Central Tackles Global Warming Issues

January 17, 2008

ELLENSBURG, Wash.--It's time to get serious about finding solutions to global warming. That's why Central Washington University is joining more than a thousand colleges and institutions across the country and taking part in the largest teach-in in US history, a program called Focus the Nation, Thursday, January 31, 2008. The national teach-in engages millions of educators, students, citizens and political leaders in a discussion of global warming solutions. By taking part in Focus the Nation, Central is prompting the entire school to turn its attention to one single issue for a day and focus the full weight of campus engagement on one topic-global warming.

"You'll want to attend this eye-opening event just to gain a greater grasp of what our community and society deal with," says Gretchen Volker, CWU carbon reduction coordinator. "Ellensburg is a great community that's facing a rapidly changing environment locally and globally."

CWU President Jerilyn S. McIntyre, who along with hundreds of other college and university presidents has signed the Presidents' Climate Commitment, an agreement to reduce Central's greenhouse gas emissions and develop a comprehensive institutional action plan for becoming climate neutral, will kick off the event Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 4:45 p.m. in the Student Union Theatre. Dr. McIntyre will introduce the main feature, a live interactive webcast titled The 2% Solution, hosted on Earth Day Network TV. The webcast allows audience members to participate in a discussion of global warming solutions with Stanford University climate scientist Steve Schneider, sustainability expert Hunter Lovins and green jobs pioneer Van Jones. The free webcast, which begins at 5 p.m., can also be viewed at Ellensburg City Hall or from your own home. Details one how to stream it to your home are at www.focusthenation.org.

Focus the Nation continues Thursday, Jan. 31 with a full day of events scheduled in the Student Union and Recreation Center (SURC). ). At noon, keynote speaker Dr. Charlotte Sullivan, senior research scientist from Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, will present "Burying Man-made Greenhouse Gasses: A Climate Change Solution?" Environmental organizations and businesses, including the Surfrider Foundation, Ellensburg Downtown Association, Summit at Snoqualmie and Horizon Wind Energy, will also be on hand throughout the day to discuss what they're doing and answer questions about global warming issues.

A final piece of Focus the Nation is to encourage participants to vote on what they think the top five solutions to global warming are. To vote, visit www.focusthenation.org and click on the Choose Your Future link. Voting starts January 21 and ends February 12. Students who take part in the vote will be eligible to win a $10,000 scholarship. Results will be available online mid February.

"We are proud to take part in this event," says Volker. "It represents the enormous power society has when people use their education to learn about and promote positive change in the world. For Central, this is a perfect opportunity to show our community and students that we care about our carbon footprint. We believe by working together we'll continue to become better, more knowledgeable stewards of our environment."

For more information on Focus the Nation at Central, please visit www.cwu.edu/~sustainability or email gvolker@cwu.edu.

Contact:
Gretchen Volker, CWU carbon reduction coordinator, gvolker@cwu.edu, 509-963-4605
Garett Reiss Brennan, Focus the Nation, garett@focusthenation.org, 503-768-7990
Teri Olin, CWU Public Relations & Marketing, olint@cwu.edu, 509-963-1416

Central Washington University is a master's degree-granting institution with approximately 10,000 students and 1,500 faculty and staff. More than 160 undergraduate and master's degrees are offered. Founded in 1891, the Ellensburg campus is located in the heart of Washington State, nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the Columbia River. Since 1975, CWU has served the needs of place bound students at six university centers throughout the state. CWU is an AA/EEO Title IX Institution.