350ites – It’s time to stand up for action on climate change and support the call for a price on pollution in Australia! Here’s what you can do:
1. Call or write a hard copy letter (email gets ignored!) to your MP and tell them you support the carbon price and believe they should too! Tell them not to listen to right wing shock jocks who are shouting out the sane call for action.
2. Write a letter to your local paper explaining in short sharp points why you think a carbon price is essential for Australia!
3. Talk to those in your community about why a price on pollution is critical for Australia including:
-We need to take real steps to help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and to speed up the transition to clean energy.
-We need an economic incentive to encourage clean energy and energy efficiency.
-We need to work with other countries that have already priced pollution by establishing a framework in Australia that will allows us to be part of a low carbon future.
Please help by taking action in whatever way you can!
March 9th, 2011 | No Comments » | australia
I want to thank everyone that was involved in 10/10/10- so many more than 7,000 events signed up. Just think of how many people were involved. What we achieved was really something incredible.
But I could never tell the story as well as the pictures… so I’ll let them do the talking
New Zealand hate it when we say this, but Australia helped kick off the global day of action
Some of the cutest kids ever got to work in India
Few people appreciate the environment’s balance like the Tibetans- this is in Shangri-La
and in our very own Centennial Park, Sydney
Blue 350 Graffiti:
and to see more amazing images of the movement, click here
October 13th, 2010 | No Comments » | australia
When we first announced the Global Work Party scheduled for this weekend, I had three worries:
1) Since so many of you had done such a good job last year–5200 events in 181 countries, what CNN called “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history”–I was concerned that it was going to be hard to top.
2) Because the Global Work Party called for real, tangible Work, I thought fewer people would be willing to rise to the challenge.
3) It had been a discouraging year, with the failures in Copenhagen and in the US Congress, and the unwillingness of governments all over the world to take any sort of meaningful climate action. People told me the movement was deflated, and that no one had any energy left.
As it turned out, I didn’t need to worry.
Thanks to you, this weekend will be remembered as the day when a single message blanketed more of the planet than ever before. This won’t just be the most widespread day of carbon-cutting action in the planet’s history–it will be the most widespread day of just about anything the earth has ever seen.
In the same year when global temperatures have set one scary new record after another, you are rewriting the record books for civic engagement. We don’t have the final numbers yet because registrations are still streaming in, but it’s clear that we’re on track to shoot past 7000 events in 188 countries. That leaves four countries unaccounted for: North Korea, Andorra, Equatorial Guinea, and San Marino. Barring those, the entire planet is engaged. Which makes sense, since this is the first issue that involves the entire planet.
We look at the map of events around the world and some days it seems crazy, that this many people would volunteer to do this much work in this many places. But mostly it just seems beautiful.
And now we need to make sure that everyone sees just how beautiful. Your photos will be how we show politicians and the media that people around the world aren’t just ready for climate solutions–we’re getting to work building them.
So remember to email your top photo to ‘photos@350.org’–and put your City and Country in the subject line, and put a short description of your event in the body. Try to get a “350″ in your photo somehow–it’s our universal message knitting this whole thing together. And if you can get a photo that shows how people are getting to work on climate solutions, even better.
You can read simple instructions of how to submit your event photos, and be sure to check out this great guide on how to take an unforgettable photo.
Things are happening fast here, and I’ve got to get back on the phone with reporters to try to explain to them about everything happening around the world. We are so grateful for all that you’re doing, and committed to making it count.
Onwards!
Bill McKibben for the whole 350.org Team
P.S. It’s been an amazing week already–first the announcement from the Obama administration that they are going to put solar on the White House. Then we got reports from President Nasheed’s solar installation in the Maldives.
To kick off the Global Work Party, President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives installs solar panels donated by Sungevity. The event came just two days after the Obama Administration’s announcement that the White House is going solar.
October 7th, 2010 | 1 Comment » | australia
You all may have already heard the news that our campaign to get the White House to install solar panels has been a big success! It’s just the boost we’re looking for headed into this Sunday’s Global Work Party. Here’s our official press statement that’s been going out to media around the world.
October 5, 2010
Bill McKibben Congratulates President Obama for Taking the White House Solar
Leading up to Sunday’s Global Work Party around the World
Washington, DC — Just in time to give the Global Work Party a White House-sized boost, the Obama administration announced this morning that they are going to put solar panels on the First Family’s living quarters, returning to a tradition begun by president Jimmy Carter and abandoned by Ronald Reagan.
