Day Of Action

Yesterday was the International Day of Climate Action, a day when activists and citizens around the world got together to call attention to the number 350. 350 is the ceiling established by James Hansen for parts per million of C02 in the atmosphere. Beyond that the web that holds our biosphere, our life-support system, together could begin to collapse like a sand castle in a rainstorm. We are currently around 385ppm. Decisive and aggressive action is needed to bring that number down over the next few decades.

More often than not, protests don't amount to much. The participants, if they're covered in the media at all, are generally painted as destructive loonies out to disrupt the civil and normal order of things. Which is partially true -- there's no change if the norm isn't disrupted. But most such actions are ignored or downplayed, the participants marginalized, and they never get legs. This one was different.

There were roughly 5200 actions in over 180 countries around the world. In one action, thousands upon thousands of people, worldwide, simultaneously used various and creative ways to call attention to the 350 threshold. For a time yesterday it was the most talked about news story on the planet. It was on the front page of the NY Times and on every network and newswire. The media had no choice -- it was simply too big to ignore.

Kudos to Bill McKibben, 350.org, and all the other groups and individuals who organized this and opened many eyes to what we're facing and what we need to do in the upcoming years. Maybe it even reached those insulated and elite ones, the world leaders, who are gathering in Copenhagen in December, and will give added impetus to hammer out a gutsy agreement that will spell out the bold and aggressive action needed to deal with the growing menace of global warming. Time will tell.

You can see much more about yesterday's actions here at 350.org.