What Is 350?

Over the last several years I have been able to connect with a few friendly people who are also involved with activities that protect and heal our home, the Earth. We share emails and ideas and keep each other posted about community events. At the beginning part of October I received an email informing me about an upcoming event meant to raise awareness about climate change. Seemed like the sort of thing that I should be involved with, so Joanne and I attended.

Because this event had to do with climate change Jo’ and I decided to enjoy a walk to the bus stop and a trip through the downtown core where we delighted in seeing all the colours of Autumn painted on every tree. This bus ride took us to John Paul II High School where the ‘350’ event was about to take place. Many people had biked to this event and one lady enjoyed all the attention her special bike received.


One of the first things that I noticed was this colourfully painted banner that must have been created as a youth group effort. It’s hard to read clearly – as it’s printed so small – but in the upper left there is a quote which reads, “If everyone helps to hold up the sky, then one person does not become tired!”

There were a few of us gathered, chatting away, when someone asked me what 350 meant. I shrugged and then we chatted about what it could represent. A minute later I decided to ask a person who I know would know. I was told that 350 represents the ‘parts per million – ppm’ ratio of the greatest amount of carbon dioxide that is acceptable in our atmosphere for continued life on this planet. I was also told that our atmosphere is unfortunately, at 380ppm and that our world is adding 2ppm every year. YIKES!!! I returned and shared that story with my group and then it was time for the event to begin.


It was great to see such a diverse crowd with grandparents holding the hands of their grandchildren, high school students, moms, dads and a few furry four-legged friends. The speaker told of the meaning of 350, the history of these calculations (in 1870 the number was reaching ever higher but 280 is better than our present situation), and that we were the voice to carry our community’s concern to parliament. She also informed us that hundreds of other gatherings – just like ours - were happening on this same day in countries around the world.

I thought that this was brilliant and amazing – for the first time ever, humanity can join together in positive actions, uniting as one…


… and these are just a few of the photos from different cities around the world!!

Over the last decade or so, I have witnessed several events that have reached around the world in positive ways and this makes me happy. At this point in humanity’s existence we are just beginning to take positive actions and I’m confident that this movement will continue to build momentum.


After a few more words from some other local environmental groups we were asked to raise our voice – and document it, too! – by signing a petition that would be taken to our government.


Now it was time for our group to create our own ‘350’ for the world… we just had to wait a few minutes as a couple of cameramen climbed on top of the school’s roof. While we waited, several smaller groups took photos…


… and this person entertained us with a little drumming!


It was quite a comical event as we organized ourselves to shape the numbers 3, 5 and 0. One person, on the roof, would yell down that the bottom of the 5 was crooked and people bellow would move around a bit only to hear, “Wait! That’s even worse!!”, coming from above. But we did eventually get it right – LOL!!!!


After the successful photograph we were all asked to walk – or ride bike – around the school track, three times… and we all did!!! For part of our walk the lady with the drum pounded out a beat and a simple song that most people joined in singing.


There were even a few dogs that wanted to say something about climate change, as well! Lots of small conversations broke out, here and there, throughout the group. For me, it was a chance to say ‘hello’ to a few people that I knew. It seems like every time I attend an event of this nature I bump into a few of the same people… and this is a great thing!!!


As you can see, it was quite a windy day!!!! The cool, crisp air made us want to keep moving to keep warm!

After this event was over and ‘goodbyes’ and ‘see ya laters’ were done, Jo’ and I hopped back on the bus for a trip into the downtown core. After a bowl of potato with roasted garlic soup Joanne and I split up for a few hours. Jo’ had some shopping to do and I wanted to stay downtown to attend a 350 meeting at the Central Library.


There was a really big turn out for this event – many of the same people were there from that morning and a large number of others. We listened, watched and learned a lot about climate change and how it’s affecting our planet. We shared some of our own stories about actions we had taken and many people left feeling inspired. Of course, one final group photograph was taken… which later appeared in the premier edition of Ecovox!

I was able to hand out lots of my peace Stik-ers to all the children – old and young – and I had several conversations with a number of interesting people.


