The Last Big Push

In calendar 2017, I suggest we pivot to climate together. What am I rambling about? I'm asking that all of the social, environmental, and climate justice organizations that came together for the People's Climate March in September of 2014 come back together for ALL of 2017, and spend at least 50% of their time and treasure that year on climate change:

• Outreach
• Action
• Lobbying
• Education
• Advertising
• Web presence
• Social media

This is the last year. This must be the big push. Let's #PivotToClimate!

If we act fast, we may be able to seize and take advantage of one of those rare windows of opportunity that comes at the exactly right time - when we are close enough to disaster that we can see it looming up on the horizon, and yet have JUST enough time to grab the wheel and yank it around, narrowly avoiding what might otherwise have been inevitable.

In the April 2015issue of Scientific American, this appeared: "Greenpeace, a leading environmental advocacy group, says we have until around 2020 to significantly cut back on greenhouse gas output around the world—to the tune of a five percent annual reduction in emissions overall—if we are to avoid so-called “runaway” climate change.

This was when, as the article also noted,

"Currently the atmospheric concentration of CO2 (the leading greenhouse gas) is approximately 398.55 parts per million (ppm). "

And

"According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal scientific agency tasked with monitoring the health of our oceans and atmosphere, the current average annual rate of increase of 1.92 ppm means we could reach the point of no return by 2042."

In September, we crossed the threshold of 400ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere.

To quote from a recent piece on ThinkProgress:

"In the late 2000s, climate scientist James Hansen argued that the world needed to stay below 350 parts per million to avoid the worst impacts of climate change (his warning is what gave 350.org, the global climate activism group, its name). Three years ago, Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide levels first exceeded 400 parts per million, but those levels quickly dipped back below the threshold, as atmospheric carbon dioxide waxes and wanes with the seasons.

Which is why the fact that atmospheric carbon dioxide is still above 400 parts per million at the end of September is a worrying fact: September is usually the time when concentrations are at their lowest, as trees in the Northern Hemisphere have grown all summer, sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. In a blog post, Ralph Keeling, current head of the Scripps carbon dioxide measurement program and son of Charles Keeling, wrote that it is “almost impossible” that CO2 levels will drop below 400 in October.

“Concentrations will probably hover around 401 ppm over the next month as we sit near the annual low point,” he wrote. “Brief excursions towards lower values are still possible but it already seems safe to conclude that we won’t be seeing a monthly value below 400 ppm [parts per million] this year — or ever again for the indefinite future.”"

The first year of the new Clinton Administration will be the most propitious time - the time with the most potential for radical change - that we will have until… well, until it is likely too late.



The energy from pulling off a win could propel the new administration to take bold, aggressive action on climate change during Hillary Clinton's first year in office - especially if all of the players from the 2014 People's Climate March get back together (we're getting the band back together!) and focus her attention on the people's will.

If we act fast, we may be able to seize and take advantage of one of those rare windows of opportunity that comes at the exactly right time - when we are close enough to disaster that we can see it looming up on the horizon, and yet have JUST enough time to grab the wheel and yank it around, narrowly avoiding what might otherwise have been inevitable. Let's PIVOT TO CLIMATE - TOGETHER.

#PivotToClimate - #StrongerTogether