Below is a special movement update we’re really excited about! It’s from three of our young allies in China, India, and the United States– about the launch of a new campaign called “The Great Power Race.” We’ve been pumped for this project for a while now, and as oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, we feel the timing couldn’t be more important for a new race to clean energy…
Dear Friends,
We are young people from 3 of the largest countries on the planet — China, India, and the United States — announcing the launch of the Great Power Race.
The Great Power Race is a clean energy competition between students in China, India, and the United States. The aim is to kick-start hundreds of new climate solutions projects on campuses and in communities in all three countries and to demonstrate to governments and businesses our generation’s leadership in transforming our world towards a green economy.
The Great Power Race begins now. This spring, we’re seeing which country can sign up the most campus teams to take part:
It was cool and cloudy this morning yesterday as more than a dozen volunteers placed red flags across a park field in Bonn, Germany. We were preparing to create a giant aerial image and message to the UN climate talks taking place here. No one anticipated just how wet we were all about to be — or just how beautiful an message we would create…
Starting at around noon over 500 people (Bonn locals and international activists alike) braved a steady, cool rain to form the aerial image directed by our friend John Quigley, SpectralQ. With penguins, polar bears, and puppets greeting the crowd as they entered the park it was a festive event and a clear demonstration of the groups’ dedication for the issue — lying on the wet ground for over 40 minutes as photographers and press snapped pictures.
And the message? To world leaders and the delegates attending the UN climate talks we were sending a laaarge reminder of the urgency of this moment. Time is tck tck tcking on as world leaders linger and delay in doing what they can and must do — set the world on course back below 350 ppm CO2.
And the aerial image wasn’t all. After all the photos were taken the group rose up, donned green hard hats (keeping our white suits on), and marched to the UN climate conference. And there, despite instensifying rain, the hardy crew addressed our message directly to the delegations inside — Yes you can!
Image: Robert van Waarden / Spectral Q
It was cool and cloudy this morning as more than a dozen volunteers placed red flags across a park field in Bonn, Germany. We were preparing to create a giant aerial image and message to the UN climate talks taking place here. No one anticipated just how wet we were all about to be — or just how beautiful an message we would create…
Starting at around noon over 500 people (Bonn locals and international activists alike) braved a steady, cool rain to form the aerial image directed by our friend John Quigley, SpectralQ. With penguins, polar bears, and puppets greeting the crowd as they entered the park it was a festive event and a clear demonstration of the groups’ dedication for the issue — lying on the wet ground for over 40 minutes as photographers and press snapped pictures.
And the message? To world leaders and the delegates attending the UN climate talks we were sending a laaarge reminder of the urgency of this moment. Time is tck tck tcking on as world leaders linger and delay in doing what they can and must do — set the world on course back below 350 ppm CO2.
And the aerial image wasn’t all. After all the photos were taken the group rose up, donned green hard hats (keeping our white suits on), and marched to the UN climate conference. And there, despite instensifying rain, the hardy crew addressed our message directly to the delegations inside — Yes you can!
Update: This just in from Young Friends of the Earth Europe…
The climate change negotiations here in Poznan, Poland are on pause today in recognition of the Mulsim holiday, Eid al-Adha.
As we await the coming days of crucial negotiations leading towards a new global climate treaty, we are not about to sit idly by. Rather, we joined with over 200 people here in Poznan’s Freedom Square to form the beautiful image on the left.
Inspired by the AOSIS and LDC countries’ shared vision to reach 350 ppm co2, we created the shape of a human form on a threatened small island raising up the 350 target — the goal we must set for the sake of many countries’ very survival and a safe global climate.
Many thanks to all who joined in the event, braving the cold and wet. Hopefully this photo, along with many 350 photos being displayed here in Poznan, can capture the hearts and imaginations of some more delegates in these negotiations and help move the talks in the right direction.
Aerial art directed and photographed by John Quigley/Spectral Q
My body is beginning to re-adjust to the appropriate time zone after returning to our 350.org office here in Burlington, Vermont, USA from India just 2 days ago. It is overwhelming to reflect on all that I did and learned in India for August while meeting with partners and allies across the country. The movement to fight climate change is now growing to new levels in India with exciting potential for changing the course of local, national, and international action on this crisis. This new growth is only just in the nick of time.
It’s incredibly sad to read reports of the floods in Eastern Nepal and the state of Bihar in northeastern India. As a result of unforgiving monsoon rains, a dam burst in Nepal 11 days ago, and now the Kosi river flowing from Nepal into Bihar breached its banks and changed course, pouring into hundreds of villages and towns. The death toll from floods and well as water-borne disease is rising day by day, and ultimately millions of people are being affected.
What’s worse is that India is no stranger to such disasters. Being in India this month I heard numerous personal tales of floods that are hard to conceive. Most memorable perhaps are the 2006 floods in Mumbai where nearly a meter (37.1 inches) of rain feel in a 24 period. While I was fortunate to not get caught up in anything on that scale, the stories became all that more real for me as I wintessed streets of Hyderabad turned into rivers in some sections of the city earlier in the month. All these floods are compounded by imperfect human development — urbanization without appropriate drainage, dams unable to contain the monsoon rains. Yet, the severity and frequency of these floods is being linked by many to the changing climate of South Asia as a result of global warming — it’s hard to build cities capable of withstanding a meter of rain in 24 hours. Continue reading ‘Changing Course in India’
Will Bates
Will went to Middlebury College in Vermont where he started up his climate activism with the Sunday Night Group, or SNG -- the climate movement group there. After graduating in 2006 he was an organizer of a 5 day walk in Vermont which lay the foundations for the Step It Up campaign in 2007. He's now working full time on 350.org.
Cross-posted from 350.org…
Image: Robert van Waarden / Spectral Q
Cross posted from 350.org…
It’s incredibly sad to read reports of the 
