Momentum is building toward an international day of climate change action this Saturday. The day is the brainchild of Bill McKibben and his organization, 350.org, which is attempting to inspire the world to respond more diligently to the challenge of climate change. Many scientists was 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Problem is: We're now at 390.

The movement is spawning all kinds of activities not only this Saturday, but all week and beyond.  I love the one held last Saturday in the Maldives, a country that would be one of the first to be submerged under rising waters caused by melting polar ice caps. President Mohamed Nasheed and his ministers held an official cabinet meeting under water. With scuba tanks. (Yes, they'd been taking lessons.) They communicated by hand signals.

In Philadelphia, the main event will be at Independence Mall, beginning at 1 p.m.  Speakers will include Ray Anderson, described as a "radical industrialist and environmental heavyweight," and Katherine Gajewski, the city's Director of Sustainability.  Afterward, people will do a human graphic formation _ arranging themselves into the giant number, 350.  They plan to take a photo from the top of the Bourse. The local website is www.350philly.org

Elsewhere in the world,  Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian activists will gather on the shores of the Red Sea and arrange themselves into the pattern of huge 3’s and 5’s and 0’s.  In China, students at 300 universities are coordinating scuba marches with people dressed in snorkels and flippers.  Images from more than 3,000 other events will stream across screens in New York City’s Time Square.

For more information and events, go to www.350.org.  

Other events in the region not necessarily tied to 350.org, but nevertheless about climate change, include a  clean energy summit planned for Thursday in Media at Delaware County Community College, hosted by state Rep. Bryan R. Lentz.  It will include a panel of regional and national clean energy experts, and they'll talk about renewable energy, including how the country can strengthen national security by reducing dependency on foreign oil, and how it can create jobs here at home instead of outsourcing manufacturing overseas.
 

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Panelists include Panelists include Lentz,  Dr. Jerry Parker of the college, a Truman National Security Project representative, Tony Girifalco of the  Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, Nathan Willcox of PennEnvironment, Steve McNally, of the  International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 654, Eric Thumma of Iberdrola Renewables and Drew Devitt of New Way Airbearings.

This week, military veterans are embarking on a 21-state bus tour to talk to citizens about the dangers of climate change and the threat to national security. On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. they'll be in the mayor's reception room at city hall as part of a town meeting -- also with state Rep. Lentz. 

The tour is sponsored by Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security groups working together to raise public awareness about national security threats posed by climate change and the importance of building a clean energy economy that is not tied to fossil fuels. For more information about the tour, visit the Operation Free Veterans for American Power Bus Tour website (http://www.operationfree.net/on-the-bus/).