Reactions to Focus the Nation

By Chris Hill & Jeffry Yip

I came to school this morning excited about missing classes for the majority of the day. I had low expectations and enthusiasm as I intended to cruise through the seminars with little thought or interest. I had heard it all before yet, as it turns out, never in such an effective manner.

We started off the day with the film, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Alike several of my peers I had not yet seen the film. Although it was an educational documentary, Al Gore presented the information in an inspiring and provocative manner. The illustrations of the potential damage that could happen as a result of the melting of the polar ice caps was a true wake up call to the significance of global warming.

The short film, “Story About Stuff” evoked many emotions amongst myself and peers about America’s consumerism lifestyle. I discovered that the very people who govern this country formulated the lifestyle by which I was living. The fact that the United States ravages the countryside’s of developing countries for its own benefit made me question my morality as an American citizen. After watching this film, I am guaranteed to think twice before purchasing my latest ipod, computer or television. I am now aware of how subtle technological advancements can be used as propaganda to repackage and resell similar items.

Overall, Focus the Nation day was successful in reawakening my motivations for taking action against global warming. It made me realize how perilous this issue can be. It truly is beautiful how global warming is something cannot be resolved by a single person rather, by all the people of the world uniting with a common motivation.

Letter to the Editor

By Armand Gray & Griffin Estes

My name is Griffin Estes, I am attending International High School. I am writing to tell you about an event called Focus the Nation which took place at my school and others across the United States. Focus the Nation is a group effort to unite the country in not only familiarizing ourselves with environmental problems but also helping everyone to take action and solve these problems. In anticipation for the events to come, in the past months we have worked to create multimedia projects (artwork, video, sculpture, presentations, etc.). The students and the administration are partaking in an effort to become “green” and help to lower the amount of pollution and our carbon footprint as a community. Recently plans were set in motion to install solar panels on our roof. On this momentous day, we learned about the causes of “global warming” and the linear process consumer products go through, which currently creates many problems.