By Maureen Inouye
Protecting the environment is important to UP students. So student participation in Focus the Nation should come as no surprise.
Focus the Nation and the College Ecology Club have joined forces to bring awareness about global warming to UP. Focus the Nation is a national movement to educate people about the impact of global warming in the world and to promote discussion on the topic in hopes of enacting policy solutions.
Right now, the two groups are gathering signatures in The Cove and The Commons from students in support of the Green Torch Relay, a run from Portland to Salem, as well as to invite Oregon senators to the Focus the Nation summit in January. As of yesterday, the students had reached their goal of 1,000 student signatures.
Elementary schools, high schools, colleges and universities are all endorsing Focus the Nation as a way to bring political attention to the effects of global warming. As the movement grows, businesses and places of worship are also volunteering their time to make Focus the Nation a success. Each region is coordinating events for all participants, culminating in a summit on Jan. 31, 2008.
For Portland, the kick-off event will be the Green Torch Relay on Oct. 21 to 23. Student runners from UP, Lewis & Clark, Willamette, Portland Community College and Portland State will all participate. Groups of students and educators across the nation are coordinating events that demonstrate initiative and creativity in bringing this issue to the foreground of national politics.
Here on campus, Focus the Nation efforts are being coordinated by UP senior Lacey Riddle as part of her internship through Lewis & Clark. Riddle's major is environmental ethics and policy.
"I want to be the person who coordinates the information Focus the Nation gives us," Riddle said. She corresponds with other interns at Lewis & Clark to ensure UP has all the information needed to sponsor educational events.
The movement's adviser at UP is Bill Barnes, a professor in the economics department. Promoting an interdisciplinary discussion on the topic, Focus the Nation supporters on campus are sponsoring different events all semester into next year.
The first UP events will include movies like "Too Hot Not to Handle" and "An Inconvenient Truth" to help students understand the environmental issue more fully. "Too Hot Not to Handle" was shown on campus on Monday and sponsored by the College Ecology Club.
"This seemed like a really relevant topic - a good project for us," said senior Margie Young, co-president of the College Ecology Club.
Members of both Focus the Nation and the College Ecology Club have been sitting at tables in the Pilot House and The Commons last week and this week with long banners for students to sign - the goal is to gather more than 6,000 signatures from all the schools participating in the Green Torch Relay to invite Oregon senators to come to UP for the January summit. Republican Sen. Gordon Smith and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden have both been invited.
"Our larger goal is change in policy. We need something in the law," Riddle said.
The College Ecology Club has worked in the past to change UP policy regarding recycling and environmental awareness, so the club is excited to invite the senators to campus for eventual change on the national level.
"This is a non-partisan issue. Everyone needs to be involved," Young said. She hopes the senators will become engaged in the conversation she anticipates for January's main event.
"So far, this issue has gotten a lot of support from students," Riddle said of UP students' response to Focus the Nation's presence on campus.
The showing of "Too Hot Not to Handle" on Monday was well-attended, showing that many students feel global warming is a critical concern.
"Students were most concerned about what exactly they could do to help," Riddle said. Before the movie, the students discussed everyday solutions to environmental concerns.
On Jan. 31, 2008, all the events will conclude with large regional forums all over the country. Here in Oregon, the summit will take place in UP's Chiles Center.
There will be roundtable speakers at the event from many different disciplines offering input on the many aspects of global warming. Professors from several schools have been invited to speak. There will also be musicians who have taken a stand to protect the environment.
By that time, Focus the Nation and the College Ecology Club hope all their events and efforts will have excited the students of all the campuses in the area to want to discuss and debate the concern of global warning. For information regarding this project see www.focusthenation.org.
