Garden On, Vashon
Gardening, cooking, building, designing, dreaming…
Ringing the church bell 350 times
December 12th, 2009 at Sat, 12th, 2009 at 10:06 am by Karen Dale350ppm—that is the upper limit of carbon dioxide (CO2) parts per million that can be in the atmosphere and still be that atmosphere we humans have enjoyed all our Homo Sap lives. And right now, it’s beyond that.
Julia Lakey, who’s involved with the Sustainability Committee’s work and who I know through yoga, organized a ringing of Island church bells at noon on Saturday, Dec. 12. Such markings of 350 are apparently happening all over the globe, in parallel with the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
How far back do we have to wind the CO2 clock to reach 350? Well, according to www.CO2.org, our atmosphere was at 350 ppm back in 1987. It was at 315 in 1959—things have changed quickly, haven’t they?
It didn’t take long for we five bell-ringers to reach 350 strikes of the church bell—all of about 15 minutes. The Presby and Methodist Churches chimed in as well.
Nor did it take long for our atmosphere to reach and overreach 350ppm: only 22 years. That’s a gnat on a nano-second in the timeline of human evolution. And there’s nearly 6 billion of us homo saps adding CO2 all the time.
If you want more info, visit www.350.org or www.CO2.org.
from left: Julia Lakey, Weslie Rodgers, Rosellen Albers, Karen Dale, and Wally Fletcher under the bell at the Episcopal Church.
Karen Dale gardens on the south end of Vashon Island, on a sandy hilltop overlooking Quartermaster Harbor. "Garden On, Vashon" shares what the Island has to teach us about gardening HERE—from making soils to sowing seeds to raising plants to harvest, cooking, preserving, and designing new ways to cultivate your little chunk of Vashon Island. To contact me, email karendale@centurytel.net, or leave a comment.
ABOUT COMMUNITY BLOGS: Community blogs are written by volunteers. They are members of our community but not employees of this site or newspaper. They have applied or were invited to blog here but their words are their own and are not edited by the editor or staff of this site, and have agreed to abide by our Terms of Use. The authors are solely responsible for their content. If you have concerns about something you read on a community blog, please contact the author directly or email us.
COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in the PNWLocalNews.com community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.
So keep your comments:
- Civil
- Smart
- On-topic
- Free of profanity
We ask that all participants own their words by registering for an account. It's a simple process that will take seconds and helps keep our comments free of trolls, cranks, and drive-by commenters.
As a community site, we ask that the community help by using the "Flag" button on each comment if they feel the comment has violated the rules. You can also use the up and down arrows on each comment to voice your opinion about that particular comment.
Want to tell us something but you don't want it to be public? Talk to us privately.
View Comments to “Ringing the church bell 350 times”
discussion by DISQUS
Add New Comment
February 1st, 2010 at 11:41 am
excellent post, keep it up! I will be checking back often
February 1st, 2010 at 7:41 pm
excellent post, keep it up! I will be checking back often