Audio By Carbonatix
As you can see, 300 people spelled out “Save Snow” on the base of Aspen’s mountain on October 24 as part of 350.org’s “International Day of Climate Action.” They were one of 5,248 participating rallies worldwide.
“Welcome to the revolution. Expect only more street protests like this as we as a society demand action on the challenge of our time,” says Aspen’s Executive Director of Sustainability Auden Schendler via email.
Save Snow is the name of Aspen/Snowmass’s efforts to make the company sustainable, thereby helping to, you know, save snow. The resort company makes use of solar and wind power and, by 2012 hopes to reduce carbon emissions 10 percent from 2000 levels.
350 is an organization co-founded by author Bill McKibben, and the number stands for how many parts of CO2 per million scientists say is the most we can safely have in our atmosphere. Right now we’re at 387, and the group is hoping world leaders will take sufficient action at December’s UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen to bring CO2 levels below the threshold.
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Their International Day Of Action consisted of, as mentioned, 5,248 rallies spanning 181 countries, all somehow involving the number 350. One of the more impressive contributions consisted of groups from Palestine, Israel and Jordan arranging themselves into a 3, a 5 and a 0 respectively. Synergy!