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- Focus the Nation national media advisory (download)
- Press Release for Congressional Involvement (download)
- 2% Solution Webcast + Teach-in media advisory (Joint advisory with NWF) (download)
1900 CAMPUSES TO FOCUS NATION ON GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTIONS JAN. 31, 2008
Largest teach-in in U.S. history will sweep country, galvanizing generational partnership to educate and demand changePORTLAND, Ore. — Missouri organizers will dump 15 tons of coal onto their campus lawn to show what one hour of power looks like. CalPoly has 125 faculty signed up, with a goal of 500. Organizers in San Diego will strap a “polar bear” to an 8’ electric chair. Georgia schools will send more than 50 students to the steps of the Georgia state capitol to lobby lawmakers.
“This is just the beginning,” said Alex Tinker, a University of Oregon graduate and organizer at Focus The Nation headquarters at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. “We are educating America on solutions. And Congress is joining us.” More than 50 members of Congress will video-dialogue with campuses in a carbon-zero conversation about solutions with young voters during Focus The Nation.
Created by Dr. Eban Goodstein, author and professor of economics at Lewis & Clark College, Focus The Nation is galvanizing a generational partnership between youth and baby boomers in a vision for America that has not occurred since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. “Today’s youth are truly the greatest generation,” said Goodstein. “No other generation has had to face this kind of challenge. We would be failing as educators if we did not prepare them with the tools necessary to launch a clean energy revolution.”
On Jan. 31, 2008, more than 1100 colleges and universities in all fifty states will participate in Focus The Nation—an unprecedented teach-in on solutions to global warming that will simultaneously educate close to one million youth. Several hundred high schools, faith organizations and civic groups will also participate.
“We are in a time where critical decisions need to be made on global warming, which means today’s leaders and the youth who will inherit the crisis need serious education on the issue,” said Gus Speth, dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. “Focus The Nation is our country’s foremost model to create that level of education and interaction with law makers.”
The teach-in will culminate in solutions-based round table discussions between students, elected leaders and Congress. Confirmed members of Congress include Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), All participants across the country will then vote on top solutions. The top five results from the Choose Your Future vote will be announced in early Feb. 13, 2008.
"Much as the first Earth Day in 1970 mobilized public support for clean air and healthy water, Focus The Nation is mobilizing people to demand real solutions to global warming,” said Dennis Hayes, Earth Day founder and president of the Bullitt Foundation.
Focus The Nation’s teach-in has four key components:
- 2% Solution Web Cast — Live web cast at 8 p.m. (EST) on Jan. 30, 2008. This will feature actor Edward Norton, Stanford and I.P.C.C. climate scientist Stephen Schneider, Natural Capitalism president, Hunter Lovins and environmental justice leader, Van Jones, executive director, Ella Baker Center.
- The National Teach-In — faculty-led symposium across campuses.
- Green Democracy — live and videoconference round table discussions between Congress and campuses on solutions to global warming.
- Choose Your Future — online ballot for participants to vote on top five solutions to global warming.
NOTE TO EDITOR’S: To localize this story, visit www.focusthenation.org/topschools.php to find a list of top events and contact information for interviews. For a list of Congress members who will participate in Green Democracy, please visit www.focusthenation.org/whoscoming.php
# # #Focus The Nation is an unprecedented educational initiative on global warming solutions for America occurring at more than 1,500 campuses, faith and civic organizations and in all 50 states on Jan. 31, 2008. As the largest teach-in in U.S. history, Focus The Nation is preparing millions of students to become leaders in the largest civilizational challenge any generation has faced. For more information, please visit www.focusthenation.org.