'350' is lucky number

Protesters aim to influence climate control

Their message rang loud and clear on Saturday's chilly afternoon.

In white ropes that lay on the side of a hill at the Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville, the number 350 was sprawled out. That number is a plea to local, national and global leaders to create legislation reducing the amount of CO2 in the air to 350 parts per million. This is the number that scientists have deemed safe for the planet, event organizers said.

And more than 100 residents of DuPage County and the surrounding area came out to stand over the ropes for a snapshot that will be sent to local congressmen to show that their constituents are concerned.

Rain in the morning made the grounds wet, but the weather held off for the duration of the event. Cold and wet weather may have kept some people away, but it had its place, according to Linda Sullivan of Lombard, an organizer of the event with the River Prairie chapter of the Sierra Club in DuPage County. Climate change increases precipitation, she said.

There were thousands of "350" protests going on around the world, Sullivan said. She was pleased to have one so close to home.

The idea is that when there is a protest in Washington, D.C., the congressmen think, "These are not my constituents," she said. The message Sullivan was hoping to get across with Saturday's event was that it's the legislators who have the power to save us, she said.

Currently the CO2 level is at 390 ppm. If the level does not get reduced to 350, Illinois can expect one heat wave per year like the one in 1995 that killed hundreds of people in Chicago, Sullivan said. Illinois can expect a heat wave once every five years like the one Europe had in 2003 that killed thousands.

If we're going to save the planet, (350) is the number we need to get back to, she said.

Steve Carrow, of West Chicago, said this was an event he was looking forward to, and he would have come rain or shine.

"I try to stay informed about environmental issues," he said. "When they decided to do this location, it sounded like an easy thing to do."

Carolyn Finzer, of Naperville, is a member of the Wild Ones, a group that promotes conservation. She milled with a few others at the bottom of the hill before those who stood on the ropes took their places.

"What we're doing today focuses on the care of the sky, land and water," Finzer said.