PARIS – Eighty-five freshmen students are spending this month immersed in an in-depth study of the science and politics of global warming and overpopulation.

Their task: to assess the evidence and state their position for or against United Nations Resolution 2025, which demands that all nations take immediate action to curb the use of natural resources and limit population growth.

The project, funded by a $2,000 Maine Community Foundation grant, led off with a hands-on workshop presented last week by the Chewonki Foundation of Wiscasset, a nonprofit environmental education organization.

The Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School freshmen also will hear from volunteers from the Western Maine Citizens for Clean Air & Water about the cumulative negative effects of chemical pollution on the planet.

A grant summary for the project, which also includes video presentations and readings on global warming and overpopulation, “has been designed to show how some of the questions we face now, and in the future, require many different sources of information and skills to answer.”

The students will have to present their findings at a debate and presentation by the end of April.