350.org founder Bill McKibben urged President Obama to install his new set of solar panels back on September 10 as part of 350.org’s 10/10/10 Global Work Party, a day when millions of people across the planet will be getting to work on climate solutions.
“The White House did the right thing, and for the right reasons: they listened to the Americans who asked for solar on their roof, and they listened to the scientists and engineers who told them this is the path to the future,” said McKibben. “If it has anything like the effect of the White House garden, it could be a trigger for a wave of solar installations across the country and around the world. Obama’s not the only world leader taking the challenge. Tomorrow Maldivian president Mohammed Nasheed will install panels on his official residence, and on Sunday 7000 communities around the world will engage in similar projects.”
When he dedicated the original set of panels in 1979, President Carter stated:
“In the year 2000 this solar water heater behind me will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy. A generation from now this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.”
In 1986, President Reagan removed the panels and let subsidies for renewable energy expire. A number of the panels were donated to Unity College in the 1990s.
Over 40,000 people signed a letter urging President Obama to install a new set of panels at the campaign’s PutSolarOn.It website. The site provided live updates from the road and a chance for the public to interact with the road trip participants.
The website is here: http://PutSolarOn.It
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About 350.org
Founded by American environmentalist Bill McKibben, 350.org is an international campaign that works to build a global climate movement. On October 24, 2009 they organized what CNN called the “most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.” 350.org is named after the goal of reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere from its current level of 390 parts per million to below 350 ppm, the safe upper limit according to the latest science.
October 5th, 2010 | No Comments » | australia
http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/politicians-selfinterest-will-drive-climate-action-20100928-15vh8.html
It’s been a tough year for those of us committed to tackling the climate crisis. The previous government tried fruitlessly to legislate for an emissions trading scheme, while the tragic floods in Pakistan, record heat waves in Europe, and steadily melting ice in the arctic all hint at what life in a warming world could look like.
Still, even as one who approaches politics with a healthy dose of realism, I’m optimistic that we are turning a corner in the effort to cut the carbon dioxide emissions that are driving climate change.
First, while it may seem incomprehensible that our leaders would sit idly by while study after study made it clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the climate was changing, and that the burning of fossil fuels was responsible for it, we know that politicians, being politicians, act more frequently out of self-interest than they do out of common interest.
And so one must greet the announcement this week that Prime Minister Julia Gillard will herself chair a committee specifically dedicated to tackle climate change, by acknowledging the possibility that what is good for politicians is finally starting to align with what is good for the planet.
This assertion is supported by a new political reality that has the Greens enjoying more leverage in parliament than at any point in history, as well as a recent Australian Conservation Foundationpoll that shows more than 80 per cent of Australians want the new government to rapidly invest in clean energy alternatives such as wind, solar and geothermal. (Incidentally the poll showed that regional Australians are even more enthusiastic than those from cities about the switch to renewable power, dispelling an age-old myth about a rural-urban divide when it comes to cutting carbon.)
It is truism in politics that those in power, even the ones we think are on our side, don’t change, maybe can’t change, unless we make them.
Fortunately, the numbers are beginning to look like we are on the cusp of what the fight to tackle climate change needed all along, not more data about how gases were dangerously accumulating in the atmosphere, or tired old laments about the uselessness of politicians, but a movement of people, young and old, rural and urban, that won’t take no for an answer. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd certainly learned the hazard of opposing an idea whose time has come.
And so at 350.org we’re working with people from all walks of life, from across Australia and across the world, to empower and amplify the voice of the climate movement through the power of the internet.
Last October, we organised 5200 rallies in 182 countries in what CNN called “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history”, to support the goal of stabilising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below 350 parts per million. You can see the energy of the movement in the 20,000 photos that streamed into our Flickr set over the day.
Our latest effort is the 10/10 Global Work Party. Working with the 10:10 campaign and many others, we are co-ordinating what is expected to be the largest practical day of action to fight climate change in history on October 10. From women in Pakistan learning to cook with solar ovens, to sumo wrestlers in Japan riding their bicycles to work, to villagers in Fiji restoring mangroves damaged by Cyclone Tomas, people are getting to work on climate solutions and sending the message to world leaders while they’re at it: “We’re doing our work, what about you?”
Scores of events are planned in Australia as well. For example, in Victoria, hundreds will be gathering outside the Hazelwoodpower plant, calling on their leaders to close one of the industrialised world’s dirtiest and most inefficient coal-burning facilities. At Macquarie University, students will plant carbon-gobbling trees and share ideas on how to go green. In Townsville, folks are focusing on how permaculture can help alleviate the climate crisis.
