Moving Planet Updates

A Beautiful Day

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 03:39:00 -0400

Visit www.350.org for the latest blog posts, and visit the Moving Planet homepage to see photos from around the world.

After an incredible day of global action, photos and videos are still coming in from around the world — submit yours here. Below is the emails we just sent out to our global email list. If you’re not getting our emails, you can sign up here.

Dear friends,

I’ve just come from the Moving Planet celebration here in San Francisco, California — it was great fun watching people converge on skateboard and bike and kayak from around this beautiful city. It’s even more fun back here at the crowded, noisy 350 office, hunched over my laptop and watching pictures stream in from absolutely everywhere.

The crowds around the world are enormous, and the energy is infectious. To give you a sense of what’s been happening around the world, here are a few images that have already arrived:

See more at www.moving-planet.org

You can see lots more images on the Moving Planet website — the slideshow on the front page is not to be missed. People got moving for bold climate action in every corner of the earth today: from the massive crowds at major cities throughout the USA to the human flood in Cairo, Egypt to bike parades and rallies and protests and teach-ins all over the world.

If you have photos from the big day, please send them as attachments to photos@moving-planet.org (only one per email, see additional instructions here), and if you have video you can upload it here. Our 350.org team is pulling together a global mosaic of images and videos to deliver to world leaders and share with our network, and we want to make sure everyone can see what you’ve been up.

I’m tired, but I’m not sure I’ll sleep tonight — thanks to many of you, there are just too many pictures to look at, too many great stories to read. This growing movement put the planet in motion today. It will take a lot of work in the future to keep it moving, but for now just relax, and savor the wonder and joy of this incredible day.

With gratitude,

Bill McKibben for the 350.org Team

P.S. Also, please take a moment to share the thrill of the day with a couple of clicks on Facebook and Twitter.

Renewables defeat fossil fuels!

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:13:00 -0400

We’ve had a victory here in New Zealand for renewable energy - Green Party Member of Parliament Kevin Hague defeated Greymouth Mayor Tony Kokshoorn in a Moving Planet debate last night, titled “What future fossil fuels?”. Hague, speaking in support of moving beyond fossil fuels eloquently made his case in a tense atmosphere - Greymouth is at the center of New Zealand’s coal industry, located on the Westcoast of the South Island. The New Zealand government has plans to expand coal mining on the Westcoast, so this debate and the outcome is more important than ever.

Hague summed up his winning points for us: “The universal experience of coal mining towns is that they remain poor and their populations sick - for the sake of jobs we trade environmental destruction, the terrible toll of mining disasters and poor health for the sake of someone else’s profit. We can honour the rightly proud history, culture and values that miners have represented while forging a new sustainable future.”

Great stuff Kevin - we couldn’t agree with you more!

Moving the planet: The beat quickens in Buenos Aires

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:39:00 -0400

Matias Kalwill and David Byrne on the musician and bike activist’s recent trip to Argentina.

Buenos Aires Moving Planet organizer Matias Kalwill was just interviewed by the San Francisco Bay Guardian about the events planned for his city tomorrow - here are a few excerpts, or read the whole interview here.

SFBG: What inspired you to get involved?
MK: The chance to put on a high impact action connecting bikes and sustainability. The opportunity to share a common effort with people from all over the world. Bill Mckibben’s work, wich is amazing. Previous 350.org’s events in which I participated. The idea that we could share what’s happening in Buenos Aires with the rest of the country.

SFBG: What does your city have planned for Saturday?
MK: We will be doing live art and music and conferences and personal workshops in the Plaza Luna de Enfrente, and then a ride to deliver a project proposal to representatives of the National Congress. The proposal aims to have urban cycling declared “of interest for the sustainable development of the country” by the Congress and can be read here. If eventually this project is approved by the Congress, it will become a tool for local bike advocates, politicians, and activists all over Argentina. Awesome!

Moving Planet on national TV in Ecuador!

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:53:00 -0400

Organizers and local cycling advocates in Ecuador landed a 30 minute segment on national TV in Ecuador about their Moving Planet event, providing a big boost to an already powerful march and cycle rally tomorrow! Tomorrow, rain or shine, they’ll be cycling and marching the streets of Quito to demand better urban transportation policies that favor bikes and public transit over bikes.

Best of luck tomorrow, Moving Planet Ecuador! You can find the clip here.

Guess who met the chief minister?

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:04:00 -0400

The 350 team in Hyderabad, India did not wait long and fixed up an appointment with the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. A state which is currently caught up in a 50 year old imbroglio of its people calling for a separate state is also facing another critical issue in the form of massive coal fired power plants.

