Since this is my 350th post on elrst.com, I thought it is the perfect timing to focus on the global initiative due to mitigate climate change called 350.
This number refers to the amount of carbon dioxide parts per million (PPM) we shouldn’t go over. We are currently at 387 but it is still time to reverse the trend and go back to the safe levels.
After the We and Together projects and the Défi pour la Terre, it is one more initiative. I hope all this will make people act globally on climate change mitigation.
Here is the short video presenting the project :
If you want to join, please check their official website.
I think it’s a bad idea.
Not one person in one hundred will know what “350” actually means, or what CO2 concentration we’re at now, or the difference between CO2 concentration and effective concentration in greenhouse gas terms (the methane et al makes it higher than the CO2 alone, while the aerosols make it lower), nor would they have any clue how X billion tonnes of CO2 turn into Y concentration of CO2 added, and so on.
It’s much better to focus on concrete goals, things like 50% renewable energy by 2025, 50% of trips taken to be by foot or cycle by 2015, close down all coal-fired stations by 2018, or whatever. We can have a particular end goal of 350ppm or whatever, but simply running around shouting “350!” will do nothing. Okay, let’s say the world is overnight universally aware of the number “350”, and its importance. What now? What do we actually do?
Projects like this are popular because they don’t call on people to actually do anything, yet give them the warm glow of achievement – forming “350” from a human chain for a photograph from a helicopter, that sort of nonsense. It’s slacktivism.
Some years ago when I was in NZ I was in a Red Cross Emergency Response Unit. It was just for major disasters, so we were never called out, but we practiced and trained a lot, and I was taught – in a disaster situation, most people will stand around getting in the way, and eventually panic. You have to give them something to do – “You, call the ambulance, and you, guide traffic around us, and you, hold this bag” – and so on. You most certainly don’t just tell them to keep a number in mind.
Sorry for answering only tonite Kyle.
I agree with you on 350. As a matter of fact, I only did an article on them as it was my 350th post. Just a white stone day ( I think you say that like this… )
Anyway, thanks for your comment and for keeping on reading me ! 🙂