The spectacular setting of Telluride, Colorado provided a breathtaking venue for the launch of two important environmental campaigns this week. On Thursday over three hundred of the town's residents lay down on the ground to send the first message in the global 350.org & Tck Tck Tck campaign. John Quigley/SpectralQ whose previous aerial photographs in the Artcic Wisdom series led to Global Warming being considered as a human rights issue, designed an image which featured the number "350" framed by lightening bolts and the words "green power". The Human Voices Now 2009 is a grassroots initiative to pressure and support leaders in making courageous decisions to aggressively address global climate change. The campaign will culminate at the COP15 Climate Talks in Copenhagen this December and will feature the unique medium of human aerial artwork where communities gather together to send powerful unified messages with their bodies. Human aerial artwork allows people to use their bodies as a human declaration and visual petition in a way that is widely accessible, celebratory, and action oriented.
Bill McKibben founded 350.org to bring awareness to what many scientists and climate experts consider the most important number in human history, the "safe" level of CO2 in parts-per-million (PPM) in the Earth's atmosphere. Current CO2 concentration levels are well above that at 387 PPM and rising by 2-3 PPM annually. In order for us to have any real chance of getting back to 350 it is imperative that a meaningful agreement is reached in Copenhagen this year to address global greenhouse gas emissions.
McKibben was on hand during the MountainFilm Festival in Telluride to launch the Power Project, a national campaign to transition towns and cities off of coal-fired power and onto 100 renewable energy sources in an accelerated 5-year time frame. The Mayors of both Telluride and the adjacent Mountain Village attended a press conference with McKibben and committed to 100% renewable energy by 2020, an ambitious increase of 80% over the goals they announced just one week prior.