As one of only 19 universities in the nation, Ball State is hosting Focus the Nation Clean Energy Conference to educate students and promote activism.
Students will be able to hear from community members, elected officials and business leaders to discuss America's clean energy literacy.
Jesse Kharbanda, director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, is one of the speakers. Formally working for the Environmental Law and Policy Center, he built support for clean energy then began working at HEC.
Kharbanda works to promote environmental protection as critical to Indiana's efforts to improve its health, economy and heritage.
During the conference, he will speak on renewable energy in Indiana and how the state is missing out on many opportunities.
"Focus the Nation's efforts are directed toward clean energy and we need to change the way we produce energy in Indiana. We are the second-highest dependent on coal in the country," he said. "We have the worst public policy to promote renewable energy in the Midwest."
The conference puts emphasis on people's decision-making about how our choices today are going to impact the choices for future generations.
Another speaker is Jim Poyser, managing editor of NUVO and co-author with partner Michael Jensen of ApocaDocs, a website Poyser described as an entertainment site for climate collapse featuring news and commentary. Jensen is creating a fully sustainable farm in Nova Scotia, so he will webcast into the conference.
Poyser will be speaking in two slots at the conference — once about green journalism at NUVO and once about ApocaDocs.
He said as dark as he feels about the future, there are other solutions out there and they need to be shared. There are a lot of ideas that don't get communicated and Focus the Nation is the perfect opportunity to do that.
"ApocaDocs is my playtime. It's important if someone wants to become a good citizen of the planet every effort needs to be made. For myself, my work life and my play life are both geared toward the environment and so is my home life. It's a lifestyle," he said. "I'm not the greenest guy on the block, but we are making efforts to reduce waste and energy consumption. I get into a car as seldom as I can. It's a combo of work, play and home. That is why I am so lucky."
Ryan Sagar, member of Students for a Sustainable Campus, helped organize the event and said he wants to see students get on board with clean energy because they are the future decision makers and policy changers.
"There will be economics talk and the environmental side of it," he said. "Also, ‘Carbon Nation' will be shown, which is a controversial movie and it will [be] one of the few first screenings in the U.S."
"Carbon Nation" is a documentary movie about climate change solutions and highlights social, economic and national security. A Los Angles Times movie review by Gary Goldstein called the movie "an inspiring look at the many recent advances in clean energy and green technologies."
Vivian Bogue, president of SSC, has had a passion of getting the Focus conference to Ball State since the Fall Semester. Now that it is off the ground, she said she hopes it promotes activism among students.
"There is a satisfaction to know that something that is so important to me and our future will be a success," she said. "We can learn what is going on today and how we can work with policy makers and to share our voices and align together. Things won't change or get better if we don't start today."
Focus the Nation
Free Admission
Where: 2nd Floor of L.A. Pittenger Student Center
When: Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Pre-Register: Visit focusthenation.org/focus-nation, click on Indiana and select Register Here.
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