An unsuspected meaning for 350

All the churches in Denmark will ring their bells 350 times to mark the end of the climate conference in Copenhagen. WHY?

350 refers to 350 parts per million: This is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere according to many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments. For all of human history until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 ppm of CO2, but now the concentration stands at 390 ppm. Unless we are able to rapidly reduce CO2 levels again, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt. By joining hands with Christians around the world we can have a greater impact in order to stop the destruction of God’s creation and of human livelihoods.

Christians around the world are invited to sound their bells, shells, drums, gongs or horns 350 times and organizers envisage a chain of chimes and prayers stretching in a time-line from the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific – where the day first begins and where the effects of climate change are already felt today – to northern Europe and across the globe.

See  December Action Alert 2009 (Word doc) Sisters of Charity Federation NGO for how you can chime in.