500 marshmallows organize for climate action.Robert van Waarden / Spectral QFor better or worse, ours is the age of distraction. Texting while in lectures, talking while in the car driving, iphoning while going, well, anywhere really. The possibilities for connecting beyond our immediate environment can take 25 hours of the day, and those possibilities are multiplying exponentially. I wonder whether all that factors into why I’m having trouble paying attention in what will be the most important international negotiation process since the end of the Second World War.
I’m one of about 30 young people around the world facilitating a project called 350.org – using the red line for CO2 in the atmosphere, measured in parts per million, to link up local climate efforts for one pointed message from around the world late this October. Of course, parts per million doesn’t really get the blood going, so the goal is to make the number 350 real through local action.
Much of our efforts are directed at the UNFCCC – the body negotiating the next global climate agreement, which will be finalized in Copenhagen this December. The nego... Read more
