Business and Climate Impacts Day

The environmental organization known as 350.org is building a global movement to address climate change and the business community has a vital role to play in their new campaign. They have already been part of some successful business oriented initiatives including "The Chamber Does Not Speak For Me," campaign. Now 350.org is behind a new campaign designed to help people to see the relationship between extreme weather and climate impacts. It is called Connect the Dots as part of this campaign they have designated May 5 2012 as Climate Impacts Day.

I was honored to be part of a conference call on Tuesday March 20 in which 350.org founder Bill McKibben explained the idea behind the May 5, Connect the Dots campaign.

During the conference call with 350.org found Bill McKibben I asked how the business community can help with the new climate impacts campaign. Bill McKibben replied by saying that businesses are feeling the effects of climate sharing these experiences is one perfect way to be part of Connect the Dots. It is also important to show how businesses are being impacted. Vinyards ski areas are but two examples of numerous sectors that are being adversely impacted by climate change.

McKibben went on to say that it is also important to highlight what businesses are doing in terms of providing solutions to the problem of climate change. "Some of the dots we want to connect are also about things that are going right," McKibben said. Specifically businesses can promote all they are doing to help reduce their footprints, draw attention to climate change and manage global warming.

Join us in connecting the dots between extreme weather and climate change. For more information about the Connect the Dots campaign and Climate Impact Day click here.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Bill McKibben on Connect the Dots

Across the planet now we see ever more flooding, ever more drought, ever more storms. People are dying, communities are being wrecked -- the impacts we’re already witnessing from climate change are unlike anything we have seen before. But because the globe is so big, it’s hard for most people to see that it’s all connected. That’s why, on May 5, all over the earth, we will Connect the Dots.

In places from drought-stricken Mongolia to flood-stricken Thailand, from fire-ravaged Australia to Himalayan communities threatened by glacial melt, we will hold rallies reminding everyone what has happened in our neighborhoods. And at each of those rallies, from Kenya to Canada, from Vietnam to Vermont, someone will be holding a...dot. A huge black dot on a white banner, a “dot” of people holding hands, encircling a field where crops have dried up, a dot made of fabric and the picture taken from above -- you get the idea. We’ll share those images the world around, to put a human face on climate change -- we’ll hold up a mirror to the planet and force people to come face to face with the ravages of climate change.

Anyone and everyone can participate in this day. Many of us do not live in Texas, the Philippines, or Ethiopia -- places deeply affected by climate impacts. For those of us not in directly-impacted communities, there are countless ways to stand in solidarity with those on the front-lines of the climate crisis: some people will be giving presentations in their communities about how to connect the dots. Others will do projects to demonstrate what sorts of climate impacts we can expect if the crisis is left unchecked. And still others of us will express our indignation to local media and politicians for failing to connect the dots in their coverage of “natural disasters.”

These will be beautiful events, we’re sure. But they will also have an edge. It’s right that we get a little angry at those forces causing this problem. The fossil fuel industry is at fault, and we have to make that clear. Our crew at 350.org will work hard to connect all these dots -- literally -- and weave them together to create a potent call to action, and we will channel that call directly to the people who need to hear it most.

May 5 is coming soon; we need to work rapidly. Because climate change is bearing down on us, and we simply can’t wait. The world needs to understand what’s happening, and you’re the people who can tell them.
Please join us -- we need you to send the most important alarm humanity has ever heard.

For more information about the Connect the Dots campaign and Climate Impact Day click here.

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The environmental organization known as 350.org is behind a new action designed to help people to see the relationship between extreme weather and climate impacts. The new campaign is called Connect the Dots, and it is specifically directed at ending fossil fuel subsidies and encouraging divestment from fossil fuels. The action including events, rallies and demonstration will take place around the world on May 5, 2012.

The point of Connect the Dots, is for people all over the world who have already felt the effects of global warming to share their first hand experiences with climate change. This campaign seeks to highlight how climate change is taking a toll. This includes extreme weather that has proven devastating all around the world

I was honored to be part of a conference call on Tuesday March 20 in which 350.org founder Bill McKibben explained the idea behind the Connect the Dots initiative.

During the call McKibben said, "the hardest thing to get through to people is that this is not a future problem this is a problem today" Climate change is the most significant problem we have ever faced and the impacts are already being felt around the world. Because it is tangible and often very dramatic, extreme weather is perhaps the most convincing way to help people to visualize climate change.

McKibben cited a new study which showed that Americans increasingly understanding that global warming is real. According to the study the reason that people are increasingly accepting the veracity of climate change is due to all the extreme weather which many are experiencing first hand. Helping more people to make the connection between extreme weather and climate impacts is a key part of the process of driving change.

"nothing will help that more than days like this where people are forced to confront what is going on today...[it is] enormously powerful," McKibben said.

McKibben said that we have to go on the offense not just defensively protect against egregious pipelines like the keystone XL. McKibben has been protesting the Keystone XL pipeline from the beginning and he was even jailed for his resistance. McKibben and the 350.org team have been at the forefront of the movement that successfully petitioned President Obama and members of the US legislature to cancel the pipeline project. However, Republicans have made good on their promise to resurrect the pipeline.

In addition to the Connect the Dots campaign, Mckibben has been busy trying to organize ongoing demonstrations to resist President Obama's plan to expedite approval of the Keystone pipeline. McKibben has also been working tirelessly on the global campaign against subsidies for oil and divestment from the fossil fuel industry.

"I get so impatitient with the way things are going," McKibben said, "we are up against the most powerful and rich organizations on earth..." That is why we must collectively say to the fossil fuel industry, "this is not ok, you are wrecking our lives"

Join us on May 5 to Connect the Dots between extreme weather and climate change. For more information about the Connect the Dots campaign and Climate Impact Day click here.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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