It's been a disappointingly short, hot summer as always, and we here at The State Press are not all that enthused about classes starting again.

The first day of school is Aug. 25, by the way. We can't tell you how many times that question has been yelled across the newsroom this summer, so we thought we would answer it once and for all.

From the day this paper goes to print, there will be 21 days left until school starts. We're rooting for a sustainability malfunction to make campus uninhabitable — at least until temperatures fall below the 90s and it's safe to be exposed to the elements while walking to and from class, but that seems unlikely.

The author of the July 28th Letter to the Editor, "Who's going to pay for ASU to be green?" is one of many voices beginning to question the value of the sustainability movement. Although the point about rising tuition is valid, targeting sustainability as a major factor is shortsighted, misguided and ignores the volumes of information available about the benefits of this global trend.

ASU has embraced sustainability because it has correctly forecasted the need for universities to provide interdisciplinary students and research that can find solutions for the monumentally difficult environmental problems we face. Read any major science journal and you are guaranteed to find an article discussing the depressingly grave situation facing our natural systems.