350: The Most Important Number

On October 28, 2009, your campus chapter of MASSPIRG gathered with a large group of students to kick off the Global 350 Initiative, showing solidarity and a genuine concern for the environmental crisis facing the planet.

We are living in a new age, a world ruled by numbers. Passkeys, security pins and access codes of all kinds. They all are individual and are meant to keep us secure and give us peace of mind. Soon these numbers that are so important in our lives will be overshadowed as a new number is pushed into the forefront of our collective consciousness. 350 is a number which we, as a global community will have to become aware. This number means the difference between healing the planet and losing our world as we know it.

The scientific community and the policy makers in power rarely agree on many issues, but recently, all the voices have reached a consensus. Climate change is the most critical battle facing humankind and the planet. This amazing planet we live on is a truly wondrous place in its natural state all its systems work together there is a balance. The balance is now leaning towards the demise of our world.

Carbon dioxide is a building block of life and necessary for the process of photosynthesis to be successful. The downside of this life-giving gas is that when it’s concentrated in the environment it becomes one of the major factors that contribute to the greenhouse effect that is plaguing the earth. The burning of coal and the combustion of fossil fuels, coupled with loss of 38.1 million acres of forest every year have us stuck in a negative feedback loop; this assault of our environment has already caused many disastrous repercussions. Many mammals, birds, insects and other organisms are on the brink of extinction. The polar ice caps are melting, the seas are rising and the weather is getting more extreme; these are just a few of the symptoms of this global crisis.

There is a reachable attainable goal, a decrease in the carbon dioxide in the environment. This gas measured in parts per million (ppm), we are currently at 387ppm. With that number rising at 2 ppm per year if we don’t do anything we will be at 660ppm by 2050. By then it will be too late and the real goal of 350 ppm will be gone forever.

MASSPIRG and a great majority of the student body and the world are using the number 350 as a call for action. This is a call to join the fight; the fight to reduce your carbon footprint. This current class of college students will be the driving force in the upcoming years of the climate change initiative. We can no longer sit by and take small steps towards going green. Simple conservation and recycling is not enough, we need to increase awareness and fight for the survival of our planet.

So, let’s stand together to heal the earth and reduce the level of this necessary but dangerous greenhouse gas. Keep your eyes on the goal. You hold the power! If we all work together that will be the deciding factor on if we save this planet. Remember 350 and remember the future of our planet depends on you.

Ben Perez