350 EARTH Press Release

 

26 November 2010

Contact: Jamie Henn, jamie@350.org, 1-415-601-9337

Amazing Photos from Global Climate Change Art Project

Satellite and Aerial Photos Now Available for Media (click here)

SAN FRANCISCO —  This weekend will be the culmination of 350 EARTH, a series of giant public art displays across the planet to help raise awareness about the climate crisis before the UN Climate Meetings begin in Cancun on Monday.

Each art installation is designed to be large enough to be visible from space and the majority of the projects are being photographed by satellites operated by a Colorado based company, Digital Globe. The satellites move at 17,000 miles per hour nearly 400 miles above the Earth, giving organizers a window of a few minutes to make sure their art installation is a success.

“Art can convey in a different way than science the threat that climate change poses to our planet,” said 350.org founder and environmental author Bill McKibben. “The world’s best scientists have tried to wake-up politicians to the climate crisis, now we’re counting on artists to help.”

Upcoming 350 EARTH events will take place in the Brazilian Amazon, Cairo and Broken Hill, Australia on Friday; and in Cape Town, Cancun, Reykjavik, and Brighton-Hove, UK on Saturday. 

Click on the links below for press information on each event:

In Brighton-Hove, thousands of people will form a human sculpture designed by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. The image is of the legendary King Canute who attempted to futilely control the oceans.

"The plan is to make images visible from the skies to remind those in Cancun that we are running out of time. We can't keep putting this off," Yorke wrote on the Radiohead website last week.

For more information on the Thom Yorke event in Brighton-Hove, click here.

350 EARTH is being organized by international climate campaign 350.org, whose name points to goal of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from its current level of 390 parts per million to below 350 ppm, what leading scientists agree is an acceptable upper limit.

The project began on November 20 with a human “flash flood” in Santa Fe, New Mexico and an artistic recreation of a young climate refugee’s face in Delta de Ebro, Spain. Following events included a Solar Eagle taking flight in Los Angeles; a “Cool Roof” mural in New York City; a giant green footprint in Vancouver; an organic farm planted in the shape of a “350” in Texas; a sinking home on the beaches of the Dominican Republic; a human hurricane in Mexico City; and an enormous elephant in New Delhi.

“The first pictures of Earth from space helped launch the modern environmental movement,” said McKibben. “We hope these art pieces can help spark a new movement to solve the climate crisis. Art is not a substitute for political action, but it can help build a public movement that can begin to apply real pressure.”

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More information on 350.org and DigitalGlobe:

350.org uses the internet and creative campaigns to build a grassroots climate movement across the planet. Over the last two years, the campaign has organized more than 15,000 events in 188 countries. 350.org is named after the goal of reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere from its current level of 390 parts per million to below 350 ppm, what scientists say is the safe upper limit for the planet. 350.org was founded by American writer and environmentalist and a team of college friends in 2008.

DigitalGlobe is a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution earth imagery products and services. DigitalGlobe’s advanced satellite constellation provides insight and support for a variety of programs related to environmental monitoring, civil agencies, mapping and analysis, infrastructure management, and Internet portals and navigation technology. Countries around the world use DigitalGlobe’s imagery to track and manage natural resources, prioritize infrastructure projects, and mitigate the environmental impact of development. DigitalGlobe’s daily documentation of the Earth provides insight into the changing environment, from natural disasters to glacial change and composition, to the health of vegetation and crops, and to the effects of deforestation.