Blog

Apr 27, 2012

I love sport. When I’m not working with our Focus the Nation partners or helping to guide F2A projects, I’m usually breaking a sweat or cheering on one of my beloved teams (Go Timbers!). So when Sasha told me that the University of Oregon F2A team wanted to concentrate on sports and energy, I was thrilled.

The University of Oregon (UO) athletic program has a long history of excellence and is located in a city that is affectionately nick-named “Track Town, USA.” UO is also a leader in sustainability and noted for its environmental initiatives. So where do these overlap? How can the UO apply its success in sustainability with its excellence in sport? And why does it matter?

Luckily, Focus Coordinators James Walton and Weston Cooper were not pondering these questions alone. The Green Sports Alliance is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help sports teams, venues, and leagues enhance their environmental performance. GSA was founded in 2010 and has already reached 13 leagues and over 90 venues and teams. With the help of GSA and the UO Athletic Department, the UO F2A team made a clear case for incorporating sustainability and sports at the collegiate level at last night’s “Focus the Nation Sports and Sustainability Summit.”

“Without a clean environment, athletic achievements are hindered,” Walton’s opening words that would resonate throughout the forum. Sporting events are a major part of the University’s culture, but are also a major impact on their carbon footprint. Stadium lights. Water bottles. Beverage containers. Scoreboards. Televisions. Loudspeakers. Refreshments. Transportation. These quickly add up in the course of a 4-hour game, or 3 day Olympic Track Trial. But with 58% of people paying attention to sports, and only 18% to science, these events also represent a great opportunity to change citizen behaviors.

The UO Athletic Department takes sustainability seriously and has conducted a full sustainability report of their current operations. They know where they are improving, and they know where they need to make improvements. Now they just need the creativity to generate solutions. Which is where the innovative, dynamic students come in. How can we change behavior and reduce the energy consumption of sports operations without impacting the sporting experience? It’s a big challenge, but as GSA Executive Director Martin Tull remarked in his keynote last night, the energy and problem-solving creativity of the UO students is inspiring.

The power of sport has overcome discrimination, broken stereotypes, and united countries. Solving our energy crisis? This may well become sport’s next accomplishment.

Apr 16, 2012

Committing to Green Power in the Tennessee Valley

by Josh Baker

Big props goes out to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for receiving the Presidential Award from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)! Focus The Nation's own Focus Coordinators Nick Alderson and Maria Rosales, along with UT's Sustainability Manager, Gordie Bennet accepted the award last week on behalf of the University. The Presidential Award is given to the largest purchaser of green power from TVA. According to the Tennessee Today:

The university purchased nine megawatt hours of green power from TVA last year. That is the equivalent of eliminating the yearly greenhouse gas emissions from 1,535 passenger vehicles, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Green power purchases allow consumers to help ensure renewable energy from wind, solar, and landfill gas is added to TVA’s power supply.

TVA and local power companies, working in cooperation with the environmental community, developed Green Power Switch as a way to bring cleaner, greener power to the Tennessee Valley, explains Jenny Wright, product manager for TVA’s Green Power Switch.

Read more here about the program and award. While you're at it, check out this recent blog by Maria herself, talking about the next big push that students are making as they move Tennessee towards a cleaner and more energy efficient future. And if you're in the Knoxville area, check out their Gettin' Green, Savin' Green: Energy Efficiency at UT forum on April 17th or follow what they are doing at their F2A page.

View Comments (0) Tags: F2A Tennessee Knoxville Green Power TVA

Apr 06, 2012

Let's Raise a Million!!

by Maria Rosales

What would you do if you had a million dollars? It's not often that students in college are faced with that question, but this is what we're trying to accomplish.

At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, students have been lucky enough to push for sustainability on campus.Too often, students across the county spend time fighting against dirty energy, but here in Tennessee we've been able to focus our efforts on creating solutions to add renewable energy to the grid. Through student-led campaigns, we have a green fee that has invested in sustainable projects on campus. This green fee has allowed us to invest in on-site renewable energy, water conservation, green power, and other projects. This is all because students are putting their money where their mouth is: they are paying money from their tuition for a clean energy future. Together, students have made our university the largest green power purchaser in the state of Tennessee. I’m always really excited to tell people that we are the ones pushing the shift to a clean energy economy.

Although we have done a lot of great things, we have a long ways to go. This summer, we decided that our green fee wasn't enough. If we wanted to be leaders in sustainability and "Make Orange Green" we needed to step up and make some real investments. We’re working with administrators to get them to sign the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, a nationwide campaign where universities set up a revolving fund to collectively raise a billion dollars towards energy efficiency.

