Global Demonstrations Call for Drastic CO2 Emission Cuts

On Saturday, at more than 4,500 events in 173 countries around the globe, thousands demonstrated to urge world leaders to cut C02 emissions, the Washington Post reported. The protests were coordinated by the 350.org movement, a group whose goal is to reduce CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere from 380 ppm, the current level, to 350 ppm, a standard much more conservative than the 450 ppm endorsed by the U.N and far lower than the goal endorsed by current climate-change proposals.

Wrote Newsday: "NASA scientist James Hansen, a vocal critic of climate change policy during the Bush administration, laid out the 350 scenario in a paper last year in the Open Atmospheric Science Journal. The paper said current carbon dioxide levels could be lowered to the 350 target by largely phasing out the use of coal and using farms, forests and developing technologies to capture excess carbon."

Bill McKibben, 350.org's director, was quoted as saying: "We're under no illusions that we will change the politics overnight. But the most widespread political event in the planet's history is a sign that in our new electronically-wired age, we can make disparate actions count, even across the enormous divides of wealth and poverty." Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, was quoted as saying: "We need to do as much as possible as fast as possible. But you have to be realistic about what can be achieved in Copenhagen, and we're not going to get specific targets from everybody. And even if we did, it would be hard to get to 450 [parts per million], let alone 350."

- Newsday, Washington Post, Oct. 23.