Ten Ten Ten Climate Party

About a week ago, 350.org, an organization working on solutions for our climate crisis
called for a World Climate Party. On their website they wrote:

Dear World,

It’s been a tough year: in North America, oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; in Asia some of the highest temperatures ever recorded; in the Arctic, the fastest melting of sea ice ever seen; in Latin America, record rainfalls washing away whole mountainsides.

So we’re having a party.

Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar. That’s the date. The place is wherever you live. And the point is to do something that will help deal with global warming in your city or community.

Their party was a grand success. 7,347 people from 188 countries participated, even the President of the Moldives, who erected a solar panel on the roof of his home.

For more details check out: http://www.350.org/en/invitation

On 10/10/10 I happened to be in Utah, enjoying the desert. I had a private party of one on a boulder alongside a canyon stream. I hiked to this pristine spot and honored the day by reading. No carbon expended on the trail, no juice required to turn the pages of my traditional book. In that quiet moment I reflected on how much resources I normally use in a day between driving to and fro on errands and working on my computer.

Check out the previous post for praise of this book that I read on October 10, No god, But God, by Reza Aslan. How fitting the desert setting was for reading about the inception of Islam in Arabia. Sand, quite literally, swept through the pages as well as Aslan's eloquent prose.

Reza Aslan at the University of Utah

Pictured in the post above is a book by Reza Aslan No god, But God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam. I cannot say enough good things about this work. The book explains the history of Islam in light of current events. It is informative, thorough, and best of all, it reads much like a novel.

Aslan says, "Storytelling is the key to building bridges and fostering mutual understanding. If we can tap into the narratives of other people, it gives us a better window into their religion, their politics, and their social and economic circumstances than any policy briefing could."

I recommend this book for readers who know little or a lot about Islam as Reza is sure to overturn several stones where even the most learned have not tread.

Reza Aslan will be giving a lecture at the University of Utah Middle Eastern Studies Center on Monday, Oct 25th at 7pm in the library auditorium. For more information about this event visit: http://www.mec.utah.edu/?pageId=5627

To read an interview with Reza Aslan on Religion Gone Global visit: http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2010/05/27/religion-gone-global/ This is the source of the quote by Reza cited above.

To learn more about Reza Aslan visit his website at: http://www.rezaaslan.com/