350: the most important number for our planet

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in Basantapur, Abhinav is going back and forth around the makeshift stage of the Kasthamandap temple, making sure things are in order. He zigzags past 200 or so participants who have now shown up. He hands over a green paint and a brush to a guy in the crowd and scurries off to attend to another task. The guy asks the girl in front him to stand still as he meticulously paints the number ‘3’ on her left cheek. She flaunts a t-shirt that reads 350, Save our Himalayas along with the rest of the crowd, mostly Nepali, mostly youth.

It’s October 24th, The International Day of Climate Action and the day that the crew of One Degree Initiative-Nepal (1DI), a youth organization, has been prepping for. The day before, they had gone cross-country around Kathmandu, posting event information around restaurants, shops and handing flyers to pedestrians. “I talked to some tourists in Thamel (about the 350 March) and their response was pretty positive.” Kripa, an active member of 1DI says, her face lighting up.

Only a few hours ago, Abhinav, who leads the 1DI team, had gone on a cycle rally in another part of town. He should be tired but his face is glowing, perhaps from the incredible burst of energy emanating from the marching crowd shouting “Tinsei pacchas (350)!” as they lift up the colorful banners that read “Now or Never!”, “Save the Planet!”  The former Minister of Environment, Ganesh Shah leads the crowd along with youth, grassroots activists and even tourists towards Swayambunath where in the evening, they will form a ‘350’ with diyo (traditional lanterns).

Over 5,200 events were organized in 181 countries to mark this day. In Nepal alone, around 26 events were happening simultaneously from Lumbini to the Tarai region. It is one of the most widespread grassroots events the planet has seen.

~ Text and photography by Yuko Maskay, Managing Editor, V.E.N.T! Magazine with additional photographs (no. 12, 16 and 26) by Nischal Kumar Acharya, member of One Degree Initiative Nepal and student at Ace Institute of Management.

What does the number 350 mean? (Source: 350.org)



350 is the most important number in the world—it's what scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Two years ago, after leading climatologists observed rapid ice melt in the Arctic and other frightening signs of climate change, they issued a series of studies showing that the planet faced both human and natural disaster if atmospheric concentrations of CO2 remained above 350 parts per million Everyone from Al Gore to the U.N.’s top climate scientist has now embraced this goal as necessary for stabilizing the planet and preventing complete disaster. Now the trick is getting our leaders to pay attention and craft policies that will put the world on track to get to 350…Our best chance to speed up that process will come in December in Copenhagen, when the world’s nations meet to agree on a new climate treaty. Right now, they’re not planning to do enough. But we can change that—if we mobilize the world to swift and bold climate action, which is what we're planning to do on October 24th.