These energy plans based on fossil fuels (coal) have serious implications for the people of Andhra and India. Here is a copy of the memorandum submitted to the minister by the team, urging him to choose the renewable energy pathway.

A petition is currently gaining numbers and once we reach 5000, the team will submit the signatures to the minister again in October.

Moving along!

Poetry in Motion

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:50:00 -0400

That’s the name of one Moving Planet event in Farmington, Maine in the United States, as well as the theme for 100 Thousands Poets for Change, an exciting initiative also coordinating worldwide action this Saturday. There are over 700 events in 555 cities in over 95 countries around the world - poetry readings, slams, and other literary events to promote “serious social, environmental, and political change”.

Many Moving Planet events are already overlapping with these local events, and if there’s one in your area, we encourage you to link up if possible! We know that we need artists, poets, communicators to help inspire and paint a vision of a different future - a future beyond fossil fuels. We can’t wait to share the results from this weekend with our friends at 100 Thousand Poets for Change!

Moving and cute

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:25:25 -0400

Some of the early actions are already underway around the world. Israel jumped ahead yesterday even, and a few other events are on the move today, including Cairo, Egypt (photos coming soon).

Two events that just sent in their photos are a kids march in Macedonia…

And Infosys employees in Bangalore promoting ways to get to work sustainably…

Where next? —> www.moving-planet.org

Read Behind the Smiles

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 03:04:16 -0400

We’re so close to the launch of Moving Planet - and it’s going to begin in a truly moving way. At 6am, as the sun rises over the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific, people will gather in the village of Popua. In fact they’re already there - they’re camping out for the night in Popua because it is one of the most vulnerable villages to the impacts of climate change. It will start with a blessing by the village priest, followed by songs by the village choir, and then what follows is your part - thousands of actions and rallies in 176 countries. Feel the solidarity.

We’re about to see a lot amazing photos, the first of which will flood in from the 18 Pacific Island states. They’ll probably be smiling a lot - the Pacific is a friendly place - but we have to read behind the smiles. Because behind those smiles there is anger, frustration and fear. In places like Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands, they will be wearing red because red is the colour of emergency. And in their words “We only survive at 350ppm”.

Meanwhile in the Marshall Islands they will rally down the length of the atoll demanding action from world leaders, in Nauru, the Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea bikes will swarm over the roads. And all of this will be done with the intensity of feeling that our Pacific Moving Planet Coordinator Ewan Cameron in Samoa sums up:

“On Saturday, in a unified voice we the Pacific will shout as loud as we can at the injustice imposed by the big polluters and the fossil fuel addiction, the root cause of the current climatic problems, and future climate problems for our generation and the future generations living in small islands. I wish to see President Obama be the aspiring leader he was born to be, and the country he grew up to lead. Mr President, commitment would be a powerful, and historical milestone and an inspiration to all of us. Be the person who leads from the front of the pack and not from the back.”

So it’s with that passion that we have to get this planet moving! Done reading? Let’s get to it!

The city is for people not for cars!

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:54:00 -0400

Today we celebrate the World Car Free Day (WCFD) and in two days Moving Planet will shake the big polluters! It is no coincidence that Moving Planet is happening on Saturday. What best illustrates our dependence on fossil fuels than a street crowded with cars?

In São Paulo, which has the largest fleet of cars in the country (responsible for most of its greenhouse gases emissions and air pollution of the city which reduces life expectancy of people living in the city), we participated in a big “living parking” space, distributed moral fines “World Car Free Day - I didn’t make it” for people who went out driving today and also invited people to our Moving Planet Parade.

Check out the pictures below and some more here.

Early birds in Israel

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:02:00 -0400

Our friends at Tel Aviv Rollers were too pumped to wait all the way until Saturday, so they got moving already last night! Check them out cruising through the city:

And here’s the report sent in by the team:

“We have gathered for an hour prior to the long route for explenation of the 350 idea and for some speeches. We did a competition for the best green outfit as seen in the pictures. We have called our government and politicians to take seriously the next comming conventions at Panama and Durben SA, in order to lead the nations towards an ambitious agreement. We took off to a 25KM route in the streets of Tel Aviv, led by our team and the Rollers unit of Tel Aviv police.”

Can’t wait to see lots more of this this weekend! —> www.moving-planet.org

Massive bicycle mill planned for Saturday in Brussels, Belgium ....

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:22:53 -0400

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

Massive bicycle mill planned for Saturday in Brussels, Belgium . Belgium Moving Planet organizer Nicholas told us that for their Moving Planet event they extended the bike mill you see in this video to 48 bikes!!!

