by Heather Burns-DeMelo
It was difficult to ignore the collective buzz around the state Saturday, as groups of all sizes and compositions gathered together to express their creative vision and commitment to spreading the word that 350 ppm is the safe upper limit of CO2 in the atmosphere. Why is that the number? Click here to find out.
Politicians, world leaders, scientists and environmental groups will meet in Copenhagen in a mere six weeks to agree (we hope) on a climate policy that is clear, fair and binding. As it stands, 350 ppm is the number that is in the draft agreement. Today, our ppm is 386 and rising. This is a number we share with the entire planet -- that is, the United States, China, and Micronesia all must work together on a collective goal. It's no longer a case of pointing fingers or being able to seek out reprieve while others suffer: it's everyone's problem.
For many people, a random number that counts a gas we can't see is a bit of a stretch. But to thousands of people living and working in Connecticut, it represents the fact that climate change isn't just something we need to do something about in 25 or 50 years, it's something we must tackle TODAY.
Thanks to all of you who submitted photos of your creative, bold and inspiring events.
Shop Dava, New Haven
Photo: Coleen Campbell
Yale Forestry School students created this 350 Noah's ark from mostly
salvaged materials in front of Kroon Hall. Animals represented included
everything from the humble ant to the mighty giraffe to the beautiful
capybaras of South America and the polar bears made out of used Styrofoam
containers. Although 35 people are pictured here, the previous night, at
least 90 people turned up to help build the ark and the animals. We chose
this action in part because synagogues around the world happened to be
reading the Noah's Ark story in the Torah on Oct 24th, and in part because
climate change puts 15-37% of all known plant and animal species at the risk
of extinction by 2050. Photo: Grady O'Shaughnessy and Gabriel Mejias
Hundreds of people donning Bridgeport Sound Tigers/350.org t-shirts
walked onto the ice during the game's second intermission to make the
number in support of preserving this favorite winter sport. Photo: Rick Stieglitz
"350.org activists brave rain and heavy winds on the historic New Haven Green to
form a human 350, with the historic downtown churches and Yale College
Old Campus in the background." Photo: Vladimir Jankovic, New Haven
Independent. Background information: http://www.350.org/newhaven
David Bedell, Cristian Aldana, Natalie Johnson, Ted
Hanser, Jane Weston, and Richard Duffee.
Ferguson Library, downtown Stamford. For more information, contact Hector Lopez lopez_hector_l@sbcglobal.net
Whole Foods Market, West Hartford
A giant 350 on the roof of the Dolan School of Business at
Fairfield University was part of a larger project entitled "The Bird's Eye
View," which built a network of similar installations, globally. Photo credit goes to the Fairfield
Fire Department, who got up on a truck ladder to get our "bird's eye
view" shot, and Fairfield U students who put the installation together. For more information, click here.
Reality Check
by Heather Burns-DeMelo
I started this blog two years ago when I was gripped by fear--the paralyzing sort that came as a result of being shaken awake by numbers spiking off charts in Al Gore's documentary.
It was as if a bucket of ice cold water was splashed in my face, and I felt in my bones that every day I was selling my children a lie. A lie that our society can be run on fossil fuel indefinitely and without negative impact. A lie that they will always have clean water to drink and enough to spray on their children on hot summer days. A lie that the mattress and pillow they sleep on at night is safe to breathe. A lie that the food on the super market shelves is healthy and safe to eat.
All lies.
So, I've kept my nose so close to the grind stone that many days I'm afraid to look up. For when I do, what I see around me threatens the sense of hope I've worked so hard to instill and foster and grow in myself and those around me. Why hope? Because hope fuels courage and fights despair. It creates a space for creativity, innovation and compassion to blossom. And those, we need in spades.
In Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming, Barbara Kingsolver writes, "We abolished slavery, we granted universal suffrage. We have done hard things before. Each time it took a terrible fight between people who could not imagine changing the rules. If we run out of hope at the end of the day, we'll rise in the morning and put it on again with our shoes. Hope is the only reason we won't burn what's left of the ship and go down with it. If somebody says, "Your money or your life," you can say, "Life." And mean it."
Now that's perspective.
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