Hey Poly, got climate change?

The nation will focus on one thing Thursday: climate change solutions.

Cal Poly will participate in the largest teach-in in national history, “Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America,” in an attempt to further discussion on climate change.

The daylong event, coordinated by the student organization Empower Poly Coalition, will consist of presentations, panel discussions, workshops and various other activities around campus to bring students, faculty and community members together on a common issue.

“Climate change, more than any other issue, is going to be affecting our generation . It’s up to us to put the proper public officials into office to make decisions to move us toward a clean, sustainable future,” said Chad Worth, co-director of Cal Poly’s “Focus the Nation” event and president of Empower Poly Coalition.

Cal Poly is one of more than 1,600 locations hosting “Focus the Nation” events across the United States, most of which are college campuses.

“The national goal of the event is to make climate change a make-or-break issue for the 2008 presidential candidates,” said Worth, an industrial engineering senior. “Our job is to inform students and community members and get them excited, and have (climate change) be one of the deciding factors when they go to vote.”

The teach-in begins at 9 a.m. in Chumash Auditorium with a panel discussion titled “The Science of Global Warming.” There will be multiple events on campus occurring simultaneously throughout the day.

The eco-friendly band Blue Turtle Seduction will perform from 11 a.m. until noon in the University Union Plaza. The band’s sound equipment will be powered by a portable solar energy trailer from REC Solar. Blue Turtle Seduction’s biodiesel tour bus will also be on display in front of Mott Gym as part of the alternative fuel vehicle show.

“Focus the Nation” includes a job fair and trade show in UU room 220 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. The job fair will feature “green” companies and organizations such as the San Luis Obispo Sustainability Group, REC Solar, the Sierra Club and The Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo (ECOSLO), among many others.

All-day events include a student art show related to sustainability and climate change solutions in the UU Plaza, an art installation by landscape architecture students on Dexter Lawn and a “Choose Your Future” voting event in the Chumash Auditorium.

The day will conclude with a global warming and public policy solutions workshop hosted by ECOSLO and the Empower Poly Coalition at 7 p.m. The workshop, titled “Strengthening the Political Will for Investment in Climate Change Solutions,” will feature speeches from Congresswoman Lois Capps (via live Web cast) and State Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee.

The workshop also includes a presentation by Cal Poly political science professors, in which they will present a nonpartisan assessment of the 2008 presidential candidates’ stances on global warming policy.

Neil Bulger, co-director of Cal Poly’s “Focus the Nation” event and public relations coordinator for Empower Poly Coalition, said, “We have this institution that has every facet of society as a student on campus. We are a polytechnic university; we have all of these majors. Why don’t we use the resources we have?”

The idea of using local resources for the event has included having Cal Poly professors give the presentations, involving local companies in the job fair and having local business people organize the political roundtable in the concluding event.

“Focus the Nation” has gained support from more than 150 faculty members on campus. The support of professors ranges from devoting classes on Jan. 31 to global warming solutions, participating in panel discussions and offering extra credit to students attending “Focus the Nation” activities.

Cal Poly was the second school in the nation to obtain “an institutional endorsement from the student body government, the Academic Senate and the president’s office,” Worth said. The first school, Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., founded “Focus the Nation.”

All “Focus the Nation” events are free and open to the public.