Candles on the steps of Moses Mabhida stadium spelt out 350 as Climate Impacts Day [May 5] drew to a close, sending the message: We must cut CO2 in the air [from its current level of over 392ppm] to 350ppm.
Started by students about five years ago, 350.org is a grassroots, non-profit movement that connects and builds awareness globally through social media to slow down and solve the climate crisis. Its name comes from what some call ‘The most important number in the world’: 350ppm which leading scientists, measuring gases in parts per million [ppm], say is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.
For thousands of years atmospheric CO2 was stable around 200ppm. It began to rise as the Industrial Revolution got under way around 250 years ago when the world started burning more fossil fuel: first coal in the 19th century, then oil in the 20th.
Climate Impacts Day win for Renewable Energy
Organised by local 350.org supporters, the event in People’s Park included a soccer match: Renewable Energy V Fossil Fuel, which Renewables won 3 – 2, plus the chance to see renewable energy in action on Greenpeace’s Solar and Wind Trailer. People could put dots on a big Mandala with artist, Dina Cormick, and take home curry leaf and pimento tomato seedlings to plant.
GLOBAL Day of Action
he event in People’s Park was only one of thousands happening round the world on Saturday May 5th when Climate Impacts Day launched the Join the Dots campaign.
This aims to get people to make the connection between human action and the effects of Climate Change – unreliable and more extreme weather, melting polar ice, glaciers leading to drying up of rivers, water and food insecurity, famine, biodiversity loss and worse.
The main cause of climate change is the overheating and polluting of the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels.
We raced past 350ppm in the late 1980s, are now around 392ppm and rising fast. If we are to put a brake on climate change so that our children and grandchildren can live in a relatively safe world, we need to break our addiction to fossil fuels and invest in non-polluting renewable energy.
We need to face up to the fact that earth is a finite planet, that we are living way beyond its capacity – and there is NO PLANET B
16 May 2012 | Events
