BLOOMINGTON - Both Twin City universities are joining more than 1,600 U.S. campuses this week in a coordinated effort to put global warming on the front burner of 2008 elections.

Heeding an urgent call for attention from climate change experts, Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan universities will ask campus and community members to step up with "Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America."

Films, a national teach-in and a live Internet seminar will help bring the environmental slogan, "Think globally, act locally," to life this week.

"Universities are the place to get this off the ground. We have the future thinkers, and the current thinkers, on our campuses," said Enid Cardinal, ISU's sustainability coordinator.

Focus the Nation is the idea of Eban Goodstein, who teaches economics at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. The weeklong event is timed to help politically engage college students and the communities in which campuses are located.

"It is specifically timed to coincide with elections," said Abigail Jahiel, IWU environmental studies director. "This issue of global warming is not being talked about enough in this election" even though the world's scientists agree the concern has hit a critical level.

Some scientists say it's too late to stop all the damage, but we can slow the effects if we act soon, said Jahiel.

"We're on the tipping point," said Jason Nippa, an ISU sophomore from Spring Grove who helped plan ISU's weeklong events. "It's really important college students, in particular, get the message. They are the leaders of tomorrow. This won't be done in a year. This is a matter of making a commitment," he said.

"It's a heavy, weighty topic. It's easy to throw your hands up and say 'Well, what can I do anyway? I'm just one person," said Cardinal.

But individual steps, combined with strong political leadership, is what's needed to turn the tide on global survival, said Jahiel.

Nippa, like his counterparts on the Illinois Wesleyan campus, have organized voter registration drives throughout the week, and they'll preach the importance of spreading environmental concerns to political representatives.

"It's too late to register for the primaries. But it never hurts to get signed up for the general election now," said the politics and government major, and student government representative.

Along with showing Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," both campuses invite attendance to "The 2% Solution," a way to open dialogue on slowing the effects of global warming, said Cardinal. Campuses also are using the week to take part in a national teach-in where climate change will come up for discussion across disciplines.

"'Focus the Nation' is to begin a dialogue on these topics, and make it an election issue," said Steve Hunt, an ISU communications professor tapped by the Carnegie Foundation's Political Engagement Project to help ISU in its efforts to broaden civic participation and political leadership. "It's their generation that needs to take charge of addressing this, if these problems are to be ameliorated."

GO!

What: Focus the Nation, a grassroots effort to make global warming a focus of 2008 primary elections.

When: Today (Monday) through Friday

Where: Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan university campuses. They are among more than 1,550 U.S. campuses and other schools taking part.

Cost: Free and open to the public.

Info: Visit www.focusthenation.org; call Enid Cardinal at (309) 438-4425 or email ecardin@ilstu.edu; or call Abigail Jahiel at (309) 556-3923 or email ajahiel@iwu.edu.

All week

• ISU teach-in seminars: American Democracy Project leaders organize a campus-wide directive to include global warming issues in lesson plans for the week.

• Both campuses host voter registration drives at various times and locations.

Today (Monday)

• "Awakening From Our Trance: Reversing the Global Climate Crisis"; 4 p.m., 138 Schroeder Hall, ISU. Normal resident Carolyn Treadway , one of 1,000 people trained by former Vice President Al Gore to lead slide show presentations that were basis for Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Tuesday

• "The 11th Hour"; 5:30 and 8:30 p.m., The Normal Theater, 209 North St., Normal. Documentary narrated by actor Leonardo DiCaprio looks at humanity's impact on the environment and possible solutions to global warming.

• "An Inconvenient Truth"; 8 p.m., IWU's Hansen Student Center lounge, 300 Beecher St., Bloomington. Documentary narrated by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

Wednesday

• "The 2% Solution, Webcast"; 7 p.m., 208 Moulton Hall, ISU; and IWU's Hansen Student Center lounge. Live, interactive event broadcast via Internet. Title refers to what people can do about slowing environmental distress. Stanford University scientist Stephen Schneider joins sustainability expert Hunter Lovins, green jobs pioneer Van Jones, actor Edward Norton and others in a town hall meeting.

Thursday

• Normal Mayor Chris Koos; 7 p.m., 208 Moulton Hall, ISU. Koos will discuss Normal's steps toward bettering the environment and The Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement.

• Teach-In seminars at IWU; 9:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., Hansen Student Center. Faculty lead panel discussions with question-answer periods, each organized around global warming themes. Sessions: 8 a.m., "What is Our Carbon Footprint?"; 9:15 a.m., "Where Are We and How Did We Get Here?"; 10:50 a.m., "What is at Stake With Climate Change?"; 1:10 p.m., "The Moral/Ethical Implications of Climate Change"; 2:35 p.m., "What is the course of action that needs to be taken?"; 4 p.m., Sierra Student Coalition's open forum.

SOURCES: Illinois State University media relations; Illinois Wesleyan University communications