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Positive Change Effie Awards: Rewarding and celebrating the brands that are effectively shifting consumer behavior towards sustainability. From the “Award Overview” section:
The Positive Change Effie Awards recognize and celebrate the most effective marketing programs that have measurably shifted consumer behavior toward more sustainable choices, and/or grown demand for more sustainable products and services by incorporating sustainability as a part of their marketing communications.
Improv Everywhere is a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of undercover agents. A documentary was produced which is now available on Netflix. Why do you do this? Improv Everywhere is, at its core, about having fun. We’re big believers in “organized fun”. Our missions are a fun source of entertainment for the participants, those who happen to see us live, and those watch our videos. We get satisfaction from coming up with an awesome idea and making it come to life. In the process we hopefully bring excitement to otherwise unexciting locales and give strangers a unique experience and a great story to tell. We’re out to prove that a prank doesn’t have to involve humiliation or embarrassment; it can simply be about making someone laugh, smile, or stop to notice the world around them. Continue reading Improv Everywhere: “We Cause Scenes”→
The Overpass Light Brigade (established 2011) was forged in the activist climate of the Wisconsin Uprising. Our messages shine over highways at night. We believe in the power of communities coming together in physical space, as well as the importance of visibility for grassroots and progressive causes. We are a loose and inclusive affiliation of people dedicated to the power of peaceful and playful protest. See the PBS piece (about 6 minutes) showing OLB in action.
[Posted here on 6/2/2014] Artist Stops Oil Pipeline Cold Alberta artist, Peter von Tiesenhausen, has effectively stopped oil corporations from putting a pipeline through his 800 acre property by covering it with artwork and copyrighting the top six inches of his land as an artwork.
Realizing that mining companies can legitimately lay claim to any land underneath private property to a depth of six inches, van Tiesenhausen contacted a lawyer who drew up an intellectual property/copyright claim that said that if the oil company disturbed the top six inches in any way, it would be a copyright violation.
~ Terry Dawes, Cantech Letter
Lily Cole on The Gift Economy (article at the HuffingtonPost). [Editor’s note: anyone who is under 30, is already a successful entrepreneur, has gone to Burning Man, and is backing her own utopian vision with real effort & cash deserves our attention!]
Article excerpt: At just 26, Lily has already carved out an incredibly successful career as a model and actress and graduated from Cambridge University. On top of that, she’s just launched Impossible.com, a website and app that encourages people to do things for others for free. It’s based on the idea of a gift economy, a mode of exchange where things are not sold but given. The site encourages people to post wishes of things that they want or need help with, and offer what they can give. Lily says she hopes the site creates a community that fosters giving and receiving. Continue reading Lily Cole on The Gift Economy→
12-year-old already fighting for right to vote. Interview by Melissa Harris-Perry of Madison Kimrey, a 12-year old North Carolina political activist. She’s really awesome: eloquent, intelligent, passionate, and (I’ll say it, please pardon the implied sexism): “cute” (but VERY effective IMHO).