Of course, this isn’t enough. No person or country or leader can solve the crisis alone. But I’m optimistic that in Australia, even if the evidence that the world is coming to end isn’t enough to spur our politicians to act on climate change, the reality that their careers will come to end if they don’t, finally will.
Emily Mulligan is Australian national director of 350.org, which is creating a global movement to combat the climate crisis.
September 29th, 2010 | No Comments » | australia
The right picture or video can be essential to earning news coverage for your 10-10-10 event. Like a good soundbite, a good visual effortlessly communicates its message to an audience. Since this year, with our work parties, we want to tell world leaders: “We’re getting to work on climate solutions, what are you doing?” we know we need to create visuals that symbolically “say” something about work, place and perhaps even fun. For example, images of women cooking with solar ovens in Pakistan and Sumo wrestlers riding bikes in Japan will evoke ideas about geography and solution-based action with style.
You can do the same thing with your event, and it needn’t be difficult or expensive. This photo on the front page of the Micronesia challenge, for instance, is both poignant and clearly “set” in the Pacific:
http://micronesiachallenge.org/Additionally, the photo from the 350 Day Of Action last year of a child holding the number 350 underwater at the Great Barrier Reef instantly placed the event and told a story. Shovels, solar panels, caulking guns, hard hats, flower boxes and so forth are items that symbolize work and can be integrated into your event’s photography.
So think about how you might create an opportunity for such a picture, and when you pitch journalists, let them know about the strong visual nature if your event. Also, don’t forget to take your own photographs and videos so we can disseminate them ourselves. It’s that simple. If you have any questions about spicing up the visuals in your event don’t hesitate to contact me at
michael@350.org and we’ll brainstorm ideas. Good luck and I can’t wait to see your events on film!
September 27th, 2010 | No Comments » | australia
Change comes about slowly and sometimes it feels like nothing is happening and we are struggling alone.
But never fear- there are hundreds of people just like you that are getting to work, I want to let you know about actions planned all over Australia this 10/10/10.
I want to start way up in the NT where people are cycling 3.5km’s in Palmerston to promote better, smarter transport options.
In Melbourne The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is being retrofitted, improving the waste, water and energy systems. A local school is also installing solar panels on the science buildings.
Mount Gambier in SA is hosting a Music and Garden Fair, demonstrating the many many ways locals can reduce their carbon footprint.
In Hornsby, NSW, people are getting their hands dirty, a regeneration of a river bank will be taking place.
The Australian Religious Response to Climate Change is organising people of all faiths to cycle to their place of worship over the whole weekend- let’s hope this trend continues.
Macquarie University is leading the way by having a whole afternoon of action, with an organic bbq and talks, followed by planting “3-5-0” into the campus, which will be a great reminder for time to come about the most important number in the world.
And there are many, many more- if we added up the amount of trees that will be planted, pledges made, friends met, gardens blitzed, car trips missed and bikes repaired it would be astronomical.
We are well on our way to making a better world and I haven’t even started on what’s happening in other countries all over the globe yet….
September 24th, 2010 | No Comments » | australia
With just a couple of weeks to go until The Global Work Party things are heating up. Here in Sydney we have been speaking to event organisers all over the country and feeling more and more inspired everyday.
Together we are making Australia a better place. From planting a wildlife corridor to riding a bike to your place of worship to communal vegetarian meals, we are making a tangible difference in our communities as well as leading by example.
We have a new Environment Minister who needs to be reminded that Australians care about our climate, so much that we are rolling up our sleeves ourselves to get to work.
To make this day the best it can be there are a few things we need each and every one of you to do, if you haven’t already!
1. Go to 350.org/map and find an event near you! Shoot an email to the event organiser and join in a work party. If there isn’t one near you- make your own.
2. Think about a great visual of your day! Try to depict “350″ somehow in your photo–as well as our theme of “Get to Work!” Often the best way to do this is with a home-made banner. You can check out some possible ideas for banners here.
Make sure you send in your pictures of the day to photos@350.org so we can add it to the giant global petition.
3. Check out the ‘Media’ page of the site to see how you can whip up some great media coverage in your local area.
With Ban Ki Moon endorsing the Global Work Parties, Bill McKibben killing it on the Letterman show and creative actions happening all over the world, the momentum is growing toward a revolutionary day of climate solutions.
