Ever wonder if what you’re doing for 350 day actually matters? As the chair of the Environment and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association pointed out in the New York Times yesterday, it’s probably on the short lists of things that do matter:
Here is a more extended comment from him on the challenges presented when an environmental problem is evolving at a pace inconsistent with what normally gets our attention:
"I think this is pretty endemic to the global warming issue. It is the slow incremental changes that are most important. If you follow the scientific literature, it has been very alarming all this year, starting with Dr. Field’s presentation back in February. But that is abstract knowledge, and it does not have the direct visual or emotive impact of seeing seabirds covered in oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It is going to be very hard to have an unambiguously global warming event that can lead to the type of citizen concern we saw over the Exxon Valdez, Love Canal, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, etc
It also doesn’t help that there are almost no grass roots mobilization efforts being carried out by national environmental groups over the issue of global warming other than 350.org. Insider political advocacy or advertising campaigns are not sufficient in themselves to increase issue salience. They need to be complemented by public demonstrations of concern."
We appreciate the nod in the NYT, and welcome all the groups and individuals who are helping to build the grassroots climate movement…