Science teacher speaks as part of national Teach In

Last Thursday students, faculty, and guests gathered in the EUC for the Focus The Nation Luncheon: "Global Warming and the Arctic." As a main part of the weeklong Focus The Nation event, this lecture started off a full day of panels, lectures, and discussions on sustainability, global warming, and climate changes.

This luncheon served as the keynote address about evidence of global warming in the Arctic areas. The speech was given by Dora Nelson, a science teacher from Asheville who has made many trips to Alaska while studying global warming.

Chandler Hagen, a junior, attended the event after hearing about it in her biology class, and "found it very interesting." According to Hagen, global warming is the biggest problem today, and needs to be fixed.

The presentation focused mostly on Nelson's research of global warming and its effects on the area in which she studies: Barrow, Alaska. With a slideshow full of facts and images of polar shorelines, Eskimo culture, growing vegetation, and melting ice, Nelson explained how so many things proved the impact of global warming in that area, along with the rest of the world.

"The poles actually control the Earth's climate," said Nelson. "And climate shifts are extreme in the polar region. If we have a temperature change of one or two degrees here, we don't think about it very much … but at that point it can create major changes."

"I never really thought about the Arctic," commented Hagen. "How it's affecting them so much more than it affects us, and how it's gonna affect us even more than [we] first anticipated."

Her slideshow was a powerful attention-grabber for those present, showing the massive changes in Arctic life, nature, and weather. In one image, the shortened shoreline of a beach in Barrow can be seen, with the village on a dirt cliff almost right next to the beach. Hanging out of the soil and melting permafrost, only a few meters down from the village, is a dirty blue tarp.

"This is a body," explained Nelson sadly about the image, "The village used to extend farther out, and there is a cemetery here. Now their culture, and their ancestors, are literally washing away into the ocean."

This lecture was part of a national Teach In on global warming. Other Teach In events that day included sessions happening all over the EUC from 1:00 until 5:30, covering topics such as world studies, climate change, nature, and growing your own organic food. Speakers included professors, environmental specialists, and local visitors.

The main point of this country-wide event is to get more and more people to learn about, talk about, and find ways to solve environmental problems. Many theories and ideas about the solution for global warming and similar problems have been introduced, but no one really seems to know what to do.

"Make it cost," said Hagen, when asked what she thought would get people to act on the problem. "Make it more expensive to live the way we do and people will stop wanting to. You can't get people to really care or feel morally responsible. No, they have to feel it in the pocket."