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The community solar project that Daniel is currently starting demonstrates the “Get to Work” attitude that 350.org has been promoting as the movement’s motto for 2010. We need to work on all fronts to curb global climate change, and we mustn’t overlook what we can do in our own neighborhoods.

As Daniel says:

“What I like about the project also is that it makes sense in both a local and a global context. You’re doing something that’s interesting for your community, my community here, and it directly relates to THE global problem of the 21st Century of climate change. Because in the end, this is about fighting climate change.

2009 was kind of the year where the climate change movement around the globe came together and tried to put a lot of pressure on politicians, with very mixed results. And I think with things like the solar project we’re trying to do here, there’s a possibility of the movement around the world to just start being the change and start doing the change, what is necessary.

The size of the challenge is much bigger than just putting up a couple solar panels. But this not something you can just do overnight. There’s no one who has a master plan. So you definitely, you need a conversation, you need people to try out things, you just need to get going. That’s what I think. You need to get the conversation going, you need to try. This is one experiment of seeing how the community reacts to this. And hopefully, it’s a starting point to go further. That’s my big hope.”

For more ideas on how you can take action at home, check out this recent post on the the 350.org blog!

The Berlin Wall was the first of many obstacles to be torn down between peoples of this world. The rise of globalization in the economy, in civil society networks and in ideological groups engendered a host of new transnational issues that reshaped the security landscape. No longer could national leaders focus security efforts only on threats from other nation-states.

A new conceptualization of security began to underscore the importance of human security – the safety and well-being of people within states – as a major shaper of national security. Low standards of safety and well-being in a particular country or region can lead to instability. This instability is today perceived as an international threat to security, because of its capability, even tendency, to cross borders through increased participation in international terrorism and drastically amplified migration flows.

Today, twenty years after the fall of the wall that sparked this paradigm shift, the biggest threat to human security, and thus to national security, is climate change.

Heat-trapping gases from fossil-fuel-driven economies are leading to an unnaturally fast rise in average global temperature. If we don’t change course immediately, it’s not a hotter world alone that we have to worry about (in fact, some regions would see dramatic drops in average temperature), but rather disruptive changes in the flow of water around the globe as a result of warmer ocean currents.

Subsequent increases in frequency and intensity of natural disasters, changes in arable land and potable water distribution, and rising sea-levels swamping coastal cities would create pockets of instability that threaten to erupt into mass migration, armed conflicts, and public health calamities – all potentially grave security concerns.

It is hard to predict the exact timing and placement of such changes, in part because of complex feedback loops. This uncertainty, however, does not detract from the threat to security, but rather amplifies it as it makes specific threats harder to anticipate.

Due to its overarching nature and potential catastrophic effects on international social, political, and economic structures, climate change has been noted as one of the greatest threats to American security by the Pentagon, the State Department and eleven retired three- and four-star admirals and generals.

The risk is real and the time for action is now. World leaders will be meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December to negotiate greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets and funding for adaptation to climate change impacts that are already threatening the well-being of people around the world. In the next year, the agreement reached in Copenhagen will have to be fleshed out into a legally binding treaty to minimize the impacts of climate change in the most just manner.

In the case of the fall of the Berlin Wall, international negotiations and political leadership were major players, but the heavy Iron Curtain could not have been pushed down without the pressure from citizens on all sides. Everyday people like you and me have a responsibility to future generations to hold our leaders accountable by keeping international focus on the most fundamental issue of our time.

There were a few major events in Berlin.

1. 350, the Show. Put on by the Klimapiraten (Climate Pirates) and the Kampagne Klimakanzlerin gesucht (Climate Chancellor Sought Campaign of the Klimaallianz, GermanWatch & Avaaz), this short theatrical show in front of the Brandenburg Gate was highly successful despite some last minute changes to the program.

   The initial idea that we had was to have a casting show (like American Idol) to seek out the true Climate Chancellor, a title Angela Merkel likes to give herself despite doing little for the climate, amidst 350 people with Merkel masks on. At the end, a Climate Pirate from 2050 would deliver the true Climate Chancellor 350 roses and a note thanking her for all the right steps she took at Copenhagen in 2009 that led to a sustainable, beautiful world in 2050. I was always a bit uncertain of whether we could pull this final messaging off – how could we make it clear that we were thanking a Merkel that we’d like to see and not the real, current Merkel; how could we be sure to convey the 2050/time-traveler aspect? Luckily, in the last few days before the event, others made the decision to overhaul the program despite already sending out the press releases and mobilization emails. (I was unable to make the final planning meetings due to class and a trip to Bonn for a scholarship retreat.)

