Call it a collective shout out to planet Earth.
To date, over 1,000 colleges and universities nationwide have signed on with Focus the Nation, an initiative to draw attention to global warming. They’re saying, in effect, “We’re not gonna take it anymore.”
Senior Jess Scott organized the Jan. 31 event at Bucknell University, billed as a daylong teach-in that harkens back to the campus protest days of the 1960s.
Scott, of Keene, N.H., believes global climate change is the most pressing issue facing today’s young adults, and she’s encouraging her peers to take a proactive approach to the situation. The teach-in is just the beginning.
“This event is designed to stop business as usual on the college campus and focus that immense intellectual energy on this one issue,” she said. “In our country, education really is how we make change.”
For current generations, environmental decline is more reality than possibility.
“The issue is no longer an if question,” Scott said. “Global climate change is happening, now what are we going to do about it?”
The hope is to reach all citizens through Focus the Nation, but especially young adults, who have the potential to halt damage to the planet. They’ll soon be buying cars and homes, running businesses and holding public office — Earth’s future balances on those decisions.
If all goes as planned, the forums, speakers and classroom discussions will generate viable solutions to the global warming crisis.
Organizers encourage professors in all disciplines to diverge from their usual lessons for the day and focus their attention on serious discussions about global warming. For the initiative to work, experts in every field, not just the sciences, must weigh in.
Slated events include a forum with local elected officials, four interdisciplinary panel discussions and a keynote address by New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin.
“The public is strongly encouraged to attend these events,” Scott said. “There are so many knowledgeable people and people who care about their environment in the community around us. This is a great venue for people to voice their concerns.”
She’s hoping that even if people don’t participate in the events, just raising the issue locally will force everyone to consider how individual decisions affect the environment.
“This is something we’ve all got to look at, not just on a personal level. Change starts at the community level and it trickles up from there,” she said.
To the fatalists out there, Scott insists global decline isn’t inescapable if everyone pitches in.
For its part, the university doesn’t rely on fossil fuels as a power source. It pulls 95 percent of its energy from a natural gas-powered co-generation plant built in 1998 on the campus. The remaining power is purchased from a wind energy supplier.
The Bucknell Environmental Center, where Scott works as an intern, derives one-fourth of its energy from solar panels. The system isn’t large enough to deliver a full power load, but is capable of storing and utilizing extra energy from sunny days.
Scott said the Environmental Center implemented a program to look closely at energy use across campus and ways to reduce or improve energy consumption. For each of the next five years, Bucknell intends to reduce energy use on its grounds in 2-percent increments, resulting in an overall 10 percent decrease.
Additionally, a campus master plan currently in the works strives to re-orient the campus to the Susquehanna River, which it recognizes as a key natural resource in the region.
For more information on the Focus the Nation initiative and related local events, visit www.focusthenation.org and www.bucknell.edu.

Pam Dailey: 570-742-9671
pam@standard-journal.com