2010年10月29日

A look back from 2100: How we got on the path back to 350

Probably one of most popular

Probably one of most popular questions among the 350 community, in one form or another, is: "How are we actually going to get back to 350?" If this question draws you in, then you may get some insight from Bill McKibben's latest piece on The Solutions Journal — where he goes on a time-traveling trip to 2100, & reports from a future that's first starting to tip back to 350. Here's how it starts…

"Let’s imagine for a moment that we’re at 2100, and the atmospheric CO2 level is slowly subsiding back toward 350, and the worst is over. Let’s try to figure out how we got there—reverse-engineer a century of halting but ultimately decisive progress.

The first decision, clearly, was the most important. In 2011, after 22 years of hemming and hawing and circling, the world’s governments—moved by a series of devastating floods on every continent that galvanized the already growing climate movement around the globe—grudgingly took the initial steps toward imposing a cap on carbon emissions. The fight was by no means easy: developing countries insisted, with reason, that the cap couldn’t hit them yet, and China insisted that it was still a developing country. Still, the climactic political battle with big oil and bigger coal ended decisively—it would be many years before they ceased to be powerful parts of the economy, but the fossil fuel era began to end on that day when the parties signed on at the Nairobi conference center…"

Read the rest of Bill McKibben's time-traveling vision over at The Solutions Journal!

Heard about The Solutions Journal yet? It's a wonderful, refreshing new magazine chockfull of headlines of how change is happening all over the world, or could be happening, right now. Bill's article is part of a special issue that came out earlier this month — completely dedicated to "Getting to 350". We're really excited about the issue and deeply grateful to Ida, Tess, Julie, and everyone on the Solutions team for taking an entire journal and filling it with illuminating journeys back to 350.  You've given us, and everyone who's working to get through to the other side of the climate crisis, a helluva treasure trove to pour over, debate, and find hope within.

Fortunately, most of the Solution Journal's "Getting the 350" issue is available online. If you can carve out the time, I suggest checking out these other great articles: