At 7 p.m. last Tuesday evening, over 90 students filed into the Cyber Café on the first floor of the Josef Korbel School for International Studies. After mingling and enjoying complimentary tea and cookies, the students settled in to be taught something. All of these people voluntarily arrived on a Tuesday night to listen to a panel of experts discuss the issue of water sustainability.

Teach In Tuesdays, started by last year by junior biology and chemistry major from Centennial Daniel Powell in collaboration with LLC coordinators and PhD candidates Hanna Kadlec and Catherine Orsborn. Their purpose is to inform students about various local and global issues that need attention. Past issues have included modern day slavery, energy economics and natural resource management.

Last Tuesday’s was the most attended Teach In thus far and included a screening of the documentary “Blue and Gold: World Water Wars,” and a panel of water experts who discussed the scarcity of water, the uneven distribution of water and other time sensitive, water related concerns.

Powell gave an introduction urging students to be proactive and get involved. The Teach In moved on to the screening of the film, which gave an overview of water issues around the world followed by a panelist discussion.

The five panelists included Dr. Matthew Taylor, an associate professor in the Department of Geography who has worked on human-environment relationships in Latin America, Sam Schabacker, the Mountain West Region Director for Food & Water Watch, Matt Bond, the Community Relations, Marketing and Youth Education at Denver Water, Dr. Robert Uttaro, professor of International Studies at Korbel and Kristin Schmitt, a recent DU graduate working with Water for People.

The panelists discussed water rights, pollution and water scamming.

Teach In Tuesday’s are held twice a quarter on a variety of subjects and are announced on their Facebook page.