10-10-10 & 350! What Does It All Mean?

Oct 10, 2010 As mathletes and scientists find multiple meanings of coolness for 10-10-10 ranging from binary code to number 10 representing perfection or completion via the “I Ching,” an ancient Chinese text (more at LiveScience) there’s one organization that has my full attention and heart and hopes high…350.org! Already 7,347 global work day parties in over 188 countries are coming together today to roll up their sleeves and start working on the climate crisis to signal to politicians “if we can do it so can YOU” (Let’s get busy!)

I’ve featured 350.org many times before like last year’s Fun/Eco-Edu Activism post so KIDS can work together as Stewards of the Planet and embrace the “one world” concept of interconnected actions in colossal cause and effect for International Climate Change. How can we best explain the science of 350? For the first time ever on the FRONT page, I’m going to turn the blog over to video for a 350.org show and tell with all the ‘how to get involved’ maps and mobile fun AFTER the jump so you can dive right into Global Work Day starting NOW! Hope to see kids of all ages out there today! (It’ll move off the front page after 10-10-10!)

The Invitation—10/10/10

Dear World,

It’s been a tough year: in North America, oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; in Asia some of the highest temperatures ever recorded; in the Arctic, the fastest melting of sea ice ever seen; in Latin America, record rainfalls washing away whole mountainsides.

So we’re having a party.

Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar. That’s the date. (TODAY!!!)

The place is wherever you live. And the point is to do something that will help deal with global warming in your city or community.

We’re calling it a Global Work Party, with emphasis on both ‘work’ and ‘party’.

In Auckland, New Zealand, they’re having a giant bike fix-up day, to get every bicycle in the city back on the road. In the Maldives, they’re putting up solar panels on the President’s office. In Kampala, Uganda, they’re going to plant thousands of trees, and in Bolivia they’re installing solar stoves for a massive carbon neutral picnic.

Since we’ve already worked hard to call, email, petition, and protest to get politicians to move, and they haven’t moved fast enough, now it’s time to show that we really do have the tools we need to get serious about the climate crisis.

On 10/10/10 we’ll show that we the people can do this–but we need bold energy policies from our political leaders to do it on a scale that truly matters.

The goal of the day is not to solve the climate crisis one project at a time, but to send a pointed political message: if we can get to work, you can get to work too–on the legislation and the treaties that will make all our work easier in the long run.

You can sign up to host a local event at www.350.org/oct10

Or search for an event to join at www.350.org/map

And don’t worry about being alone at this party: there are already over thousands of groups in 188 countries around the world scheduled to do something great that day.

We’ll knit all these groups together with a powerful mosaic of photos, videos, and stories from around the world. You wouldn’t want to miss it.

It’s been a tough year—but it can be a beautiful day on the 10th Of October if we work together, and party together. And if we do it right, then we’ll take a big step towards the kind of political solutions we desperately need.

Onwards!

Bill McKibben and the 350.org team

P.S.—If you feel a little shy, or wonder if you can really make a party work, check out these pictures from last year’s Global Day of Action. There were 5200 demonstrations in 181 countries, which means an awful lot of folks like you figured out how to get it done!

So what are you waiting for?

Get out there and have some 350 fun!

Leave a comment with your antics (or a link to your visuals!) for how YOU impart the 350 message to children today.

You’ll automatically be entered into our recycled book drawing for “What Kind of World Do You Want?” along with some VERY cool eco-picture books for kids…

A favorite of mine pertinent for today?

Climate change classics like The Last Little Polar Bear, by fellow NextNow colleague & Digital Earth champion Dr. Tim Foresman.