I hope you will be a part of it.
September 23rd, 2010 | No Comments » | australia
I have a confession to make. I have probably signed more online petitions than I have had hot dinners.
Ever since I was living in San Francisco and saw modelling of sea level rise that would wipe out San Francisco Airport, meaning I’d never get home to Australia again I have been scared of what climate change means, and not just for SF, but more scarily, for Mumbai and Bangladesh. And it’s not just theoretical, ‘pie in the sky’, ‘maybe one day’ sea level rise, but the impacts we feel here and now. The fine balance of the system is already out of whack.
So I have gotten involved in all kinds of actions and activism from calling politicians offices, to painting banners, dancing on the streets at rallies, trying in vain to convert my grandparents and yes, signing online petitions.
Now its time to roll up our sleeves and instead of asking politicians who so far, in this country have scored a massive FAIL on climate action, we are leading by example.
This October, there will be people all over the country working hard to reduce the impact they are having on our environment. From riding bikes to their place of worship, planting wildlife corridors, installing solar panels or wind turbines, bit by bit the people of Australia are changing the way this country works.
The Global Work Parties will be happening in almost every country on the globe, this is an amazing opportunity to be part of something truly global. From sumo wrestlers cycling to training to a Palestine-Jordan-Israel bike ride, this day is so much bigger than the sum of its parts.
Not only will we make a tangible difference, we are leading our leaders. Normally things with dirt and heavy lifting are not my scene, but if that is what it takes to solve the climate crisis, then I am ready to get to work.
September 23rd, 2010 | No Comments » | australia
Many of us are disappointed, if not enraged after the sham that is the government’s climate policy was announced. We need a policy that gets us to 350ppm! It is well worth making a call or going to visit your MP before the election to tell them you are voting with climate change in mind! You can find the details of how to phone the PM’s office here or look up your local MP’s office details here.
Also, huge thanks to all of you who called Julia Gillard’s office just after she became PM to tell her that you are concerned about climate change. She was inundated with calls as her staff unpacked their boxes. We certainly made sure that climate change was front and centre on their first days!
Here are some of the comments we got from those heroic 350ers who called:
* I called, and was asked by the staff member whether there was a campaign on because she was receiving so many calls!I phoned the PM and the woman who answered said didn’t you just call. I said no.
* The response I got was less than satisfactory. The person on the phone said that climate change is on the PM’s agenda but she’s only been in for a week so we have to be patient and basically insinuated that we were harassing them. I told them climate change isn’t patient.
* It wasn’t scary to call, just frustrating…
* I rang Julia but I am afraid she was too busy moving in!
* I rang the PM’s office and spoke with her secretary but she was unable to tell me much other than it was an issue that Julia and Penny Wong would be taking seriously (oddly, she didn’t sound at all sarcastic – So I’ll try to be optimistic!)
What Can We Do? A Lot!
We know that the 350.org crowd is dedicated to climate action. Yet sometimes we find that there are so many obstacles to doing what we wish we could. So we are doing something about it.
350 Micro-Grants for Getting to Work on Climate Change!
350.org is giving out microgrants to local climate action projects in the Pacific-Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.
We’re starting out by giving a grant of $1,000 in the Pacific region.
Anyone can submit a project (before August 7th), and anyone can vote the most deserving project to the top. The project with the most number of votes by August 29th wins.
Many of these projects will culminate on 10/10/10 – “The Global Work Party” – when thousands of communities will come together to celebrate climate solutions. With your help, 10/10/10 is going to be the biggest day of practical action to cut carbon that the world has ever seen.
Visit http://pacificfund.350.org/ for more info.
Tell Prime Minister Gilliard to Put Solar on It
We’ll be talking to the PM’s office about the possibility of redecorating The Lodge with solar panels and if you feel inspired, write a letter or email telling Julia and Tony you think that would be a great first step if/when they move in. If you haven’t yet, it’s easy to send a message here: putsolaron.it/the-lodge
Finally, if you’re feeling really energetic, take part in some of the activities of our campaign partners:
Partner Campaigns:
If you are so disappointed with the lack of climate action that you want to take to the streets- get ready for the Walk Against Warming - its coming to a state near you on the 15th of August, the weekend before the election.
The Australian Youth Climate Coalition is running a series of inspiring climate events all over the country (Geelong, Canberra and Adelaide). Power Shift is one of the most empowering events happening so make sure you or a young person you know is there.
July 26th, 2010 | 1 Comment » | australia
