by Yohanes Yoseph
Staff Writer

The Focus the Nation initiative was recently held At SCC. There were video screenings, faculty lectures, theater performances and discussion forums.

According to the Focus the Nation website, the initiative is “organizing a national teach-in on global warming solutions for America…directly engaging millions of students and citizens with the nation’s decisionmakers.”

Over 1000 institutions have recognized the initiative. Here is an interview with Tim Payne, a key lecturer for Focus The Nation.

As a teacher, how is Focus the Nation going?
Payne: It was a successful event. There were a number of students who learned more about climate change from variety of different academic perspectives: economics, geography, geology, and environment science. These fields of study all have something to say about the issue of climate change, and the students were able to see that the issue has different elements.

What is the relationship between climate change and economics?
Payne: Our economic growth in the more developed countries in the world has been fueled by oil and the use of fossil fuels. Petroleum, coal and natural gas have been a fundamental part of how we produce goods and services, and the growth in production over time. In the process of growing our economy, we have been creating a larger in cumulative environmental problem of changing the climate that ultimately will not only affect the environment of the world, but it will affect the economies of many countries, especially ones that depends on the natural environment for their economies. Economies that rely on agriculture and fishing will be much more affected.

What shall we do (Shoreline Community College Faculty Members and Students)?
Payne: First we can look for changes in campus operations, both in terms of construction, energy use, transportation, [and] resource use (garbage and recycling). All of these actions relate to the campus carbon footprint, the environment impact of the college. We can look for ways to reduce those impacts that hopefully makes economic sense and takes into count the impacts on the environment, other people, and other generations, what are called externalities.

Beyond our campus operations, we are an educational institution with a vision of educating and changing the world. We have to do more than just recycling on campus. For example, we need to integrate knowledge and understanding of the environment and sustainability into the classes that we teach, and the ways we learn.

What we have done so far?
Payne: We have an energy efficiency demonstration project on the campus called the The Zero Energy House and the new PUB is being built to meet energy efficiency and environmental standards. The new solar panels on the roof of 2900 building are the single biggest solar array on the city of Shoreline right now, and we are teaching and training classes for people who are interested in jobs in new emerging “green industries.”

Tim Payne is an Economics professor at Shoreline Community College. He is currently conducting independent research on carbon footprints with his students and can be reached on tpayne@shoreline.edu for further discussion.