Bill McKibben: Tomorrow should be sort of fun, and important

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Bill McKibben: Tomorrow should be sort of fun, and important

From: "Bill McKibben - 350.org" <350@350.org>
Date: September 9, 2015 at 15:21:43 EDT
To: "Tom Wassmer"
Subject: Tomorrow should be sort of fun, and important
Reply-To: 350@350.org

Friends,

To be honest, I'm not much a fan of big climate summits. None so far have done hardly anything to solve the problem, and this year's Paris talks may be no different.

But if they're good for anything, it's that for a few weeks at least, the world tends to focus a little more on the state of the climate and our attempts to save it.

And so with the big Paris talks on the horizon, our job is to focus that attention on what it will really take to get serious: keeping at least 80% of fossil fuels under ground and getting to 100% renewable energy by 2050.

What may be different this time is that getting there is actually quite possible. The cost of solar panels is lower than ever and falling, and a big movement has sprung up to oppose new fossil fuel projects from Keystone XL to the Galilee Basin coal reserves in Australia.

We have a whole plan for the coming months: from local workshops this September, to a global day of action at the beginning of the Paris talks, to a mass action to have the final word after they end. And to cap it all off, April of next year we're planning the most ambitious wave of global action yet.

And tomorrow night in New York City, we're kicking it off with an event co-hosted by Naomi Klein, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, and a ton of activists from around the world -- and we're livestreaming it out around the world.

We're going to try and lay out the road ahead for the climate movement -- how we're going to use mass action and divestment to keep turning off dirty energy, and turn on cheap, clean renewable power all over the world. We'll lay out a roadmap past the Paris talks and straight to one of the biggest days of resistance we've ever engaged in. Also, there will be good music!

So if you can't be there in the room, be in the virtual room on your computer. Just click here at 7 PM Eastern time tomorrow when the show gets underway, and press play: 350.org/off-on-live

In short, it's a night not to miss. Oh, and tweet in ideas/comments if you're watching; I'll be trying to monitor them during the show. Just use the hashtag #offandon.

With gratitude for all your work,

Bill