Focus the Nation

By Danielle Frawley ’08

For the first time ever this past January, members of the Champlain College community came together to engage in a lively, weeklong dialogue on the state of the environment. Dubbed Focus the Nation, the event was part of a nationwide initiative involving more than 1,900 schools, clubs, and organizations.

Champlain’s participation began with freshman Brittany Langdon ’11, a Digital Filmmaking major from Syracuse, New York, who brought the idea to Sustain Champlain, a campus group focused on sustainability issues at the College (see “Lean, Green Campus Team” on page 15). “I heard about the event, and I thought it was something that should be done at Champlain,” Langdon recalls. “I brought it to Sustain Champlain, and they were really responsive to it. We just want to raise awareness of what’s going on in the world.”

Following the theme “Learning More Is Doing Something,” Champlain’s Focus the Nation events included a Car-Free Campus Day, a daylong teach-in, a keynote speech by environmentalist Bill McKibben—a man often credited with “discovering” global warming—and screenings of such films as Who Killed the Electric Car? and The End of Suburbia. Following McKibben’s talk about climate change and how Champlain College could be part of the solution, College Vice President of Finance & Administration David Provost outlined some of the institution’s current and projected sustainability initiatives (see “Going, Going Green” on page 9).

One of the more poignant Focus the Nation events was a deliberative dialogue session, an open forum in which everyone is free to state his or her opinions and to listen without responding with harsh criticism. Cohosted by Nancy Cathcart, director of the Champlain College Center for Service & Civic Engagement, and student Douglas Tetreault ’07, the dialogue elicited three approaches to achieving sustainability. All three approaches called for change: the first for reducing our dependence on foreign oil, the second for developing alternative energy resources, and the third for lessening our demand for energy.

“We’re asking people to act,” says Sarah Cohen, the College’s information literacy librarian, a Sustain Champlain member, and one of the Focus the Nation organizers. “It starts by knowing something.”

While Langdon says that she would have liked to see more student involvement in the initiative, fellow Sustain Champlain member Rob Williams, associate professor in the Core division, sees cause for optimism. “It was one of our first steps in a collective journey towards energy efficiency and independence,” he says. “We have a tremendous amount of challenging work ahead, but all great journeys begin with initial steps like this one.”

To view images from Focus the Nation and Champlain’s Car-Free Campus Day, visit www.youtube.com and search for FTN and Champlain College.