What is Amherst 350?
The Amherst 350 Committee formed to bring about an event on October 24th 2009 on the Amherst Town Common. We made plans for a dramatic event on that International Day of Climate Action! When October 24 came, it rained, but in spite of that the event was a great success. When the folks at 350.org called for a global day of action on 10/10/10 we had a great event at Puffer’s Pond. When the call went our from 350.org to organize events for Moving Planet Day, 9/24/2011, we did that too!
We formed a Google Group, mostly for its use as an email listserv. Join us!
What does 350 signify?
Read “Why 350?”, a Letter to the Editor by Anne Perkins of the Amherst 350 Committee.
What is in the number 350? Why has it become an important number for us to recognize? Because Dr. James Hansen, the NASA researcher who first raised the alarm about global warming, has determined that 350 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the earth’s atmosphere is the number that represents safety. In order for the earth as we know it to survive, atmospheric levels of CO2 must come back down to 350 ppm. The current number is 391 ppm, and climbing.
To quote Dr. Hansen: “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.” (350.org)
Here’s Bill McKibben, describing 350 in 350 seconds:
At 350.org a call has gone out all over the world, calling on people to have demonstrations-festivals-teach-ins-dramas-events on October 24th, coordinated in countries all over the globe, to urge and demand that when the world’s leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to reach agreement on a new climate treaty, we need them to go farther than they’ve planned to go: we need to make sure they’ll pay attention to the latest science and put forward a plan that gets us back to safety.
Our Goals
Initially our primary goal was to plan and carry out a lively, inspiring, and memorable event on the Town Common of Amherst on Saturday, October 24, 2009, that draws 500 people, attracts widespread media attention, and sends a clear message to world leaders, most immediately Senator John Kerry: the solutions to climate change must be equitable, grounded in science, and meet the scale of the crisis. Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in Earth’s atmosphere must be reduced to below 350 parts per million, the stable and safe upper limit for the world’s people, creatures, and future generations. We had a wonderful event. Now we are going on! After 10/10/10 we were quiet for a while, but when the call for Moving Planet Day (9/24/11) went out we got going again!
Secondarily, we hope to also
- create a sense of urgency and possibility about the climate crisis;
- inspire participants both to take further individual actions (e.g. change light bulbs, ride bicycles, etc.) and also to join and support local groups working to build a more sustainable future (e.g. Pioneer Valley Climate Coalition, Transition Towns, Coop Power, Springfield Area Energy Association, Relocalization, RideBuzz, CISA, local land trusts, etc.).