350 Philly

Sat., Oct. 24, 1 p.m., free, Independence Mall, Sixth and Market streets, 350philly.org.

by Scott Yorko

[ activism ]

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What better place to start a global revolution than Philly? Instead of revolting against a monarchy, though, protesters this weekend are standing up to the king of pollution — carbon dioxide. "The symbolism of having [this event] on Independence Mall is really resonant with the mission of 350 Philly and this whole idea of crafting an international climate treaty," says organizer Drew Lavine. "We felt very inspired by that." The goal of the protest is to influence the United Nations' Climate Change Conference taking place in December. Katherine Gajewski, director of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, and Ray Anderson, a respected industrialist and passionate environmentalist, will speak at the event. 350 Philly attendees will also have the chance to be part of a giant "human graphic," in which hundreds of human bodies form the number "350," the maximum amount of CO2 parts-per-million that protesters believe is safe for our atmosphere. "The idea is to flood the media with these events happening all over the world that day — over 3,000 — to get into people's consciousness," says Lavine, "and get to our political leaders in advance of this critical climate conference."

Sat., Oct. 24, 1 p.m., free, Independence Mall, Sixth and Market streets, 350philly.org.