Tackling Climate Change With Joy, Collaboration, and Panache
The founders of the award-winning sustainability game called Vermontivate! have just announced their next ambitious project: launching the most successful, big-ticket crowd-funding campaign in Vermont’s history.
Created last year by energy consultant Nick Lange and climate activist Kathryn Blume, Vermontivate! was their answer to the question, “How do we make responding to the climate crisis fun and collaborative?” In response, Lange and Blume ended up creating a hybrid real-world/on-line game in which players took on a wide range of sustainability-related challenges, earning points on behalf on their town. The winning town – which turned out to be Montpelier – won a community ice cream party from Ben & Jerry’s.
“Last year was a tiny test round,” says Lange, “with 13 towns and a couple hundred players. This year, we’ve built partnerships with dozens of organizations, businesses, and agencies across the state. We’re ramping up to make a game this spring which completely permeates the culture of Vermont. And the only way we can do that is with a great, big budget!”
“This creative, fun effort to inspire and motivate more people to be part of the energy and climate challenges we face is really inspiring,” says Johanna Miller, coordinator of the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network. “It’s why we presented Vermontivate! with a Community Energy Project award.” Miller adds, “If a dedicated duo volunteering their time could launch this effort with no resources, I can’t wait to see what they do with some real financial power behind them.”
“We set the bar high on this,” says Blume, “because the problem of climate change is so big. We’re not making a cute little game that a few people can play for laughs. We’re trying to build a huge, powerful game, big enough to actually have an impact on something as gigantic and overwhelming as the global climate crisis.”
The goal of the fundraising campaign – located at www.crowdfunding.vermontivate.
This year’s round of Vemontivate! runs May 13-June 21. Interested potential players can find out more at www.vermontivate.com, and at their Earth Day Celebration and Launch Party on April 20, 1-4pm, at the Train Station at Main Street Landing in Burlington. Partner groups in Montpelier, Middlebury, Poultney, and Brattleboro will also have information available at their Earth Day celebrations.
“When most people talk about the perils of climate change, the words “˜depressing’ and “˜impossible’ tend to come to mind,” says Blume. “We want to replace that with “˜fun’ and “˜infinite possibility.’ A game – funded, supported, and played by an entire state – seems like a great way to start!”
#BTV #VT – Please join us at the 2013 Spring Business Fair – Thursday, April 18, from 10am to 2pm at Burlington ‘s City Hall.
The event connects people interested in starting or expanding their business with a variety of federal, state and local organizations and businesses that can help.
The event will include:
This event is FREE!
Bigfoot bandit on the loose? Police search for missing sculpture
By Jamie Wetherbe, Los Angeles Times
April 2, 2013, 6:45 a.m.
Authorities on the East Coast are searching for Bigfoot. No, really.
Vermont State Police are hunting for a Sasquatch sculpture reportedly swiped from a Westford couple’s driveway over the weekend.
The couple purchased the 8-pound, 15-inch-tall Yeti from a SkyMall magazine.
Police say the statue is valued at around $100, the Associated Press reported, and the owners would be satisfied if it was simply returned to their front lawn.
In addition to police efforts, the couple is using community network Front Porch Forum to search for the sculpture.
Anyone who spots the missing Sasquatch need not approach the beast, but instead should contact the Vermont State Police barracks in Williston.
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more