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Exile Tibetans join 350 climate campaign

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

The Karmapa speaks during the 350 climate campaign in Mcleod Ganj, India, on 24 October 2009.Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

Exile Tibetans joined the global 350 climate campaign on the International Day of Climate Action, calling for world leaders to take decisive action against climate change.

Three Tibetan groups — Environment and Development Desk of the Tibetan government-in-exile, the Tibetan Welfare Office of Dharamshala, and TESI Environmental Awareness Movement — organised an awareness campaign in Mcleod Ganj.

At the event, the Karmapa spoke on different aspects of the environment, and how individuals can make a difference.

Other speakers told of how the global warming is affecting the Tibetan Plateau, and the effects it is having now and will bring about in the near future.

The 350 International Day of Climate Action is a gathering of people across the world who support decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“350” represents the amount of carbon dioxide — 350 parts per million (ppm) — that it is thought the earth’s atmosphere can safely hold to maintain a stable climate, scientists say.

According to the organisers at 350.org, who have been planning the day of global action for 18 months, people in 181 countries gathered together to stage over 5200 events to popularise awareness of this number, calling for world leaders to create policies to lower and then stabilise carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

World leaders will be meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December to craft a new global treaty on lowering the world’s CO2 emissions, which already hover around 390 parts per million.

The proposal currently on the table doesn’t address the severity of the climate crisis — it doesn’t pass the 350 test.

Tibet — the “Roof of the world”, now also known as the “Third Pole”, is most vulnerable to climate change. The Tibetan Plateau and the greater Himalayan region are warming twice as fast as the rest of the world.

The Tibetan Plateau also holds the most glacially stored freshwater after the North and the South poles. Glacier melting on the Tibetan Plateau is disrupting downstream water supplies, threatening the sustainable livelihoods of more than one billion people in South and East Asia.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun