Take Back Our Future, an environmentally conscious student organization created just two weeks ago, will host a forum, or "teach-in," addressing numerous global warming concerns this weekend.

The event will be held in the Wisconsin Union Theatre on Earth Day, which will be observed tomorrow.

Ten UW undergraduate students from professor James Pawley's Zoology 220 class founded TBOF in hopes of increasing awareness of environmental issues.

UW freshman David Labedz, a TBOF student organizer, said he is "very excited" about the teach-in.

According to Labedz, the intention of the teach-in is to inform people on contemporary global-warming issues.

"The idea is that people can't take action if they don't know what the problem is," he said.

Pawley noted the importance of students learning about the effects of global warming from various perspectives.

UW professors of botany, atmospheric and space sciences, forest ecology and management, population-health sciences, zoology, limnology and business are all scheduled to sit on the forum to speak about how global warming relates to their particular fields.

"Global warming and the requirement to reduce energy use is going to change everything about life in America because to a tremendous extent, what we count as progress is evermore clever ways to use fossil fuels for our amusement and enjoyment," Pawley said. "We are going to have to do something else."

Pawley said the goal of the upcoming teach-in is the same as the overall mission of TBOF — to raise awareness of global warming "not as a problem, but the problem" that will linger for the rest of students' lives.

Pawley said he realizes the dangers of global warming may seem exaggerated to some, but noted it is a pervasive hazard because the problem stems from energy — which is used by nearly everyone.

"Society has gotten used to this binge that no matter what we think of, there will always be energy there to do it for us," he said.

Pawley continued to say energy will not always be abundant, which is why global warming needs to be addressed now.

Labedz agreed with Pawley's sentiments that too few people are concerned about global warming.

And the fact that the teach-in is being held on Earth Day holds even more significance for UW and the state as a whole, since former Wisconsin senator and UW professor Gaylord Nelson founded the holiday.

In September 1969, Nelson declared the inception of a grassroots environmental demonstration to take place the following year, and April 22, 1970 marked the first celebration of Earth Day.

In the same environmentally conscious spirit Nelson had in the 1960s, Labedz encourages students to attend the teach-in this weekend to raise awareness.

"You learn to be very concerned because you realize it is a huge problem," he said.