The MSU community is banding together this week to help educate students on global warming issues as part of the nationwide Focus the Nation events.
Eban Goodstein, an economics professor at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., created Focus the Nation to help put climate change on the map for the 2008 election.
Part of the itinerary is a nationwide live webcast tonight at Wells Hall called “The 2% Solution,” which will feature climate scientist Stephen Schneider, sustainability expert Hunter Lovins and green jobs pioneer Van Jones.
The webcast will revolve around getting people involved to cut global warming pollution during the next decade.
“By cutting 2 percent of emissions a year, we should get (an) 80 percent decrease by 2050,” said Sean Donovan, co-president of ECO, an environmental campus group. “That’s what ‘The 2% Solution’ is.”
In addition to the webcast, MSU environmental groups ECO and Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, in association with the Office of Campus Sustainability and the University Committee for a Sustainable Campus, are sponsoring a climate forum Thursday night at the Union as the main Focus the Nation event.
Several legislators, including Rep. Frank Accavitti Jr., D-Eastpointe, Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, and Skip Pruss, adviser to the governor for energy and the environment, will answer student questions.
“We need politicians who will take action when they get into office,” said Tremaine Phillips, the ECO representative for the University Committee for a Sustainable Campus.
Goodstein originally planned the forums for Thursday, Jan. 31 because he believed the presidential primaries would begin in February, said Terry Link, director of the Office of Campus Sustainability.
“It was supposed to be before the primaries, because we wanted to get people away from the apathetic feel that there’s nothing that can be done,” Phillips said.
ECO and other campus groups will have tables set up in the Union lobby where students can get information on the groups, climate change and ways to help.
“ECO and the (Michigan Student Sustainability) Coalition are really working together to make sure the work on climate change carries on after these events,” said Brandon Knight, an MSU graduate and founder of the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition. “They don’t want people thinking about it for one day and then forgetting about it.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
