Ithaca Climate Change Rally, Downright Spooky

Members of the Ithaca College community will join with thousands of others around the globe as part of the largest ever action against climate change. Some 350 students, faculty and staff will gather — dressed as ghosts — on Friday, Oct. 23, to dramatize the need for world leaders to take fast and effective action on global warming.The worldwide event is being coordinated by the group 350.org, which is organizing the campaign around the latest scientific data indicating that 350 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe upper limit. More than 2,000 rallies are planned in more than 140 nations, with the majority of the activities taking place on Saturday, Oct. 24.The Ithaca College event was organized by students in the International Environmental Policy course. The “climate Caspers” will dress up as ghosts to symbolize the potentially deadly effects of climate change, with the bottom of the costumes dyed blue to indicate rising sea levels. After having a photo taken while gathered in the shape of a “350,” the group will parade around the campus. Similar activities taking place worldwide will range from climbers with 350 banners high on the melting slopes of Mount Everest to government officials in the Maldive Islands holding an underwater cabinet meeting to demand action on climate change before their nation disappears.Founded by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, 350.org is the first large-scale grassroots global campaign against climate change. Its supporters include leading scientists, the governments of 89 countries and a variety of environmental, health, development and religious non-governmental organizations. They contend that the current atmospheric level of CO2 — 390 parts per million — is causing damage to the planet and to its most vulnerable inhabitants, and that government action at the upcoming Copenhagen climate conference is required to bring the earth’s carbon level down swiftly.For more information on the Ithaca College event, contact Susan Allen-Gil, associate professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences, at [email protected] or 607-274-1066. For more information on the global 350 campaign, visit www.350.org.#####Note to editors: The Ithaca College group will gather from 12:15–12:30 p.m. to have their photo taken on the Fitness Center quad. The participants will then parade through the Campus Center and to the Peggy Ryan Williams Center, where a second photo will be taken around the Ithaca College seal. The parade will return to the Campus Center through the academic quad.