October “To-Dos” with Bill McKibben
by Patrice Frey on September 14th, 2009Have a few extra minutes? Check out this excellent interview with Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, from TreeHugger radio. McKibben — a plenary speaker at the National Preservation Conference in Nashville this fall — explains why “350 is the most important number in the world.” That would be as in 350 parts per million, the level that has been identified as the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. More than 350 ppm “is not compatible with the planet on which civilization developed or which life on earth is adapted.”
The bad news? We’re already at 390 parts per million. As recently as a couple of years ago climate scientist believed the upper limit was closer to 400-450 parts per million, but recent events suggest our natural systems are changing faster that models predicted. With a confirmed one degree Fahrenheit rise in global temperature, the rapidly melting Arctic, more wildfires, droughts, and assorted other disasters, McKibben believes the “the natural world is telling us things are already out of control.”
The big question is whether we’ll listen. McKibben doesn’t sugar coat the news, and he isn’t going to help anyone sleep better at night. But he might just give us the kick in the pants we need to go out there and do something to fight the worst of climate change, while we still can. Plan to listen in as he addresses the preservation world on October 14th from Nashville (if you can’t make the conference, his address will be available on PreservationNation), and join McKibben’s International Day of Climate Action on October 24th.
Patrice Frey is the director of sustainability research for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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September 14th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
can you please tell me where the conference is located
September 15th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Karen, our conference this year is in Nashville, TN. You can find full details here: http://www.preservationnation.org/npc.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
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