Local Residents Connect the Dots of Climate Change

Two years ago the parking lot of the Wayland Public Library stood under several feet of water -- the combined result of snow melt and rain that caused the Sudbury River to spill over its banks and into the surrounding flood-prone area.

Saturday, the parking lot of the Wayland Public Library stood under the feet of several dozen people -- the combined result of passionate individuals getting the word out and then braving a gloomy Saturday morning to make a statement.

About 50 people from Wayland, Sudbury, Lincoln, Framingham and Weston gathered at the library Saturday at 9:30 a.m. They came together as part of a global "Connect the Dots" effort organized by the grassroots organization 350.org, which is dedicated to "solv[ing] the climate crisis and push[ing] for policies that will put the world on track to get to 350 p[arts] p[er] m[illion]" carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere.

The specific purpose of Saturday's gathering was to bring together individuals in communities around the world that have already felt "the impact of climate change" for a group photo in which participants held up "dots" to mark where the effects of climate change have already been felt.

The group photo from Wayland then joined hundreds of photos from communities around the world -- Jordan, Afghanistan, New Zealand, England -- in a massive slideshow "connecting the dots" across the globe.

"We definitely saw the Wayland photo as a big success," said Wayland resident Wen Stephenson, who is working to build the state effort 350 Massachusetts. "If you look at the photos at 350MA.org, it's clear we had one of the larger gatherings in the state."

More importantly than the effort in Wayland alone, Stephenson said, was the solidarity the photos represent between people in Wayland and those in communities around the world.

"As one of our signs at the library said, we were not only standing with our local neighbors, we were 'Standing With Our Global Neighbors,'" Stephenson said.