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SightSpeed Focus the Nation Videoconference FAQ (download)
IMPORTANT! If you have confirmed attendance of a Member of Congress to your event by videoconference, please contact Civic Engagement Director Scott Highleyman right away for help downloading and setting up SightSpeed. Thanks!
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Focus the Nation is on track to be, by far, the biggest national teach-in in U.S. history—and the most important component is what we are calling GREEN DEMOCRACY. We are urging every Focus the Nation team to end their event the same way, in a round-table dialogue with elected leaders answering questions by a panel of four students. Imagine every U.S. congressperson, U.S. Senator, governor, mayor, and state representative getting multiple invitations to sit down and talk with young people about their future. Imagine Speaker Nancy Pelosi declaring Jan. 31, 2008 Focus the Nation Day—canceling business in the House of Representatives and urging members to get engaged. Imagine Governors from Maine to Arizona doing the same. Imagine thousands of elected officials facing the optimism,energy and moral authority of more than a hundred thousand students, forcing politicians out of complacency and fatalism, and helping them confront this challenge of our generation.
Engagement at this scale is what history demands of us. We are in a race against time to elevate global warming solutions to the top of the U.S. political agenda, and Focus the Nation is our best chance. One of the most critical components of your organizing efforts is to invite federal-level elected leaders. Even if you believe they won’t come, it is absolutely essential that teams send along an invitation to them. They need to be invited again and again if we want them to engage and focus on clean energy solutions. Start by sending an invitation signed by your college president or faculty sponsor and student leader. Then follow-up by calling your Congressional representative's office. (Click here for step-by-step instructions.) Remember, don’t take no for an answer.
For members of Congress who cannot make it back to their districts on Jan. 31, Focus the Nation’s Green Democracy project is setting up video-confernce options powered by our partner, SightSpeed. Imagine hundreds of Congressmen and women and Senators heading to a room in the Capital packed with computers and webcams directly linked to campuses in their districts to meet with students in a virtual round-table. The technology is so good now that this option is easily available to any school with an Internet connection, a computer and a projector. Green Democracy will send a clear message from CAMPUS TO CONGRESS and Focus the Nation on January 31st.
Focus the Nation is the biggest teach-in in history, with more than ten thousand volunteers building events at over 1300 schools, faith and civic organizations and businesses. If we continue to Focus the Nation, then together, we can make 2008 the year that America woke up, the year that we faced up to this civilizational challenge.
Campus to Congress: Make a plan to visit your member of congress – every member of congress – with the Choose Your Future solutions. Set the date for Monday, February 18th, when he or she will be home for the President’s Day recess. Contact us for more information. Continue to Focus the Nation: Focus the Nation is supporting Earth Day Network actions in April to raise awareness about global warming solutions. You’ll be hearing from us about this in February. Green Vote: If you do one thing during Earth Month, register to vote. In fact, register 100 people to vote! After that, work for the clean energy candidate of your choice. Make Noise: Organize an Earth Day climate action. Join the student clean energy campaigns at Energy Action, the Student PIRGS, or the Sierra Student Coalition. Join the 1-Sky Campaign, Interfaith Power and Light, or your regional climate group. Always, Keep the pressure on Congress. 
February 2009 will be a critical month in human history. The new President and Congress will be setting their agenda—and that agenda will determine if the climate can stabilize at a heating of 3-4 degrees F, or instead 5-10 degrees F. February 5th 2009, we will again call on educational, faith and civic institutions to Focus the Nation, and demand real solutions to global warming. stay informed. If you aren't already on our e-bulletin list, sign up now.Between 1960 and 1964, Americans moved from fatalistic acceptance of racial segregation to a solid determination to end Jim Crow. Between now and the end of 2008, we can move this country from a fatalistic acceptance of business-as-usual global warming. We can end the paralyzing sense that our children must accept from us an impoverished planet. We can embrace a determination to act, and hold global warming to the manageable low end.