Students, faculty and staff will join more than 1,500 campuses nationwide Thursday, Jan. 31 for the “Focus the Nation” teach-in for global warming designed to mobilize people beyond the discussion level to demand real solutions.
Focus challenges 50 faculty members on each campus to spend 10 minutes discussing sustainability in their classrooms.
Campus-wide activities kick off Wednesday, Jan. 30 with a live, one-hour Webcast of “The 2% Solution” in the F.W. Olin Center Auditorium at 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Audiences will be invited to weigh in with cell phone voting.
Actor and clean energy advocate Edward Norton will join Stanford University climate scientist Stephen Schneider, green jobs pioneer Van Jones, sustainability expert Hunter Lovins and youth climate leaders in the Webcast discussion of global warming solutions. To access, go to http://www.earthdaytv.net/.
Steve Po-Chedley ’08 is coordinating Union’s student events. He has created a Web site, http://www.vu.union.edu/~sustain/focus/, which includes links to sustainability efforts on campus, a sign-up form and a list of participating faculty.
“This event not only encourages faculty to demonstrate a commitment to and foster an awareness of these imminent problems, it will allow them to reach out to a great deal of students on campus, shedding light on issues of sustainability and climate change,” Po-Chedley said.
Professors from all departments are devoting classroom time to sustainability. Linda Patrik of Philosophy, for instance, will discuss the ecological impact of modern technology in her Sophomore Seminar, “Cyberfeminism,” and talk about how global warming and other ecological disasters relate to Plato’s theory in “The Republic.”
Students in Suzanne Benack’s Psychology seminar on adolescence will look at how today’s adolescents are responding to the global warming crisis.
And in his course in Animal Physiology, Leo Fleishman of Biology will present material on the widespread extinction of Central American highland frogs that has been directly linked to climate change.
“Global warming has produced ideal growth conditions for a deadly fungus that is responsible for this mass extinction,” Fleishman said. “This story highlights the fact that climate change may impact human and animal populations by favoring the rapid spread of diseases to new locations that were formerly held in check by environmental conditions.”
For those still brainstorming classroom ideas, the following faculty have offered to help others prepare 10 minutes about sustainability: Jaclyn Cockburn, Geology; Jeff Corbin, Biology; John Garver, Geology; Kathleen LoGiudice, Biology; Laura MacManus-Spencer, Chemistry; Seyffie Maleki, Physics; Andrew Morris, History; and Richard Wilk, Mechanical Engineering.
“This is not just a problem for geologists and environmental scientists,” said Po-Chedley. “Every discipline, from physics to anthropology to psychology, relates to sustainability and climate change. Students need to be aware of these parallels.”
Students in Cockburn’s Environmental Sciences and Policy Senior Capstone Seminar are organizing a water taste-test for Wednesday, Jan. 30, noon-2 p.m. in Reamer Campus Center to raise awareness about the environmental costs of drinking bottled water.
All Focus the Nation participants are encouraged to register at: http://www.vu.union.edu/~sustain/focus.php. Other information is available at: http://www.focusthenation.org/.