bristol, ri __ here at roger williams university, 17 students are working hard to create a catalog of videos on sustainability issues: this year, the topic is carbon footprint, and the team is finding curious and creative ways to illustrate that idea. one of our videos simply asks random people: “what is the carbon footprint?” we knew, before we asked, that many folks were confused about the reference. it wasn’t until we hit the streets of providence and — soon — boston that we discovered how confused americans really are about the issue. measuring carbon footprint and understanding its impact are new concepts to americans. what i think we need now is for someone to clearly explain how what we do and who we are as human animals can affect climate change on a global scale. of course there have been attempts, but the idea isn’t clear yet. i think planet forward is certainly a much needed source for that explanation. and my hope, as an educator, is that the work of these students at roger williams university will help clarify just a little of that confusion. as for now, the discussion has begun and soon, the team at roger williams university will present its body of work for your inspection and careful review. as for what we’ve learned along the way: it remains clear that americans are confused about the idea of measuring “our carbon footprint” but what was also abundantly clear to us was the fact that many of the people we asked were also rather eager to learn… and nothing could be more important than that. michael scully assistant professor roger williams university