Focus The Nation UC Davis

Camille Kirk, associate environmental planner with the Office of Resource Management and Planning, gives an organizer's behind-the-scenes perspective of the January 31 Focus The Nation UC Davis event, aimed at raising awareness of global climate change.

Q. This was the first Focus the Nation event, did you have specific objectives as you went about planning it?

A. The Focus the Nation national headquarters articulated some key objectives, which we tried to mirror in our Davis event, among them Green Democracy and education.

To meet Green Democracy objectives, we involved policy makers in our events, and also created opportunities for voting, discussion, and active involvement, such as the World of Ideas Cafe and the Choose Your Future vote, all of which offered possibilities for intergenerational dialogue about climate change.

The teach-in and poster session, tours, on-site education, and Idea Fair were the educational components. The national FTN group was particularly interested in teach-ins, but we thought the UC Davis campus, with its legacy of hands-on methods of outreach and education, through events such as Picnic Day and efforts such as agricultural extension, needed a teach-in and more, so we created a variety of events that played to our numerous strengths as a campus.

At the campus level we wanted to launch a broader discussion and a long-term set of actions regarding climate change. We saw that Focus the Nation could show how the campus is already working with policy makers on climate change issues. Our "Climate Change 101" series of educational lectures to key state policy makers is but one example of those relationships and methods by which our campus shares its cumulative expertise in service of the state, the nation, and the world.

Perhaps the most gratifying element of Focus the Nation UC Davis (FTN UC Davis) was pulling together groups from on and off campus to help foster connections and conversations. Our planning group, and many of our participants, have commented on how valuable and empowering this element has been for them.

Q. What might you focus on more strongly if the event is held again? What worked, what didn't work?

A. We would try to garner even more faculty involvement. We had some very committed and involved key faculty members, which was wonderful for FTN UC Davis. Our campus has such depth on this topic, as well as a number of other research arenas related to sustainability, that we would welcome an overwhelming response from faculty and strong faculty ownership of any future versions of FTN UC Davis.

We enjoyed a remarkable outpouring of volunteer effort from across campus and our Davis community. I cannot stress enough how huge the volunteer effort was. Without the many, many volunteer hours that went into this event, we could not have created one of the most extensive, comprehensive and largest of the FTN events in the country. Out of more than 1,800 institutions that held some sort of FTN event, we were one of the top 50, and the largest, by various measures, of the UC system. Many units on campus contributed supportto FTN UC Davis. In fact, we devoted an entire page of our eight-page printed program to recognizing and listing key units and individuals, which testifies to how broadly we were supported, and we appreciated it immeasurably!

A regularly occurring event, however, would require on-going, dedicated funding and resources to do justice to all the interest that was developed as a result of this event.

Q. Are any follow-up events planned for the remainder of the academic year?

A. On Tuesday, February 19, U.S. Representative Mike Thompson visited our campus because he was so interested in what Focus the Nation UC Davis did. We Webcast him in at lunchtime on January 31 to speak to our lunch audience, with graduate student Emma Torbert in the role of interviewer. Based on that experience, he requested an opportunity to visit UC Davis and learn more about what we did.

The event on January 31 was intended to serve as a springboard for more work, and to that end, our planning committee is discussing additional follow-up events and efforts, and we may designate a representative team to participate in a new FTN component of the annual UC/CSU/CC Sustainability Conference, July 31-August 3.

Q. Any additional reflections on the event from your perspective?

A. One of the most remarkable elements of Focus the Nation UC Davis was how it created connections and conversations among people that might not have had much contact with each other before. One component of tackling climate change is getting together and sharing our knowledge and our commitment.

Abby Chroman, a student representative on the campus Sustainability Advisory Committee, said that students feel empowered by this event and have learned more about how to contact and work with administration, staff and faculty.

Steven Worker, a graduate student and intern with campus Government and Community Relations, was our World of Ideas Cafe policy maker ambassador coordinator. He recently sent us reports from most of the student ambassadors on their experiences hosting a policy maker at FTN. Rachelle Lema and Grace Cun, who hosted The Honorable A.G. Kawamura, secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture, said Kawamura's talk brought home to them the importance of considering agriculture when working on environmental policies.

Another student ambassador, Jessica Moreno, hosted Mr. Perez, representative of the California Energy Commission, said that as a volunteer at the Focus the Nation event, she felt proud that not only was UC Davis participating in such an important movement, but also that policy makers are taking action in their specialty fields."