(on the river)
quick project outline of where I am at:
(turnagain arm)
I rowed a canoe down a large section of the yukon river this fall - from dawson to the haul road bridge north of fairbanks - doing presentations @ the schools about climate change, green jobs, etc. I hope to finish out the trip via skiis/ snowshoes this spring, and a friend and I are going to sign up for the new 1000 mile yukon river quest canoe race next summer.
I was showing part of the 11th hour climate change film put together by the actor Leonardo Dicaprio and Lelia Conners Peterson (treemedia), and had a small sony high definition video camera along with me: the original idea being to interview several Alaska and Yukon-based sustainability/ renewable energy experts and splice the interviews into footage from the river / ski trip to produce an Alaska Climate Change film.
I am now in the process of approaching different film production organizations - like treemedia and others - to try to get them to donate copies of their most powerful / inspirational films to my contacts in the villages along the river; with the idea being that the films will be incorporated into the classroom curriculum by educators/ tribal leaders and will be available to be utilized to expand the horizons of rural Alaskan youth, let them see the potential in different career opportunities etc., have access to a variety of cutting edge progressive ideas that they otherwise might not have access to. A few generous organizations have already made commitments to participate.
The original plan was to than initiate 4 mini-film festivals in the university cities of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Whitehorse this spring (probably May) ... where the films that are donated to the river communities are shown, and we raise x amount of money thru ticket-sales / raffles etc. to donate to a choice sustainability project in Alaska. And have an inspirational keynote "sustainability" speaker come up for the film festivals to discuss media as a tool for social change, global warming, etc. , and draw people to these film festivals.
My original focus was rural renewable energy: the idea being to channel the funds we raise to facilitate the development of some sort of 'green jobs' skills training program, so as to directly empower some 18-19 year old in -- for example -- a village like Ruby/ or Eagle (where the state is working on developing hydro projects) to learn how to operate the local rural renewable energy power-source. With the hope being to make sure that it is not someone coming in from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau or the lower 48 to get the high-paying jobs that will come with the development of rural renewable energy in the bush: give locals a chance to get these kinds of jobs.
Through talking with some experts (among others: Nana Pacific Engineer Brian Yanity, who authored Girdwood Crow-Creek Micro Hydro Thesis @ UAA), from a tech perspective, I am begining to realize that that was a somewhat naive and idealistic perspective.
But I still believe that the basic concept/ idea is both sound and achievable, and with the right kinds of connections it will do a lot for boosting the economy of Anchorage, the entire state of Alaska and our country thru sparking a shift from a dependency on non renewable resources to capitilizing on the unlimited potential of our renewable energy resource options. Basically take the idea of giving the kid in Eagle a job running the hydro project... and build partnerships with established business, government, and education entities... so as to scale it: try to solve the interrelated root problems of climate change and poverty -- everywhere from remote villages off the road system to downtown Anchorage -- with clean energy economy building programs that create community building gateway-jobs and career-path opportunities for the disadvantaged while encouraging creativity and innovation: get everyone involved and excited about the problem solving process.
I was showing part of the 11th hour climate change film put together by the actor Leonardo Dicaprio and Lelia Conners Peterson (treemedia), and had a small sony high definition video camera along with me: the original idea being to interview several Alaska and Yukon-based sustainability/ renewable energy experts and splice the interviews into footage from the river / ski trip to produce an Alaska Climate Change film.
I am now in the process of approaching different film production organizations - like treemedia and others - to try to get them to donate copies of their most powerful / inspirational films to my contacts in the villages along the river; with the idea being that the films will be incorporated into the classroom curriculum by educators/ tribal leaders and will be available to be utilized to expand the horizons of rural Alaskan youth, let them see the potential in different career opportunities etc., have access to a variety of cutting edge progressive ideas that they otherwise might not have access to. A few generous organizations have already made commitments to participate.
The original plan was to than initiate 4 mini-film festivals in the university cities of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Whitehorse this spring (probably May) ... where the films that are donated to the river communities are shown, and we raise x amount of money thru ticket-sales / raffles etc. to donate to a choice sustainability project in Alaska. And have an inspirational keynote "sustainability" speaker come up for the film festivals to discuss media as a tool for social change, global warming, etc. , and draw people to these film festivals.
My original focus was rural renewable energy: the idea being to channel the funds we raise to facilitate the development of some sort of 'green jobs' skills training program, so as to directly empower some 18-19 year old in -- for example -- a village like Ruby/ or Eagle (where the state is working on developing hydro projects) to learn how to operate the local rural renewable energy power-source. With the hope being to make sure that it is not someone coming in from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau or the lower 48 to get the high-paying jobs that will come with the development of rural renewable energy in the bush: give locals a chance to get these kinds of jobs.
Through talking with some experts (among others: Nana Pacific Engineer Brian Yanity, who authored Girdwood Crow-Creek Micro Hydro Thesis @ UAA), from a tech perspective, I am begining to realize that that was a somewhat naive and idealistic perspective.