Maldives going all the way

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:48:00 -0400

We’ve known for some time about the heroic leadership of the Maldives and their president, Mohamed Nasheed, in the fight against climate change. Click here for a little background on the subject. Well, the announcement of their plans to go carbon neutral in 2009 was definitely not just words. Here on the eve of Moving Planet, the small island country is releasing their latest effort to move all the way beyond fossil fuels.

A Guardian article published today describes how the country has today launched a new effort to crowdsource their renewable energy solution on a new website here. And the article highlights an important note about the motives behind these efforts:

“Although climate change leadership is the key driver behind the Maldives’ plan, the government is keen to emphasise the broader benefits of switching to renewables in terms of cost and energy security.

Mahmood Razee, minister for economic development, said: ‘We are investing in renewable energy because it is cheaper and cleaner than burning fossil fuels. At the moment, our economy is run on imported oil and every time the oil price rises, we all suffer.’”

President Nasheed couldn’t have said better back in December, 2009:

“After all, it is not carbon we want, but development. It is not coal we want, but electricity. It is not oil we want, but transport. Low-carbon technologies now exist, to deliver all the goods and services we need. Let us make the goal of using them.

Let us make the goal of reaching that all-important number: three – five – oh.”

Also, we’ll be getting to hear more about all this from the Vice President of the Maldives, Dr. Mohammed Waheed Hassan, when he speaks at the New York City Moving Planet event this Saturday!

Let’s get all our countries moving in this direction! —> www.moving-planet.org

Event organized by ECOCARE in Male’, October, 2009.

Airing on Kazakh National Television...

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:29:47 -0400

Our friends in Kazakhstan tailored the Moving Planet video to air on national television this week promoting the 25 events taking place across the country!

Australian Interviews Vermonter

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:16:00 -0400

One of the joys of building a global movement are getting to form inspiring relationships that span across continents. Below, Australian media-maker Jackson Hewett interviews Laurel Heisman, one of the lead organizers for Vermont (USA)’s big Moving Planet event.

Why did you get involved with Moving Planet? I had done some local environmental activism in the past, but I’m really excited by the global aspect of 350.org. It’s exciting to be working at the grass roots level but also to feel connected globally. And I think 350 has it down really well. You don’t just want to be working with a global concept and getting orders top down, you want to be working locally, with the grass roots organizations on the ground but connected to all these other groups around the world that are doing the same thing.

How important are grass roots events like this? I think it’s really important. Without people expressing how important these issues are, then there is no way for governments to assess what the people want. Sometimes there can be disillusion with events like this but people power is the best and only way to really make change. The government is serving the people and if the people tell the government what they’re looking for then that is the best way to come up with a solution. So the more that try to make an effort, the more change is possible. If people are apathetic then nothing is going to change.

How have you been getting the word out about Moving Planet? We started a database of local non-profits throughout Vermont, as well as universities and media contacts. We’re trying to get as many contacts as we can. We’ve contacted groups about partnerships, sponsorships and tabling at the event. That way we are reaching all of their members. This is something that affects so many people in so many different ways that there are so many people working on this issue.

As a result we have lots of diversity. For instance we have allied with the Iron Workers Union and the Abenaki Indigenous group. We want to have as broad a base as possible because these are issues that everyone should want to be a part of. We feel good that we have these diverse interests.

What tips do you have for organizers who are making the final push?

Stay connected to your organizing group. We’ve set up meetings statewide, we’ve had conference calls. We are staying on task with our task list. Make sure there’s proper delegation of tasks and that one person doesn’t take on too many things and get burnt out. Focus on doing one thing at a time and don’t get overwhelmed because there is a lot to do when organizing something like this.

What strategies are you putting in place?

In Burlington and Montpelier, Moving Planet was the theme for the local green drinks meetup. We’ve just put out posters, we have a facebook page and now we are working on some media stunts. In Burlington we are doing the ‘Capital Ride’, which will be a mass bike ride starting at a big music festival and ending up in the capital Montpelier.

Does it help that Vermont is such an environmentally aware state?

I’ve been on some of the national calls and it seems like there’s a lot of other great momentum across the country. That being said, Vermont is a really progressive state and we want this event be a catalyst for change. Governor Shumlin has an energy bill hitting his desk in October and we hope this event can persuade to hear our concerns, so that Vermont can lead the way with positive solutions for climate change.

So any last thoughts about Moving Planet? This event is really powerful because it is a global event but its really a grassroots organised project throughout the world and its a really positive reminder of how organizing can lead to positive outcomes!

A Moving Planet

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:46:42 -0400

This is a beautiful piece by our friend Apollo Gonzales of NRDC, cross-posted from The Switchboard.

