350 Updates

Eyes on Trinidad and Tobago

Anonymous
Posted by Anonymous - 04/14/09, 5:46am

Greetings from Trinidad, the larger island of the twin-island country of Trinidad and Tobago, which in a few short days will host the Fifth Summit of the Americas - a gathering bringing together the heads of state from countries throughout the Americas - President Obama, and PM Harper from Canada too.

Buried deep in the draft document from the Summit is an important call to action - "We commit to take the necessary steps to ensure the eventual stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will not incur a risk of serious changes in the Earth’s climate and weather systems."  We all know what that level is.  But whether this statement, number 40 in a long list of commitments, will receive any air time over the drone of the economic crisis, depends on us.

Just a few days ago, we put out a call to action to our friends and allies throughout the region to tell our leaders why we want action on climate change - and we've been flooded with passionate, personal pleas.  As Jose from Colombia wrote, "We believe that the consequences of the financial crisis will be nothing compared to the climate impacts in the event that we don't heed any of the warnings we see now."

I'm here with Mariama, Caribbean Field Coordinator with 350.org and our partner in the Caribbean, the Caribbean Youth Environment Network, and many passionate young people and students who are working locally to educate their peers and lobby their governments for change. We'll be here all week to ensure that these messages are heard loud and clear by world leaders and the media.  Send your message in today - and stay tuned!

 
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Taking Root: A Film About Wangari Maathai

Phil Aroneanu
Posted by Phil Aroneanu - 04/13/09, 2:38pm

UPDATE: If you live in the US, you can find local showtimes for the Taking Root world premiere at the PBS website.

I just sat in on a public discussion with Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai. Besides her commanding presence and infectious smile, a few things struck me about her. Along with Al Gore, she is among the world's best-known environmental luminaries, and yet she's been working on a community level for more than 30 years. How is it that a community activist can create change that resounds on a global level? Her answer was simple -- she listens to the people she works with, and teaches empowerment rather than victimization. Whether it is teaching rural Kenyan women to plant trees, as she's done with the Green Belt Movement, or highlighting climate solutions on every corner of the planet as we will do on October 24 of this year, the lesson is the same: Organizing our communities, empowering people around us to take action and hold our leaders accountable is the most important way we can lead the world into a safe, clean and just future.

 
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Two Conferences and an Award

Phil Aroneanu
Posted by Phil Aroneanu - 04/10/09, 3:07pm

We've been making noise about the 350 parts per million target for about a year now -- and if you've been following our blog, you'll know that we're making progress by leaps and bounds. Hundreds of thousands of people took action in their communities in 2008 in support of a strong and just climate agreement, and the world has been listening. We've been covered in the New York Times, Washington Post, Sydney Morning Herald, Toronto Star and featured on copious blogs worldwide, in every language. In Poznan, Poland and Bonn, Germany, 350.org delivered the message to UN negotiators, and delegates of small island states spoke of the 350 target in high-level meetings.

Because of all of our early success, and our innovative approach to engaging people all over the world, TreeHugger -- the premier green lifestyle blog -- awarded the 350.org campaign Best Way to Get Politically Active as part of their Best of Green Politics and Business. Here's what they had to say about 350.org:

 
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Already Past 350 Actions!

Will Bates
Posted by Will Bates - 04/09/09, 10:55am

Many of you might have gotten the email that Bill McKibben forwarded on from me while I was at the UN climate conference in Bonn, Germany last week, which ended just yesterday.  (If you don't get our emails, be sure to sign up for updates here: www.350.org/sign).  In that email we announced our home-made action counter on display within the conference space -- a way of communicating news of the growing movement outside the negotiating room walls to the negotiators inside.  We called for folks to register actions as soon as they could -- our hope being to have at least 350 actions on display by the time this round of negotiations was through.

And quite amazingly -- we did it!

As I write we're at 387 actions registered in 49 countries!  That is quite a start for the first 9 days after the official announcement of the day of action.  A HUGE thanks to everyone that has signed up so early.  And to anyone not signed up yet, no worries.  We definitely still have time.  This is just the beginning.

