The Following is a letter from David Orr, Professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College, urging as many people to attend a National Training session theUniversity of Nevada. Registration is free!

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Dear friends,

Politicians in Washington are finally talking about global warming. Good news, but, unfortunately, most proposals under consideration simply do not measure up against what the science is telling us we need to do-very soon-- to stabilize the climate.

I am writing to invite you to join us at the University of Las Vegas in Nevada this April, to help build an educated and engaged citizenry that can see us through this crisis, and demand the kind of solutions that will lead to a sustainable and prosperous future. The vehicle is an exciting national educational initiative, Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America. (www.focusthenation.org) Focus the Nation is coordinating teams of faculty, students, and at over a thousand colleges, universities and K-12 schools in the United States, to collaboratively engage in a nationwide, interdisciplinary discussion about "Global Warming Solutions for America". (There is a great, short video about the project at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBeLwq1dFG4)

From Oregon to Ohio, and Alabama to New Hampshire, professors will focus on global warming solutions in their classes, and travel with their students to interdisciplinary discussion sessions and forums. Because Focus the Nation will engage thousands of organizers, and tens of thousands of educators, millions of students will have the opportunity to be involved. From a base in educational institutions, Focus the Nation is also incorporating participation by religious, civic and business organizations-educational events will also be held at churches, mosques, synagogues, rotary clubs and book clubs, and on shop floors. Focus the Nation will culminate Jauary 31, 2008, in the form of national symposia held simultaneously at over a thousand campuses and other venues across the country.

On that day, each Focus the Nation team will invite local, state and federal political leaders and candidates for office to come to campus and participate in a non-partisan, round-table discussion of global warming solutions. U.S. Senators and members of congress, state representatives, mayors and city councilors, all will be receiving dozens of invitations to speak about global warming, from over a thousand institutions nation-wide. Every campus will also vote on their top five national priorities for global warming action, producing a campus-endorsed policy agenda for the 2008 elections.

Who should attend this conference? All university, college, high school and middle school faculty, students and staff concerned about global warming; concerned citizens are also urged to attend. As an educator, I strongly believe that Focus the Nation will be a rich opportunity to help lead and catalyze a process which will focus the nation around a non-partisan, reasoned, campus-led discussion about the scientific, economic, political, philosophic, aesthetic and moral dimensions of this civilizational challenge. This weekend conference will help us build Focus the Nation into an event that can change the future.

There is no charge to attend the workshop. To register, please visit http://environment.unlv.edu/focusNation.html. To learn more, e-mail us at ftn@unlv.nevada.edu. or call 503-342-6863.

I would also be grateful if you would forward this e-mail widely to interested students, educators and concerned citizens.

We now understand that for the last 150 years we have been engaged in an unprecedented natural experiment, in which we have been drastically altering the basic nature of the planet's climate control system. Focus the Nation will engage the country with the question: how do we stop this dangerous experiment and move towards a more hopeful, clean-energy future? We hope that you will join us and provide your own leadership to this exciting, interdisciplinary initiative.

Sincerely,

David Orr, Professor of Environmental Studies,
Oberlin College