I decided to enjoy some more of the fall colours, so I walked home from the library. My walk took me past a farmer’s market, an outdoor play area for children, a couple of bridges and lots of homes getting ready for Halloween. I think that it is a wonder of Nature to herald in the change of seasons with such a variety of textures and colours. While I write this I’m looking out my window at the bare trees and snow covered ground remembering with fondness the pallet of colours that warmed our hearts just a few months ago.

Stay warm and think happy thoughts!

Jim

ps - for more information about 350 please visit www.350.org

Peacebus Art Competition – Cont’d

The students and I have learned how to have lots of fun over the last month.


It was the third day of school and on our drive home I wanted to fill the bus with the voices of the children singing. I began with a song that I figured several of them would already know – The Moose Song! It was a bit of a flop!! Only a few students joined in and they mostly spoke the words instead of singing them. When the song was over I concluded that these students just didn’t like singing. This didn’t upset me at all, I just figured that we would have fun doing different activities, is all.


The weather last week, was quite depressing. The clouds continuously obstructed the sun and wet, sloppy rain and snow pelted down from the skies. On Thursday, the sun finally burst through the thinning clouds, the temperatures reached a super high of minus two degrees and I was in a great mood. I had been receiving so many glorious artworks from the children during our first ‘peace-art’ competition. I had to celebrate these occasions with a song.


I was getting ready for another almost solo performance when my great mood increased to fantabulous!!! Without any encouragement the entire bus broke into song. I sang a line and the children repeated each line with loud, happy voices. Hmmmm… these children did like to sing, after all! Maybe we just needed to get to know each other a bit more, first.


After the first song was finished, many of the students asked me to sing another one!!! Of course, we did. I introduced them to a song that I had written especially for the journey home from school. Even though this was a new song for them, they all joined in as if they had known this song their whole lives. I couldn’t stop smiling!!!


The next day, we were just leaving the schoolyard when I heard one of the students shout out, “Hey Mr. Jim! We want to sing another song!!!” And so, we did!!! Singing silly songs has become quite an event on The Peacebus and this has made me very happy! I’ll start the ride home with two songs and then the students start to make up their own songs, as we continue through the subdivisions.


One of their songs told the story about a pickle and all of its adventures through the day until, sadly… it gets eaten up! Another song that one of the students made up had to do with the building of the yummiest pizza in the world… and then it got eaten up, too!!! I was beginning to notice that all their songs had to do with food. I figured that by the end of the day they were all a little hungry and they couldn’t wait to get home to eat something!!!


Last Friday was the last day that the students could hand in their ‘peace-art’ for the competition. I was being overwhelmed with creativity. On the way to school, many students handed in their artwork as they boarded the bus. In the afternoon, many more came running to the bus waving their drawings in the air for me to see. During the ride home I could hear many conversations about who the students thought would win the competition. I told them that they would have to wait until next week (this week) to hear my announcement of the winners.


On Monday morning the students boarded the bus, sat down, and then immediately asked me who had won the competition. It was obviously the only thing on their minds!!! I told each student that they would have to wait a few more days because I was still working on the prizes that I would be handing out. As more and more students got onto the bus, asking the same question, I started to sense an uprising of discontent cuz the students wanted to know who the winners were…NOW!


Then a chant started and soon everyone joined in, “Tell us the winners! Tell us the winners! Tell us the winners!” LOL!!!! I felt undersieged! I couldn’t stop laughing!


I was working on a very special prize for all of the students who participated. Yes – the students would soon find out that everyone was going to be a winner!!! I was trying to make a poster using all of the artwork that was handed in. I wanted to make a collage with these artworks to create a peace symbol. I was having no success. I’m still teaching myself how to use the graphic programs that I do use, but I was running into problems all the time. I was hoping to find solutions over the next few days… but I knew the students just couldn’t wait that long.


I had to resort to plan B. Last semester I had created – successfully – a simple peace poster using just one graphic created by a former student. Since I still had this image on file, I decided that I had to go with this. My new students hadn’t seen this poster before, so I knew that they would enjoy it as a prize… and they did!!!!


