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Leading scientists say 350 is the limit. According to 350.org, an international environmental campaign, 350 parts per million (ppm) is the limit of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Scientists for the cause say it is crucial to get back to this number “to avoid runaway climate change.”
The Green Campus Initiative at the University of Maine took its first step in returning to 350 on Saturday, when it had students bring bags of recyclables to the Student Recreation and Fitness Center in exchange for a free T-shirt.
Based on climate impact, scientists have concluded the world is already above the safe zone of carbon dioxide at a current 390 ppm. Unless the world returns to 350 ppm within the century, it risks reaching irreversible impacts such as the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt.
GCI used their event to raise awareness of the cause.
To advertise the event, they had a table in Memorial Union every Thursday for a month before the event. While there, they handed people bags to let them know what GCI hoped to achieve and the meaning behind the event.
“We’re trying to get 350 bags [of recyclables] to stand for the 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Currently we’re at approximately 390 [ppm] and our ecosystem can’t sustain itself on 390,” said Michael Maberry, head coordinator of GCI.
“I think we must have given out about 250 to 300 bags, and we’re hoping that 350 people can come,” he said.
“I was hoping that students understood that the 350 represented that part per million of carbon dioxide in the safe level of the atmosphere. However, I don’t think many people ended up knowing that by the end, because many people just dropped their bags off and got their shirt,” Maberry said.
“Basically what we wanted to do was show our support and show that the university cares about the carbon emissions and that we would like to see a treaty formed,” Brittany Wallingford said.
The treaty Wallingford hopes for comes from the International Day of Climate Action. At this event, 181 countries came together for the most diverse day of environmental activism. Leaders from participating countries meet in a selected location and decide whether to sign a treaty cutting carbon emissions to 80 percent by the year 2050. To complement that event, people gather at over 5,200 rallies around the world in hopes of starting a movement toward fixing the climate crisis.
GCI planned their event in accordance with these rallies. They hoped this would not only support the cause, but promote the signing of the treaty as well.
“They did it when Bush was in office and Bush didn’t sign it, so a lot of our allies didn’t sign it either. Basically what it is, is an agreement to reduce carbon emissions in our country, and to make a goal, for example, say by the year 2050, all of our cars get 35 miles to the gallon,” said Austin Gregory, GCI’s eco-representative.
“Basically it’s just a goal that each country sets with itself and with all the countries in the world to reduce our overall carbon emissions. That’s what we’re supporting today,” he said.
The 350 event had originally been planned to occur on the mall Saturday afternoon, but due to the inclement weather, GCI held the event in the Student Recreation and Fitness Center. This created some disadvantages for the group.
“Sadly, I don’t think there’s as large of a percentage of kids involved as we hoped for, but it’s hard on weekends because people don’t want to come out, especially in the rain,” Gregory said. “Even if it wasn’t raining, college kids can be lazy, to be honest, plus they have homework on the weekends, so we don’t have as many people as we’d like to see. I feel like we have underground supporters.”
Wallingford believes that despite the disadvantage, there is still a chance to recieve the 350 bags they wanted.
“I think we’re going to get a lot of bags back this week in our office,” Wallingford said. “I do think that we will end up getting a lot more feedback than just what we have there now.”
GCI took the bags to the recycling center on campus. While they received over 100 bags, Maberry thinks the message of 350 never fully reached the students.
“However I do think it was still a success,” Maberry said. “I think that we could have advertised a little better about what 350 actually was. We thought everyone seems to love a free shirt, but then they don’t like to hear the whole spiel about what is behind the shirt. Either way, I still think it was a really big success for us.”
Bangor Daily News