For two days this coming week, the campus of Western Kentucky University will heat up with a number of public events on climate change.

Sponsored by the Political Engagement Project and WKU GreenToppers, the Global Climate Change National Teach-In will coordinate with similar events at more than 1,000 schools to finish out “The Great Conversation” on environmental changes that began last fall, according to Saundra Ardrey, head of the political science department.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the event will feature a number of presentations at buildings around campus - lectures, displays on how much energy it takes to operate Western, a demonstration of solar panels at the ALIVE Center at 1818 U.S. 31-W By-Pass, and all day Thursday a Community GreenFair in Grise Hall first floor lobby.

“It’s definitely open to the general public,” said Rachelle Wafer, teach-in organizer and Focus The Nation committee member. Local elected officials were sent letters of invitation, she said.

All the events are designed to provide information about climate change, especially to college students, Wafer said.

“We’re really just hoping to bring more awareness to each student,” she said.

The Political Engagement Project encourages young people to become involved in the democratic process, and that requires some understanding of major issues, Ardrey said.

The presentations don’t just cover environmental sciences. The two-day program is designed to show the impact of climate change in all fields, from construction and agriculture to politics and marketing, Wafer said.

The project will close with the Global Climate Change slideshow, starting at 7 p.m. in the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center recital hall, which seats 200, she said. It will be presented by Chris Antonsen, assistant professor of folk studies and anthropology. The slideshow “An Inconvenient Truth” was made famous by former Vice President Al Gore and his Climate Project Team, which trained Antonsen.

The WKU GreenToppers are helping with a number of the events, and are co-sponsoring a petition that asks WKU President Gary Ransdell to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.

“That’s the main thing that we’ve been doing,” said GreenToppers President Sara Ferguson.

The petition will be given to Ransdell after the event, Wafer said. Thus far 321 people have signed the online document, though a few of those are duplicates and several are anonymous.

The ACU Presidents Climate Commitment promises to achieve “climate neutrality” as soon as possible by identifying greenhouse gas emissions, planning to become climate neutral and setting a date, building to green standards, promoting public transportation, using renewable energy, cutting waste and making a number of similar commitments.

Western is moving toward carbon neutrality, but is still behind other Kentucky universities, Ferguson said. Signing the ACU document would “put Western on the map” of strong environmental commitment, she said.

— A schedule of events is available at www.wku.edu/

green/focus. The climate commitment petition can be viewed at www.ipetitions.com/petition/wku.