I made a special trip to the copy centre that I use and soon I had my hands full of peace posters for my students. When I returned to the school, that afternoon, the students were very excited that I had the prizes ready to hand out. Before we left the school, I showed them what the prize was. They thought the poster was great! I told them that they would be given their poster when they were getting off the bus – I knew that the posters would sustain a bit of damage if I handed them out at the beginning of the ride.


Since I was unable to create a poster using their artwork, I felt a little personal disappointment. To compensate for my lack of ability – using the graphic program – I still wanted to do something with their art, so I created a new batch of peace stickers. I really liked Matt’s drawing of the rabbit spray painting the peace graffiti, so I used his image. I’ll be handing out these stickers to all the students on the bus, in just a few hours from now. I’m sure that they will all be extra surprised with this simple gift!!!

Jim

First Peace-Art Competition On The Peacebus

In a few previous blogs I’ve mentioned that my bus routes have recently changed. I’m now driving a different group of students to a different elementary school.


I can remember how excited all the students were when I first pulled up to their bus stops. They were all surprised to see that they had a new bus driver and once they entered The Peacebus their eyes grew large and filled with wonder as they saw all the peace-art that is decorating the inside roof of the bus.


Once we arrived at the school, I took a moment to introduce myself as “Mr. Jim”, go over some of the bus rules (concerning eating and drinking) and I asked if they liked the way I decorated my bus. They all smiled and said that they thought my bus was cool! I told them that in a few weeks I would be giving them a chance to add their peace-art to the bus, as well.


I didn’t want to rush right into any new art projects until the students and I had a while to get to know each other a little bit, first.


After a short period of time, one of the students asked when they could start creating artwork for the bus. I told them that I was in the process of organizing a fun art competition and that it would begin in the next week. Well, it seems that the students just couldn’t wait. The frosted winter windows became their canvases each morning. By the time I had reached the school almost all the windows were covered in peace symbols, heart-peace symbols, stars and happy faces. These students were showing me that they were ready to create some real art!!!!


It didn’t take much effort to get this first competition in motion. One day I simply asked if they were ready to create some peace-art for the bus. They all hooted and hollered that they were ready. I told them that I wanted them to follow just two simple rules. 1) The drawing had to be created on either a white sheet of paper or a coloured one – no lined paper (that they use to take notes in school) and 2) They had to fill the entire page – I didn’t want them to simply draw a peace symbol on a piece of paper and say that it was art. I wanted them to create an environment for their peace symbols. “You can draw a garden full of peace flowers. You can draw a landscape with a peace symbol for the sun. You can draw a huge peace symbol on the Earth and fill the rest of the page with stars and planets. Use your imagination and be as creative as you can be. Use lots of different colours, bright colours, peaceful colours and fill in the entire sheet of paper.”


The very next day, I received the first entry for this competition and the artwork has been flowing in at a steady pace, ever since. The easiest way for me to get even more artwork from the students was to tell them that they could enter this contest as many times as they wanted to. “The more you enter, the greater your chances are for winning!”


Okay! Okay! I’m a big, mean and ugly fibber!!!! My plan is, of course, to give each student who participates a prize… but they don’t know that – that’s why it’ll be a surprise. In the mean time, I’m getting a ton of artwork to share with the world. Matt is in grade 6 and he is an art machine… he’s already created seven different artworks for this competition!


When this peace-art was handed in to me, I couldn’t help but laugh and smile. “So, Camilo, what’s with the flying chicken-man?” Camilo told me that this chicken-man is a real person who lives in Mexico. He’s sort of a superhero cuz he helps many people. I told him that the chicken-man would be very honoured to know that he was in Camilo’s drawing. Camilo smiled at the complement!


