Matthew McDermott
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In case you missed it, Saturday was the International Day of Climate Action, with events held in countless locations across 181 countries. Yes, that's pretty much every country on the planet. As 350.org's Bill McKibben describes it, "It's by far the most wide-spread day of action on any political issue, ever, in the history of the planet."
But what did holding up signs in the rain in the middle of Times Square accomplish? Especially in a place where message overload is de rigueur and most people walk around either heads down hustling to work or gazing at all the shininess like deer in headlights?
Or forming ourselves into the numbers 3, 5 and 0 and then taking an aerial photograph or video... or having a handful of speakers talk at a gathered crowd, all of which was already behind the message...? How is this more powerful action than going out and planting trees in wetlands outside of New Orleans?
It's a valid question and one which, when asked, doesn't at all take away from the sheer fact that it is a logistical feat to organize an activism event on such a gigantic scale.
We've Got to Be Running, But We're Just Starting to Walk
At the Times Square event McKibben described the event to me as a wild success, but one which, on its own, ultimately only improved our odds of getting a fair, ambitious and binding climate deal a little bit.
Events like this are very important from a community perspective -- a rallying point around which more and more people can be brought in. But ultimately more action is needed.
Gap Between Science & Politics As Great As Ever
When it comes down to it, the gap between what science says is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change -- increasingly returning atmospheric CO2 to 350ppm, rather than the 450ppm more commonly used in negotiations -- and what's on the negotiating table in terms of emission reduction commitments is still as wide as ever. Which is why we have to keep building the movement to bring about both bottom-up and top-down environmental change.
We Need to Build a Long-Term Strategic Movement...
Bill McKibben again: "It's got to be a strategic movement about the science, and how to message it. It's got to be a movement that cooperates...not everyone running off in their own direction all the time. Even then, you've got to say, the odds are not exactly with us. This is the toughest trouble we've ever faced, and we're not doing very well."
...The Future Of Our Species Depends On It
Which is why, more than ever, we need to keep putting pressure on our leaders and ourselves. People and nations can compromise with one another. Frankly, the planet won't compromise.
If as a species we want to preserve the environment of that planet as something which is as hospitable to us in the future as it has been through the geologic blip of human existence, then we need to make sweeping societal changes towards greater ecological awareness and sustainability.
The International Day of Climate Action may have only moved us fractionally closer to bringing that change about, but it's a solid start.
Global Climate Change
'We Changed the Odds Today' - 350 Takes Over Times Square
Readers' International Day of Climate Action Photos
With 5 Negotiating Days Until COP15, Keep Pushing for Fair, Ambitious & Binding Climate Deal
