350 Global Warming-Related Events – October 24, 2009

http://www.350.org/invitation

Dear  World,

This is an invitation to help build a movement–to take one day  and use it to stop the climate crisis.

On Saturday October 24, we  will stand together as one planet and call for a fair global climate treaty.  United by a common call to action, we’ll make it clear: the world needs an  international plan that meets the latest science and gets us back to  safety.

This movement has just begun, and it needs your  help.

Here’s the plan: we’re asking you, and people in every country on  earth, to organize an action in their community on October 24. There are no  limits here–imagine bike rides, rallies, concerts, hikes, festivals,  tree-plantings, protests, and more. Imagine your action linking up with  thousands of others around the globe. Imagine the world waking up.

If  we can pull it off, we’ll send a powerful message on October 24: the world  needs the climate solutions that science and justice demand.

It’s often  said that the only thing preventing us from tackling the climate crisis  quickly and equitably is a lack of political will. Well, the only thing that  can create that political will is a unified global movement–and no one is  going to build that movement for us. It’s up to regular people all over the  world.   That’s you.

So register an event in your community  for October 24, and then enlist the help of your friends. Get together with  your co-workers or your local environmental group or human rights campaign,  your church or synagogue or mosque or temple; enlist bike riders and local  farmers and young people. All over the planet we’ll start to organize  ourselves.

With your help, there will be an event at every iconic place  on the planet on October 24-from America’s Great Lakes to Australia’s Great  Barrier Reef–and also in all the places that matter to you in your daily  lives: a beach or park or village green or town hall.

If there was ever  a time for you to get involved, it’s right now. There are two reasons this  year is so crucial.

The first reason is that the science of climate  change is getting darker by the day. The Arctic is melting away with  astonishing speed, decades ahead of schedule. Everything on the planet seems  to be melting or burning, rising or parched.

And we now have a number  to express our peril: 350.

NASA’s James Hansen and a team of other  scientists recently published a series of papers showing that we need to cut  the amount of carbon in the atmosphere from its current 387 parts per million  to 350 or less if we wish to “maintain a planet similar to that on which  civilization developed.”

No one knew that number a year ago-but now  it’s clear that 350 might well be the most important number for the future of  the planet, a north star to guide our efforts as we remake the world. If we  can swiftly get the planet on track to get to 350, we can still avert the  worst effects of climate change.

The second reason 2009 is so important  is that the political opportunity to influence our governments has never been  greater. The world’s leaders will meet in Copenhagen this December to craft a  new global treaty on cutting carbon emissions.

If that meeting were  held now, it would produce a treaty that would be woefully inadequate. In  fact, it would lock us into a future where we’d never get back to 350 parts  per million-where the rise of the sea would accelerate, where rainfall  patterns would start to shift and deserts to grow. A future where first the  poorest people, and then all of us, and then all the people that come after  us, would find the only planet we have damaged and degraded.

October 24 comes six weeks before those crucial UN  meetings in Copenhagen.   If we all do our job, every nation will  know the question they’ll be asked when they put forth a plan: will this get  the planet back on the path to 350?

This will only work with the help  of a global movement-and it’s starting to bubble up everywhere. Farmers in  Cameroon, students in China, even World Cup skiers have already helped spread  the word about 350. Churches have rung their bells 350 times; Buddhist monks  have formed a huge 350 with their bodies against the backdrop of Himalayas.  350 translates across every boundary of language and culture.   It’s  clear and direct, cutting through the static and it lays down a firm  scientific line.

On October 24, we’ll all stand behind 350–a universal  symbol of climate safety and of the world we need to create.   And  at the end of the day, we’ll all upload photos from our events to the  www.350.org website and send these pictures around the world.   This  cascade of images will drive climate change into the public debate–and hold  our leaders accountable to a unified global citizenry.

We need your  help-the world is a big place and our team is small.   Our crew at  350.org will do everything we can to support you, providing templates for  banners and press releases, resources to spread the word, and tools to help  you build a strong local climate action group.   And our core team  is always just a phone call or e-mail away if you need some  support.

This is like a final exam for human beings. Can we muster the  courage, the commitment, and the creativity to set this earth on a steady  course before it’s too late? October 24 will be the joyful, powerful day when  we prove it’s possible.

Please join us and register your local event  today. Click to both  —

http://www.350.org/oct24

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/602/t/4180/event/index.jsp?event_KEY=50242