On Saturday, 350 hosted their Moving Planet day of action towards building a movement to solve the climate crisis. Green MPs were out in force around the country supporting the call to move the planet away from fossil fuels.

Metiria Tūrei spoke at the Invercargill rally, Keith Locke and David Clendon were at the Auckland People Powered Parade, Kennedy Graham was at the Christchurch 6@6 Forum, Kevin Hague debated (and won I heard) at the Runganga Miners Hall Debate on the Future of Fossil Fuels, and I was at the rocket launch in Wellington (well, the rocket failed to launch, so we may as well look after the planet we’ve got!).

Along with the Green MPs it was great to see so many Kiwis get active all over Aotearoa. It’s obvious there is no Planet B to move to so we may as well look after the planet we have. As Kennedy said “It’s not too late to avoid catastrophic climate change. We have the opportunity right now to develop a clean green economy that protects our people and the planet.”

“The process is dead” he summarises.

Climate change enlightenment was fun while it lasted. But now it’s dead. The collapse of the talks at Copenhagen took away all momentum for change and the lobbyists are back in control. So what next?

Jamie Henn, one of founders of the 350 movement has responded to that question in the Huffington Post:

Thankfully, there’s a new movement that’s been building up outside and inside the established environmental groups. All around the world, there’s a new set of Young (twittering) Turks that are shaking up the status quo and offering a new way forward.

Read on at the full article

And from further afield…

A truly global movement! See more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/350org

View Actions at 350.org

Below is what’s going on in our neck of the woods. Use the zooming stuff (or just click on the orange circles) to find your area. Watch out, the location of the large orange circles are approximate only.

View Actions at 350.org

There are 25+ in Wellington, 33 in Auckland and 22 in Dunedin(!). Something for everyone!

Well done 350, you’ve created a monster. Let’s hear it roar on Saturday

Head over to http://www.350.org/ to find out more about the day of action, how you can go to an event, or register your own event, and how it will make a difference. Check out http://www.350.org.nz also.

I have no idea which events I’ll go to yet. At the very least, the Climate Action Festival at waitangi park. What about you?

Thanks to scoop.co.nz for the photos

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Nick Smith responded to the question with “450″, which, according to some, is enough to give us roughly a 50% chance of avoiding dangerous levels of warming.

Would you get on an airplane with a 50% chance of crashing? Would you get on an airplane if there was a 5% chance of crashing? What about 1%? Bear in mind that the chance of being in a fatal aircrash is 1 in 8.47 million, normally… or 0.00000000000001% (I don’t know how many zeroes, lots)

It is vitally important that we turn out in numbers and let the Government know that the future is not negotiable!

Contrary to rumours spreading fast, I have it right from the folks at MfE that you do not have to register in order to have your say. They would like you to register so they have a sense of the numbers, but it is not mandatory.

I’ll be coming back here soon with more information on what you can talk about, some facts and figures, and some other advice. The important thing is that you turn up and be heard, whatever your opinion. In the meantime, enjoy the video!

There is only a 1 percent chance of an accidental warming of this magnitude…. The greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now.

Recently this quote of Hansen’s has been repeated many times around the globe, including by Jeanette, as call to action:

If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, CO2 must be reduced from its present 385 ppm (parts per million) to, at most, 350 ppm

350 ppm, along with other other often expressed 2°C has become has become shorthand for our global climate change goal.

You may recognise the animation in that video from Free Range Studios who also recently produced the Story of Stuff.

Hansen’s 350 ppm has now spawned a movement, 350.org, with actions happening around the world (but none in Aotearoa – anyone want to fix that?) It describes itself thus:

350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth.

But solutions exist. All around the world, a movement is building to take on the climate crisis, to get humanity out of the danger zone and below 350. This movement is massive, it is diverse, and it is visionary. We are activists, scholars, and scientists. We are leaders in our businesses, our churches, our governments, and our schools. We are clean energy advocates, forward-thinking politicians, and fearless revolutionaries. And we are united around the world, driven to make our planet livable for all who come after us.