| Creating Awareness About the Climate Crisis With 350.org |
| Thursday, 03 September 2009 13:00 | Written by TC Brown | Blog Entry |
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I flipped on the Colbert Report the other night in time to catch him grilling Bill McKibben, an author and driving force behind the group calling itself 350, which I had never heard about. Essentially, 350 is an invitation to build a movement to address the looming climate crisis. It seemed made to order in light of my last blog urging more awareness and action about these issues. The number that is the group’s name refers to the parts per million of carbon dioxide that many scientists now see as a ceiling of safety that will allow the planet to continue to sustain life and civilization as we know it. The big problem right now, as McKibben pointed out to Colbert, is that we are already at 390 ppm and projected to climb higher without a sustained efforts on the part of all nations. That’s one reason the Arctic meltdown has been so rapid and violent these past two summers. That’s real “truthiness.” Colbert’s predictably snarky response to this warning was to proclaim “game over” and to recommend that we should all “have end-of-the-world sex right now.” As you will see from a visit to the 350 website, McKibben’s proactive ideas are much worthier. The thought is to make the number 350 visible worldwide through internationally linked local “actions” on October 24. That date is already recognized officially as United Nations Day and comes six weeks before world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to try to reach agreement on a new climate treaty. More than 1,000 communities from 100 nations have jumped aboard, and include the young, old, scientific, unscientific, athletic and even some of the rich and famous. The website offers a treasure trove of ideas for organizing a 350 gathering.
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I never thought I would write a blog that connects 
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