Pi (3.14), 1492 and other famous numbers may take a backseat to a new set of digits if participants in the upcoming 350.org International Day of Climate Action celebration, including hundreds of UVM students and faculty, are successful at raising world-wide consciousness about climate change.

Members of the UVM community will join Vermonters across the state and participants in 170 countries on Saturday, Oct. 24 for a series of events designed to highlight climate change prior to the start of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Creators of 350.org, a global grassroots campaign to stop the climate crisis, are touting 350 as the most significant number in the world because it represents the level of parts per million considered the safe upper limit for CO2 in the atmosphere.

The Burlington events start at 2 p.m. when participants will gather between the Davis Center's west entrance and Bailey/Howe Library to create the number 350 with their bodies. An aerial photo will be taken and potentially shared with other images of events from around the world on giant video screens in Times Square in New York as part of a 350 countdown. The images will also be accessible on the 350.org website as part of an online photo stream.

A silent walk from the Davis Center to City Hall Park will follow at 3 p.m. while seven local churches, Ira Allen Chapel and the Firehouse Gallery ring bells 350 times for approximately 45 minutes. Other churches around the state will chime in as well. Walking participants will hand out 2 x 2-3/4 inch hand-made "Small Works" of art cards with original artwork on one side and 350.org's invitation message on the back. Leaders from across the state are scheduled to speak at City Hall Park about the need for immediate action to address the climate crisis.

The Burlington celebration is one of 4,000 planned actions in more than 170 countries designed to call on President Obama and other world leaders to secure a "fair, ambitious and binding global deal" at the UN Climate Change Conference in December. Some 89 countries have endorsed the 350 target as well as Rajendra Pachaur, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a leading climate economist, and Al Gore.

Cameron Davis, an artist and lecturer in the art and environmental studies departments, presented a recitation performance in Battery Park at one of the first 350.org celebrations, a performance inspired by founder Bill McKibben, scholar in residence at Middlebury College and renowned environmentalist and writer. The annual event, organized by 350.org, Greenpeace and Oxfam, has grown from a five-day walk from Ripton, Vt. to Burlington to dozens of events around the state to a worldwide day of observation.

"I was deeply moved by the invitation on Bill McKibben's 350.org website that starts with 'Dear World, this is an invitation to build a movement — to take one day and use it to stop the climate crisis,'" said Davis, who helped organize an art exhibit currently running at the Firehouse Gallery titled "Human=Landscape: Aesthetics of a Carbon Restrained Future." "His overall message is so endearing and really brings home this issue in a way that people can easily understand. I love the way he asks people to take just one day to stand together for climate change. I know people are full and overloaded, but it's a rare chance to be able to say 'I was there; I stood up.'"

Davis said more than 100 UVM students have volunteered to help with events and that the 275 students in "Introduction to Environmental Studies" are participating as part of their activism lab for the course. Undergraduate April Hillman is organizing the human-formed number 350 this Saturday.

"Climate change is so serious that any educational event about it somehow demands to be a celebration of life," said Gioia Thompson, director of the Office of Sustainability which is sponsoring the UVM events. "This event's eclectic mix of bells, a parade, art, a photo shoot, and a mystery activity are a wonderful example of Burlington and campus community members taking part in a creative, thoughtful, sociable way to manifest our community's concern about climate change and educate each other."

An artist gallery talk starts at 3 p.m. at the Firehouse Gallery featuring UVM alum Ethan Bond-Watts '08, who designed and built the glass-blown artwork in the Davis Center; Nancy Dwyer, artist and associate professor of art; and local artist Rebecca Schwartz. Also at 3 p.m. is a prayer vigil in City Hall Park sponsored by Vermont Interfaith Power & Light, a local organization with a mission of serving Vermont faith communities in their efforts to address the climate crisis.

A panel discussion is scheduled at the Firehouse Gallery at 4:40 p.m. that includes artist and architect John Anderson; artist Patrick Marold; "Human=Landscape" curator Christopher Thompson and Davis. A reception will follow until 6 p.m. with bands on the back porch. Dance parties at Higher Ground, the Charlotte Congregational Church and UVM's Slade Hall will follow.

For more information, visit 350.org or contact Cameron Davis at cdavis@uvm.edu.