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Marchers are undeterred by heavy rain as they cross Franklin Arterial in Portland on Saturday, during a walk to support the so-called 350 initiative. The 350 movement calls for an atmospheric reduction in carbon dioxide levels to stem global warming.

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Marchers stop at Portland City Hall steps to unroll a large banner with the number 350, representing the preferred parts per million of carbon dioxide levels in the air, during an event Saturday in support of climate change and global warming initiatives around the world.

enlarge Photos by Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Sister Kathleen Smith of the Sisters of Mercy, a member of Maine Interfaith Power and Light, addresses marchers who turned out to support global climate initiatives in Portland on Saturday.

PORTLAND — The numerals 350 are more than just numbers, they're a political movement.

A small, waterlogged group tried to make that point Saturday afternoon in Portland and dozens of other cities around the globe, calling on governments to take steps to cut carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to no more than 350 parts per million, the figure scientists say will help forestall further global warming.

In Portland, about 75 people marched in heavy rain from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to the steps of Portland City Hall, where they unfurled a large "350" banner. They joined with other demonstrations aimed at pushing international leaders to draft a climate treaty to cut CO2 to 350 ppm from the current level of 390 ppm when a global climate change conference is held at Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.

As bells from several downtown churches and City Hall rang 350 times, Sister Kathleen Smith of Sisters of Mercy said the tolling was intended as an alarm.

The ringing "is not a death toll, but a call to protect her (the Earth's) life, our life," she said.

Using more efficient light bulbs, recycling more, buying hybrid vehicles are all steps, Smith said, but "we must join arms and voices for a change in the way all human beings use the air, the water and the land."

Others said that changing the way we produce electricity is not just a wise environmental policy, it's a national security issue.

Buying more foreign oil means more money that can find its way to terrorist groups, said Michael Breen, a former U.S. Army captain from New Hampshire who is now part of Operation Free: Veterans for American Power. The group was on a bus tour that began in Montana earlier this month and concluded at a 350 rally held in Brunswick on Saturday afternoon.

Breen said climate change caused by burning foreign oil will exacerbate environmental issues, causing problems such as droughts and stronger storms. Those conditions, he added, become "breeding grounds for insurgency" that could target the U.S.

Breen noted that some of the most intense work being done by the government on climate change is by agencies like the CIA, which is conducting research on the implications of a changing global climate on national security.

Alexander Cornell du Houx, a Maine state representative and another member of Operation Free, said America's dependence on foreign oil was driven home to him one day in 2006 in Iraq, when scores of Iraqis lined up to fuel their cars despite the threat posed by insurgents in that country.

The U.S. dependence on oil is no less, he said, and that provides another reason for developing other sources of electricity, such as solar and wind power to limit the need to import foreign oil.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at: emurphy@pressherald.com