BYU NewsNet - Global Warming Campaign Reaches Out to Students

By Holly Van Woerkom

Throughout this month, more than 1,000 colleges and universities will participate in Focus the Nation, which organizers are saying is an "unprecedented" national educational initiative to promote global warming solutions for America.

Although no Focus the Nation events will be held at BYU this month, a group of students and faculty are working to gather speakers for a Kennedy Center presentation in February.

One of the primary objectives of Focus the Nation is for universities to conduct workshops and panel discussions about global warming solutions, creating what the campaign Web site calls a "National Teach-In." Other significant components of the campaign include "Green Democracy," which will allow students to communicate concerns to members of Congress; "Choose Your Future," an online survey available on the campaign Web site; and "2% Solution," a national interactive web cast, which will air on Jan. 30.

"Today's college students are truly the greatest generation," said Eban Goodstein, author and project director for Focus The Nation, in a news release. "No other generation has ever had to face this kind of civilizational challenge. And we as educators would be failing if we did not prepare them with the tools to meet this challenge."

Inspired by the campaign, members of BYU's environmental advocacy group, EcoResponse, are organizing a presentation and panel discussion on global warming for Feb. 7 in the Kennedy Center. Also, on Feb. 8, author Larry Lohmann will visit the Kennedy Center to speak on carbon trading.

EcoResponse faculty adviser George Handley, author of the 2005 book "Stewardship and the Creation: Latter-day Saint Perspectives," spoke Wednesday night at the University of Utah as part of an interfaith panel discussion on global warming, one of many Focus the Nation events being sponsored by the university's recently created Office of Sustainability.

Afterwards, Handley said many students and faculty at BYU have expressed interest in environmental education, citing the success of the EcoResponse club and the new environmental science major.

He said, however, without "an institutional or academic home where discussions of environmental issues can bring together the perspectives of the physical and social sciences and the humanities ... it makes it more difficult for us to educate students here at BYU to be able to tackle these problems and to be aware of and participate in conversations about the environment like Focus the Nation. Environmental problems are far too complex for specialists alone to handle, but I am hopeful that BYU will be able to make major contributions some day. We have so much to give."