Moving Planet Begins Around the World

For me, it’s the closest thing to Christmas come early.

For three years now 350.org has coordinated giant worldwide rallies -- CNN has called them ‘the most widespread days of political activity in the planet’s history,’ involving every nation but North Korea.

But if you think it gets old, you think wrong. The first pictures from this year’s Moving Planet-extravaganza are starting to stream in from those places where the Saturday sun has already risen, and they are as stunning as ever.

In Tonga, villagers are gathering on their sinking coastline for a dawn ceremony to bless the day. Nearby in Tuvalu, people are preparing for a day of swimming lessons and disaster drills to prepare for the sea level rise that's already inevitable (it will be up to us to make sure it doesn't get worse). And in Cairo, where it’s still Friday, but where they jumped the gun to take advantage of the traditional day of gathering, and are busy creating a huge human Nile, a flood of blue, swamping the main street.

More early photos have come in from Jaca, Spain, where some young cyclists are taking to the streets to promote alternative transportation: 

And from Andhra Pradesh, where local 350.org organizers met with the Chief Minister of the Indian state, the man in charge of setting policies for 76 million inhabitants that live there. 

Or here, in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, where Dojiwe the Elephant is helping lead an event with the Africa Center for Holistic Management:

It's glorious. And what’s most glorious about it is what it represents:  a movement.

350.org has some of the hardest working organizers on earth. But we can’t really organize thousands of events scattered across every country on the planet. It’s more like throwing a potluck supper: we say the date and the theme, and then everyone brings their best stuff.

Which means: no matter where on the planet you go there are now people who care enough about climate change to do a lot of work and a lot of planning; they’re able to summon their neighbors into action, and excite the local media, and draw local politicians. They’re campaigning for things that matter where they are: new bike paths, say, since transportation is a big focus of this week’s action. But they’re also, consciously, joining together with people all over the world to say: we’re absolutely determined to make real progress on climate change.

Sometimes that determination is desperate. In Tuvalu, today, they commemorated Moving-Planet day with evacuation drills, appropriate for an island too close to sea level for safety in our new world.

But always that determination is beautiful -- proof that people will stand up to money, will demand a working future. I’ll sit by the laptop the next two days, opening one present after another. Until each image appears on the screen, I won’t know quite what surprise is coming. But I know in what spirit it’s been given!

 

Follow Bill McKibben on Twitter: www.twitter.com/billmckibben

Comments

[lambdin1]

01:55 PM on 09/26/2011

We need this. We also need to move governments in constuctive ways to mitigate the movement towards green!

[Aelbert Aehegma]

03:00 AM on 09/24/2011

World Political Movement day

[anniewheelr]

12:31 AM on 09/24/2011

How do you support a company that has costs four times the cost of the most competitive American solar company? And please tell me how you blow half a billion dollars in less than three years....?
This company and the deal doesn't come near passing the smell test. Don't know who is at fault....don't care as long as they are caught and either prosecuted or fired or both....and the government jumping in all of a sudden and scooping up all the evidence and suddenly starting a criminal investigation smells too. People have clammed up and I wouldn't be surprised to see critical evidence disappear before bringing brought to light....it might not be Watergate but I suspect that if we knew the truth it could be...nice cover up of a the funneling of our tax payer dollars not to companies that have shown promise but to ones that belong to "friends".

[anniewheelr]

12:26 AM on 09/24/2011

We lost manufacturing because we made trade agreements not in our best interest or the best interest in our workers. We endanger jobs by allowing unions to drive wages so high that irregardless if the wages are "fair" the jobs are driven overseas. We allow the government to intrude in the business decisions of companies so that new companies now don't have the time to find their footing and grow into mature and stable companies with reserves of capital to weather economic storms without laying off workers.
We drive energy prices higher with policies that limit offshore drilling here but further make us dependent on foreign sources where we back loans and give money for other countries to drill in even deeper and more turbulent waters (Brazil). Deep water drilling is either safe or not safe, not both depending on who's doing the drilling. Not to mention that Brazil has been energy self-sufficient since 2006 so it's not like they really need this deep sea (super deep Atlantic Ocean drilling) oil.

[anniewheelr]

12:26 AM on 09/24/2011

More and more people depending on government for transportation is never a good idea. Having it along with people still owning cars and using them when necessary is better. The more that government intrudes on your life and the more you depend on the government for the necessary things in your life, the less choices (freedom) you have in your life.
And while the intention is good...less freedom always leaves the individual or the country vulnerable to the person that comes along to take advantage (and someone always does).
An example is the United States economy. The more and more we have become dependent of foreign oil (even though we have plenty of our own energy sources) and the more we have become involved in the global economy...the more we have become vulnerable to the whims of the politics of other countries and the stability of other economies. The weaker we have become. And a weak America can help no one...especially itself.

[farnishk]

09:23 PM on 09/23/2011

Symbolic actions for symbolic change. Thanks for that, Bill.

Now, in case anyone has any doubt as to the fatuousness of 350.org’s Moving Planet day, you only have to go to the page http://www[dot]moving-planet[dot]org/plan, and the section urging people to invite “your leaders”

>6. Invite your leaders

>If you want to make sure your leaders hear your demands, make sure you invite them out to your event! It's important to email an invitation, and call a few days later to follow up - do it early so their schedules haven't filled up. A few ideas for engaging your leader as a part of your event are a) asking them to speak in front of the crowd about their plans on climate change (so they have to say what they are or aren't doing publicly), or b) ask them to sign a pledge to take on your demands. This can work especially well for candidates who are seeking election who may promise things now that you can hold them accountable to later.

Did you hear that? YOUR LEADERS.

You have no power, they are YOUR LEADERS. You can engage YOUR LEADER. You can ask YOUR LEADER to sign a pledge. You can ask YOUR LEADER to make a speech. Because you have no power in the eyes of 350.org. Their words reveal their agenda. You do not create change, you have to ask nicely.

[g9]

06:47 PM on 09/23/2011

And " Nearby in Tuvalu, people are preparing for a day of swimming lessons and disaster drills to prepare for the sea level rise "

I am sorry but swimming lessons will not help......

I am for this event & will look in Recife Brasil ( where I am this month).& hope to join in...
I am for swimming lessons for all people under 95 years old..
I hope this has some awareness & impact...

[A. Siegel]

06:42 PM on 09/23/2011

Bill -- You certainly organize some of the most impressive potlucks out there ...

Now, whether the U.S. political system is open to hearing global rallying cries for honest treatment of science and action based on evidence, rather than rhetoric and ideology, is something that we must fight to see.

And, well, with Moving Planet, this is speaking with a different currency to seek to drive political change.