UW-Madison planned to join over 1,400 colleges and institutions across the nation Wednesday to broadcast a live webcast to teach global warming solutions, but experienced technical difficulties during the presentation.
Ryan Hanke, a UW-Madison student organizer, said none of the campus viewing locations at the Humanities, Psychology and Social Science buildings were able to show The 2 Percent Solution"" webcast.
""I think because it was a live thing, there were just too many people trying to get on,"" Hanke said of the nationwide broadcast. ""If anything, it looks like a good sign that this many people were watching it.""
Garrett Reiss Brennan, director of media and public relations for Focus the Nation, said the purpoe for the webcast was for students to ""simultaneously participate with a million other students at the exact same time in learning more about global warming and what they can do about it.""
According to Hanke, the webcast featured actor Edward Norton, among other environmental activists. He said UW-Madison would not re-broadcast the one-hour video, but that it would be available online.
Organizers called Wednesday's webcast the largest teach-in event in U.S. history.
""We're hoping that we can create enough of a buzz and enough of a stir so that the candidates running for president realize that they have to have a plan on climate change solutions,"" Brennan said
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All developed countries would have to cut pollution levels 80 percent by the year 2050, which equals a 2-percent reduction each year for 40 years in order to hold global warming to three to four degrees, Brennan said.
Many state and national representatives are already involved with the project. According to the Focus the Nation website, presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., have publicly endorsed the program.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz is also a public endorser of Focus the Nation, and will be speaking about his recent campaign ""MPower Madison"" at UW-Madison's teach-in events Thursday.
According to Chief of Staff Janet Piraino, the goal of ""MPower Madison"" is to reduce the city's carbon footprints by 100,000 tons in five years.
""We've done a lot locally here at the city, but this is the first time we've gone out and asked our residents to join with us,"" she said.
UW-Madison's campus, city and state-specific events Thursday will feature Cieslewicz and state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, state Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona and several faculty members.
State Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said the national activity of Focus the Nation would be ""very helpful"" to educate the population about global warming, and will encourage citizens to be involved in the political process to make a change.
""Young people have the most to lose in global warming because the very negative effects of global warming will be felt in the future,"" he said.
""I view this as an intergenerational issue. My generation is living more conveniently and being more wasteful of our resources, and the people who are going to bear the burden are the young people of today.""
Black said metaphorically speaking we are just beginning to see the ""tip of the iceberg"" of global warming effects, but ""the real impacts of global warming threatens to impact the lives of people who are in college right now.""
""It's their future that's at stake.""
Black said the number of nationwide participants in Focus the Nation events was ""very significant"" and would likely draw state and federal governments' attention.
Piraino agreed, and said events like Focus the Nation ""are the best way to go about solving a problem that's as comprehensive and multifaceted as global warming.
