Connecticut College in New London and the Avery Point campus of the University of Connecticut in Groton are joining about 1,600 other schools and colleges across the country this week in “Focus the Nation” events to inspire action to address climate change.

“This is the issue of our generation,” said Sarah Berkley, a Conn student and one of the organizers of the events there. “It's so interdisciplinary. It's not just the people who consider themselves environmentalists. It involves all of us.”

Focus The Nation is organized as a “teach-in” of panel presentations, interactive sessions in which people are encouraged to vote on the top five actions that should be taken to slow the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and discussions about the role government leaders should take and how the public should be engaged.

Events at both Conn and Avery Point are open to the public. Admission is free.

The first event takes place from noon to 1:30 p.m. today at the Avery Point student union building. Four Avery Point faculty members — physics Prof. Moshe Gai and Matt McKenzie, Nat Trumbull and Evan Ward, assistant professors, respectively, of history, geography and marine science — will join in a panel discussion titled, “Climate Change: Awareness, Consequences & Solutions.”

In displays at the student union, people can take part in computer activities to calculate their carbon footprint — the amount of carbon dioxide each individual produces in his or her daily activities — view video clips about global warming and vote on “Choose Your Future” actions.

On Wednesday night both campuses will host Webcasts of “The 2% Solution,” a panel discussion at the University of Central Florida about a plan to slow global warming over the next several decades by adhering to incremental reductions in emissions. The panel will include Van Jones, an advocate of “green jobs”; Hunter Lovins, an expert on sustainability; Stanford University climate scientist Stephen Schneider; and actor Edward Norton, among others.

The goal of the plan is to reduce global-warming pollution by 80 percent below current levels by 2050, by cutting 2 percent of emissions per year for the next 40 years.

Those wanting to view the broadcast should arrive at Room 106 of Bill Hall on the Conn campus at 7:30 p.m. or at 8 p.m. in Room 211 of the main academic building at Avery Point.

At noon Thursday at the Avery Point student union, the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” will be shown.

Also at Avery Point this week, several professors in various departments will be devoting their classes to topics relating to global warming.

Most of Conn's “Focus the Nation” events will take place Thursday. A related event, a talk by Greg Cajete of the a University of New Mexico, will take place at 7 that evening in the Ernst Common Room at the Blaustein Humanities Center.

Cajete's talk is titled, “Native Science: Implications for Sustainability and Ecological Consciousness.” A Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, he is an author of five books and director of Native American studies and an associate professor of language, literacy and socio-cultural studies at the University of New Mexico.

“Focus the Nation” panel discussions during the day on Thursday at Crozier-Williams Student Center at Conn will be:

•“Why Cities Matter: New London, Community Action and Green Business,” with Arthur Costa, president of Ocean View Associates, 9 to 10:15 a.m.

•“Sustainable Food,” with Arthur Lerner, director of F.R.E.S.H. New London, and Kristine West Serwinski, purchasing manager of campus dining services, 10:25 to 11:40 a.m.

•“Climate Change and its Natural Effects,” with Conn zoology Prof. Robert Askins; geophysics Prof. Doug Thompson; and biology Prof. Stephen Loomis, 11:50 a.m. to 1:05 p.m.

•“Green Building and Renewable Energy,” with Conn Arboretum Director Glenn Dreyer; architecture Prof. Abigail Van Slyck; and Mary Anne Borrelli, associate professor of government, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m.

•“China and India: Climate Issues in the Developing World,” with government Prof. William Frasure and John Tian, associate professor of government, 2:45 to 4 p.m.

http://www.focusthenation.org/