It’s easy to play the blame game in the midst of something so terrible, but pointing fingers doesn’t help anyone right now. Some Californians have lost everything in these fires. What should be the focus of peoples’ conversations and efforts is how to help, not who to blame.

So many of our day-to-day goods are outsourced internationally. Abusing sweatshops, cheap labor and raw material costs from other countries only hurts us. If we push our legislation to promote more domestic manufacturing, not only are we boosting our own economy, we are providing Americans with job opportunities and a sense of pride by producing domestically-made materials.

The course represents a new kind of offering from the Center for Global Engagement, in that it gives students of all academic backgrounds an experiential learning opportunity with a domestic company known for its efficiency and innovation.

The national competition will take place in Norfolk, Va., from Feb. 22-23. The Ethics Bowl team will be competing with 36 other undergraduate teams from around the nation and will discuss issues from a range of potential cases including tipping culture, hostile architecture and parental rights.