Ecofiction Challenge by WSF:WriFoSustFuture
 Eduardo Fracassi Feb 22, 2016 03:24  | I love this project. Bright idea! |
 Alison Halderman Feb 22, 2016 04:29 | Proposal contributor Thanks, Eduardo. Feel free to refer folks to the Facebook page, Ecofiction Challenge, for instructions on how to organize their own. There is still time for a class or a larger community to participate this year, at whatever size is not too difficult (advice in the instructions). I also have an email I can send instead. A website is being built for us, hopefully with a map where one can find events, but not sure how soon it will be up (being donated by a very busy firm). |
 Sue Blythe Feb 22, 2016 05:39 |
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Alison Halderman Mar 1, 2016 05:44 | Proposal contributor Was great talking to you on Friday, Sue. I am repeating a comment I thought already posted here, for others reading this. One possible collaboration we discussed was piggybacking her plan for a more local "sing for the planet" video event, using the international attention and network forming around the Ecofiction Challenge Feb to April, to announce a larger scale challenge to musicians, songwriters, choirs and individual singers to make "sing for the planet" videos in July and upload them to a You Tube channel. Ok, if you, the person reading this, have any contacts or networking suggestions for connecting with musicians who have already shown support for this cause...or know a lot about Youtube channel limitations or have other techie info, please comment or better, email me at ecofictionchallenge@gmail.com, or EVEN better, decide to make that contact, share the idea, be part of a team for making that cacophony of out of tune and spot on harmonies happen! |
Alison Halderman Mar 2, 2016 02:43 | Proposal contributor Endorsement from Kate Wilhelm, 87 now, Hugo, Nebula, Lucas awards, Hall of Fame and also the Solstice award for "signficant impact" on the field of science fiction, co- creator of Milford and Clarion Writing workshops, and author of mystery series as well "I certainly do approve of and endorse your project, encouraging serious thought about ecology, and what I fear is a real and even existential threat to human beings. Earth will abide; we may not unless we act now, today, and every day in the foreseeable future. The most dangerous hurdle to face, I believe, is apathy. The feeling that the problem is too big, too incomprehensible, too complex for any one person to have an effect on climate change must be overcome. Your program can be a good start to involve people who might otherwise remain on the sidelines. Planting seeds, as you reference, is great, and so is the ripple effect. best wishes, Kate |
Alison Halderman Mar 2, 2016 02:22 | Proposal contributor We added a fourth country this week. The Brazilian challenge got a fourth submission in Portuguese, from a Brazilian living in Germany. As requested, she set the story in the community she lives in (but included memories of Brazil, and a fruit she hopes to taste again someday..). |
Elizabeth Dowey Mar 5, 2016 10:15 | Hello Alison, You mention that your project is running in 4 countries now. Please add links to what you are doing outside Climate CoLab so that we can easily follow it. It sounds exciting. Thank you! Elizabeth
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Alison Halderman Mar 6, 2016 04:56 | Proposal contributor ecofictionchallenge@gmail.com is being used for global communication and local submissions. Emails answered and sent usually by Alison Halderman. I cannot seem to copy links for our Facebook groups with this device, but here are the titles to search for. Writers for a Sustainable Future - Ecofiction is the English language group I created maybe a year ago. Online it is global. Karina Rocha in Brasil found this group by searching for ecofiction, met with me via Messenger, and was inspired to create her own Portuguese language similar group, Escritores por um mundo melhor. She has a wider network of writers and was up to 90 members very quickly. Locally I am using MeetUp and the WSF name (without Ecofiction addition) for once a month events. Also some extra in person MeetUps during the local challenge for slide shows of solutions/tech/strategies and discussion to inform and support our stories. Ecofiction Challenge Eugene, Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Ecofiction-Challenge-Eugene-555804361253234/ . Leona Abrahao in Costa Rica organized her challenge word of mouth, including teachers and schools, also made it an event of the WSF- Ecofiction FB group. Locally, her co-working space is the sponsor, publicizing it and providing judges. https://www.facebook.com/events/972963449458627/ and www.tamarindocoworking.com. The event page is not used much but pretty! Karina Rocha in Vittoria, Brasil decided that her community of Portuguese language, mostly Brazilian writers on Wattpad, was the community she wanted to challenge. She has received 4 submissions already, here is her link as well as a comment on the submission from Germany. Oh, part of the top prize is translating the story to English, which she and I feel we can do together, since her English is pretty good, and I have done some translating of poetry together with a Turkish friend. https://www.wattpad.com/226658248-desafio-de-eco-ficção-dia-da-terra-coração-de . Mais um conto cheio de esperança e boas ideias, diretamente do país mais verde que conheci: a Alemanha. Translation: Another tale full of hope and good ideas, directly from the greenest country met: Germany. Inside the US, 7th graders in an Oregon coastal city, North Bend, are doing their own challenge. Haven't heard from Gainesville, FL where organizers(s) may have gotten too busy with other projects. School in Cairo asked students and said no takers this year. |
Alison Halderman Mar 6, 2016 05:17 | Proposal contributor Just found and connected with a new partner. I have invited Mary Woodbury from Vancouver B.C., Canada to join this team, but right away sharing her efforts and resources. Mary is the originator behind eco-fiction.com, a catalog site for all kinds of eco-fiction. Mary started a Google newsgroup (shortcut link: http://eco-fiction.com/chat) about a year ago that has 868 members and some lively news and discussions. She is also the publisher at Moon Willow Press, and This year she is offering a contest for "SolarPunk", a new genre where stories move into a sustainable future that embraces technology, visions that steampunk fans of the Age of Steam will enjoy and endorse. That contest's deadline is in July, and it can be found on the front page of eco-fiction.com (scroll down if needed). We are both very thrilled to find each other! |
Alison Halderman Mar 7, 2016 05:10 | Proposal contributor Dan Bloom, who writes The Cli-Fi Report at cli-fi.net, has joined Writers for a Sustainable Future - Ecofiction, and says count him in as a partner on the Ecofiction Challenge. He joins us from Taiwan where he has been living for 25 years, though he was living in Eugene Oregon the decade before that when Mt St Helens blew her top. He is a 24/7 climate activist. Cli-fi is a genre, he says, that overlaps at times with ecofiction, but is a stand alone identifiable genre. Dan Bloom (@do_you_cli_fi_) tweeted at 0:52 AM on Mon, Mar 07, 2016: |
Alison Halderman Mar 7, 2016 05:15 | Proposal contributor Ashland Creek Press, via John Yunker, is donating 12 Young Adult novels to Ecofiction Challenge Eugene, for prizes. We are glad to discover this press and the Siskiyou prize. The novel can be seen at: http://ashlandcreekpress.com/books/outofbreath.html Ashland is beautifully nestled into the folds of the Siskiyou Mountains in the southern part of our state. Ashland Creek Press |
 Mary Woodbury Mar 10, 2016 10:37 | Proposal contributor Thanks so much for the invite, Alison! Though it's a little late for me to do anything this year other than help spread the news, I will work with others in Vancouver in 2017 to start a local ecofiction challenge. Can't wait until the website is up and running. I believe it will be very useful in being a go-to site to getting updates. |
 Petra Pocanic May 1, 2016 02:20  | hello! |
