http://www.focusthenation.org

National Outdoor Leadership School - Index

National Outdoor Leadership School - brochure - Index

As we continue our search for more resources to fuel
our economy, the world outside is getting hotter.
Sea levels are rising from melting glaciers, taking out
coastal communities and altering marine ecosystems.
Storms are becoming more frequent and more intense,
with summers being seized by heat waves and bigger,
more powerful blizzards blanketing the winters. Earth’s
freshwater supply is drastically decreasing, leaving many
starving and without water, while disease runs rampant.
Wildfires, droughts, and floods are altering the landscape,
driving out many species of plants and animals.
This is a dire version of one of many predictions
about how climate change is or could affect our
world. As Earth’s surface temperature slowly rises in
what we refer to as “global warming,” many governmental
organizations, environmental groups, and
businesses have made predictions about the possible
outcomes and consequences from climate change in
the years to come. While we have studied and uncovered
many of our planet’s climatic systems and patterns,
there will always be some degree of uncertainty
in understanding the complexity of Earth’s climate.
What we do know is that Earth’s surface temperature
has risen 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years
and that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
are at the highest levels in over 400,000 years. Both
the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Intergovernmental
Panel of Climate Change (IPCC)
have recognized the process of global warming as a
natural cycle in the planet’s heating and cooling
mechanism that humans, to an unknown extent, have
influenced through the combustion of fossil fuels.
“The scientific understanding of climate change
is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking
prompt action…to contribute to substantial and
long-term reduction in net global greenhouse emissions,”
according to a report issued by the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences in 2005.
The general consensus within the scientific community
is that global warming is real. The question,
therefore, becomes to what extent do humans influence
climate change? What is the rate of climate change?
What are the consequences? Can we prevent it?
Focus the Nation, a national symposia within
educational institutions, businesses, civic
groups, and places of worship, seeks to
spark national discussion focused
on the growing concern about
FALL 2007
NOLS Helps Turn up the Heat on Climate Change Debate
with Participation in National Symposia
BY MEREDITH HAAS, NOLS PUBLIC POLICY INTERN
global warming, consequences of climate change,
and clean energy solutions, linking together citizen,
environmental, business, and political interests. On
January 31, 2008, institutions nationwide will participate
in Focus the Nation by inviting local, state
and federal political leaders to participate in a nonpartisan,
roundtable discussion of global warming
solutions in an effort to place the urgent issue of climate
action on the 2008 election agenda, building
national consensus for action by the next Congress
and administration.
NOLS is one of many institutions nationwide
that will be hosting a local forum for regional discussion
about the impacts of climate change.
“NOLSisplayingtheroleofhostandorganizer
for the Lander Focus the Nation event,” said Liz
Hall, sustainability and event coordinator for NOLS.
“We will be coordinating this event, its speakers and
other participants. We will also be providing outreach
to Lander schools and after-school programs
through Lights On, a national after-school organization,”
she said, explaining that the goal is to bring
together schools, organizations and community
members to learn more about the issue and interact
in solution-oriented discussions.
NOLS will begin the event by holding a small
community fair in which local businesses and student
organizations will present who they are and how they
are involved in sustainable community development.
Following the fair, there will be a speaker panel featuring
keynote and world champion free skier, Alison Gannett,
who will talk about her experiences working with
community groups to find solutions to climate change.
“The most important message is that we need
a universal framework for global cooling that individuals,
businesses, communities, and governments
can use to make systematic and measurable reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions,”
Gannett said.
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NOLS will hold a speakers session in the high
school auditorium where Gannett and other speakers
will be given a chance to talk about climate change
solutions for the community and country. Following
the speakers, NOLS will hold a reception in the historic
Noble Hotel.
“The ideas of the day are education, awareness,
and solution-oriented thinking with the hope to provide
people a platform to look at and think about climate
change, its potential impacts, and solutions for
Lander and the global community,” said Hall. “We
hope the participants will inspire younger generations,
as well as older ones, to find their voice and passion to
stay educated on the issue and stay involved.”
Jen Lamb, NOLS Director of Public Policy, said
that since NOLS is an educational institution with
strong environmental values, information about climate
change will be provided to students, staff members, and
instructors to further discussion and awareness.
“We will present information in a way that presents
all sides of the issue, encouraging people to become
aware, evaluate the information, and reach
their own conclusions about how to make choices
and decisions that potentially affect our climate,”
Lamb said. “On NOLS courses, many students and
instructors will have the opportunity to travel
through ecosystems showing signs of climate change.
This will no doubt spark lively and productive discussions
in the field.”
Back in the frontcountry, Focus the Nation is a
way NOLS can be involved to help better inform the
public on how to make good lifestyle choices that will
benefit our generation and generations to come.
For more information about how you can participate and
what’s happening in your community, please visit Focus
the Nation’s website at www.focusthenation.org.