What Will You Do for Climate Change? 350.org and the International Day of Climate Action

GREEN IS GOOD
by Margaret Smith

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun! 

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun!

Wednesday morning, eight o'clock am. My alarm rings.

After staying up and doing homework until about 2 am, getting myself out of bed was hard. I have to be at BuzzFlash headquarters by 9:30, though, so slowly I peel myself up from under the covers and complete my morning ritual: turn on my computer, quickly go to the bathroom, and then come back out to check the weather so I can get dressed for the day.

Rubbing the morning grime off my eyes, I sit down in front of my Mac and hit F3, pulling up the menu that will automatically tell me what it's like outside. The little sun that pops up the screen tells me it's currently 65 degrees outside, with a high of 72 and a low of 57.

Wait. Hold on a second.

Does that say 65 degrees? With a high of 72? At the end of October?!

Well, that sure woke me up.

Later on that day, I logged in to both Facebook and Twitter. Sure enough, everybody I knew in Chicago was ecstatic about the nice weather. "Enjoying the Chicago weather!" "I would actually like fall if it were 70 degrees all season like it will be today." "Um... 64 out?! Yes."

My thoughts, however, were much different. It was beautiful outside, and I was worried. In my opinion, it probably shouldn't be 65 to 70 degrees outside at the end of October, and I could only think of one culprit: climate change.

Truth be told, this weather isn't ridiculously out of the ordinary for this time of the year. According to local weatherman Tom Skilling, a 70-degree high has occurred in 136 of the last 138 Octobers, about 98.6 percent of the time. And warm temperatures are due to a number of different factors, including warm fronts, cold fronts and the effect of El Nino and La Nina.

With the temperatures we've seen in the past couple of years, though, it's still easy to get scared. For example, while the record high in Chicago for the month of October is still set at 94 degrees (Oct. 6, 1963), since 2000 the city has seen a number of 80-degree days. Since the beginning of the new millennium, the record high is 87 degrees from Oct. 4, 2005. In the middle of last October we also saw an 86-degree day, though, and no one can forget the mini-late-season heat wave of October 2007 that left runners fainting during the Chicago marathon.

And it's not just Chicago. Statistics show that temperatures are rising all around the world, and the result is causing more destruction than we ever thought possible.

Something's not right, and it's time we do something about it.

This December, world leaders will be gathering in Copenhagen for the United Nation's Climate Change Conference to discuss what can be done on an international level in order to save the planet. No significant plan of action has been presented yet, though, and with less than two months left until negotiations begin, it's time to start getting worried.

That's where 350.org comes in.

The not-for-profit was founded by environmentalist and journalist Bill McKibben -- who's accredited with writing the first book on climate change for the general public, The End of Nature -- in order create an understanding of where we need to head as a planet. The organization's name stands for the number of parts per million scientists have recently identified as the safe limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, we've already passed that level (the world's at 390 right now), but that doesn't mean we can't get there. And that's what 350.org is here to say.

To spur grassroots action on climate change, the organization has launched the International Day of Climate Action. This Saturday, Oct. 24, people in 170 countries around the world will be participating in more than 4,000 events (rallies, protests, demonstrations, etc.) in order to demand that leaders at the conference take decisive action on climate change this December. According to 350.org, the result will be "the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history."

So far, the response to the International Day of Climate Action has been overwhelming. The organization has already been receiving videos and photos of support from as far as South Africa, the Maldives and Ecuador. On the 24th, 350.org will also be posting all the pictures of events that are sent in on their Web site in order to create a visual petition to call for action on climate change.

It's not too late to get involved, though. Using 350.org's action map below, search for an event near you.

After all, if people later ask you "What did you do to prevent climate change?", what will you have to say?

GREEN IS GOOD