Green Tip of the Week: No Melting

October 15, 2009

Question:  Why is the number 350 all over Fairfield campus?  And what’s happening on the School of Business roof?

Answer:  We’re joining an international team urging world leaders to keep the planet from melting.

Why 350?

The safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere is 350 ppm (parts per million).

Uh-oh.  Today CO2 (carbon dioxide) in our atmosphere is around 390 ppm and rising.  Way too high.  Danger zone.  We need to return quickly to below 350ppm, or the planet will melt.

Well, OK, climate experts don’t exactly say “melt” plain and simple.  They say,“We risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt,” according to 350.org.

That’s a lot of complex melting that feeds on itself and spirals out of control.

Here’s a nice clear article by Bill McKibben on Treehugger.   He calls 350 “the most important number on the planet.”

What’s The 350 Movement Supposed to Do?

Heighten global awareness, big-time.  Put worldwide pressure on the crucial United Nations Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen this December, 2009.

In Copenhagen, these world leaders will decide on a global treaty to cut carbon emissions, but their current draft treaty is too weak to reduce our CO2 to 350 ppm.  We need a treaty that will get the planet out of the climate crisis before those “tipping points” of melting are reached. The 350 Movement plans to push world leaders to act.

The International Day of Climate Action is October 24th. It will be the biggest public demonstration ever, as the 350 website explains:

Rallies and community events will spread across nearly every country on the planet.  There will be “ mountain climbers on our highest peaks with banners, underwater demonstrations in island nations threatened by sea level rise, churches and mosques and synagogues and ashrams engaged in symbolic action, star athletes organizing mass bike rides.”

Every event will emphasize the number 350.  The team website 350.org will assemble all the photos for a gigantic visual petition to the world leaders at Copenhagen.

This four-minute video shows some typical participants in this world movement.  Take a look.  It’s inspiring.

What Is Fairfield Doing?  What Can We Each Do?

We can donate our old bed sheets, rugs, blankets, and tarps in the next few days at the InfoDesk of the BCC.  Students and others on campus will be using them (and recycled materials) to build a network of art projects by October 21st, on top of the School of Business roof.

This art-project network will create the number 350, big enough for an aerial photograph.

This photograph, “The Bird’s Eye View,” will be taken on October 21st and delivered to the 350 team organizers on October 24th.

That means Fairfield will be part of the giant visual international petition on the Day of Action.

What else is being done on campus?  Draping dorm windows with “350” signs, writing 350 in washable chalk on campus sidewalks, and increasing everyone’s awareness of global warming in any imaginative way we can dream up.

We are grateful to Fairfield alumna Laura Marciano ’08, who brought this project to the university’s attention.  The Student Environmental Association (SEA) and the Green Campus Initiative (CGI) are sponsoring this project here.

By the way:

What about Fairfield University’s own greenhouse-gas emissions, which contribute to CO2 levels in the atmosphere?  Dana August, President of the SEA, is now working on the impressive job of cataloguing those emissions.  The results are notable.  More news about that in the next post.