The subject is timely, the question is timeless and the options are the same as they ever were:

Global warming
What can one person do?

1. Disbelieve
2. Deny
3. Despair
4. Something

For those who answered D, Ken Marten's Friesen, political science and history faculty at Fresno Pacific University, presents a series of practical suggestions and a touch of historical context in this week's Scholars Speak.

Cell phones - they call, we answer. It's like living with a cat. Annoying and indispensable, do they say something about us beyond what each of us think is the best ringtone we can buy commercially to most capture our unique personality? Jay Pope thinks so, and shares it with the rest of us this week in Scholars Speak. Pope is a professor of psychology at Fresno Pacific University; a user of cell phones and an observer of the culture they define and encourage.

Milk, cream, ice cream, cheese—what's not to love about the bounty from dairy cows? Unfortunately, cows produce other products not sold in stores. Those creations circulate freely through the air, however, and can damage lungs if not contained and controlled. Fresno County needs to find ways to do just that, says Cynthia Ovando-Knutson in this week's Scholars Speak, and the time to speak out is now.

IM in MySpace, but you Digg YouTube? Del.icio.us! Let's Sykpe over to eBay. Don't get it? Ask your local teenager to find out just how bad those puns are. If all the multitasking going on around you is giving you a headache, you're not alone. Ken Martens Friesen sees it all every day in his classroom at Fresno Pacific University and gives us his take in this week's Scholars Speak.

So students don't read—so what? If anyone is hurt, it's just them, right? Wrong, according to this week's Scholars Speak. Richard Rawls, director of Fresno Pacific University's Hiebert Library and member of the history and philosophy faculty, has a whole list of people who suffer when students slack off in their reading, from classmates to taxpayers.

Air is the ultimate natural resource. Gender, class, age, skin color, political party have no bearing on who needs it or how much they need. So it just seems fair that everyone who breathes air has a role in making it and keeping it clean. Scott Key, FPU faculty member, explores what each of us can do in this week's Scholars Speak.

When it comes to education, plenty of people have questions, arguments and accusations. One thing all the critics have in common—all the problems in education are clearly someone else's fault! But what if we all have a role to play in educating our children? What if their success is our success, and their failure is our failure? Jo Ellen Misakian, interim dean of the Fresno Pacific University School of Education and veteran Valley educator, examines that unsettling thought in the week's Scholars Speak.

Valentine's Day. St. Valentine himself might scratch his head over all the romantic hoopla—roses, chocolate and diamonds, diamonds, diamonds—associated with his name, but this third-century Christian martyr would pull his beard to think of the modern-day cruelty involved in mining, cultivating and harvesting these symbols of love.

Scott Key illuminates the lesser-known heartlessness behind the heartfelt gifts and offers some alternatives this week in Scholars Speak.