Indiana ELS Hosts Global Warming Event

For Immediate Release
Contact: Jay Heeter, Environmental Law Society, 919-641-6903

Oscar-inspiring Presentation Open to Public

BLOOMINGTON, IN – Bloomington residents anxious to learn more about the increasingly important policy issue of global warming will soon get their chance. On Wednesday, March 21st at 7pm, Indiana University’s Whittenburger Auditorium in the Memorial Union will host local naturalist Jeff Riegel, one of the first fifty people in the world trained and licensed to give the presentation on global warming made famous by Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Evidence of America’s demand for information on and solutions to global climate change is mounting, from President Bush’s State of the Union address in January, to the ripples sent by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s February report, to, of course, Al Gore’s recent Oscar acceptance speech.


For years, many Hoosiers have been concerned about global climate change as an issue that endangers polar bears and coastal areas alike. Now it seems people are discovering that climate change’s effects are a threat to the way we live in Indiana, from the energy prices we pay to the crops we raise. That is why students at the Environmental Law Society have been working for several months to bring this event to Bloomington.

Jay Heeter, Environmental Law Society event organizer, explained, “Our farmers and industry in Indiana are learning that they can struggle with the effects of a changed climate or instead benefit from producing clean fuels from crops and installing wind turbines and solar facilities.” Heeter and other members of the IU Environmental Law Society are in Washington, D.C., this week for the convention of the National Association of Environmental Law Societies. Al Gore will be the convention’s key note speaker.



Mr. Gore has created an international organization called the Climate Project to help spread the word on what is happening with global warming and what we as individuals and citizens can do about it. The organization trains people like Mr. Riegel to give the original PowerPoint presentation that Mr. Gore himself used to present before becoming involved in presidential politics. Eventually, that presentation turned into the Oscar-winning film, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

A diverse group of student, community and faith organizations has banded together in Bloomington to carry the presentation’s message to people here. The show highlights solutions in personal, regional and national contexts and is expected to appeal not only to students but to everyone who is concerned about the environment and the effects it has on people locally and around the world. Many area churches and other groups have publicized the event to their members.



“We consider that we are called by God to care about Creation,” said Jack Skiles, Senior Minister at First United Church in Bloomington. “At the very least, we need to be reaching out to those for whom the environment is already running their lives, their livelihoods and their future. But we also recognize that we are slowly killing ourselves. We need to be concerned about global warming and all aspects of how we care for Creation.”

Rev. Dr. Lyle E. McKee, Pastor at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Bloomington, agreed. When asked why he thinks people of faith think that stewardship of the Earth is important, he said, “There are lots of ways to approach it. The easiest way is to say, ‘God made it and it’s holy. And so we need to take care of it.’”

The City of Bloomington has already taken steps to reduce the municipality’s global warming pollution. The Bloomington Commission on Sustainability (BCOS) was created by an ordinance of the Bloomington City Council passed May 4, 2005, and signed into law by Mayor Mark Kruzan the following day. The Commission is made up of members appointed by the Mayor and the Common Council and hosts a public comment period at the beginning of each of its biweekly meetings. The Commission’s Education Committee is helping to publicize the March 21 event. The next meeting of the Commission is scheduled for 6 pm on April 10th at Bloomington City Hall.

Indiana University, for its part, has created a Sustainability Task Force to study the University’s impact on global warming through its day to day operations. Task Force members will be invited to watch Mr. Riegel’s presentation on March 21. Ultimately, decisions on Indiana University’s power use and generation rest with the IU Board of Trustees and with the state legislature.



“Indiana University has a great opportunity to be a national leader in reducing our global warming footprint,” said Brett Kokot, member of the student organization Indiana Public Interest Research Group. “By adopting new technologies that save money and reduce pollution, we can set an example for other major universities to follow.”

Environmental Law Society (ELS), a student group at IU School of Law, is co-hosting the Wednesday night show with the Indiana Public Interest Research Group and the Indiana Memorial Union Board.

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Update: Over 200 people attended the March 21 event, most of them signing up for Action Alerts from the newly formed Indiana Coalition on Climate Change (ICCC).

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Jeff Riegel is the Director of BirdCountry.US, a new company (launched in January of 2006) that specializes in avian conservation, research, and education. In that capacity he does bird surveys in the Hoosier National Forest and is heavily involved in the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment in Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests in conjunction with Purdue University. He also coordinates numerous birding workshops, festivals and events such as Eagle Watch Weekend, the largest event of its kind in the state.

Before that, Mr. Riegel was an Interpretive Naturalist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for eleven years – nine at Lake Monroe and two at Harmonie State Park near Evansville. He is still the only naturalist in the history of IDNR to receive the Monarch Award for Excellence in Interpretation twice - once at Harmonie and once at Monroe. Mr. Riegel sits on the Board of Directors of the Sassafras Audubon Society and is nationally-certified as an interpretive guide by the National Association of Interpretation based in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Mr. Riegel and his fellow Climate Project classmates are known in Al Gore's world as the "First Fifty", so named because they were the first fifty people in the world to be trained and authorized to give this special presentation on today's climate crisis. Other classmates include Larry Schweiger, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation; Bill Bradbury, Oregon Secretary of State; country music star, Kathy Mattea; reigning Miss Rhode Island, Allison Rogers; and World Champion Extreme Skier, Allison Gannett. Of this diverse group, Mr. Riegel was the only Interpretive Naturalist in the country honored to be chosen as part of this elite group.

Mr. Riegel grew up in Brown County, Indiana, and spent about 15 years in Colorado before returning to Indiana in 1995. He moved to Bloomington and Lake Monroe in 1997.