   Our new show, which I first caught word of AT the event on Saturday morning, was much easier to handle. We had our 350 volunteer Merkels as the studio audience and split inner-conscience of Angela Merkel during a studio interview. The messaging changed to “The time for uncertainty is over” and we left Merkel saying “Jein” (yes/no) at the end followed by the rest of us saying “Act! Now!” The 15-minute show was perhaps still a bit long for most reporters to take note of all the details, but the masks were great and got us in as one of the nine featured events in the New York Times slideshow. I call that success.

2. Deletion of 350 tons worth of emissions credits. At the end of the 350 show, we tagged on another action put on by the Compensators, in which they popped a balloon labelled “350t CO2″. Once popped, 350 slips of paper, each representing one ton of CO2 pollution that the Compensators and donors had purchased out of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, flew out like confetti.
3. Carrotmob. After some tear-down and clean-up, a bunch of the Climate Pirates headed over to Eve & Adam’s organic salad and smoothie bar to enjoy a refreshing lunch. The little restaurant committed 45% of proceeds to energy efficiency improvements and boy did it pay off! Carrotmobbers enjoying any of the tasty menu items including a special carrot and ginger soup for 350 cents more than doubled the restaurant’s record daily income.
4. Silent Climate Parade. Honestly, going into this event, I was a bit skeptical and I only intended to show up, take a bit of video, and go home. I was given one of the 350 wireless Sennheiser headphones, though, and was quickly sucked in to the awesomeness of this event! The idea here was that 350 ravers listening to live techno music being played by Dr. Motte, the man behind Berlin’s famous Love Parade in the 90s, would dance and party through the streets of Berlin, from Potsdamer Platz to Alexanderplatz.

   Honestly, this was the most fun protest/action/whatever that I’ve ever participated in. Basically, it was bunch of youth partying in the middle of the main streets in downtown Berlin. Like getting into a very underground or elite club, we with headphones were rocking out to sweet jams that no one else could hear. Passers-by were quite perplexed, so we handed out 5,000 fliers explaining the event: greenhouse gas emissions are a mostly silent problem, but if we listen to the scientists, it is clear that our politicians have been too silent on the issue of climate change.

   Many of the people on Unter den Linden are tourists, so I volunteered to help deliver the German fliers and had one ear out to try to identify non-German speakers who might want an explanation in English. I talked to dozens of people, giving a full 2- or 3-minute explanation to maybe 20 people, and they were all captivated by and supportive of the Silent Climate Parade and broader 350.org message.

   A chance meeting with an old friend who lives in another part of Germany and the adrenaline rush from dancing through the streets certainly helped make this one of the best days of my life. However, I think it was seeing all the volunteers behind their Merkel masks at the Show, all the hungry activists at the Carrotmob, and all the energized youth and interested bystanders at the Silent Climate Parade – at least a thousand of us, all behind the call for 350ppm – was really what made this day a day to remember.

I was lucky enough to have had access to a wonderful new HD camcorder and edited this little highlights video together before hitting up the 350 After-party on Saturday night (also a fun time, hah). Click to view the video at Vimeo.com to see it in HD.

Berlin 350 International Day of Action Highlights from Valida Prentice on Vimeo.

Did you organize or participate in a 350 International Day of Climate Action event? How did it go?

With just a few days to go before the action, these guys were BUSY. As a SustainUS member, I was warmly welcomed and quickly trusted to I help out where I could – assembling packets, setting up an online survey to collect post-action info, and throwing in my two cents on what might work for the staging of the Berlin event. But, arriving late in the game, I was definitely an outsider and had plenty of time and space just to observe and listen.

While there, I realized a story seldom told by activists: the behind-the-scenes story. We post pictures, media hits and occasionally reflections from the actions we produce, but most people don’t get to see the development process of our actions. Even we ourselves are sometimes too focused on our end-goals to recognize the beauty and wealth of the process. From the organizational charts to the unconventional “boardroom” meetings, from the email blasts to… the construction of huge cardboard clocks… what we’re creating from the ground up is energy and empowerment in true form.

So I wanted to take a moment to pause, reflect, and say, “Hey, all you climate activists out there, YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. Recognize it!”

I know the clock is ticking – COP-15 kicks off in 66 days – and we’re all feeling it; but remember to take a tiny step back now and then when you’re hard at work to feed off of some of that inspiring energy that your peers are producing. We’ve collectively got an amazing renewable resource right in our own backyards, whether next to us at the brainstorming table or linked in from across the globe through itsgettinghotinhere.org. Take advantage of it!

