Williams College Holds Focus The Nation
Engaging everyone in working towards global warming solutionsOn February 5th, the Williams Community can help build a climate positive world. Focus the Nation is a student-run event that promotes big picture policy changes as well as local innovation. Participants will hear from local voices, including the Williamstown Carbon Dioxide Lowering Committee and solar technology designer Craig Robertson. They will also hear perspectives from the frontiers of insurance, marketing, and global social, environmental and economic trends.
“It’s amazing how many people from all areas of the college and community are coming together to make Focus the Nation happen,” said Caroline Henry ’10, one of the day’s student organizers. “Global warming is so complex that it’s the ultimate problem for a liberal arts community to tackle.”
Participants will engage with global warming through class time, panel discussions, and ongoing action. Over 60 professors from all disciplines have pledged to focus class time on the issue, including Professor Zimmerberg of the psychology department, who will discuss the links between global warming, red tide, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The entire Williams college campus will transform into a forum, with speakers from the cutting edge of global warming solutions. On one panel, activists from West Virginia and the South Bronx will share stories from the dirty side of the fossil fuel economy. “Most people don’t realize the disastrous effect dirty energy has on the lives of the disadvantaged,” said Julia Sendor ’08, who is writing her senior thesis on grassroots opposition to Coal.
Another panel features youth activists Will Bates of the Step It Up organizing team and Morgan Goodwin ’08, founder of Mass Youth Climate Action. “Youth have been at the forefront of social transformation,” said Morgan. “The youth climate movement is winning campus victories, implementing state policies, and gaining a national voice”.
Students and community members can speak out to their elected officials in the Action Center, located in Paresky from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Participants can learn more about local businesses, student groups, and community organizations.
In the late afternoon, attendees can discuss the college’s ongoing sustainability efforts with President Schapiro and senior staff. They will answer questions about the college’s carbon reduction goals and the impact of new building projects.
Focus the Nation will culminate in an address by Christopher Flavin (’77) entitled “The Climate of Hope: The Path to a Low Carbon Economy.” President of the Worldwatch Institute, Flavin will speak to the opportunities available when everyone engages in finding solutions to global warming.
“The greatest thing about Focus the Nation is that the events and speakers come from all parts of the community, which is exactly the way we need to approach solutions to global warming,” said Elizabeth Irvin ’10. Large scale events such as these expand the boundaries of what is possible.
For more information and a full schedule of the day’s events, visit the Williams home page
