James Hansen and other speakers joined hundreds of demonstrators in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC, in calling on President Obama to speak out and take action with urgency on climate change. The rally was one of more than 7,000 350.org “global work party” actions in 188 countries held on October 10.
Continue reading for video of talks by James Hansen of NASA and Climate Science Watch director Rick Piltz.
Earlier post: “10/10/10” White House rally a part of actions worldwide calling for climate solutions
See 350.org for more on the 10/10/10 events worldwide.
From Vanity Fair:
Mark Zuckerberg and Bill McKibben both lived in Harvard’s Kirkland House, 20 years apart, and now share a vision of connecting the world.
The Facebook founder is taking the easy route: inviting people to sit on their butts and think about themselves and their friends. McKibben’s task is harder: asking people to get off their butts and consider strangers and countries they’ve never heard of (Tuvalu!) to alter the course of climate change.
Yesterday, 350.org, the not-for-profit organization that McKibben co-founded in 2007, called for a global “work party.” “The goal of the day is not to solve the climate crisis one project at a time,” McKibben wrote, “But to send a pointed political message: if we can get to work, you can get to work too—on the legislation and the treaties that will make all our work easier in the long run.”
And in 188 countries, people responded. All over the world, they marched, biked, planted trees, installed solar panels, painted roofs white, and made art calling for climate change relief. The American press largely ignored the events and that includes The New York Times as well as Fox News. In fact, the faux-Zuckerberg movie, The Social Network, got more ink this weekend than 350’s global protest. This was no surprise to McKibben, who over a week ago, predicted the media wouldn’t cover the events, writing at Good, “Why? Because we’re acting reasonably, responsibly, like adults. Not drawing swastikas, not talking crazy. It’s a work party, not a Tea Party, and that may prove too sane to attract the cameras.”
Well, he was right. Witches, whores, and Nazi-wannabes dominated the news cycle this weekend. Still, McKibben sent a grateful message this morning to those who participated, saying, “We hope 10/10/10 left you feeling connected with people all across this beautiful globe.” Some photographs of these efforts can be found here. And best of all, you don’t have to get off your butt to look at them.
Some additional coverage: The Guardian (UK), Reuters