Q&A: Fewer Protests, More Political Pressure to Fight Climate Change

• Franz Chávez interviews environmentalist KELLY BLYNN of the 350.org movement (la paz)
• Saturday, May 15, 2010
• Inter Press Service

Blynn, a U.S. expert on the environment and geography, came to Bolivia to strengthen the local 350.org group and promote youth movements that adopt the fight against climate change as their priority.

The number 350 stands for the parts per million that scientific experts on climate change, like James Hansen in the United States, regard as the maximum safe concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere compatible with life on the planet.

Blynn is campaigning for the young people to participate in their own right at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16), to be held in Mexico in November. She is also promoting 'a day of local climate change solutions' being planned worldwide for Oct. 10.

At a similar action day in 2009, 5,245 different activities were carried out in 181 countries, organised by a network of thousands of groups all over the world that have taken up '350' as their common campaign slogan.

IPS caught up with the activist during her visit to La Paz.

Q: What lessons have been learned from last October's event? A: Our main achievement has been to convert the number 350 into the scientific goal of civil society, and a symbol of survival.

For Oct. 10 this year we're planning a day of community projects such as planting trees, holding educational workshops, organising bicycle rides and promoting the use of solar panels.

We want to send a political message and demonstrate the transition to a sustainable future, in order to attract the attention of political leaders whom we are asking to take action.

In my country, we want to exert influence on the government to take some action, because our government is resisting change.

We saw at (COP 15 held December 2009 in) Copenhagen that 115 countries supported measures against climate change, but the most powerful countries did not listen. It is important to devote more time and campaigns to these countries and build political pressure.

Q: How did the movement start, and what has it achieved so far? A: It grew out of a group of people and organisations in different parts of the world that wanted to create a global movement to exert pressure on politicians.

In 2007, U.S. scientist James Hansen and other researchers published a study on glaciers and the Arctic that concluded we have gone beyond the sustainable limit of carbon dioxide emissions, and suggesting that 350 parts per million should be the maximum level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Obviously, urgent action had to be taken. In 2008 we adopted this number and contacted several groups, and we decided to organise a worldwide mobilisation. We thought that concentrating the action within a single day would have a bigger impact.

The global network was a major factor in putting pressure on Washington, by showing there are people in every country in the world who want to save the planet.

Q: Why don't those in power listen to requests to combat the causes of climate change? A: Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org and a professor at Middlebury College (in the U.S. state of Vermont), wrote a book called 'The End of Nature' in 2008, as well as several articles on climate change, but he was fed up with the lack of response.

McKibben and a group of students joined forces and started a national campaign to press Congress to participate in carbon emissions reduction programmes.

Allied with other organisations, we carried out 2,000 activities in 2007 asking Congress for an 80 percent emissions cut by 2050, and presidential hopefuls like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton included this goal in their platforms.

Q: Why can't President Obama turn his proposal into policies for action? A: It's hard to say what the reasons are. I think there is a lack of political will in Congress, and Obama knows it. I think he hasn't made climate change a priority, and if he doesn't, the youth movement will be very disappointed because the hopes that carried him to the White House are fading away.

Q: Why is the power of highly polluting industries increasing? A: A Supreme Court decision in the United States this year gave more power to corporations to influence politics, and made civil society actions more difficult, but in Australia and other countries there are growing movements in favour of environmental campaigns.

Corporations carry a lot of weight, and transnational companies wield more power than governments themselves.

Q: In Bolivia, the government blames capitalism for pollution. What is your view on this? A: I agree that capitalism has caused many problems, but such a vast system is not going to change overnight. What we do through 350.org and our allies is to raise people's awareness about the need for a lifestyle change and ending consumerism; that's the priority for now.

Change must come from within and below, from grassroots communities, with the goal of sustainable growth without excessive carbon dioxide emissions.

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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