A half dozen people gathering in Bedford last night for the first in a series of planning meeting that will culminate in what they hope will be a large-scale demonstration calling for urgent action from climate-change delegates convening in Copenhagen in December.

The effort is part of 350.org's International Day of Action. Their idea is to seed hundreds of such events the world over on that day, to show the breadth of world desire for comprehensive redress of the worsening greenhouse gas conditions. (350 refers to 350 parts per million, the accepted standard for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Before humankind starting wrenching fossil fuels from the ground and putting them into the atmosphere, the level was typically between 250 and 300 ppm through recorded time. We're now at 387, and rising a couple more annually.)

The local gathering being planned is to take place at North Bridge in Minute Man National Historic Park in Concord, the so-called "battle bridge" of Revolutionary War history. The group is an affiliation among the global warming action coalitions in Lexington, Concord, and Bedford, and the Global Warming Education Network.

Lead organizer Roger Shamel said the group already has tacit approval to use the space, and is working now to reach out both to area groups that might help bring citizens to the rally, and to notables who might speak at the rally. He said both Gov. Deval Patrick and Congressman Ed Markey have acknowledged invitations and put the event on their tentative schedules, but offered no commitments. 

The rally will take place at 2 p.m. The organizers are reaching out as far as Worcester to the west and Boston to the east to find activists who might come, and are asking those who do to travel in the least carbon-intensive manner possible. Some will walk, some will ride bikes, others wills will carpool, they said.

Planning meetings will occur at 8:15 p.m. on the third Thursday or each month leading up to the event in the community room at the Bedford Whole Foods on Great Road. All are welcome.