350 – Climate Interactive

Bill McKibben’s Guardian UK Article Features Climate Interactive

The following is Bill McKibben’s article on the Copenhagen summit, which discusses the importance of numbers in the climate negotiations and Climate Interactive’s role in producing them. Find the latest numbers on the Climate Scoreboard.

Copenhagen: Only the numbers count – and they add up to hell on earth
Climate Interactive’s software speaks numbers, not spin – which is where the true understanding of the Copenhagen summit lies

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 December 2009 11.17 GMT

The Bella centre is a swirl of chatter, the streets of Copenhagen are a swirl of protest. Depending on what hour you listen to the news bulletin, the UN climate negotiations have “come off the rails” or are “back on track” or have “stalled” or are “moving swiftly”. Which is why the only people who really understand what’s going on may be a small crew of folks from a group of computer jockeys called Climate Interactive. Their software speaks numbers, not spin – and in the end it’s the numbers that count. Continue reading →

December 16, 2009December 16, 2009 by fanninga Categories: Media coverageTags: 350, 350.org, Bill McKibben 4 Comments

Burlington Vermont Day of Climate Action

bethburlington

This Saturday I had great fun participating in Burlington, Vermont’s contribution to the International Day of Climate Action. Here are a few pictures and the text of the speech I gave:

Welcome to the celebration!

Today, October 24^th, 2039 marks the thirtieth anniversary of a historic day. Historians agree that October 24^th was the day when world’s people came together for the first time to declare a goal for the amount of CO₂ in our shared atmosphere – 350 parts per million.

I was there on Oct 24^th, 2009 – on a rainy afternoon at City Hall Park in Burlington Vermont. I know many of you were there as well.

As the world’s governments prepared to meet for the 15^th time since 1992 – this time in Copenhagen – to try to agree to a climate treaty strong enough to prevent dangerous global warming, the people of the world took matters into their own hands.

Continue reading →

October 26, 2009October 27, 2009 by bethsawin Categories: Analysis, Media coverage, Project newsTags: 350, 350.org, Beth Sawin, Burlington, climate change Leave a comment

350 Day of Climate Action In Asheville NC USA

Okay, so some of the other “human 350″s in the other 5000 events were a little clearer. But the Asheville, North Carolina, USA crowd was spirited and much bigger than we expected.

Hundreds gathered to support aiming towards a goal of 350 ppm for CO2 in the atmosphere.

I gave an 8 minute speech on a theme I’ve picked up from Beth Sawin and Peter Senge — the gift of climate change. IE, all the important things we are doing to address climate change that happen to be a good idea anyways (e.g., getting off of oil and coal, saving money, eating better, cooperating internationally, slowing down).

Mayor Terry Bellamy and City Councilman Brownie Newman talked about all the City of Asheville is doing to save energy. And UNC Asheville student and Sustain US youth delegate-to-Copenhagen Ellie Johnston tugged at our heart strings talking about what we can do for the 3 billion people on Earth who are under 24.

October 25, 2009October 25, 2009 by apjones Categories: Project newsTags: 350, 350.org, Asheville Leave a comment