Typically, in order for a group to raise money and raise awareness for a cause they must be a large group with a fairly recognized name and considerable financial backing. However, this is not the case for 350.org, a new organization that raises awareness for climate change and organizes campaigns and events mostly through their social media presence, and is already establishing itself as a major climate change group with the ability to attract a younger generation of activists. Founded in 2008, 350 has encouraged activists in 189 countries to organize campaigns and environmental projects, and has started major U.S. campaigns, such as the movement to stop the Keystone pipeline and to stop public institutions’ use of fossil fuel. The organization’s name comes from the number of parts per million of carbon dioxide that climate scientists say is safe to have in the atmosphere, and their major goal of decreasing the carbon dioxide level from 400 parts per million to below 350.
Carbon dioxide is naturally present in Earth’s atmosphere. However, when humans combust fossil fuels to use for energy and transportation while simultaneously destroying the forests that remove CO2
from the atmosphere, the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere increases drastically. Greenhouse gases, which have been emitted as a result of fossil fuel combustion and other human activities since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 1750s, reflect the sun’s energy radiating from Earth back to the planet in the form of heat, which steadily increases the Earth’s temperature. Greenhouse gas emissions affect crops, availability of fresh water, human health, and even extreme weather such as storms, heatwaves, drought, wildfires, and rising sea levels. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “the most effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to reduce fossil fuel consumption” and instead rely on clean alternatives such wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal energy.350.org was founded by college student May Boeve, along with a group of her classmates because other climate change movements “didn’t look like the movements we’d studied in school, with protests and songs and visual imagery and analyses of power…” They thought that although climate change is one of the most pressing issue facing America and the world, the government was making limited progress in making America more environmentally friendly. In the short time that 350 has existed as an organization, they have organized several events meant to raise awareness of climate change and unite people with the common goal of switching to clean energy, including the International Day of Climate Action in October of 2009 and the People’s Climate March in New York City in 2014, the largest climate change march in history drawing a crowd of over 300,000. Meanwhile, they lobby governments on carbon targets, organize protests against construction of fossil fuel infrastructure such as the Keystone Pipeline, and educate youth leaders through climate change advocacy trainings.
350 is revolutionizing the movement to stop climate change by creating opportunities for regular people to learn about the effects of climate change, become leaders, and participate in events meant to raise awareness and encourage the government to fight the fossil fuel industry. Says the organization on their official website, “We believe in a safe climate and a better future — a just, prosperous, and equitable world built with the power of ordinary people.” To join 350's clean energy movement, visit the "Getting Started" tab on their website to find or start a local group, and get involved in current campaigns by attending climate change town halls, signing petitions, and participating in coordinated actions across the world to disrupt major fossil fuel projects.
