KFTC Members "Connect The Dots" About Climate Change At Derby

KFTC members held signs, displayed homemade art hats and had conversations about climate change during this year's Kentucky Derby on May 5th, 2012. They were acting in concert with organization 350.org during it's international "Connect the Dots: Showing the Human Face of Climate Change" event. The goal was to communicate the connection between the extreme weather the world is experiencing and climate change.

Action co-planner and Jefferson County KFTC member Virginia Bush said of the effort, "We wanted to have conversations with people in the general public - to get beyond the kind of person who is attracted to our events and already interested in environmental issues. We had some really interesting conversations with people who, otherwise, we never would have talked with."

Virginia was joined by KFTC members Ben Evans, Bob Bush, Drew and Jayne Foley, Margaret Stewart and Sam Avery in planning the action.

Once the date of the international event was announced, the group decided to capitalize on the fact that it was happening on Derby Day. They canvassed the crowd on Central Avenue during the 3-hour wait for entrance to the infield. Some members of the group, including Bob and Ben who wore the hats (pictured left), actually entered the infield.

Derby attendees took thousands of pictures of the folks in hats and hundreds talked with 350 group members about why they were there. According to the 350.org website, the rationale for the group's name is "350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide - measured in "parts per million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM - it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change."