PeaceWorking

Press Release
Oregon 350 Climate Crisis Walk
Sept. 4, 2009

Summary
In a campaign to build public awareness of the dangers of climate change, Salem resident Philip Carver will be walking 350 miles along the Oregon coast and the Columbia Estuary.
Beginning near Coos Bay on Sept 20, Carver and others will camp or stay with supporters along the way. They will hold local forums to encourage the public to act on this issue. Describing his motivation for the walk, Carver said “I follow climate science closely. I am becoming increasingly frightened about my grandchildren’s future.”
His effort is part of an international “350″ campaign which takes its name from the parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere known to be safe. The planned arrival in Portland on Oct 24 will coincide with a downtown rally and other “350″ activities around the world.
For more information on the Oregon 350 Climate Crisis Walk, contact Carver at (503) 562-9878 or email him at philip.carver@comcast.net. More information about the walk is available at http://oregonpeaceworks.org/wordpress/?cat=8

The Story
In a campaign to build public awareness of the dangers of climate change, a group of Oregonians will be walking 350 miles along the Oregon coast and the Columbia Estuary. Trekkers will begin on Sept. 20 at Sunset Bay State Park, near Coos Bay. They will finish in downtown Portland on Oct. 24. Event organizers hope the walk and scheduled talks will put pressure on local and national leaders to support worldwide greenhouse gas reductions.
Oregon event co-leader Phil Carver, a former analyst with the Oregon Department of Energy, said the trek’s length of 350 miles is part of the message of the walk.
“350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the air is the level we know to be safe,” Carver said. “We passed that point in 1988.”
Describing the connection between global warming, sea level rise and the impact on coastal towns, Carver said it is “unfortunately too late to avoid serious damage.” But he and others hope the walk’s timing will motivate people to press for changes in federal policies, which could lead to global action.
New policies will be proposed at a United Nations conference in Denmark in December.
“What we do in the next few decades will affect the planet for at least a millennium,” Carver said. If nothing is done to reduce emissions, many scientists estimate sea level will rise 6 feet this century, eroding up to 600 feet of seashore in many places.
“In my job with state government, I was responsible for monitoring climate science until I retired in 2008, Carver said.
“Now is the time to stand up”, he said. “I am not willing to gamble my grandchildren’s future any longer.” The walk is one of over 1,000 events around the world planned for October 24 by 350.org. The idea to promote the 350 ppm limit was first developed by James Hansen, a NASA climate scientist, and Bill McKibben, author of End of Nature and Deep Economy. McKibben is giving a seminar in Portland on Friday Sept. 11. The seminar is sponsored by the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.
As they walk, Carver and fellow activists will meet with local residents at various events planned along the route. The first meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Java Jones Coffee House and Art Gallery in Coos Bay (Empire) on Sept. 20. Organizers have discovered that their message has already hit home with many communities along Oregon’s coast.
“Lincoln City is committed to doing its part to curb global warming,” said Lincoln City Mayor Lori Hollingsworth. “We would like our neighboring communities to make the same commitment.”
The walk is co-sponsored by Oregon PeaceWorks and Oregon Interfaith Power and
Light. It is endorsed by former Sec. of State Bill Bradbury and Lincoln City Mayor Lori Hollingsworth.

Science Notes
Recent research indicates that melting ice will likely raise sea level by 2 to 6 feet this century, depending on greenhouse gas emissions. Sea level rose at the rate of one foot per century since 1990 due to global warming.
Drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are needed to limit the rise to 2 feet. These cuts are likely close to the maximum achievable. To avoid dangerous climate change the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 from the rate in 1990. Emissions need to be cut 90 percent by 2050. These cuts should bring the level of CO2 down to 350 ppm by the end of the century. If large cuts are not made in the next few decades, sea level will likely rise 6 feet or more per century for the rest of the millennium. James Hansen, a leading climate scientist, notes a 15 foot rise this century is plausible.
Dr. Rajendra Pachauri is the U.N.’s top climate scientist. He leads the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which every five years produces the authoritative assessment of climate science. Their last report, in 2007, helped set the target of 450 ppm of CO2 that many environmental groups and national governments have adopted as their goal for the Copenhagen meeting this December.
He now supports the level of 350 ppm. The level of CO2 in the air this year is 389 ppm and rising 2 ppm per year.
“As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) I cannot take a position because we do not make recommendations,” said Rajendra Pachauri when asked if he supported calls to keep atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below 350 ppm.
“But as a human being I am fully supportive of that goal. What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target,” he told Agence France Presse in an interview.”
Even two feet of sea level rise this century will be a serious problem for most coastal communities. One foot of sea level rise can erode 100 feet of land. Two feet of rise would affect about 700 million people worldwide. A rise of three feet would permanently displace at least 15 million people in Bangladesh, 17 million in Vietnam and 72 million in China. Several island nations will disappear. Six feet per century would be disaster for nearly all coastal communities. [References are on page 3]

References
For information on the global impacts of rising sea levels see:
http://www.clima-net.com/docs/elibrary/articles/sealevel.pdf
For the most current synthesis of climate science see: http://climatecongress.ku.dk/pdf/synthesisreport
The discussion of sea level rise is on page 10.
For a more complete discussion of the science of sea level rise see: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327151.300
For an assessment of the issues facing coastal Oregon see: http://egov.oregon.gov/ENERGY/GBLWRM/GWC/docs/climate_ready_communities.pdf
For a technical discussion on predicting sea level rise see: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/08/
For the technical basis for the 350 ppm limit see:
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0804/0804.1126.pdf