 
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How To Visualize Climate Change - Idea #4,379: DebateGraph

Anonymous
Posted by Anonymous - 04/08/09, 2:48pm

I'll admit it: I'm addicted.  My fix: discovering new ways to tell stories through innovative uses of visuals.

Most of the 350.org team shares this obsession.  We've realized: in a world shaped by YouTube and cell-phone cameras, static words on a page carry increasingly less weight.  So we often focus on the visualization. 

Some of our favorite examples are remarkably simple, like using photos to channel a political message (like we do with 350 or our last national campaign, Step It Up). Others are a bit more advanced—like our 90-second, wordless animation or the elegant use of infographics to explain complex topics.

Lately, I've been excited about non-linear presentations of information that allow users to explore topics at their own pace—and in their own way.  This is sort of a “choose your own adventure” method of presenting information. 

One tool I stumbled across today is DebateGraph, an amazing resource its developers describe as  “a wiki debate visualization tool.”  Their goal is noble: “to make the best arguments on all sides of any public debate freely available to all and continuously open to challenge and improvement by all.”

They're are “DebateGraphs” on all sorts of topics—from Peace in the Middle East to the Financial Crisis. You sort of have to see it to understand.  To that end, I've embedded the Climate Change Debate Graph below. 

From a scientific perspective, “the debate is over” about the existence of human-caused climate change.  That said, some of the more nuanced aspects of how to deal with it deserve a robust, public debate.  DebateGraph makes that debate easier—and more interesting.  Check it out:

 
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Green Long March '09 Kicks off in Beijing

Jamie Henn
Posted by Jamie Henn - 04/07/09, 12:12am

Check out this exciting update from 350.org’s leading partner in China, the Green Long March. They’ve just launched their 2009 campaign - and included 350.org in the kick-off event in Beijing! China is a key player in the international climate negotiations that will culminate in Copenhagen this December. We’re honored to have such an inspirational partner as the Green Long March working with us to celebrate environmental awareness in China.

Student volunteers from the “Green Long March” environmental movement launched a national youth action campaign to support China’s targets for reducing energy consumption and increasing renewable energy use today.

Over 8,000 youth environmentalists and their supporters gathered at Beijing Forestry University for the launch of the 2009 Green Long March, which featured performances and speeches by government officials, environmental experts and student leaders.

"We want to mobilize students to improve energy efficiency and to work with communities on alternative energy projects," says 21-year-old Green Long March student leader Tong Yu of Beijing Forestry University. "The Green Long March hopes to inspire youth across China to get involved in solving the climate crisis.”

 
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Addition to below...

Jeremy Osborn
Posted by Jeremy Osborn - 04/06/09, 5:27pm

And just so you don't think all we're doing here is sitting back and watching the action counter grow, here's a photo from an action we did with our friends at IndyACT and many of the international youth that are here in Bonn.

If the photo doesn't quite give the impression, let me clarify.  Everyone has to go through a security checkpoint to enter the negotiations.  Our star action crew rose early and taped out two pathways.  One led to the security check and had nice, big '350' signage.  The other had signage of "+350," and directed its followers to the exit.

Thanks to IndyACT for the creative inspiration, and a lot of the work too.

 
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Bonn Dispatch: Closing in on 350, People Asking Me What's Happening

Jeremy Osborn
Posted by Jeremy Osborn - 04/06/09, 4:51pm

The close of the first UN climate summit of the year happens in a few days.  I'm here in Bonn with our homemade action counter for October 24, telling government representatives and NGOs that the global movement is coming together in unprecedented ways in this historic year. 

If you saw our last email, you'll know that we're shooting for 350 actions by the end of these negotiations.  As I write this the counter is at 333 - and the closing session happens Wednesday.   So close!  Anyone care to make a wager?  I'll take bets at 350 to 1 that we can make it.

It's making a difference, too, and we're turning heads every time we've got to get up on our chair and pull the old numbers down off the wall...

 
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