PR Nation: "Stop Global Warming College Tour " takes off at SMU

Last week, Grammy winning artist Sheryl Crow and global warming activist Laurie David kicked off the "Stop Global Warming College Tour" here in Dallas, Texas on the SMU campus. The tour, which will make 10 stops at 10 universities across the Southeastern United States urges college students to become part of the movement to stop global warming and demand solutions from themselves, their schools and their country.

"History proves that college students have the ability to be the driving force in large scale social change and now more than ever is the time for students across the country to become global warming activists," says Laurie David founder of http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/ and author of Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You!

Along with press conferences and media events, each stop on the tour includes a 90 minute presentation about global warming with Laurie David, clips from the film An Inconvenient Truth, a short performance by Sheryl Crow and a question-answer dialogue with students . In addition to the free concert, each audience member receives a Philips energy saver fan bulb, guaranteed to last seven years.

I must admit, I am not exactly what you would call an "environmental activist"-I try and recycle when possible and make my best effort to turn off the lights when I leave my house but other than those small tasks, that's about it for me when it comes to combating global warming. And its not that I don't care or think that global warming does not exist, rather its the fact that I always assumed that this problem was one that wasn't really going to effect me, and I`d be long gone before the consequences would become real.

However, after watching films like An Inconvenient Truth and hearing Laurie David, Sheryl Crow and others talk about the dangers of global warming in terms that I could actually understand with solutions that I could do myself, I feel empowered to do something, to become active in the fight against global warming, one light bulb at a time.

During the presentation, Laurie and Sheryl highlighted several actions that anyone can take in the fight against global warming:

1. Join the Stop Global Warming Virtual March at http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/ a movement demanding our leaders freeze and reduce carbon dioxide emissions

2. Change a light. Use compact fluorescent bulbs, these energy efficient light bulbs have the ability to save 300 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $60 a year.

3. Buy minimally packaged goods. Less packaging could reduce your garbage 10% a year and could save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide and $1,000 a year.

4. Unplug electronic devices. Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. So unplug the devices that you are not currently using and you could save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and $256 a year.

5. Bring your own bag. Use your own cloth bag instead of plastic or paper bags from the grocery store. This alternative reduces waste and requires no additional energy.

These are just a few of the simple things that we can all do in our everyday lives to help in the effort to combat global warming. We are all contributors to global warming and we all need to be part of the solution. Before the "Stop Global Warming College Tour" came to SMU, I thought global warming was an issue for the scientists, politicians, and environmentalists to worry about however I now realize that this is a real issue, one that everyone needs to worry about, after all its everybody`s world and we`re all living in it.