0 or higher earthquake centered here every 100 years," meaning anywhere within New York's five boroughs.

They are claiming that we are about 30 years overdue. If a magnitude of 5.5 or higher earthquake were to occur, we are looking at close to $40 billion worth of damages and 1,770 deaths, simply because there are more people and more building infrastructure than there were in the 1800s.

"I think we should be looking into how to deal with or prevent this from happening if possible. Everyone should be informed about this issue and have a evacuation plan," Senior Danielle Buthorn said.

A 2008-2009 study done in Columbia University's Earth Institute reports that earthquake activity near New York City is more critical than we think. 

There have been plenty of mild earthquakes the past 30 years and the more that frequent smaller clustered quakes attach to a larger mass of rock, the more of a chance of experiencing a serious earthquake in the long run.

It appears to be that sooner or later, our city is going to be hit with a pretty strong earthquake. Although 125th street is a major fault, there is evidence that there are other fault lines crossing underneath Manhattan and the Hudson River that are part of the same family. 

The U.S. Geological Survey Seismic Hazard maps, "shows New York City as facing more hazard than many other eastern U.S. areas."

One scientist, Lynn Sykes, puts it into plain and simple terms; "To understand risk, you have to multiply hazard by assets and vulnerability. When you factor that in, our risk is high."

To look on the bright side, earthquake-building codes were introduced to us in 1995. Of course our youngest buildings have been constructed with the guidance of these codes, but that leaves out all the other older buildings that have been around since before then.

It is a scary thought and it is understandable to want to take heed, but for now, all we can do is sit and wait. "I'm completely indifferent. If it happens then it happens. There is nothing we can really do about it," senior and biochemistry major John Ponessa said.