If you’re feeling down (say perhaps due to the German elections), keep in mind that our activist energy is like wind energy – even if thing’s aren’t blowing your way, the mighty activist wind’s a’ blowin’ full-speed for clean energy somewhere else. So get linked into that smart grid and let the power of our youth movement reenergize your work and renew your spirit.

And P.S. check out what all the hard-work, energy, creativity, teamwork, and process of the Berlin Climate Action Factory team created (photos courtesy Avaaz):

German Leaders Heeding Climate Wake-Up Call

Flashmobbers + Press - all organized by the Action Factory in Berlin!

And check out more photos from the Berlin Wake-Up Call or from Wake-Up Calls organized by Avaaz leaders and volunteers from around the world – a great way to get pumped about our power.

So here I am in Berlin, hanging out and waiting until classes start in about six weeks.  I’ve met several people now, at parties or casually strolling by in a park or in my apartment search, and it is almost like turning up as a freshman in college all over again: asking and answering the same questions such as “where are you from” and “what are you studying” like a broken record.

Of course, with my answers that I’m from the US and I’m studying environmental policy, I’ve received a mixed response.  One young lady at a dance club just laughed in my face, “US? Environmental policy? That exists over there?!” I actually love receiving this kind of doubtful response; it sets the stage for me to launch into a discussion about how the US and the world are both at a turning points right now in environmental policymaking – we, civil society members, therefore have a great opportunity to spur a lot of change, but only if we work at it.

To further highlight the direction that youth, in particular, are passionately pushing the US and the world on climate policy, I often bring up my involvement with the SustainUS Agents of Change delegation to Copenhagen.  Almost everyone I’ve spoken to here (all in the 20-30 age bracket) has at least known that the there were UN climate change talks coming up in Copenhagen.  So it seems the news (and the education system that teaches kids to follow the news) is doing something right, here in Germany.

As a testament to this, on Tuesday, I found out about an upcoming WWF action involving 1000 melting ice figures via the TV screens that display ads and news in the subway trains. WWF event organizers invited climate activists, tourists, and passers-by, to help place the 1000 ice figures, made by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo, on the steps of the Konzerthaus in Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt, a historic plaza in the middle of the city.  Then we sat and watched (and took many a photograph and video) as the little ice people, sitting on their hands, melted and disappeared.

The figures, about seven inches tall (while seated), were smaller than most people had expected.  Their small size and the sunny, 73 degree noon hour, however, meant that they had very little time to enjoy the beautiful September day.  The fast melt was intended to remind us that we are quickly running out of time to change course and avoid tripping over a climactic tipping point as Arctic ice melts.

The event itself drew a crowd of only a couple hundred people, but garnered a fair amount of media coverage, as it was picked up and distributed internationally by AP and Reuters. I found it quite noteworthy that this event was advertised in the subway train, which cycles through international headlines, sports & entertainment news, advertisements, and the occasional interesting upcoming event in Berlin.  Today, the melting ice figures made the leading photo on the front page of Berlin’s daily newspaper, which contained two other stories related to climate change in the front-section.

Meanwhile, a friend who does forestry work in Minnesota, mentioned yesterday that he thinks most people he knows in the US do not know even know about the upcoming climate change talks.  This got me thinking…

How do we get more front-page coverage of climate change in mainstream US media?  Or alternatively, how do we make sure Americans know about the weight of this moment and the importance of a strong, binding international agreement on CO2 emissions reductions in Copenhagen in December?

The task seems daunting, especially when you consider the “system” that you’re up against if you take on mainstream media as a whole, as I did initially given my different experiences thus far with the German media.  But a panic attack in the face of a Goliath is not very helpful.  The simple answer, for now, is to be as active as possible:

• Organize events to get in front of people, live and in person.
• Then, bombard the media press releases ahead of these events and follow up with letters to the editor.   As a PR/marketing specialist, I learned a fair bit about how to sell a story (note to self: future blog topic), but I also found out that reporters sometimes miss a key point or two; in an activist role, rather than a company PR position, we’ve got a bit more leeway to hammer home the story with more passion in op-eds.  Take advantage, but remember the one-two punch.
• And, finally, continue to throw new ideas around about how to answer these questions. As long as we’re still working with the media as we know it, we should consider how our actions can help mature the mainstream media into actively making climate news top stories on their own volition.  (Please feel free to go ahead and start the brainstorming now, in the comments.)

So, back to step one: getting involved in events and actions.  Thankfully a number of organizations are making this pretty easy by supplying the events, materials, and/or simply the inspiration.  Here are a couple to get you going:

• SustainUS’s Climate Countdown Campaign
• Age of Stupid’s international premiere on September 21-22
• 350.org’s International Day of Action on October 24 (and the lead-up to it!)