Oceans Letter From Sylvia Earle - Join Us

Dear fellow ocean enthusiasts:

Whether in boats or in scuba gear, we have access to parts of the world few of our fellow citizens ever see, and we have a particular set of skills not many share. I'm asking you to bring those two things to bear next Oct. 24 in a one-day project that we hope will have some measurable impact on changing the world.

Because you care about the seas, you know just how much damage rising temperatures and carbon emissions are causing. We've seen massive bleaching of coral reefs from rising temperatures, and now we're seeing the very chemical composition of seawater start to grow steadily more acid, with what the scientists predict will be ever more dire results..

Now, with the crucial negotiations  on climate change looming on the horizon in Copenhagen, we can do something to help change that. The world's foremost climatologist, NASA's James Hansen, and his team last year declared that 350 parts per million CO2 was the most carbon we could safely have in the atmosphere. That's a tough number, because we're already past it. At the moment, the atmosphere holds 387 ppm CO2, which is why the oceans are changing so fast.

The planet will scrub some of that co2, but only if we stop pouring more in. To move political leaders to take this seriously, 350.org is organizing a huge global day of action on Oct. 24, designed to drum that number into every head on the planet. Churches will be ringing their bells 350 times, people will be hanging banners from iconic sights from the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel Tower, people will be joining hands in great lines along the world's beaches. Some of the world's greatest climbers will be carrying banners to some of the planet's highest peaks. But there's no place that captures the problem more clearly than the oceans, and no place more of the world's people love.  So: please get somewhere beautful and wet on that day, and figure out some way to make tht number visible.   Maybe take a poster underwater, maybe get 350 scuba divers together on your favorite reef, maybe fly a huge pennant from your mast--you will know what works best where you happen to be. What we'll need by, day's end if possible, is a photo, uploaded to the web, of whatever you've figured out to do.

If you're on an expedition, or the weather won't cooperate, a few days beforehand or a day or two after will work as well--the goal is simply to take this obscure number, arguably the most important number in the world, and make it the most well-known 3 digits on the planet. If we do, then it will set the bar for negotiators. At the very least, we'll have helped let the rest of the world know what the crucial reality facing the planet is.

If you can help, please contact jon@350.org

And thank you.

Sylvia Earle