When I was a kid and things became too fast paced or stressful for me I would go outside, take off my shoes, and stand with my bare feet on whatever piece of earth was nearest me. I don’t know where I learned to do that, but it always made me feel stable. It made me feel still. As I got older I struggled to understand the enormity of the truth that the planet was moving, rotating, revolving and part of the swirling mass of this galaxy, that we were anything but still. I didn’t understand how we were not falling off, or how we couldn’t feel it moving. It was hard to look beyond my physical experience of being still. Eventually, I came to like the idea of standing there in moments of stress, rooted to something so immense as it moved through the cosmos.

Turn on your media outlet of choice at any moment of the day and even with all of your adult understanding and knowledge it is easy to see the human condition framed by a few thousand politicians and talking heads. It is easy to believe that we are mired in conflict, indecision, and fear. If one considers the state of affairs surrounding the health of our planet and the people who inhabit it, it is easy to believe that we have come to an impasse and are standing still.

A couple in New York City is getting married on 9/24, and made...

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:40:59 -0400

A couple in New York City is getting married on 9/24, and made this super-cute video chronicling their quest to arrive at the wedding location fossil-fuel-free. Watch until the end—I promise you won’t regret it. Congratulations to Tiffany and Tony!

In Lund, Sweden, Moving Planet organizers from Hallbart...

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:10:00 -0400

In Lund, Sweden, Moving Planet organizers from Hallbart University get ready for Moving Planet by shipping over 150 bikes to South Africa - spreading the cycling revolution just days before Cape Town is getting ready for their big Tread Lightly - Moving Planet Cape Town action.

A Global Movement

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:50:48 -0400

We say it often — we need a global movement to take on global warming.

There is no movement out there that is more important to unite globally than this one to create solutions to the global climate crisis. It is the most planetary of challenges we face, and our actions need to be equal in scope.

Hence, one of many reasons for Moving Planet, now set to go ahead in 168 countries — and counting!

People all across our globe are feeling the effects of a warming world, and it will benefit us all to move beyond fossil fuels. It’s incredibly beautiful and inspiring that we’re able to send out that message together. From the United States to Uganda, from Sweden to Sri Lanka, from Vietnam to Venezuela — we are building this movement together.

Already this movement has celebrated actions in just about every corner of the globe, and we’re striving to do the same this Saturday. But we need your help.

There are just a few countries still missing from the Moving Planet map. Can you check to see if you know folks in any of the countries still missing, and contact them asking them to join on Saturday?

Go here to see the latest list of missing countries: www.moving-planet.org/missing-countries

Thanks for chipping in any time (and possible skype credit) you can to contact folks and let them know about this movement and Moving Planet. Hopefully in the process you’ll be getting to connect with far away friends or family and know that you’re helping heal our planet together.

Video from our Moving Planet organizers in Latvia - to sensitize...

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 05:27:42 -0400

Video from our Moving Planet organizers in Latvia - to sensitize car drivers in Riga about cyclists our friends stage a wedding between a car and a bicycle on September 24th followed by a cycling rally.

Vietnamese celebrities raise their voice for a cooler planet with the 350 Music Night

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:20:00 -0400

This just in from our friend and incredible climate movement leader, Hong, in Vietnam:

Climate change awareness raising is a long-term cause, it takes lots of inspiration for the public to take action. Even when the inspiration is there, you need real good messengers to pass that inspiration forward.

And here in Vietnam, we’ve found great messengers for our 350 movement: the celebrities – people who have great influential power on the general public. Of course not every celebrity thinks green, but in the past two months of the Moving Planet campaign, we have inspired and engaged more than 20 “green” celebrities, including some top singers, composers, MCs, Miss Beauty, to be our movement’s messengers. With “green” minds, these high profile people all committed to help the campaign spread out the message, and call for the public action.

And the result of this fruitful partnership was 350 Music Night, organized at and supported by Yoko Bar, a popular place for music lovers in HCMC. The show included beautiful performances by Doan Trang, Nathan Lee, Quoc Thien, Ha Okio, Thao Trang and Pi Band, some of Vietnam’s most popular young singers. Unlike their normal performances, the songs they picked would convey a message relevant to 350 movement: Doan Trang had a beautiful song named “hand fan” to encourage people not to use air conditioner all the time. Ha Okio performed one of his latest works, “One World”, which inspires people to love the planet and take action to protect it etc…

The highlight of the event was the launch of Green Celebrities Club – Vietnam’s first club for environmentally aware celebrities. All of the celebs signed up to become the first member of the club and showed their support for 350. One of their first tasks in this role is to take part in the “Strawless” campaign to encourage people to minimize the use of plastic straws and other disposable stuffs, through a series of posters which will be widely promoted to the public this week.