The mission of 350.org is to mitigate climate change and keep earth habitable for humans and other species for both the short and the long term.  A new 350 Central Virginia chapter is in process of formation.  It will meet one Tuesday evening a month at the Friends Meeting House, 1102 Forest Street, Charlottesville.  The first official meeting to organize the chapter will happen on Tuesday, Jan 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.  Thereafter, the third Tuesday of each month is expected to be the regular meeting night.

The present consensus of responsible climate science places that goal out of reach unless we quickly reduce fossil fuel emissions to get back below the maximum concentration of carbon dioxide for a stable climate, namely 350 parts per million.  See the website www.350.org for much more explanation of the science-driven mission and 350.org’s national and international campaigns, which newly include starting local chapters around the world.  Ours will be among the first three local 350 chapters in Virginia.

At the inaugural meeting on Jan 29, after introductions and general orientation to 350.org and to being a regional chapter of 350.org, the main business of the meeting will be to go into interest groups to discuss five possible priority areas the chapter might start with.  Reports from the interest groups back to the full, reconvened meeting will describe the interest level of each area.  Priority areas that have enough participation and enthusiasm to move forward can be adopted.  They will become action teams for the at least the next six months.  Choosing them is the main mission of the first meeting.  Teams in the chosen areas will have a dedicated hour of future two-hour monthly meetings to develop their work, and of course can also work outside monthly meetings.

The five potential priority action areas are:

1. Joining 350.org U.S. divestment campaign from the 200 largest fossil fuel corporations in the world.  Targets are pension plans and other invested assets from among a couple of dozen colleges and universities, and possibly businesses, governments and union entities, and nonprofits with substantial investments, located in Central Virginia.
2. Campaigning for the state’s two public electric power utilities to produce green (wind and solar) power here in Virginia or offshore from Virginia.
3. Mass transit: working for more frequent and more extensive public bus transportation, to provide new or more personally-viable alternatives to driving a private car.
4. Interesting more families in assessing and undertaking a home energy efficiency program
5. Advocacy campaigns for important state and local environmental policies and actions – such as, at present, continuing Virginia’s ban on uranium mining, and not caving in to the big corporate lobbying campaign to allow it in a heavily populated part of the state that has substantial uranium deposits.

Participants from high school age up to seniors in age are cordially invited.  Light refreshments will be served.

We are also coordinating one or two charter buses from Charlottesville to the co-sponsored Sierra Club and 350.org action in Washington DC on Feb 17, the Sunday of Presidents’ Day weekend.  Tens of thousands of participants are expected to gather peacefully.  The purpose is to ask President Obama to permanently stop the Keystone XL pipeline, which is proposed to bring tar-sands oil from Canada to the US and through to US ports for international shipment.  Bus seats are $25, prepaid for adults.  The first 20 high school students to sign up can ride free because the Activist group of Piedmont Sierra Club is sponsoring 20 seats for them.  Sierra Club and 350.org have more information about the Keystone XL pipeline and the Feb 17 action on their websites.  Adults, please email me about reserving a bus seat before Feb. 4, at my below email, including your phone.  High school students, please email Amory Fischer at ahfischer@comcast.net .

The team who’ve planned formation of the 350 Central Virginia chapter came mostly from several environmental groups based in Charlottesville and Richmond.  We definitely intend to collaborate with the climate action programs of other local and regional organizations, and to reach out to locate other environmental groups that are active in a feasible distance to participate, or be represented, at regular Charlottesville meetings.  Climate activists have a huge job ahead to awaken and energize this otherwise-progressive region to the serious climate threat, and the changes needed to prevent the worst damages to our earthly habitat that will occur if “business as usual” continues.  We will succeed better, and will have more enjoyment and less frustration, by coordinating or cross-fertilizing our various organizations’ work.

If you seek more information about the 350 Central Virginia chapter or to arrange payment for a set on the charter bus to Washington, please contact me, Marcia Geyer, Publicity and Outreach point person – marcia.geyer@yahoo.com .

This action, Sunday Feb. 17, is part of a campaign to get definite federal veto of the Keystone XL pipeline.  We’re going to Washington, DC, to address President Obama on Presidents’ Day.

The point is to prevent a very dirty form of oil from reaching US markets and world-wide shipping.  If all the Canadian tar sands oil is extracted and burned, the added emissions from extraction, refining and burning it are very likely to tip the balance of climate change to the point of no return and spiraling, awful damage to human and all other life on earth.   The stakes are could not be higher.  Please see the 350.org website for more information about the Keystone XL pipeline and tar sands oil.  I’ve summarized its message here.

The Sierra Club and 350.org are joint sponsors of the Feb 17 action.  We expect to be some number of thousands or tens of thousands of activists.  The protest is to be peaceful, with some vigorous chanting at times.

The bus reservation information follows, for all who decide to participate from the Charlottesville area.

Definite bus reservations are $25 per person, paid in advance.  So please email me, including your phone number, to arrange to pay – marcia.geyer@yahoo.com

Pending more detailed event scheduling from 350.org, we expect to leave Charlottesville at 9 AM and return about 8:30 PM.  Brown bag your lunch and we’ll do a short food stop coming back.  (Do bring a water bottle.)

If one charter bus fills up, we’ll wait list people to try for a second bus.  It’s fairly likely we’ll fill two buses.  Reservations must be made and paid before Monday, Feb 4 so we’ll be sure we’ve got the bus(es) on a holiday weekend.

Here in Charlottesville, the Sierra Club chapter, local 350 chapter-to-be, and other environmental groups in Charlottesville, including Transition Charlottesville, will join together on organizing the charter bus(es) to Washington on Feb 17.  I’m the point person for bus reservations.

Guest post by Marcia Geyer.