October 24: International Day of Climate Action
On that day they plan to conduct the "most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history" with rallies, banners on the Easter Island statues, underwater demonstrations, bike rides -- you name it, somewhere in the world someone is probably doing it on October 24th to raise awareness that we must act urgently to address the climate crisis.
The message of 350.org is that we must find ways to get the CO2 in the atmosphere down to 350 parts per million. We're hovering around 390 ppm, and scientists -- including the top NASA climate scientist James Hansen -- say that we have very little time to reduce this number.
The activity on October 24th is meant to send a message to politicians who will be participating in the climate talks in Copehagen (COP15) in December. The Climate Actions will be literally global -- there are registered events in hundreds of countries around the world, with more being added daily. The day was picked deliberately to be close enough to the talks to be influential, and far enough out to give politicians time to respond as a result of the actions.
350.org calls itself a platform rather than an organization, and they have an impressive list of over 200 "friends and allies" around the world, and you can read their website in 12 languages. It definitely demonstrates the idea that the atmosphere doesn't recognize national boundaries. We're all in this together!
Do you want to find an event, or organize one locally? Check out the FAQs on the 350.org site, including their 9 Step Organizing Plan.














