Earth Equity News

Hip Hopping for Survival: 350.org. By Rev. Lennox Yearwood and Bill McKibben, September 9, 2009. "Almost without exception the places [most threatened by climate change] are filled with people of color, and with poor people. That's why the fight against climate change is a very basic fight for people in New Orleans, or in Oakland, or in DC -- or in Dhaka, and Calcutta, and Lagos. These are the places that will drive the demographic future, here and abroad; the centuries to come belong to black and brown and yellow humans. But 200 years of burning coal and gas and oil, mostly by Americans and Europeans, threaten to make that future impossible. That's why, right now, we've got to take a united stand to slow it down -- why 350.org will be holding demonstrations around the planet on October 24 to demand that our leaders pay attention to science and limit carbon concentrations to 350 parts per million. That's the most important number on the planet, though no one knew it eighteen months ago. NASA's Jim Hansen and his team reported recently that concentrations higher than 350 are not compatible with 'the planet on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.' Since we're at 387 and rising right now, that's very bad news. It explains why the Arctic is melting, why Australia is drying up and why we watch the hurricane season with more trepidation with each passing year... Now young people are singing new freedom songs and identifying with one another under an umbrella known as hip-hop. The swagger and style that young people and their urban-influenced culture bring to the green movement bear little resemblance to the old tree-hugging brand of environmentalism. But as the conscious caretakers of a 'block' on the brink of climate catastrophe, they are powerful partners in the green movement." The Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus and Bill McKibben, noted author on climate change, is co-founder of 350.org.