Congratulations to our allies at the National Teach-In, a U.S.-based campaign facilitating dialogued on climate solutions. One week ago today, hundreds of campuses hosted educational events about climate change. We took part in a local teach-in, at San Francisco State University, and spoke on a panel about international climate policy with our friends at Global Exchange, the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The attached photo is from another Teach-In, sent to us by 350 organizers at Ithaca College in New York.  They encouraged participants to affix their own commitments to stopping climate change onto the poster with a '350.' Well done!

Below is a guest blog from Aaron Packard, a star organizer for 350 in New Zealand.  Aaron's been working hard to build the movement--starting in his hometown and scaling up from there.  Here is his (slightly belated) action report.  The summary: 5000 people + bands + scavenger hunts + climate action = absulutely awesome.  Good on ya Aaron and everyone else who helped!

350 Aotearoa: New Zealand’s part in the climate movement

By Aaron Packard 

The politics of climate change in New Zealand is a polarised shambles.

We’ve had a failed carbon tax and now the Emissions Trading Scheme is under a complete review – before it even got off the ground! For a while the new government was going to do a review of climate science to see whether climate change is real or not. But thankfully they thought better of it.

Some people feel that NZ shouldn’t bother doing anything because our annual emissions of CO2 are just 0.12% of the global total. But when you compare that to our population (4.2 million) as a percentage of the total world population – 0.06%, it shows that New Zealanders emit twice the global average per capita of CO2. And that does not even count methane – the source of half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions (mainly from burping cows).  

So it was in this context that 350 Aotearoa (Aotearoa is the Māori word for New Zealand) was established in the lead up to the 350 Climate Action Festival  on the Global Day of Action on Climate Change, Dec 6th 2008. About 5000 people came down to the Festival to celebrate action on climate change and to be inspired by the bands, stalls, scavenger hunt, community area, children’s area, frocks on bikes and more. We have just released a couple of short videos from the festival that offer a snapshot of the action. Check them out on our website: www.350.org.nz. 

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Check the video below, and make sure to check the full post here

The few drops of rain falling outside of our San Francisco 350.org office won't bring much relief from the drought that's plaguing California.We're used to hearing scientists warn that with increased global warming, many parts of the world will face the risk of extreme drought. I didn't think they were talking about 2009.

As early as 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon drew the connection between global warming, drought, and the conflict in Darfur. "The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change," he told the world.

Now, China is facing one of its worst droughts in recent memory. Reuters reports on the severe drought hitting central and northern China: "The national Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief declared a 'level 2' emergency, calling it a 'severe drought rarely seen in history." The drought isn't just endangering food supply. According to Bloomberg News, the stress placed on poultry by the lack of water increases the risk of bird flu spreading throughout the food chain.

Here in California, there might not even be a food chain for much longer. The new US Secretary of Energy, Stephen Chu, recently warned that if global warming continued unabated, 90 percent of the snowpack could disappear, virtually wiping out California's vast agricultural networks. "I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," he said.

That's where you come in. Over the next year, we need to work together to wake-up the public all over the world. With drought occuring all over the world at 386 parts per million, the need to lower carbon to 350 is more evident than ever.