350.org
Encyclopedia
350.org is an international environmental organization
, headed by author Bill McKibben
, with the goal of building a global grassroots
movement to raise awareness of anthropogenic
climate change, to confront climate change denial
, and to cut emissions of one of the greenhouse gas
es, carbon dioxide
, in order to slow the rate of global warming
. 350.org takes its name from the research of NASA scientist James E. Hansen, who posited in a 2007 paper that 350 parts-per-million (ppm
) of CO2 in the atmosphere is a safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point
.
The group reports that they organised the world's "most widespread day of political action" on Saturday October 24, 2009, reporting 5,245 actions in 181 countries.
The organization was founded by author
Bill McKibben, an American
environmentalist
and writer
who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy
, and the need for more localised economies. McKibben promotes the organisation, for instance by writing articles about it for many major newspapers and media, such the Los Angeles Times
and The Guardian
.
The organising effort drew its name from climate scientist James Hansen's contention in winter 2008 that any atmospheric concentration of CO2 above 350 parts per million was unsafe. James Hansen opined that "if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm, but likely less than that." Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, rose by 2.3 parts per million to 389 ppm in 2010 from the previous year.
McKibben first started to organize against global warming with a walk across Vermont
, his home state. His "Step It Up" campaign in 2007 involved 1,400 demonstrations at famous sites across the United States. McKibben credits these activities with making Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
change their energy policies
during the presidential campaign. Later, the meltdown of the polar caps pushed him into starting 350.org, based on Hansen's 2007 book Climate Code Red.
Rajendra Pachauri, the U.N.
's "top climate scientist" and leader of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) has come out in favor of reducing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to 350 ppm. McKibben called news of Pachauri's embrace of the 350ppm target "amazing". Some media have indicated that Pachauri's endorsement of the 350 ppm target was a victory for 350.org's activism.
The organisation had a lift in prominence after founder McKibben appeared on The Colbert Report television show on Monday August 17, 2009.
The organisation disseminates its message through social networking sites such as Facebook
, Twitter
, and YouTube
.
campaign joined to help coordinate another global day of action which occurred on October 10th, 2010. The 2010 campaign is focused on concrete actions that can be taken locally to help combat climate change. Actions from tree-plantings to solar panel installations to huge electricity service-provider switching parties occurred in almost every country around the world.
meeting in December, 2009 (COP15). This was the first global campaign ever organized around a scientific data point. The actions organised by 350.org included gigantic depictions of the number "350", walks, marches, rallies, teach-ins, bike rides, sing-a-thons, carbon-free dinners, retrofitting houses to save energy, tree plantings, mass dives at the Great Barrier Reef
, solar-cooked
bake-outs, churches bell ringings, underwater cabinet meetings (Maldives
), and armband distributions to athletes. The organization reported that over 5,200 synchronized demonstrations occurred in 181 countries on the day.
, promoting the term "350", publishing adverts in major newspapers calling for the target level of carbon dioxide to be lowered to 350ppm, conducting polls on the subject of climate change, educating youth leaders, lobbying governments on the issue of carbon targets, and joining a campaign to establish a .eco
top-level domain
or "tld". In December 2009, the group petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set national limits for greenhouse gases using the Clean Air Act
, asking the agency to cap atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide at 350 parts per million.
, Bianca Jagger
, David Suzuki
, and Colin Beavan
.
1Sky
merged into 350.org in 2011.
Environmental organization
An environmental organization is an organization that seeks to protect, analyze or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation or lobby for these goals....
, headed by author Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben
William Ernest "Bill" McKibben is an American environmentalist, author, and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College...
, with the goal of building a global grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
movement to raise awareness of anthropogenic
Anthropogenic
Human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes impacts on biophysical environments, biodiversity and other resources. The term anthropogenic designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term was first used in the technical sense by Russian...
climate change, to confront climate change denial
Climate change denial
Climate change denial is a term used to describe organized attempts to downplay, deny or dismiss the scientific consensus on the extent of global warming, its significance, and its connection to human behavior, especially for commercial or ideological reasons...
