Momentum: The Copenhagen Countdown

3 December, 2009 - 10:20 — joe@350.org

With just three days until the global climate change conference in Copenhagen, the 350.org team (read on to see how we're all one big team!) just shared this latest movement update with all of our email subscribers:

Dear Friends,

When we all set out to build 350.org, our main goal was to take this most important number and make it one of the world's most well-known.

Your work has accomplished that-and if you can organize or join a vigil on the weekend of Dec. 12 you can make it even clearer.

Click here to register your vigil on our global map: www.350.org/vigil

Click here to search the map for a vigil near you: www.350.org/map

These vigils, now being planned in cities from New York to Nigeria to Nepal, will all take place right in middle of the 2-week Copenhagen climate conference.
 That weekend is shaping up be a remarkable global collaboration--with participation from a broad coalition of organizations and individuals across national and linguistic boundaries.  Together, we'll speak with one voice to make it clear that "The World Wants a Real Deal"--a deal grounded in the latest science and strong enough to get the planet back to 350.

As we head into Copenhagen next week, we can't know exactly what outcomes we'll see from the conference (though clearly it will be less than we need).  But we do know that you've built an amazing momentum around the 350 target, and all that it means for the future of the planet and everything on it.

Consider just the last few days:

First we heard from His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians-that's one in every 20 human beings. He was speaking the language of faith -- environmental desecration was a sin, he said, and "350 is an act of repentance," and in so doing he joined the huge group of Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, indigenous and other faith leaders from around the planet.  Many of these leaders are organizing "Sounds of 350" events on Sunday, December 13th--check out www.350.org/sounds to join this interfaith initiative.

Later that day we heard from the directors of the world's largest zoos and aquariums. Almost 800 of them signed a letter to the Copenhagen conference demanding a 350 target lest their cages become the only place to see the world's fauna: in their words, "the climate change threat to the natural world is so severe that we're rapidly losing suitable habitats for these species." They were speaking the plain language of science.

And the language of politics is chiming in too. Our friend Malini Mehra, one of the extraordinary Indian activists that have made global warming a high-profile issue on the subcontinent, just sent us a copy of her latest essay, which described October 24th "an awe-inspiring move by ordinary people to send a clear message to their cloth-eared political leaders: climate change required real action."  Given that too many at Copenhagen "are discussing a 450 ppm target, such calls may seem heroic at best and implausible at worst. But public opinion will be a decisive force in this debate. And public opinion is now getting globally organized. Importantly, as the 350.org events showed, more and more young people are becoming politicized on this issue. Politicians had better prepare to listen - the personal impacts could very well lie in store at the ballot box."

That momentum builds and builds: we just found out that Oceana, a wonderful international NGO devoted to protecting the world's seas, has organized advertising billboards for 350 all over Copenhagen-delegates won't be able to ride the subway or even land at the airport without seeing that number. Our advance team is already on the ground, and more of our (exactly!) 350 young people from around the world (we think it's the largest accredited team at the Copenhagen conference!) arrive each day.

What we need from you is even more pushing to help build this momentum.

So if you haven't signed up yet to run or attend a candlelight vigil on the weekend of December 12, please do so. There will be a big vigil in Copenhagen that we'll be helping to organize that day - but its power will come from the knowledge that the same lights are burning on every continent, in every country, in front of every Senator's office.

Click here to start a vigil and here to search for one to join.

Our battle will clearly have to continue, into the new year and beyond. But Copenhagen is too great a moment to waste, and the force you've built up with your hard work over the past 22 months has already helped to shape the meeting.

Now let's give it another powerful push.

Onwards, Bill McKibben and the 350.org team

P.S. As the conference begins, we'll be in touch a bit more because you've been telling us you're interested in latest updates.  Everyone reading this email is part of a big team with the same message--thanks enormously for helping to spread that message.  Click here to share the update via Twitter.

P.P.S. On Facebook, we're doing something a bit different this time--with just 3 days until the climate talks begin in Copenhagen, Facebook just announced they reached 350 Million users.  Will you share the world's most important number with your Facebook friends and let them know what 350 really means? We've made it easy - Just click share at the bottom right of this post: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2900531&id=12185972707


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