FW: Focus: "The 2% Solution" -- 10,000 screenings / Powershift! / David Orr on Weds call

[Jennifer Berman]

Hello All - Here is the latest from the national Focus The Nation folks, in case you aren't on their email list.

 

Sounds like they are gearing up for an exciting event on the evening of January 30th: http://focusthenation.org/ebulletin.php

 

Come to the meeting Thursday, Nelson Hall 113 at 7 pm!

 

Jennifer

 

-----Original Message-----
From: egood...@focusthenation.org [mailto:egood...@focusthenation.org]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 10:12 AM
To: Eban Goodstein
Subject: Focus: "The 2% Solution" -- 10,000 screenings / Powershift! / David Orr on Weds call

Dear Friends of Focus the Nation,

 

Mark your calendars! On the evening of January 30^th, Focus the Nation will kick-off the biggest national teach-in in history with “The 2% Solution” an innovative, interactive web-cast broadcast live on Earth Day Network TV. (www.focusthenation.org/2percentsolution.pdf) Co-produced with the National Wildlife Federation, and featuring Stanford climate scientist Stephen Schneider, sustainable business consultant Hunter Lovins, and other guests,  the focus will be on global warming solutions. Uniquely, audiences across the country—in college and high school auditoriums, in church, mosque and synagogue meeting rooms, and at living room house parties—will have the opportunity to debate the issues among themselves, and then weigh in with interactive voting.

 

Why the title? To hold global warming to the low end of 3-4 degrees F will require cuts in global warming pollution in the developed countries by more than 80% below current levels by 2050.  Put another way, we need to cut roughly 2% a year for the next forty years.  The webcast will revolve around the question: can we as a nation get on to this path. If so, what would it take?

 

The 2% Solution will launch the national teach-in, but it is also the perfect avenue for K-12 schools, and faith and civic organizations to participate in Focus the Nation.  High school and middle school teams can host a showing at their auditorium; or teachers can assign the first half of the web cast as homework on Wednesday night, and then—since the event will be archived --follow-up with a showing of the participatory segment in class on Thursday. Faith groups can participate from places of worship, and individuals can even host a showing in their living room. Along with college and university teams, The 2% Solution presents a powerful opportunity for the entire country to participate in a serious discussion of global warming solutions in one evening next January 30^th.  

 

Our goal is 10,000 screenings—and a change in the direction of this nation. So if you haven’t signed up for Focus the Nation, do so now at www.focusthenation.org.  Get dialed in for more information about how to screen “The 2% Solution” in your community.

 

Professor David Orr, the country’s leading environmental educator , will head up our organizing call this Wednesday at noon eastern. Join David as he shares his views on the historic  moment in which we are living, and then follow up with information sharing and organizing ideas (Call details below and at www.focusthenation.org/phone.php)  

 

In the news this week: Al Gore and the IPCC honored with a Nobel Prize; Tom Friedman of the NY Times missing the real story. Friedman was out looking for student activism, and overlooked the fact that organizing teams at close to 850 colleges and universities around the country are working to build the biggest national teach-in in history—Focus the Nation. 

 

He also missed the thousands of youth climate leaders who will be in DC the weekend of 11/2-4 for Powershift (www.powershift2007.org).  Focus the Nation will be there. If you can’t make it, invite your congressional leaders over for a chat that weekend, as part of Step It Up (www.stepitup2007.org). They make it easy with an on-line invitation. 

Eban will be leading Focus the Nation workshops and discussions in CO (10/29) and in Cambridge (11/15). Stay tuned for details at www.focusthenation.org/comingevents.php.

Thanks for the work you are doing.

 

Eban Goodstein, Project Director

Chungin Chung, Communications Director

 

VIDEOS!

 

Forty Percent of Car Trips are within two miles of your home: Take Clif Bar’s Two-Mile Challenge and ride or walk instead! www.2milechallenge.com/ride

 

Books for the movement: Jon Isham and Eban Goodstein talk about their recent books on building the global warming solutions movement. http://www.blackandblueproductions.net/7th_Gen/ebanandjohn4.mov

 

Van Jones, Mike Tidwell, and citizen activists putting their bodies on the line at the Bush “Major Emitters” summit last month. www.chesapeakeclimate.org/blog/?p=162

 

Transforming the way we live (and think). David Gershon is author of “The Low Carbon Diet”—here’s his challenge. http://www.blackandblueproductions.net/7th_Gen/david_final.mov

 

FOCUS PHONE-IN  Join us for the next half-an-hour conference call to share information and respond to questions. Wednesday, October 17th, at 9 am Pacific Time. Calls will be the first and third Wednesday of every month, at that time, so mark your calendars! Call in to 1-218-339-7800, passcode 1312008.

 

Focus News:

*Raise $$$ for your Focus the Nation event: check out the national Polar Bear Plunge! www.keepwintercold.org 

*Re:Vision joins Focus as a Business Partner. www.urbanrevision.com 

*Students: This fall, join thousands in for Powershift2007— www.powershift2007.org

*Step it Up again! A second round of national rallies is set for November 3^rd. Get involved at www.stepitup2007.org

*Chill Out is back! Campus Ecology’s Video contest for sustainability. Deadline 11/30. www.nwf.org/chillout

*Donate to Focus—Stop Your Junk Mail! Sign up with 41 Pounds, and a portion of the income is donated directly to us here at Focus the Nation. www.41pounds.org

*Northern : Race against Global Warming! Learn more at www.raceagainstglobalwarming.org

*Has your University or College President signed on the President’s Climate Commitment? Find out. www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org

 

Focus Update is the bi-monthly e-bulletin of Focus the Nation. If would prefer not to receive this update, please reply to this message with UNSUBSCRIBE in the header.

 

Who HASN’T Signed up for Focus the Nation? Check out our wish list at www.focusthenation.org/wishlist.php. See a school that ought to be on board? Then send us an e-mail at in...@focusthenation.org, and set up a time to talk with our organizers. With your help, we can cross that school off our list!

 

 

Eban Goodstein
Project Director
Focus the Nation
in...@focusthenation.org
www.focusthenation.org
503-342-6863