(Some good ideas, as usual. And I especially like what these guys are doing: http://opensourceecology.org – promoted by eli_beckerman)
The Climate CoLab is part of MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence.
In both 2010 and 2011, the primary activities have been a pair of online contests, where teams of community members are invited to propose actions to key aspects of climate change.
The 2011 contest poses the question:
How should the 21st century economy evolve bearing in mind the risks of climate change?
In the initial stages of a contest, teams develop proposals on what should be done. Expert judges assess and select finalists among these proposals.
In the final round, Climate CoLab members are invited to vote. Winners are chosen based on voting and on a second review by the judges. A group of policy makers are briefed on the winning proposals.
On the national level, my proposal made the final cut:
How to Change US Energy in One Growing Season
http://climatecolab.org/web/gu…
You can vote for it or other proposals in the contest until November 15 at the URLs above. Please take a look.
To be entirely honest, I have no expectation of winning this contest but I do have fantasies of showing up to present my proposal to the vaunted panel of policy-makers in full DFH regalia (you should see my patched jeans and Solar IS Civil Defense t-shirt) and burning their asses for spending all their time trying to convince people that climate change is real rather than working on practical solutions that will be accepted by anyone, troglodyte or Nobel prizewinner.
I’m looking at you Al Gore. Hours on the scare stories of climate change and minutes or less on real solutions. Meh.
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My entry lost. Oh well. Didn’t think I’d win anyway.
However, did talk today with a friend who is interested in doing the ongoing, online global brainstorm on local and regional approaches to stopping and mitigating climate change. So things proceed apace.