A ‘Focus the Nation on Global Warming’ conference was held at the Lowell center on campus Thursday night, with speakers encouraging greater environmental and populist action in government.

The conference finished a two-day series of events in Madison dealing with global warming, with corresponding events around the world.

Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton opened the conference by promoting Senate Bill 81, calling it a necessary “framework” for future environmental decisions in the state.

The bill would mandate the amount of green houseemitted in 2020 be the same amount of gases created in 1990. The reductions in emissions would be achieved by “cost effective” and “market-based” methods, according to the bill.

State Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said the bill is likely to face strong opposition from several lobbyist groups in the state.

“Big corporations and utility companies do not want to see this [bill] happen because they do not want to invest in change,” Pocan said.

The bill passed out of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee in October. It was not announced as part of Gov. Jim Doyle’s environmental agenda in his State of the State address last week.

State Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, a lead author of SB 81, said the problem of climate change is the greatest current environmental challenge in the world.

Many lawmakers said the problem is difficult to solve due to the influence of special interest groups in Wisconsin politics.

State Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, said special interests are able to help people get elected in the state, often with harmful results for he public.

All of the speakers agreed the power to change the current political situation involving special interests could still be changed by voters.

“If we don’t like what’s happening at the state capital, we can change it,” Pocan said.