The Brighter Planet Blog

This past weekend’s workshop at Middlebury College – Getting to 350 – was an inspiring gathering of climate change solution-builders from across the country, convened by Brighter Planet Co-founder Prof. Jon Isham and developed alongside his students and colleagues.

NASA Climatologist James Hansen kicked off the weekend presenting his compelling data. He suggests how critical it is we rapidly stabilize the planet’s atmospheric carbon dioxide, and then bring its concentration down to 350 parts per million (ppm).

With Hansen’s call to action in mind, the workshop participants brought their diverse perspectives and experiences to the table, truly highlighting the power of open-source solution-building. This approach embraces group- and network-based problem-solving and shifts away from hierarchical, expert-based problem-solving. Everyone has a story to share and a contribution to make in the effort to reach 350 ppm.

Here are a few of those stories and contributions:

Kandi Mosset of the Indigenous Environmental Network recounted the devastating health and economic impacts the fossil fuel industry has had on the tribal nation. She admonished us not to forget the potential loopholes presented by tribal sovereignty as we call upon the government and the state and federal level to enact strong, sustained climate legislation. With that in mind, Jason Kowalski of 1Sky encouraged us to be in touch with our representatives to strengthen the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which may emerge from the Capitol this week.

Charles Baron of google.org spoke of the organization’s efforts to develop utility-scale renewable energy that’s cheaper than coal (RE < C), namely enhanced geothermal systems. Randy Kritkausky of ECOLOGIA emphasized the importance of growing green job opportunities both domestically and abroad as we pursue and build these renewable technologies. And Sierra Murdoch of Power Past Coal underscored that, while we must rapidly shift away from dirty fossil fuels sources towards these technologies to reach 350 ppm, it is imperative we hear the voices of the communities directly impacted by these shifts.

Along with contributions from the many other workshop participants, we all came away from the weekend with new ideas and inspirations – and with a strengthened commitment to reach 350 ppm through collective leverage of new alliances and strategies.

To learn more about how you can help build an alliance within your own community to work towards this global goal, check out our friends and fellow workshop participants at 350.org.

-Caitlin