2008-04-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

Nasa scientist Hanson warns the world must urgently make huge CO2 reductions

One of the world’s leading climate scientists warns today that the EU and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem.
In a startling reappraisal of the threat, James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, calls for a sharp reduction in C02 limits.

global350

2008-04-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Web of WorldWide Action
By 350 Organizing Team • April 15, 2008
We’re making a difficult pitch. “Take 350 and run with it.” Slightly awkward, given the huge, abstract, global proportions of the problem, matched against the tangible, on the ground jobs, hobbies, interests, chores, take-the-kids-to-football-practice kind of activities we do every day. But slightly awkward is the label only as long as you stand back and view things from afar. Views like, “Global warming doesn’t affect my daily life,” and, “I don’t really have anything to offer.” Those views are, well, wrong. Sorry. Global warming is now a reality in our daily lives – we can feel it in our jobs, our pocketbooks, our seasons and our connection to human suffering around the world. And you can help immensely – you have everything to offer, to help connect a global movement and to make our call for action a call that is larger than ourselves.
Our suggestion? Jump in. Big or small, long or short, political, educational, athletic, artistic, find your feet and start moving. Find friends to help you out. Find inspiration, too, from all the amazing work going on around climate change and 350. Already things are starting to move.

By Bill McKibben • April 13, 2008
In honor of the 1 year anniversary of our National Day of Climate Action, here is the e-mail that we sent to Step It Up supporters:
Dear Friends,
For hard-boiled political organizers, we’re basically nostalgic sentimentalists at heart, and so this week we’re thinking back with great fondness to last April 14, and the 1,400 demonstrations and rallies and events that you organized in all 50 states for the Step It Up National Day of Climate Action It was an awfully sweet day, with powerful results–not only was an urgent call to action issued from every corner of the country, but now it’s not uncommon to hear Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama echo your call for 80% Carbon Cuts by 2050.
And yet global warming continues, so we wanted to bring you up to date with where we are and let you in on the ground floor of our new effort: (more…)
350 is Making Headlines

By 350 Organizing Team • April 12, 2008
350 is starting to make the news already. The USA’s top climatologist Jim Hansen was on the front page of the Guardian for his proclamation that 350 is humanity’s target. Check it out below:
Climate target is not radical enough - Study Says
Nasa scientist warns the world must urgently make huge CO2 reductions
Monday April 7 2008
One of the world’s leading climate scientists warns today that the EU and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem.
In a startling reappraisal of the threat, James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, calls for a sharp reduction in C02 limits.
Hansen says the EU target of 550 parts per million of C02 - the most stringent in the world - should be slashed to 350ppm. He argues the cut is needed if “humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed”. A final version of the paper Hansen co-authored with eight other climate scientists, is posted today on the Archive website. Instead of using theoretical models to estimate the sensitivity of the climate, his team turned to evidence from the Earth’s history, which they say gives a much more accurate picture.