350 Challenge

Green School, Bali. 

Prior to my discovery of Bali's green school, I was made aware of the 350 challenge. It is a way of creating awareness of the climate movement and shows that everyone's individual actions can really amount to revolutionary change. Each participant that adds the 350 challenge badge to their blog has 350lb of carbon offset, the equivalent of two weeks without driving (but don't think this now allows you to have a guilt-free conscience the next time you take a road trip). To date, over 3,900 people participate. This equates to 1.365 million pounds, or 619 tonnes, of carbon. Not bad going don't you think?

The '350' is in reference to the upper limit of ppm carbon that can be sustained in the atmosphere before a tipping point is reached and runaway climate change ensues. Bill McKibben was the academic and environmentalist to first make this statement and a lot of research since has developed upon his work to assess the finer details of the feedbacks involved and the intricacies in the climate system. However, the overriding point stands that their is a limit to the amount of additional carbon the atmosphere can tolerate. 

In order to spread awareness on a more global scale, the 350.org grassroots movement established the 10/10/10 day of action, involving 7000 events across 188 countries. Word of mouth soon encouraged other organisations to follow suit and that day also became the global day of action (1010global). Across the world, people prepared low-carbon meals, or companies installed solar panels or wind turbines, to help do their bit in the 'fight against climate change'.  

In Bali, the Green school installed Biopores - one-meter-deep holes in the ground, filled with organic matter and compost. When the rain falls, the organic material absorbs the water, decomposes and encourages root growth, in turn increasing soil fertility. 

Photo source: Flickr