Pitch
Development of an online magazine to enable the translation of scientific issues to society, to challenge perceptions and to inspire people.
Description
Summary
This is a site comprising of innovative people who want to make a difference in the world. So far we have a couple of writers and an editor and we intend to engage several others working on articles for the future. It is starting to become the consensus that we are existing in an era that should be known as the Anthropocene and we are advocating that we should be viewing our current existence as working within nature’s limitations. We have evolved and developed into a huge force that some view on a par with nature and if we want to continue this style of existence, we need to seriously improve our processes. The Earth will exist long after the possible decline of our species, therefore our main concerns should not be about simply addressing the best ways to conserve the world, but coherently and holistically addressing the complexity that involves creating a world that can allow us to sustainably support our potential.
The aim of this site is to question people’s perceptions of the current accepted paradigms and systems. We want to engage everyone in the debate, spark interest and ignite ideas. We seek to promote the idea that the increase in awareness of our activities and their impacts is a positive development in human history, rather than a negative restraint that seeks to deter imagination, development and activity.
Knowledge is one of mankind’s most powerful tools, but a lack of knowledge can be even more devastating. A great challenge related to the understanding of the importance and urgency of sustainability issues lies in the fact that knowledge produced in the scientific environment is not always translated to society in an objective way, it is either withheld in the academic environment or eventually distorted in the mainstream media. We want to take this topic and bring it to the forefront of our consciousness and one of our key philosophies is to make sure we are not dictating particular view or distorting information.
Category of the action
Changing public perceptions on climate change
What actions do you propose?
- Utilizing the internet, a powerful and incredibly accessible tool, to create an online magazine whose goal is to deliver information regarding the interdisciplinary and complex issues that are related to climate change, in a simplified and objective language. We believe this is one of the best mediums to provide the delivery of information and ability to challenge current perceptions on sustainability issues to a world wide audience and to encourage stronger social participation towards shifting paradigms.
- Creating strong visual content (infographics, cartoons, slideshows, videos, video podcasts), to capture the interest in our environment and make in mainstream thinking, to help evolve out of the old fashioned view of environmentalism. Strong bias towards clear layout, simple navigation between content and beautiful imagery, exploring the power that it exerts on society.
- Creating a central hub for showcasing future concepts, the best in human creativity and ideas.
- Producing content that inspiresthe thinkers in the world, the architects, musicians, politicians, tradesmen and entrepreneurs, addressing all subjects that are associated to climate change issues, both theoretical and practical, such as: economic and social change, energy, urban planning, sustainable design and building, environmental management, technology, ecology, information systems and several other global issues.
- The inclusion of academics from a diverse range of profession tackling complex and challenging issues on both the macro and micro scale, provoking thought and discussion, educating people and enhancing the debate.
- The inclusion of arts, cultural and societal issues.
- Publishing regular special articles that push the boundaries of thoughts and the paradigms of academic articles.
- Offering a platform for us to explore current organisations undertaking environmental initiatives.
- Involving society by, beyond delivering information in a straightforward way, offering an interactive platform that allows readers to offer suggestions. Building a community through shared dialogue and user-generated content.
- Creating debates according to reader’s interests on specific topics and publishing special editions which will include the outcomes of the debates.
- Promoting contests to enhance engagement.
- Content that challenges the academics yet is accessible for different levels of engagement.
- Utilizing social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr) in order to connect like-minded people and reach a broader audience.
- Development of apps for mobile devices. Two main focuses of the app: firstly the consumption of our content and secondly to allow greater interaction and participation with the content.
- Email subscriptions to content.
- Eventually offering the content in as many languages as possible.
- Potential for future magazine in a printed format.
Who will take these actions?
The majority of organisation and other actions would be done through David Copeland and Natalia Mello.
Content would be produced by students of various disciplines.The aim would be, as soon as possible, to expand to include writers, web designers, visual designers, content producers, and other roles needed to run a successful media based company.
Where will these actions be taken?
At the beginning a lot will take place in the UK, with content also produced in Brazil. However, with the flexibility of the Wordpress platform and the Internet, content has the ability to be produced anywhere. The movement into offices/studio would dictate where the central hub would be. This will be discussed and decided further down the road.
How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?
What are other key benefits?
- Education.
- Thought provocation.
- Employment.
- The drive to make a difference, change perceptions and have a positive impact in the world.
- Once momentum builds, the increase in ability to expand and run new projects within the site.
- Special reports and publications.
- Unique articles and thinking.
- Highlighting organisations that are challenging problems in the world and through creative feature articles, we want to help promote their work.
- To capture the benefits of a globalised world, and not be biased towards western civilisation.
What are the proposal’s costs?
- Website and app development.
- Domain procurement.
By:
Envirocene
