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 ©2009 VillageSoupBelfast rally joins worldwide effort on Climate Action Day By Ben Stickney Staff Reporter BELFAST (Oct 27): Approximately 100 people joined a rally on Belfast Common Oct. 24 to draw attention to the importance of reducing humanity's carbon footprint and stopping climate change, and it didn't matter that it was pouring buckets and freezing cold to this hardy group. The rally was one of more than 5,200 such events that took place in 181 countries on the same day.
The International Day of Climate Action was organized by the group 350.org, whose mission, as stated on its Web site, is "building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis - -the solutions that science and justice demand." The day of action was billed as a a symbolic way for people to speak to world leaders before they meet to discuss a global carbon emissions treaty in Copenhagen this December.
According to 350.org, the treaty as currently proposed is an inadequate solution to the problem of climate change. The organization takes the position presented by NASA climate scientist James Hansen who, with others, has stated that an atmospheric carbon level of 350 parts per million is the maximum safe limit to avoid the consequences of climate change. The organization also believes that the current treaty takes no steps to reduce atmospheric carbon from its current 385 ppm CO2 to the current safe level of 350 ppm CO2, and 350.org hopes that the rallies around the world will draw attention to the "350" number. The Belfast event featured a talk by Cindy Thomashow, executive director of the Center for Environmental Education at Unity College, on the importance of educating people about the dangers of climate change and what needs to be done to avoid it. Keeping people's attention on the subject is critical, she said, noting that shortly after the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" was released, 71 percent of the public was in favor of strong climate legislation. That number has since dropped to 57 percent. "What we say about the climate has to be explicit. It has to be transparent," Thomashow said.
She and her husband, Mitchell Thomashow, who is president of Unity College, live in the recently constructed president's residence on campus. The house, which measures 1,900 square feet, is an energy-efficient building made of recycled and sustainable materials which produces no carbon footprint. The Thomashow use the house as an educational venue as well as a residence, she said: about 100 people every week walk through the building. Unity's Center for Environmental Education works with schools to better educate children about their homes, schools, towns and planet, and teaches them that their future choices as consumers and citizens have an environmental impact on those places, she said. The realization that one's personal lifestyle has a direct bearing on the environment is critical if society at large is to make good decisions about sustainable living. Thomashow shared her own awakening on this subject with the audience, saying, "I was in a global footprinting activity, and I proudly said that it would take only seven planets to support my lifestyle [if lived by everyone on earth]. One of my students said, 'But we only have one planet.' "
One group of people that was at the rally organizes an informal vegetarian/vegan potluck dinner every month. They were there to promote an animal product-free diet as a way to reduce one's carbon footprint. "The more animals you eat, the more you pollute," said Paul Sheridan of Northport. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the world livestock industry is ultimately responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, which is 5 percent more than all the world's transportation sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Attendees at the rally were asked to bring items that symbolized the way they reduced their personal carbon footprint. They came to the Common carrying caulking guns, kayak paddles, bicycles and hand-driven eggbeaters. After Tomashow's talk, everyone assembled for a group photograph with their items. The crowd arranged itself to write the number 350 and a circle with a 10-degree wedge missing, both indicating the safe atmospheric carbon limit. That photograph, along with other photographs taken at other rallies around the world, is to be delivered to the Copenhagen summit in December. "It was good to be part of this historic moment where we could represent our concern," said Kathy Gass of the Maine Earth institute. "[Our elected officials] need to be more active, and we need to demand more." Jenn Brown, also with the institute, agreed, saying "I think they need to make a long-term commitment, rather than something that goes in and out of style. This rally, and all the others that happened around the world, may help achieve that."
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