The Eagle Eye

Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News

From left, Dave Proctor, Dr. Mohamed Khalequzzaman, Bob Myers, John Crossen, Danielle Totlon represented the newly formed Environmental Focus Group in the Focus on the Nation event on Thursday, Jan. 31 in the Hamblin Hall of Flags.

The Hamblin Hall of Flags in Robinson Hall was nearly standing room only as students, faculty and staff filled the room for a night that caused them to focus on the nation.
Thursday, Jan. 31 2008, was nationally known as Focus the Nation. Part of the aim was to push schools and universities to hold an event that would help draw attention to the issue of global warming.
The presentation started with the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" and was followed by a discussion panel that encouraged further questioning of the issue on a global, national and local level.
The panel discussion after the movie helped to raise some points to the audience, giving them a lot more to think about.
The panel was made up of Dr. Mohamed Khalequzzaman of the geology dept., Dave Proctor, the director of facilities planning, John Crossen of the physical plant, and Danielle Tolton as the student representative.
Each member of the panel was addressed with a question regarding the issue of global warming or the environment.
Dr. Khalequzzaman discussed that even though "An Inconvenient Truth" was released in 2005, that some of the information holds true through today. The movie states since the turn of the century, five of the hottest years in temperature have been recorded.
Moving forward two years to today, in the last 11 years, 10 of the hottest years have occurred, but 2005 still remains the hottest year on record.
Proctor and Crossen discussed the issue at the university level. -One main point is that the new Durrwachter Alumni Center was built to meet environmental standards, using the Leadership Energy Environmental Design (LEED) that has been created to help in the construction of new buildings.
Proctor pointed out that many recycled materials were used and as much construction waste as possible was recycled.
The alumni center is the first building to be LEED certified on campus. Lock Haven is also trying to modify all the building around campus to fit the LEED criteria, though getting all buildings certified will not be a quick project.

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools