For Marybeth Burton, conserving global warming isn’t just a statement, it’s a way of life. Every week, Burton takes the city bus to work to help reduce the fuels of gas carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. She also sits in her office with the lights off and the blinds open to help reduce electricity.

Burton, assistant director of FAU’s Urban and Environmental Solutions Center, recently completed a training program led by former Vice President Al Gore to help spread the message and threat about global warming. The program, known as the Climate Project, is the basis of the documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, and is essentially supposed to educate people about the growing concern of global warming.

Within the Climate Project, education is the most dominant part. Gore trained 1,000 people on the issue of global warming and will have them present and educate others around the nation and the world.

“Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for about 100 years, so we are already behind,” Burton says. “Al Gore is trying to make the point that it’s happening and we need to do something about it. It really is a crisis.”

Globalwarming.org, a national organization that is trying to beat global warming, defines the concern as an enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is when natural gases allow solar radiation to pass through Earth’s atmosphere. Too much carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere results in global warming.

Burton hopes to make people aware of the case that climate change is happening, and people aren’t making it any better.

“There really is a direct correlation when you look at the charts,” Burton says. “And then it gets pretty scary when you look at the future.”

Burton says she always found herself trying to find a way to change the world for the better. It wasn’t until recently that she began to find that there are others out there just like her.

“Before An Inconvenient Truth, I felt as if I was living but sleeping, and I wasn’t aware of the impact,” Burton says. “Now, I’m awake and every day I see more areas that I can make changes in and it really excites me, and I want to share that with everyone I come into contact with.”

While some are passionate about the issue, others find it to be a distant rumor.

FAU junior David Sharvit sees the possibilities but believes people are still jumping to conclusions too soon.

“I think the key is to be educated about global warming but not to be influenced by what politicians and other people say,” Sharvit says. “I definitely think it’s an issue that people should be aware of and to be educated about before influenced.”

Brandon Ballenger, FAU senior, believes that people are not taking the right approach to the scientific evidence.

“People are taking an extreme view on global warming without examining it,” Ballenger says. “It’s assumed that the scientific view is real and there is a scientific approach, but people who do not look at it from that perspective blow it up. Look at it as a problem and consider it without taking it to the extreme.”

To keep insight of the growing global warming cause, FAU is developing a new Sustained Ability Committee, which Burton will take part in. The committee has hired a purchasing director who talks to vendors about packaging supplies for FAU using as little waste as possible. Burton emphasizes the fact that most of what people do to reduce their carbon footprint will save money in the long run.

“Its not just feeling good about the earth, we will actually be saving money,” Burton says. “Especially here at FAU, when dollars are tight and our primary focus is educating students, if we can save money on operating our buildings, it’s a wonderful thing.”

While Burton continues to make changes around South Florida, FAU students can get involved on campus. The Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions has a few clubs students can engage in. Since students are vital for campus projects to be successful, the center is trying to generate student interests.

“The younger generation is not only going to be the victim of the result of climate change, but also the leaders,” Burton says. “It’s good to get them awake and aware today because change has to start now, not when it’s too late.”

For more information about the Center of Urban and Environmental Solutions, visit cuesfau.org

For more information about global warming, visit www.climatecrisis.net.