But I still believe that the basic concept/ idea is both sound and achievable, and with the right kinds of connections it will do a lot for boosting the economy of Anchorage, the entire state of Alaska and our country thru sparking a shift from a dependency on non renewable resources to capitilizing on the unlimited potential of our renewable energy resource options. Basically take the idea of giving the kid in Eagle a job running the hydro project... and build partnerships with established business, government, and education entities... so as to scale it: try to solve the interrelated root problems of climate change and poverty -- everywhere from remote villages off the road system to downtown Anchorage -- with clean energy economy building programs that create community building gateway-jobs and career-path opportunities for the disadvantaged while encouraging creativity and innovation: get everyone involved and excited about the problem solving process.
Interestingly enough a team sourced from the University of Anchorage Alaska Engineering department is in the midst of doing a feasibility study to explore the potential of building a 10 million dollar Renewable Energy Research and Discovery Center in Girdwood, Alaska. I attended their first public meeting @ the girdwood library, and have been to the last two Engineering Department meetings @ UAA (I was even on time for the last one: I am notoriously late for meetings, so this is noteworthy). There seems to be some common ground between their focus, the focus of a visionary/ developing local girdwood non-profit called GREASED, and my own goals for Alaska. I look forward to working with people from these groups for years to come.
Hopefully this center will serve as a solution to all of our needs -- and Alaska's needs -- and will work to enable our state to take a leadership role in the development of the clean energy economy that works for all parties across the socio-economic spectrum. I have a couple programs in mind that I hope the construction of this center will help leverage into reality:
A proactive program: which aims to rescue @ risk high school kids from rural communities as well as urban communities by using the arts etc to teach them life skills, give them summer employment thru commercial tourism, part of time @ Girdwood Discovery Center, shadow graduate students, get excited about alternative energy etc.
A reactive program: at the other end have a green job corp program patterned after the ( Oakland Green Job Corp : http://www.ellabakercenter.org/downloads/rtf/oakland_green_jobs_corps_summary.pdf ):
an innovative partnership with local companies to train displaced adults for real work in real jobs building the clean energy economy: retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, constructing wind energy projects, putting up solar panels, geothermal, biofuels, working to build self-sufficient green houses all over greater Anchorage etc. Oakland's program got started with just 250 k seed money, which is not that much relative to other programs.
A reactive program: at the other end have a green job corp program patterned after the ( Oakland Green Job Corp : http://www.ellabakercenter.org/downloads/rtf/oakland_green_jobs_corps_summary.pdf ):
an innovative partnership with local companies to train displaced adults for real work in real jobs building the clean energy economy: retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, constructing wind energy projects, putting up solar panels, geothermal, biofuels, working to build self-sufficient green houses all over greater Anchorage etc. Oakland's program got started with just 250 k seed money, which is not that much relative to other programs.
The fledgling organization carrotmob / Virgance has caught my eye. I am planning to use their first campaign blueprint as a tool to build the networks for the film festivals. I have decided to try to start a carrotmob campaign here in Anchorage: you can watch the first SF campaign video @ http://www.carrotmob.org/ , which should work to better explain the concept. Our dates are not set yet: anywhere from December to March... contact me if you want to get involved!
My idea is to make this -- New Frontier Alaska Carrotmob events -- become an annual competition between the 4 university cities: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Whitehorse ... where the best campaign / video that sparks systematic change; agitates change on both the local and global level in an innovative way (and meets other specificied judging criteria) will win the contest, and that group will subsequently be in control of the funds generated from the spring sustainability Film Festivals: they will decide which sustainability project the funds are used for. It could be making their local campus more environmentally friendly, financing a nearby rural renewable energy project etc. = lots of options.
And for the project to be a sustainable model: so in future years I canoe down other rivers in Alaska: distribute a few new films each year to all the communities in the network: and each year the new films are shown @ the film festivals, and each year these universitiy groups compete to develop the best campaign / video so as to win the prize money. Thus the students will become mobilized and excited about the process, the issues etc.
My idea is to make this -- New Frontier Alaska Carrotmob events -- become an annual competition between the 4 university cities: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Whitehorse ... where the best campaign / video that sparks systematic change; agitates change on both the local and global level in an innovative way (and meets other specificied judging criteria) will win the contest, and that group will subsequently be in control of the funds generated from the spring sustainability Film Festivals: they will decide which sustainability project the funds are used for. It could be making their local campus more environmentally friendly, financing a nearby rural renewable energy project etc. = lots of options.
And for the project to be a sustainable model: so in future years I canoe down other rivers in Alaska: distribute a few new films each year to all the communities in the network: and each year the new films are shown @ the film festivals, and each year these universitiy groups compete to develop the best campaign / video so as to win the prize money. Thus the students will become mobilized and excited about the process, the issues etc.
(coyotefrost)
(turnagainarmsunrise)
There is a lot more going down, but that is the update as of today... want to get involved? email!