, and to cut emissions of one of the greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
es, carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
, in order to slow the rate of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. 350.org takes its name from the research of NASA scientist James E. Hansen, who posited in a 2007 paper that 350 parts-per-million (ppm
Parts-per notation
In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo units to describe small values of miscellaneous dimensionless quantities, e.g. mole fraction or mass fraction. Since these fractions are quantity-per-quantity measures, they are pure numbers with no associated units of measurement...
) of CO2 in the atmosphere is a safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point
Tipping point (climatology)
A climate tipping point is a point when global climate changes from one stable state to another stable state, in a similar manner to a wine glass tipping over. After the tipping point has been passed, a transition to a new state occurs...
.
The group reports that they organised the world's "most widespread day of political action" on Saturday October 24, 2009, reporting 5,245 actions in 181 countries.
Origins
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Bill McKibben, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy
Alternative energy
Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....
, and the need for more localised economies. McKibben promotes the organisation, for instance by writing articles about it for many major newspapers and media, such the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
The organising effort drew its name from climate scientist James Hansen's contention in winter 2008 that any atmospheric concentration of CO2 above 350 parts per million was unsafe. James Hansen opined that "if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm, but likely less than that." Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, rose by 2.3 parts per million to 389 ppm in 2010 from the previous year.
McKibben first started to organize against global warming with a walk across Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, his home state. His "Step It Up" campaign in 2007 involved 1,400 demonstrations at famous sites across the United States. McKibben credits these activities with making Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
change their energy policies
Energy policy of the United States
The energy policy of the United States is determined by federal, state and local public entities in the United States, which address issues of energy production, distribution, and consumption, such as building codes and gas mileage standards...
during the presidential campaign. Later, the meltdown of the polar caps pushed him into starting 350.org, based on Hansen's 2007 book Climate Code Red.
Rajendra Pachauri, the U.N.
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
's "top climate scientist" and leader of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
(IPCC) has come out in favor of reducing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to 350 ppm. McKibben called news of Pachauri's embrace of the 350ppm target "amazing". Some media have indicated that Pachauri's endorsement of the 350 ppm target was a victory for 350.org's activism.
The organisation had a lift in prominence after founder McKibben appeared on The Colbert Report television show on Monday August 17, 2009.
The organisation disseminates its message through social networking sites such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, and YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
Goals
The 350 movement is treating the 350ppm cap as a rallying cry for a 2009 COP15 international treaty. 350 member Alec Appelbaum stated that "We need global compacts to enforce carbon caps, because emissions change the climate whether or not they come from regulated sources. But we also need ingenious businesses to make those caps meaningful. That’s true because no matter how severely we warp the climate, we have to go on living." The overall goal is to influence governments to adopt policies that would lower carbon dioxide emissions.10/10/10 Global Work Party
As a follow-up to 2009's International Day of Climate Action, 350.org and the 10:1010:10
Drono Acharya composed the film's songs and Ritam Sen, Sandip Chakrabarty, Padmanabha Dasgupta, Rana Basu Thakur and Rangeet wrote the lyrics.-External links:* IMDB Title* * *...
campaign joined to help coordinate another global day of action which occurred on October 10th, 2010. The 2010 campaign is focused on concrete actions that can be taken locally to help combat climate change. Actions from tree-plantings to solar panel installations to huge electricity service-provider switching parties occurred in almost every country around the world.
