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 (Word Document Download) This Guide contains a sample agenda for a Focus the Nation event, some suggested ideas for building up to Focus the Nation, and a list of resources on the web. As you develop your own ideas for Focus the Nation events, please send us your ideas and we will post them on our blog! Different scheduling formats will likely work better for different schools, with different student populations. This sample schedule is geared towards a school where you can cancel classes for the day, and have a real teach-in. If you can’t do that, then consider showing the national Focus the Nation webcast during an all-school assembly, and then having some of the activities listed at the end of this guide as part of a week of climate education. Teachers can also teach about global warming in thier classes: for lesson plan material across the curriculum, visit ClimateChangeEducation.org. Or else, contact a local college or university, or participating museum, and consider taking the whole school (or the senior or junior class) to attend Focus the Nation events there.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Seek Faculty Involvement Early — As an organizer, you will need faculty support to coordinate a successful event. It is never too early to start talking with faculty members about your Focus event. Set up a meeting as soon as possible with anyone you think will be a key player in your event (principle, dean of students, members of student government, teachers from multiple disciplines, counselors). Keep it Personal — Have speakers and presenters speak about what global warming means to them. Your goal is to inspire in each attendee a real drive to take action, and the only way to do this is to make each person think about what this global crisis means for them personally, for their community and finally for their planet. — AND, Make it Fun! Building Up: 1 Really Great Event The Focus Relay: Carry the Green Torch! This event should be scheduled for late October, 2007. After classes begin in the fall, get everyone in your school to sign a giant invitation to your Governor or US Senator, asking them to come to your school to talk with you about global warming solutions. Next, paint a compact fluorescent light bulb green, and write the words "Focus the Nation" on the bulb. Then launch a relay race from your school to the state capital, to deliver the torch and the invitation. With a support van driving behind, students can run 3-4 mile legs of the relay; students from one high school could run to another and pass the torch. If you start over a hundred miles from the capital, the race will last a day or more (including running through the night), creating a wonderful media opportunity! Schedule your arrival time at the office of the Senator or Governor at noon. Deliver the torch and the invitations. Building Up: 10 Other Great Events 1. Sponsor an Art/ Science poster contest  Have interested science and art classes team up in and compete to see who can make the most creative and informative poster about climate change. Display these posters in the week leading up to Focus the Nation. 2. Hold an inter-school bicycle contest Organize a contest between schools encouraging students commute to school via bicycle and record the miles that they bike. See which school can collectively bike the most in a week and have the most student participants. Check out Environmental Society to see the benefits of alternative transportation and check out their "Campus Hike and Bike Challenge" for ideas.  3. Produce a playWrite and produce a play that incorporates themes of action against climate change. Use the posters from the poster contest to advertise. Proceeds can go to your favorite earth friendly organization. Write and produce a play that incorporates themes of action against climate change. Use the posters from the poster contest to advertise. Proceeds can go to your favorite earth friendly organization.  4. Team up with a local College or UniversityConnect with a local college and invite students from the environmental science department or the environmental club to come speak at your school. Or, take the whole school (or senior class) over to participate in Focus the Nation at the college.   5. Do oral history projectsTalk with older people in the community about their perspective on climate change. Has the climate changed noticeably since their youth? If so, how? 6. Have a Climate Friendly Dance Sponsor a school dance and have the proceeds go to an Earth friendly organization. Make sure that all of the decorations, equipment and materials are environment friendly dance.  7. Make a Pro-Climate CalendarTake photos of students in natural places that are meaningful to them: a park, a ski slope, a river. Sell them and donate the proceeds or put it towards your Focus The Nation event.  8. Hold a Car BashAllow students to pay a few dollars to take a couple good whacks at a donated SUV or other inefficient vehicle. Spray paint the car with any messages or pictures that reflect the climate crisis. Be sure to have a climate friendly alternative—a biodiesel vehicle?  9. Sell Energy Saving AppliancesAs a fundraiser, sell energy saving light bulbs, shower heads and other household appliances.  10. Have a Movie MarathonHold a movie marathon night showing movies like “Inconvenient Truth” and “The Day After Tomorrow”. You can also show the archived version of The 2% Solution, after it airs live at 8 PM eastern on January 30th. In between films, have students write letters to politicians about climate change. Photo Credits:
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| Focus the Nation is a project of the Green House Network, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization based in Portland, Oregon that neither supports nor opposes specific legislation or any candidate for political office. © Copyright 2006-2009 Focus the Nation ™ |
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