The U.S. House of Representatives Congressman representing the 7th district of North Carolina Mike McIntyre visited the campus Oct. 22 to speak with students from UNCW’s Environmental Concerns Organization about his plans to stop global warming.

“I want to share with you my concerns on global warming,” McIntyre said. “But more importantly, I want to get your ideas and concerns to take back with me to Washington for the start of the next session.”

The ECO club arrived early to set up a postcard petition. Instead of creating a regular petition, they decided it would be more effective to have hundreds of people sign post cards and display them around the room.

“We need sure he knows we would like to see strict legislation for the reduction of greenhouse gases,” ECO club officer David Pinsky said.

McIntyre answered as many questions as time would allow and shared his protective measures for the environment.

“I would like to cut down on gas emissions and to stop climate change in a practical way,” McIntyre said. “It is also extremely pertinent that the United States needs energy independence, in an environmentally sensitive way.”

McIntyre explained to students that passing legislation through congress is not as easy as one would think because of the different agendas each congress member may have.

“While the environment is a priority of mine it is not the priority of some of my fellow congress members, making it less feasible to pass legislation in congress,” McIntyre said. “We are making great strides to change this.”

While McIntyre was not able to answer all the questions the students wanted to ask, he encouraged everyone to further voice their concerns at his Wilmington office downtown.

“I enjoyed hearing him speak and it is good to know that someone is paying attention to the issues that we think are important,” an ECO club member said. “I think that Mike McIntyre does have some good ideas about legislation to help stop global warming.”