Our students at the University of Tennessee are doing their part by trying to raise a million dollars! I don’t know about you, but there aren't many twentysomethings who talk in terms of millions. Since then, we have been meeting with more students, talked to our chancellor, and met with many administrators. Together, we are trying to get a million dollars to spend in energy efficiency projects. Through these projects, we would be able to reduce our energy consumption which would equal a reduction in utility bills. The savings would then go back into a fund to be invested into more energy efficiency. Since meeting with our administrators, we decided that we needed to bring everyone together. So, on April 17th, through the Forums-to-Action program, we're hosting an event called, "Gettin' Green, Savin' Green: Energy Efficiency at UT". Through this forum, we hope to bring everyone together to discuss the need for energy efficiency and what it would look like to have a revolving fund at the University of Tennessee. We hope that this will bring everyone together so we can raise a million!

Maria Rosales is a 2011 Recharge! Delegate and 2011-12 F2A Focus Coordinator at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

View Comments (0) Tags: F2A Energy Efficiency Tennessee Billion Dollar Green Challenge Knoxville

Apr 06, 2012

"Oregon Schools Present Solutions to Clean Energy"

by Anne Bertucio

Focus the Nation teams in Oregon are thriving in the Forums-to-Action program! Oregon Campus Compact covers the great work of these student teams on their latest blog.

"Through a partnership with Focus the Nation, Columbia Gorge Community College, University of Portland, and the University of Oregon are inspiring innovative solutions for clean energy. These campuses are hosting Forums-to-Action, a program that empowers student leaders to organize their campus and community to discuss, develop, and implement sustainable energy ..." (read more at Oregon Campus Compact)

View Comments (0) Tags: Oregon University of Portland F2A Campus Compact CGCC University of Oregon

Mar 21, 2012

A View From Headquarters

by Josh Baker

How time flies when you’re talking about adding clean energy to the grid and tackling energy efficiency. It's hard to believe that nearly a half of a year has passed since I started working with our cohort of 2011-12 Forums-to-Action (F2A) teams. As everyone in our Oregon headquarters and our Focus teams across the country begin to transition from talking about roadblocks and solutions to clean energy issues in local communities to actually implementing solution-oriented projects, it’s amazing to think how far some teams have already come.

At the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, students are on the verge of securing funding for countless energy efficiency and clean energy projects for years to come. Students at the University of Utah are busy bringing an additional 25kW solar array to campus and the Mississippi State Focus team is preparing to launch an energy audit program on campus. In the far Northeastern part of the country, community members, staff, and students at Northern Maine Community College are exploring and expanding the potential for biomass energy. Things are looking well across the Focus the Nation landscape.

The state of clean energy leadership is clearly seen in Madison, Wisconsin. Just six months ago I was having my first meeting with the Focus Coordinators (FCs) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Now their team, Focus Wisconsin, is on the verge of proposing an innovative project that will push their community to become more energy efficient and serve as a model for future programs at other colleges and communities in their state and around the nation.

It hasn't just been the leadership among the Focus Wisconsin team that has propelled the project forward though. Focus Coordinators Joel Charles, a Master of Public Health student who has his feet planted in the Politico and Storyteller quadrant and Kristine Engel, an Innovator and Technician on the way to receiving a Mechanical Engineering degree, have prioritized collaboration between their campus and community at every stage of the F2A program.

Now other leaders on campus and off-campus have joined them to see how to best to address their primary roadblocks and solutions that were discussed at their clean energy forum, The Negawatt Summit: Catalyzing Energy Conservation In Our Community.

Along with leadership from the University of Wisconsin’s We Conserve program, local utility Madison Gas & Electric, and input from groups like the Madison Green Property Owners Apartment Association, Focus on Energy, and WISPIRG Energy Service Corps, clean energy collaboration and leadership in Madison are resulting in a program to incentivize energy efficiency programs in off-campus apartment complexes. The pieces are starting to be put together on how to bring together multi-family housing unit property owners who are willing to make certain green/energy efficient commitments with students who are looking for greener properties and willing to make certain commitments about behavior change.

Though there is a lot more planning, discussions, and program development to occur before a the project officially gets launched, so much has already happened since the F2A program was launched in Wisconsin last fall. As a Focus Coach watching all this happen from our Oregon headquarters, it’s rewarding and exciting to know that projects and collaborations like these are happening, not just in Wisconsin, but all across the country. It’s exciting to know that we’re only a half a year into this year’s F2A program cycle and our Focus teams will continue to develop and implement solution-oriented programs in the country. Even more exciting is the fact that in less than six months, we’ll have an entire new cohort of teams starting the program pushing clean energy solutions in their local communities. I know I’ll be watching carefully to see how Focus Wisconsin’s and other projects develops. I hope you will be too!

