by Alex Russell
350.
It’s a number that environmental activists around the world today hoped to inject into the minds of people in all nations for the International Day of Climate Action. At more than 5,200 events in 181 countries the message was clear—350. It’s a goal for all of us to remember, to keep in mind as we make all the small decisions that lead us into a future measured both in degrees and the will to take ownership as stewards of our planet.
Right now, the concentration of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere is 387 parts per million (ppm). This is not sustainable, and is resulting in the kind of climate change we ourselves are observing more drastically as the years progress, from the melting of arctic glaciers to the progressively more severe winters I did not expect when I moved to Seattle. The proof of climate change is all around us, and will be harder and harder to trivialize and argue away as Republican Tennessee Representative Marsha Blackburn did for Tavis Smiley on his Oct. 2 radio show.
The number 350 represents the ppm figure that climate scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. This doesn’t mean we’re lost since we’re past it and the number is still climbing. It means we have time and opportunity to steer things back in the right direction before the game is over. We’ve seen it before, with activism around the hole in Earth’s ozone layer during the Reagan 80s. While the hole in the ozone layer has not been closed, it’s in much better shape than it was before the 1987 Montreal Protocol stopped the use of chlorofluorocarbons in appliances and aerosols that cause the problem. This is an example of public pressure forcing government policy, and back then it helped us step away from much bigger problems. Now if we could just ratify the Kyoto…
The Christian Science Monitor reported also today, as part of its coverage of the 350 rallies around the world, that a Pew survey found fewer Americans believe there is solid evidence that the earth is warming. Is this really possible? It’s hard to imagine, given the mainstreaming of sustainability and green living—and you know something is well into the mainstream if major companies who really could care less are using it to sell their products (hence greenwashing). Maybe Pew missed the boat. Maybe they’re right. It makes no difference. We still have to make daily decisions that create a better world for ourselves.
