350 Climate Day of Action Wrap-up

The International Climate Day of Action was held just over a week ago.  CNN called it “The most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.”

According to 350.org,  “people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history.  At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis.  Over 19,000 photos have been submitted so far!”

The goal of the Day of Action was to raise awareness.  Actions displayed the number 350 in a creative way, and photos were submitted to 350.org.

Climate change is a critical issue for cross-country skiers, for obvious reasons.  Several major nordic-related actions were carried out on the 24th, including the 1st Annual 350.org/Steinbock Invitational rollerski race (you can read the report here).

CXC Team Vertical Limit skiers Garrott Kuzzy (also of the US Ski Team) and Brian Gregg hosted an action in Wisconsin, and Canadian Olympic Medalist Sara Renner hosted a large action in Canmore.  Reports on both can be found below.  FasterSkier asked readers to join an action, or if that was not possible, to create their own – even if it meant just integrating the number 350 into their daily workout, and snapping a photo.   We encouraged people to submit photos to FasterSkier as well as 350.org.  Hopefully the level of response from the Nordic community is not indicative of effort, and that people got out and made their voice heard, sending photos directly to 350.org.   Other than the three major actions mentioned above, not one skier submitted a 350 Action photo to FasterSkier.  Unimpressive, but nor surprising.

CXC/Birkie 350 Action & Ski Clinic in Seeley, Wisconsin

Brian Gregg and I hosted a 350 Action in Seeley, Wisconsin this morning.  We were shooting for 350 total Birkies skied amongst all participants.  Our final total was 253 Birkies for the 25 skiers that attended–not a bad average and I certainly didn’t help our numbers.  The fresh snow we got this morning was a great sign too!  At the clinic, we educated everyone about the 350 movement (Bill McKibben is the man.) and introduced a variety of dryland drills to prepare for skiing on snow this winter.

350 Action, Canmore

Over 200 people attended this event run by Sara Renner and Thomas Grandi.   All signed a banner to be
sent to the prime minister as Canmore’s largest petition for climate action.

And finally…

I was willing to put my money, or at least my action, where my mouth was.  No time to join a bigger action, or organize one, but I did my best to be involved.