Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Many classes across campus will share a similar focus on Wednesday and Thursday: global warming.
Almost 50 professors at the University from an array of academic departments have signed up to participate in a nationwide effort to incorporate issues related to global warming in their Wednesday or Thursday lectures. The event called the National Teach-In is an initiative devised by Focus the Nation, a national organization dedicated to global warming education.
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“We’re already behind on educating people about it."
—Jane Vandervelde, English lecturer
The Center for Sustainability, which promotes research for environmental improvement, and KU Hillel, an organization comprised of Jewish students, joined together to sponsor the Teach-In at the University.
Matt Lehrman, program director for KU Hillel, said the Teach-In was tailored to fit in at the University.
“We decided to adapt the Teach-In so that the issues could be brought directly to class,” Lehrman said.
Stacey White, director of academic programs at the Center for Sustainability, said the event would provide the opportunity for discussion in any class with a connection to climate change.
White, who also teaches an urban planning class as a faculty member of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, will devote a portion of her Wednesday lecture to the role of planners in addressing climate change.
Jane VanderVelde, lecturer in the department of English, said she likes to keep students informed about global warming.
“We’re already behind on educating people about it,” VanderVelde said. “I want to use the opportunity to have students read and write and learn about it.”
VanderVelde plans to have the students in each of her three sections of English 101 read articles about cocoa farming, deforestation and reducing the use of plastics.
Bruce Lieberman, professor of geology, has also committed to the Teach-In for his Geology 121 lecture on Thursday.
The class, which focuses on prehistoric life, lends itself to the aims of the Teach-In.
“I always talk about this stuff,” Lieberman said. “But I’ll adjust the lecture a little to look at how humans influence climate change and major episodes of extinction.”
Lieberman said students too often get information about climate change from unreliable sources in the media rather than in the classroom.
“People need to know the scientific evidence of global warming and what the consequences will be,” he said. “Taking steps to fix it certainly beats dying or living under water.”
To complement the Teach-In, the Center for Sustainability and KU Hillel will also sponsor a Focus the Nation roundtable on Thursday at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. The round table will feature a discussion of climate change solutions by panelists, including U.S. Sen. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.), U.S. Sen. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.), Lawrence mayor Sue Hack and provost and executive vice chancellor Richard Lariviere. The event will start at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
—Edited by Sasha Roe
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