Viveka took a different approach for creating her artwork. Instead of drawing a picture, she created a collage using photos that she had taken last summer. I asked her why she likes photography and she told me that she loves taking pictures of beautiful flowers. I asked her if she knew the names of the flowers that she had taken photos of. She knew about two of them and told me what she knew and then I told her the names of the other two flowers and told her why I thought they were beautiful. I told her that her layout and composition was done very well and then she confessed that her dad had helped to show her how to do it. I told her that it was great that she had asked her dad to help her. “ I’m very proud of you for learning so much about Nature and being able to share your ideas by creating artwork on your computer and I’m proud of you for being able to ask someone to help you.”


I’ve had so much artwork handed in that it will take me at least another blog to share it all with you. So, tune in for my next story to see more wonderful peace-arts by the students who ride The Peacebus and by that time I should have ‘the prize’ ready to share with you, as well.

Jim

The Sounds of Silence

With all the hustle and bustle that happens in our day to day lives, it's hard to notice all the simple and amazing things that continuously surround us. Simple things like, the shadow of a tree dancing in a slow breeze or amazing things like a wisp of cloud stretched out to defy the blues of clear sky.

I, like most, am guilty – to a certain degree – of this infraction, but I do my best to find small windows of opportunity where I can ‘unplug’ from the world to become an observer.


A couple of Saturdays ago, I woke to an empty house. Joanne had to work the morning shift at the animal hospital and I slept in. I thought of all the things that I had to do that day and then I decided that it was about time that I had ‘a day without me’ and then my schedule opened right up.

I didn’t turn my computer on to scan any children’s peace art. I didn’t call anyone or even answer the phone when it rang. I didn’t go to the library to check my emails. I didn’t even turn on the television or radio.


But I did go out to my backyard, brush off a patio chair and let a cup of tea warm my hands as I let the sunshine warm my face.

It was one of those rare winter days where the winds were almost non-existent, the sky was blue and the air was filled with silence. I felt the tea warming my body as I sat with eyes closed, facing the sun. My chest rose and fell with each fresh breath and I basked in my winter wonderland and let the troubles of the world pass me by.


When I have moments like this, where I separate myself the world to become a peaceful observer, I am always amazed by the amount of activity that occurs in a seemingly empty place. Every few minutes a short breeze would blow by to lift the lightest snows off of the laden tree branches. These bursts of dazzling crystals would cascade outwards from the trees like winter spirits performing pirouettes as they descended to the ground.

Two chickadees flew by, like fighter jets in a game of tag. They had flown just above my neighbour’s hedge and into my backyard just a few feet away from where I was sitting. I think I startled them more than they had startled me. They were so close that I could actually hear their wind beneath their wings as they zoomed by.

My backyard was an amusement park for my senses. Mother Nature always puts on a spectacular show!!!


Something caught my attention, from just two yards away, and I lifted my head to get a clearer view. With brown wings spread out a small hawk lifted into the sky, coming towards me. It seemed like I could make out individual feathers of dark patterns separated with forks of white as it flew over my head. I turned to watch it continue on its course and the hawk bent its head so that one of its eyes could peer right at me. I smiled in wonder!


After about an hour and a half I became inspired to capture some of these snowy images with my camera. The high puffs of snow that were perched on top of some dead flowers seemed to defy gravity. The shadows of the surrounding trees as they fell across my backyard intrigued my visual senses with all of the contrasting tones of white. The flow of the snow as it had been formed with the winds, on top of my back hedge was full of so much texture and movement.

I think that I could have spent the rest of the day, just wandering around my backyard with my camera in hand, but soon this special time was over.

Joanne came home and I greeted her. She asked why I was looking so peaceful and relaxed. I told her that for over two hours I had done absolutely nothing. “I just sat in our backyard and watched and listened and was amazed!”

My condition was contagious and soon Jo’ and I both settled into the rest of this quiet day. I spent a short time enjoying a book while Joanne stared out the window enjoying a warm hot chocolate. We puttered around doing a few household chores and then it was time to take Koly for a romp through the snow.


The television stayed off, throughout most of the evening, as I spun a few vinyl discs on my record player. After dinner I decided that I had been lazy enough all day long and that it was time for me to do something. I got out a pencil and began to layout my design for a wall mural that I want to paint in our living room.

Ahhhhh! But that’s another story….

Jim