Today, Ithaca College joins more than 500 institutions participating in the National Teach-In On Global Warming, an all-day learning event held as part of the first 100 days of the new Obama administration designed to educate on global climate change issues.

Nationally, the teach-in incorporates recommendations from the President’s Climate Action Project, which was drafted by several organizations — including the University of Colorado — to focus the attention of leadership on the reality of global warming and greenhouse gases. According to its Web site, the national teach-in hopes to join more than 1 million Americans in solution-driven conversation.

Marian Brown, special assistant to the provost, said the college’s Climate Change Teach-In, held in Emerson Suites, brings the campus community together to discuss climate change and sustainability.

“Climate change is just one of our most pressing sustainability challenges,” she said. “People need a greater understanding of the breadth of issues related to climate change and global sustainability and how people can have an important part in creating a better alternative future.”

The teach-in serves as a follow-up to last year’s “Focus the Nation” event, held at the college and more than 1,900 institutions nationwide to brainstorm clean-energy solutions to global warming.

“Focus the Nation,” held in January 2008 with Cornell University, was also part of a national sustainability event. Locally, the event attempted to show participants how their daily actions affect the environment and global warming.

Beth Ellen Clark Joseph,associate professor of physics, said these environmental issues affect everyone across campus.

“We need to be engaged, otherwise we’re just prey to whatever happens to us, whereas if we participate then we have more control,” she said.

Susan Swensen, chair of the biology department, and Joseph will discuss the college’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality during the first lecture at 9:25 a.m. in Emerson.

Throughout the day, additional sessions will explore the economic, social, political and environmental impacts of climate change, ending with a screening of “The Carbon Connection,” a documentary examining the impact of carbon trading. The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival is sponsoring the screening.

The entire event is co-sponsored by several campus departments, including the Office of the Provost, the Sustainability Initiative, the School of Business and the biology department, among others.

Leslie Schill, senior planner for the Tompkins County Planning Department, will discuss how the county intends to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the morning’s second session.

“We intend to work in partnership with both [the college and Cornell University] moving forward,” she said. “To really engage the entire community, we need to talk to all segments of the community and certainly students are a large and important portion of our local community.”

Schill’s presentation is paired with a lecture on national energy action plans by Joseph; Marlene Barken, associate professor of legal studies; and Rob McKenna, senior consultant for Energy Strategies, the energy consulting firm employed by the college. Barken said the event explores environmental issues on local, national and global scales.

“We’ve tried to bring in multiple perspectives,” she said. “It’s designed to appeal to all elements of the campus, across disciplines.”

The featured speaker is Selwin Hart, secretary of the Permanent Mission of Barbados to the United Nations and coordinator of the Alliance of Small Island States. Hart’s lecture will center on social justice and issues specific to island nations.

“To hear him speak about the plight of his country — that his country could be submerged underwater in the next three decades — should be very, very powerful,” said Astrid Jirka, outreach coordinator for the Office of International Programs.

In a different session, Jirka will discuss the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that she and 19 Ithaca College students from an International Environmental Policy class attended this December in Poland. The conference established goals for carbon emission reduction.

Sophomore Doug Indrick, who attended the conference, said he had a great experience.

“At that program we were observers,” he said. “We saw what was being done on an international level. I learned the effect of nuclear power on the environment, hydropower on the government and the effect that trash and garbage has.”

Indrick said being at a conference with other people who were interested in promoting sustainability was a rewarding experience.

While Indrick will not be speaking at the session, he said he will be attending events and hoping it will encourage more discussion on campus.

At noon in Emerson, the semester’s first “Sustainability Café” will tackle the issue of social justice in relation to sustainability. Brown said six more cafés are planned throughout the semester. Each one is an opportunity for students to discuss an environmental issue, hear a speaker and have free refreshments provided by Dining Services.

“It’s a low-stress opportunity for people to learn about a whole raff of different topics,” she said.  

Interactive events will also be held throughout the day outside of Emerson Suites to supplement the discussions inside. Guests can take part in the “350 Challenge”— which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — by writing suggestions for individuals or the college itself on ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Clips from “Planet Earth,” a nature documentary, will also play continuously throughout the afternoon.

Indrick said he encourages students to attend the teach-in to learn about environmental issues, just as he learned about in Poland.

“In the U.S., there’s not that much talk about it, so it was exciting to be in an environment where most people were really interested,” Indrick said. “The youth was also so excited and involved in everything.”