Saturday the 24th over 100 paddlers assembled on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, to make a statement. As part of International Climate Action Day, we made a huge “350″ of kayaks, canoes and paddleboards at the waterfront. This planetery event cries out for action. In over 150 countries in hundreds of places, participants spelled out the number 350. 350 parts per million is the amount of CO2 the Earth’s atmosphere can hold without catastrophic consequences for our climate.

We are already at 387. The idea was to get the attention of a climate conference upcoming in Copenhagen, to get those attending to take action immediately!

We lucked out on the weather, it was a golden fall day, and a lot warmer than I anticipated. I turned out to be over dressed for temperature and under prepared for sun! As bullhorns blared out instructions and walkie talkies were crackling, we tried to coordinate out three numbers. The slow current of the Willamette was enough to push the group into the Burnside Bridge three times, causing us to re-create the number. At least we got it right one time!