View Comments (0) Tags: renewable energy F2A leadership Wisconsin Energy Energy Efficiency Coaching Collaboration Projects

Feb 13, 2012

The Leadership Development Vehicle

by Anne Bertucio

When I think of the relationship between Focus the Nation headquarters and our phenomenal on-the-ground students, I think of the scene from Fly Away North when a young Anna Paquin leads a group of orphaned geese on their first migratory flight. Anna, in the unique, lightweight aircraft made by her inventor father, guides the geese to use the skills nature gave them, and together they spread their wings over Canada. You might note a few minor differences. We do not have an aircraft, FTN students do not have feathers or beaks, and none of us are Canadian. Aside from that, it’s a perfect parallel!

We’ve spent the last six months working with amazing students across the country. They possess unmatched talents and potential, and are passionate to bring change to their community. But they’re looking for something new. Something that has never been done before, a new course to chart. That’s where FTN comes in, with our unique energy aircraft. It’s innovative, it’s something you’ve never seen before, and the curmudgeon neighbor next door doesn’t like this youngin with their new ways (but don’t worry, they come around in the end). The students have the skills, they just need the vehicle.

Every February the FTN staff puts on our flying goggles, jumps in the Clean Energy aircraft, and watches young people find their wings. And you can imagine how this feels. We’re nervous. We’re excited. We’re bubbling with joy watching what we know is the future of America’s energy leadership.

Last week the FTN crew piled in the ZipCar and headed up to Bellingham, Washington to attend Western Washington University’s Focus the Nation forum. The WWU team is in a unique position—the site of the would-be largest coal export terminal in the nation has been proposed in their community. Our organization typically focuses on the positive. We like solutions. We like to say “yes,” create collaboration and solve problems; rather than say “no” and create divisions. How do you say “yes,” when there is something that needs to hear a very loud “no” in their backyard? The WWU Focus Coordinators, Max McGrath-Horn and Max Scher, Focus Coach Sasha Tenzin, and staff partner organization Climate Solutions grappled with this since September, so we were excited to see the forum with our own eyes.

It’s not always easy to let people fly on their own. Sometimes we want to expand the cockpit and let everyone come along for the ride. But that isn’t sustainable. A future of sustainable energy requires sharing knowledge and helping new leaders blossom. The clean energy economy is not a one man show. (Which is why we love our Leadership Quadrant.) But sitting in the back of WWU’s auditorium last night, I saw two young people soar into leaders.

The students at WWU brought a new dimension to this year’s emphasis on “innovation”: How to approach community issues in a new, innovative way. Instead of saying “no,” the WWU team came with the attitude of,”instead, how about we…” Amazing things happen when people are given the resources, attention, and space to cultivate their natural talents. Energy Innovation + Innovative Change Making = Winning Solutions.

I still don’t have a lightweight aircraft invented by Jeff Daniels, but I’ll settle for leadership development as a vehicle to take us into the clean energy economy.

View Comments (0) Tags: renewable energy F2A leadership development Western Washington University flying

Jan 20, 2012

The Forums are Coming!

by Colleen Butterfield

The end of January is fast approaching, and that means February will be here before we even know it. Our teams are working hard all across the country to put together some amazing forums on their campuses around clean energy and their communities. From California to Maine and almost everywhere in between, our Focus Coordinators are preparing to launch into discussions with fellow students and community members about how to move towards a clean energy future.

Elected officials have been invited, some of which are speaking; industry experts are preparing their talking points, teams are putting together their publicity strategies and so much more! Many of our dedicated FC’s are even working during their winter break to make sure their forums are a success.

Many of our teams are focusing on energy efficiency and reduction, which is a key action for every region. Other team themes are putting together feasibility studies for renewable options on their campus, how to replace coal, residential incentives for renewable energy, finance and investments in the clean energy sector, and the list goes on.

You can find an event in your area by visiting the Focus the Nation map or our Facebook events page. We hope to see you at a forum!

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Jan 04, 2012

Energizing Service-Learning

by Jessica Earley

Here at Focus the Nation, we learn best by doing. We learn by engaging with super smart people on the cutting-edge of energy, we learn from listening to communities, and we learn through designing and implementing programs aimed at developing our next generation of clean energy leaders. Everyday, our staff members stretch their brains by learning through service. We find it uber-effective. The campuses and the students we work with in our Forums-to-Action program agree. That’s why our clean energy leadership development programs are designed to help people learn, grow and make a positive energy impact on their community.

Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Service-learning has proven so effective that many campuses have departments dedicated solely to it or have partnered with our friends at Campus Compact to design and deliver service-learning opportunities to their students.

At Focus the Nation, our Forums-to-Action (F2A) program energizes service-learning, literally. Students go through a transformative community engagement experience centered on issues pertaining to energy; transportation, fuel, electricity, renewables, sustainability. While immersing in the F2A curriculum and planning a forum students learn about what the most relevant energy issues are in their community and collaborate to take action on it.

At the University of Portland, F2A student leaders have implemented a biodiesel project which will expand to include the surrounding community to create a “closed-loop, local energy-sourced lifestyle”. This project not only benefits the students on the UP campus, but also the North Portland community they call home.

The awesome F2A team at Gainesville State College in Georgia has chosen to energize service-learning with a different approach. The team is revving up for their February 15th, 2012 Clean Energy Forum which will help launch their Home Energy Audit project in their local community. These young leaders are serving their community by reducing energy bills while conserving energy.

If you are interested in energizing service-learning on your campus the first step is to let us know! We will be choosing our 2012-2013 F2A Campuses this spring!

Students can launch an F2A team!
Campus faculty/staff can launch an F2A team!

Or contact Marisa Pond, our Programs Coordinator, at marisa@focusthenation.org for more information.

View Comments (0) Tags: Oregon F2A service-learning Georgia Campus Compact

Jan 03, 2012

The Importance of Saying "Yes"

by Jennifer Amelang

Houston, Texas may not conjure up images of clean energy, but there are rising stars emerging from the steamy streets of the big city. Jennifer Amelang, a senior at University of St. Thomas, has been connecting people all around Houston to work on clean energy as a 2010-2011 & 2011-2012 Focus Coordinator as well as a 2011 ReCharge! Delegate. Read on to hear from Jennifer about her experience moving forward from ReCharge 2011.

As a 2011 Recharge! Retreat Delegate, with the guidance and help of Stephanie Pollack and Enrique Salmon, the retreat facilitators, I came to acknowledge the importance of saying “yes.” One sunny day on the south side of Mt. Hood, all twenty delegates stood in a circle. Stephanie encouraged us to yell out commands. In response, the group would reply with “YES!” while performing the task. “Whip your hair back and forth”…”YES!” *whipping our hair back and forth* The activity was fun, and saying yes is fun, but more importantly, I found that it was essential for me to let go of my insecurities and inhibitions and accept this affirmative philosophy. This exercise is especially true for educational experiences outside of the classroom, such as the retreat itself. Service-learning, hands-on experience, community activism- call it what you want; it’s authentic learning and has helped me to appreciate the words I might read on the pages of a textbook.

Returning home and returning to school, with the occasional exception of daydreaming of sunny faces and sunny places, I was amazed how easy it was getting back into my routine. However, I tried to periodically reflect on the experiences I shared. This semester I have continued to try to say “yes” and continued making connections in my local environmental community. I am a second year Focus Organizer with FTN, and I recently became an intern with the Council for Environmental Education. Within my school and community, I am attempting to engage various quadrants of students and faculty. I have teamed up with a politico and fellow student to put on an Environmental Week in conjunction with the FTN Forum. Also, I have contacted Technicians and Innovators from my school’s American Chemical Society (ACS) to present their biofuels research. To bridge the gap between Houston-based Universities, I have invited professors to speak from various schools. So far I have confirmations from two major universities in the area: Rice University and the University of Houston.

Throughout the semester I have come back to one memory and feeling. On the last day of the Retreat, in a moment of emotional catharsis, I realized and told the group, “I’m still such a baby.” We are all babies. We, perpetually, have the potential to grow, and saying yes to constructive experiences is one facet to building a successful and fulfilled life.

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Nov 14, 2011

ACE is Awesome

by Jessica Earley

We are happy to hear that the Alliance for Climate Eduaction (ACE) has reached over 1 million high school students nationwide with their assemblies on climate science and solutions. Our very own 2011 ReCharge! Delegate and Focus Coordinator at UC Berkeley Merideth Jacobson was inspired by ACE as a high school student and was a recipient of the 2010 ACE Scholarship Award!

We are excited to see more of these inspired high school students continue on the path to Clean Energy Solutions by launching Forums-to-Action teams when they get to college!

Great work ACE for educating and inspiring our youth in such an awesome way!

View Comments (0) Tags: Focus Coordinator ReCharge! Delegate F2A

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