350 Skit

Project Overview: A short street-theater/movement exercise designed to help reach out and teach people about 350. 

Location: Anywhere Public (Parks, Shopping Malls, Schools, or performed at your event on Oct. 24th) 

Materials: None (Costumes Optional) 

People: 1 Narrator (can be divided into different narrator parts)

             Chorus members/animals (any amount)

             [Great activity for young kids.] 

Project Description: We can track human “progress” as we track CO2 quantities in the atmosphere. This exercise has participants act out various activities associated with each time period (farming, industry, etc.), as the corresponding CO2 level is called out. Throughout the performance, in the background, there is someone who continually calls out CO2 levels.

 

Narrator: Long ago, the plans and the animals came to an agreement. The plants said: 
Chorus (acts like plants): We will produce enough oxygen for you to breathe.

Narrator: and the animals said:

Chorus (acts like animals): “we will produce enough carbon dioxide for you to breathe”.

Narrator: And so a balance was established, and together they kept carbon dioxide, or CO2, levels steady in the atmosphere at around 275 parts per million. This period lasted 200,000 years – spanning ALL of human history, from the time of cave-men and cave-women (chorus acts like cave-people), through the domestication of animals (chorus acts like domestic animals), through the development of agriculture (chorus acts out farming, planting, sowing, etc), even until the development of cities and traffic (chorus continues acting out sustainable practices, perhaps with a horse and cart traffic jam).

  All this time, humans helped to keep the earth in balance, and kept CO2 levels at 275 parts per million, for….

Chorus: 200,000 years!

Narrator: Then….

Chorus: ALL, THAT, CHANGED.  

Narrator: People wanted more power than they were getting from their plants and animals. So they started digging up power from inside the earth. (Chorus starts mining). And they started burning it (chorus starts shoveling into imaginary furnace). They used this energy to power their new machines (Chorus forms train) that could move things faster and make things quicker than ever before. (Chorus speeds up, acts out factory, steamship, etc.).

Chorus: And the CO2 levels in the atmosphere started going up!

Narrator: This started with the “industrial revolution” around the mid-1800s. (Chorus acts out industrial revolution.)

[Counter begins to count and continues throughout piece. This could also be written continuously on a chalkboard. 275, 276, etc. (you will have to experiment to get the timing/pace right].

Narrator: But even with all this new power, the humans still weren’t satisfied.

Chorus: Power! We want more power!

Narrator: So they started pumping energy out of the ground too (chorus begins pumping, some continue with industrial revolution actions).  And burning that too! (chorus can start pumping gas into imaginary cars, traffic begins to build). Now burning all that energy was producing tons and tons of CO2, and the plants couldn’t keep up (some chorus members act like trees and start panting), so the balance was lost. And CO2 levels in the atmosphere went up

Chorus: and up! And up!

Narrator:  (Some Chorus members still acting like trees). On top of all that burning, the humans started cutting down HUGE quantities of trees and forests (Chorus breaks out imaginary chainsaws and cut down trees).  

[The skit can start getting loud and cacophonous. Volume of background noise should build so the counter has to speak louder and louder to be heard]. 

Narrator: The animals just didn’t understand...

  [This is a great place for costumes/silly accents to come in.]

Animal 1: I just don’t understand

Animal 2: Are the humans crazy?

Animal 3: I don’t think this is a good idea.

Animal 4: It’s getting hard to breathe. (All animals leave coughing) 

Narrator: Now the earth was seriously getting out of balance. CO2 levels were rising faster than ever before! The world was changing, and with it – the weather was changing. Hurricanes (chorus becomes hurricane) were getting more severe, and some places were getting no rain (chorus wilts/looks for water), and some places were getting WAY TOO MUCH water (chorus swims around). Life was getting HARDER and harder for many of the people, when all those machines were supposed to make it EASIER in the first place. Something had to be done: STOP! (chorus freezes).  

[Ideally, counter has just reached 389, or something just below that].  

Narrator: The year is now 2009. CO2 levels in the atmosphere are rising by 2 parts per million every year! This is causing a global climate crisis. We have GOT to deal with this issue now, before it gets even MORE out of hand.

Animal 1: Now finally someone with some sense.

Animal 2: I always knew the humans would do the right thing.

Narrator: Leading scientists say that we must get CO2 levels in the atmosphere down to below 350 parts per million, if we want to avoid the worst effects of climate change. So we are inviting you:

All: Join the world, on October 24th, to show our leaders we are ready to take action! 

Narrator: This December, leaders from all over the planet will meet in Copenhagen to determine what steps we will take to confront the climate crisis. We must tell our leaders LOUD and CLEAR that we want a fair climate treaty that will…

All: Bring CO2 in the atmosphere down to 350! 

Narrator: Join us, on October 24th, and tell the world we are ready to save this planet from climate change! Go to 350.org to find or start an action near you!

Animals: Thank you! 

OPTIONAL:

-each chorus member could say 1 way people can personally reduce their CO2 emissions.

- or describe more specifically your local action plan for October 24th.

- or act out what a 450 or 550 parts per million planet might look like.