And why the 3rd of March?  Does this commemorate the birth/death/other of a famous mathematician?  I’m appalled to admit I can’t think of a single famous mathematician off the top of my head.  (Feel free to help me out here!)  Is it the day on which many people (like me now I’ve just realised my watch thinks it’s the 31st February) figure out they are going to have to wind their watches on for 72 hours before the date reads right? 

Maybe the 3rd March is the only day left that hasn’t been carved out of the calendar by some other deserving cause.  I’m afraid I am beginning to suffer from world day fatigue.  I am unlikely to ever remember the date of any one of them.  Anyway, I can’t let this special day go uncommemorated and thought that the most fitting thing for this blog was a reminder of the 350 cause.

390ppm = current concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

350ppm = the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Now do the maths as they say, or just visit www.350.org.  And Happy World Maths Day to you!

 I made about half the quantity of vegetable soup that I’d originally intended to.  At about 2.00pm  the sun shone briefly and persuaded some dog walkers at least that they ought to get out.  Our friend Alan and his son Ade were our first victims.  We told them they had to drink our soup and pose for a picture whether they liked it or not! 

After that we had a steady stream of people throughout the afternoon.  I was really pleased at how happy people (and they were a diverse bunch!) were to talk about climate change issues and many of the people we spoke to were already making their own efforts to lessen CO2 emissions.   I found it funny, but somewhat disheartening that some people are automatically suspicious if you offer them anything for free.   But even those who didn’t take soup or seem interested did at least take the literature from us. The old guy with the whippets didn’t say a single word and he seemed slightly lost.  But  he obediently, if silently, drank his soup and posed.  I hope he found his way home okay.

These guys turned up in their home-made canoes which we thought was definitely deserving of some off-road soup.  Better still they let the girls have a go, I think canoeing is going to be the next craze around here.

I was glad in the end we made the effort and hopefully we reached some people.  Children I think, remember doing things like this and it gives them a sense of agency in their world.  If they succumb to futile nihilism then surely there would be little hope for the future.  Oh yes, and we had some very nice soup for our tea!