‘Focus’ draws major interest

Lewis & Clark event is one of about 1,700 global warming teach-ins

By Cliff Newell

The Lake Oswego Review, Feb 7, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Cliff Newell / Lake Oswego Review

Cliff Bekar, economics professor, makes a point during Focus the Nation at Lewis & Clark College last Thursday. The entire college faculty made contributions to the giant teach-in.

ADVERTISEMENTS

Only time will tell if Focus the Nation will have the historical impact on global warming intended by its organizers.

But the enthusiasm across the country was huge after last Thursday, the day global warming activists had been aiming at for nearly two years. Especially at the “home” of Focus the Nation at Lewis & Clark College.

“I could not have been more impressed with how Focus the Nation went,” said student Kiel Johnson, campus organizer for the event at Lewis & Clark. “Many rooms here were full or even overflowing with students, but the most exciting thing was walking around campus and overhearing students talking about global warming.

“It was amazing and inspiring to realize that this event was happening at the same time at colleges around the nation.”

The reason Lewis & Clark was home to FTN was because Eban Goodstein, one of its professors, was the founder and director of the event. Goodstein could not be in Lake Oswego last Thursday because he was heading up huge events in New York City and Florida.

However, the commitment to the event on the L&C campus was huge.

“Our program today captures the interest and expertise of our faculty in a variety of ways,” said Michael Ford, associate vice president for student life at Lewis & Clark. “They’re not just focusing on problems. They’re focusing on solutions: ‘What can we do? How can we do it? How can we take action to address this challenge?’”

There were a great many answers at Lewis & Clark, with 30 sessions featuring 50 faculty members and 12 community members. Most were serious and sober, such as the session “Peak Oil” presented by professors Liz Safran and Bruce Podobnik.

“Global warming is too mild a term for what is happening,” said Podobnik, author of the new book “Global Energy Shifts.” “It should be called global frying.”

1 | 2 Next Page >>