International Day of Climate Action
An "International Day of Climate Action" on October 24, 2009, was organized by 350.org to influence the delegates going to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...
meeting in December, 2009 (COP15). This was the first global campaign ever organized around a scientific data point. The actions organised by 350.org included gigantic depictions of the number "350", walks, marches, rallies, teach-ins, bike rides, sing-a-thons, carbon-free dinners, retrofitting houses to save energy, tree plantings, mass dives at the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
, solar-cooked
Solar cooker
A solar cooker, or solar oven, is a device which uses the energy of sunlight to heat food or drink to cook it or sterilize it. High-tech versions, for example electric ovens powered by solar cells, are possible, and have some advantages such as being able to work in diffuse light. However at...
bake-outs, churches bell ringings, underwater cabinet meetings (Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
), and armband distributions to athletes. The organization reported that over 5,200 synchronized demonstrations occurred in 181 countries on the day.
General activities
Apart from special events, 350.org organises actions on an ongoing basis to promote its message. These activities include tree plantings (350 trees in each instance) for biosequestrationBiosequestration
Biosequestration is the capture and storage of the atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by biological processes.This may be by increased photosynthesis ; by enhanced soil carbon trapping in agriculture; or by the use of algal bio sequestration to absorb the carbon...
, promoting the term "350", publishing adverts in major newspapers calling for the target level of carbon dioxide to be lowered to 350ppm, conducting polls on the subject of climate change, educating youth leaders, lobbying governments on the issue of carbon targets, and joining a campaign to establish a .eco
.eco
The name eco is a proposed top-level domain for the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its intended purpose is for Internet resources that address environmental or sustainability policy and related issues.-Prospective applicants:...
top-level domain
Top-level domain
A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a...
or "tld". In December 2009, the group petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set national limits for greenhouse gases using the Clean Air Act
Clean Air Act
A Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of airborne contaminants, smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...
, asking the agency to cap atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide at 350 parts per million.
Membership
350.org claims alliance with 300 organisations around the world and has enlisted "350 messengers" who have publicly allied themselves with the organisation or its goal to spread the 350 movement, including Archbishop Desmond TutuDesmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
, Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and model...
, David Suzuki
David Suzuki
David Suzuki, CC, OBC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001...
, and Colin Beavan
Colin Beavan
Colin Beavan is an American non-fiction writer and internet blogger noted for recording the attempts of his family to live a "zero impact" lifestyle in New York City for one year...
.
1Sky
1Sky
1Sky is a United States based campaign in support of federal action to stem global warming and promote renewable energy.1Sky was founded in the spring of 2007 when thirty climate campaigners were on a retreat in the Hudson Valley of New York state...
merged into 350.org in 2011.
See also
- 10:1010:10Drono Acharya composed the film's songs and Ritam Sen, Sandip Chakrabarty, Padmanabha Dasgupta, Rana Basu Thakur and Rangeet wrote the lyrics.-External links:* IMDB Title* * *...
(climate change campaign) - 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference2010 United Nations Climate Change ConferenceThe 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. The conference is officially referred to as the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 6th session of the...
- 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference2009 United Nations Climate Change ConferenceThe 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 December and 18 December. The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate...
- Air pollution reduction efforts
- Climate change mitigation
- Climate change policy of the United States
- Conservation (ethic)
- Environmental movementEnvironmental movementThe environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
- Individual and political action on climate changeIndividual and political action on climate changeIndividual and political action on climate change can take many forms, most of which have the ultimate goal of limiting and/or reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, toward avoiding dangerous climate change.-Political action:...
- List of environmental issues
- Politics of global warmingPolitics of global warmingThe politics of global warming have involved corporate lobbying, funding of special interest groups and public relations campaigns by the oil and coal industries which have affected policy decisions and legislation worldwide...
- Stern ReviewStern ReviewThe Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is a 700-page report released for the British government on 30 October 2006 by economist Nicholas Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and also chair of the Centre...
External links
- Official International Signup page, including English
- FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
350.org photo stream and more examples of activities. - Climate change: Global issue spurs global protest
- Climate Numerology: How Much Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Is Safe? in Scientific AmericanScientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
issue January, 2010 - Current level of CO2 in the Earth's Atmosphere