300.org & 350.org: REDUCE atmospheric CO2

300.org received a communication from an esteemed activist of the excellent 350.org about our common purpose of reducing atmospheric CO2 and urging collaboration. In short, 300.org supports the 24 October Global Day of Action organized by 350.org: “A global action day has been organized by 350.org for 24 October 2009 – just before the crucial, make-or-break Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December 2009 - to urge for REDUCTION of atmospheric CO2 to a safe and sustainable level. Please participate and be there with your placards and banners but proclaim the number recommended by the latest climate science: “300””.

Below is the 300.org reply to the 350.org letter.

Dear etc,

300.org agrees qualitatively with the aim of the excellent 350.org in that it advocates the view – backed by top climate scientists – that the atmospheric CO2 concentration needs to be REDUCED from the present 387 ppm to save the planet from further damaging climatic disruption (indeed I attended Bill McKibben’s recent very inspiring lecture at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia and handed out pamphlets for the Melbourne-based Yarra Valley Climate Action Group’s “Climate Emergency facts and required actions”: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/climate-emergency-facts-and-required-actions and for the St Kilda Beach, Melbourne “Human Sign” devised by an 11 year old school child stating “CLIMATE CHANGE – OUR FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS”: http://crdunn.blogspot.com/2009/05/climate-change-our-future-is-in-our.html and http://gpolya.newsvine.com/_news/2009/05/17/2827579-human-sign-calls-on-government-action-climate-change-our-future-is-in-your-hands ).

This common qualitative position of 350.org and of 300.org of REDUCTION in atmospheric CO2 is in stark contrast to the position of all First World governments of continued INCREASE in atmospheric CO2 pollution.

However 300.org (300 ppm target) differs from 350.org (350 ppm target) on the NUMBER as summarized in the following quotation from a Letter being sent to global activists, media and governments: “Just as the latest scientific discoveries have supplanted IPCC predictions of 2007 (e.g. the Arctic summer sea ice is now predicted to completely go by 2013 rather than in 2100) so climate activism is also being rendered out of date. Thus US-based 350.org advocates reduction of atmospheric CO2 from the present 387 ppm to 350 ppm (based on a 2007 upper estimate of what is required from NASA’s Dr James Hansen). However now Australia-based 300.org urges a goal of 300 ppm atmospheric CO2 for a safe planet, informed by the latest from Dr Hansen and many other top climate scientists – notably, Australia’s Professor Barry Brook who says “The number is 300” and that “350. It’s the wrong number” (see: http://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/Home ). Yet science-ignoring First World governments are all aiming to increase atmospheric CO2. Please transmit this acutely serious message to everyone you can.”

A further succinct statement of the 300.org position is given in an article entitled “300.org Urges Reduction Of

Atmospheric CO2 To 300 ppm” and published by Countercurrents, 28 May 2009 (see: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya280509.htm ) : “The fundamental position of 300.org – informed by the latest advice from top climate scientists and biologists - is simply that “There must be a safe and sustainable existence for all peoples and all species on our warming-threatened Planet and this requires a rapid reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to about 300 parts per million” … What can decent people do in the face of the worsening Climate Emergency and continuing inaction by world governments world-wide? I have suggested a three-fold “ABC strategy” involving (A) Accountability (holding the individual, corporate or national climate criminals responsible by intra-national and international sanctions, boycotts, civil actions and criminal prosecutions); (B) a Badge (wearing a Badge such as “Climate Emergency” or simply “300” as advocated by 300.org); and (C) a Credo e.g. that of 300.org: “There must be a safe and sustainable existence for all peoples and all species on our warming-threatened Planet and this requires a rapid reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to about 300 parts per million.”

My article concludes with an exhortation to support the 24 October Global Day of Action organized by 350.org: “A global action day has been organized by 350.org for 24 October 2009 – just before the crucial, make-or-break Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December 2009 - to urge for REDUCTION of atmospheric CO2 to a safe and sustainable level. Please participate and be there with your placards and banners but proclaim the number recommended by the latest climate science: “300””.

The “merchandising” difficulty is that I suspect that most people don’t understand (1) “significant figures” and “rounding down” in science (“349” “rounds down” to “300” whereas “350” “rounds up” to “400”); (2) the “precautionary principle” (if given a range of some parameter for “safety”, adopt the lower value); (3) the mathematical inequality sign for “less than” (<); and, furthermore, (4) in the Orwellian, Goebbelsian societies of the Western Murdochracies most people don’t appreciate the distinction between the qualitative (e.g. see my article on the pro-planet MWC News “Children of Lesser God. MWC News & Gideon Polya World #1 for “thou shalt not kill children””: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/19454/42/ ) and the quantitative (e.g. see my article: “Hey, hey USA how many kids did you kill today? Answer: 1,000” on Bellaciao: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article18750 ).

However on 24 October 2009 most sensible people around the world would conclude from “300” exhortations, pamphlets, placards, banners and posters that the situation is even WORSE than hitherto thought and that many top science-informed people are saying that the target for atmospheric CO2 is even LOWER than that advocated by 350.org.

The goal of 300 ppm CO₂ is shared by participants of the 2009 Australian Climate Action Summit (over 140 Australian Climate Action Groups) (see: Greenlivingpedia, “Australian climate Action Summit 2009”: http://www.greenlivingpedia.org/Australian_climate_action_summit_2009 ) , the Australian Climate Emergency Network (see: Climate Emergency Network: http://www.climateemergencynetwork.org/ ) and the Yarra Valley Climate Action Group (see Yarra Valley Climate Action Group, “Climate Emergency facts and required actions”: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/climate-emergency-facts-and-required-actions ) (for further details and documentation see: http://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/300-org---return-atmosphere-co2-to-300-ppm ).

I am very happy for you to publish and otherwise disseminate this commentary to everyone you can. I certainly wish 350.org the very best – we must certainly work together to save the planet because the world is running out of time.

Best wishes,

Dr Gideon Polya, 300.org