March 23, 2009 issue
The 350 target
By Jodi H. Beyeler Goshen CollegePage:
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GOSHEN, Ind. — Bill McKibben hopes the world is ready to act fast and aim for 350 — “the most important number in the world.”
Environmental activist Bill McKibben signs books after his lecture at Goshen College. — Photo by Jodi H. Beyeler/Goshen College
“Anything more than that is not compatible with life on this planet,” the environmental author, educator and activist said.
The number 350 refers to the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. McKibben called it the “red line,” based on the most recent science, when he spoke at Goshen College March 11.
Before the Industrial Revolution, McKibben said, the amount of carbon in the air was fairly stable at around 270 ppm. But the current number is 387 ppm and increasing.
If that is not reversed soon, “the possibilities of what lies down this path are enormous,” he said — more melting of ice caps and glaciers, more droughts and floods causing “huge and irreversible damage to the Earth.”
“We have had the 10 warmest years on record since global warming was determined to be caused by humans,” McKibben said. “It is an emergency like never before.”
“Among scientists who study climate, there is no disagreement on this,” he said during his Yoder Public Affairs Lecture. The 350 limit, he said, comes from NASA scientist and global warming expert James Hansen.
McKibben, a Sunday school teacher at his Methodist church, appreciated speaking to people of faith, rather than secular audiences as he normally does.
“This is more than a scientific problem; it has a strong moral and theological dimension,” he said, pointing to the Book of Job and claiming we are experiencing the “story of de-creation” now.
“The most immediate victims of this are poor people who didn’t cause this,” said McKibben, whose first book is The End of Nature (1989) and whose most recent book is Deep Economy: the Wealth of Community and the Durable Future (2007).
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Comments
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Check out the web site climate cooling dot org, and you might find another view concerning climate change. People of faith will want to know a bit more than just one side of the climate change concern.
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