So when you generally think of “scholarly academic research,” the first image that comes to mind is probably a decrepit wiry haired old man mumbling slowly in a foreign language (that turns out to be English).  Or maybe you think about theses that are 800 pages of writing, so long that they need to be published in leather bound books.  My dad had one of those, and when I was five, I was convinced I would never want a PhD because I’d have to write my own book.

There’s a new push in universities to make research easier to understand for the general public.  Because no one wants to know that their five years of blood, sweat, and tears was only read by one person (who was very sleepy the entire time).  Here’s an example of how it is being done!

Three Minute Thesis

It was a hugely successful and lively afternoon of ‘pitches’ from of the brightest minds of a generation.

The Rules:

You have to condense years of research into:

• Three minutes max
• one slide
• no transitions
• no costumes or props

The competition is all about showing people that while science is important, communication, telling the story of your work, is equally important.

Here’s one of the winners, Alex Jordan, from the University of New South Wales

Australia & New Zealand 3MT People\’s choice — Alex Jordan (The University of New South Wales)

• 4 NOW What? Conferences in Vancouver, reaching 800+ elementary school students, organized by 40+ high school students (2006-2010)
• 2 Act NOW! National Playwriting Competitions, reaching 12+ communities, involving 30+ national/local partner organizations, 30+ aspiring young playwrights, 40+ community leaders as judges/advisors (2008 – 2010)
• free performances of Act NOW! winning plays at 3 secondary schools and 4 elementary schools, put together by 3 volunteer youth troupes (involving 30+ youth actors/directors/dancers) reached 1700+ students in the Greater Vancouver region
• directly engaged 2600+ students since 2006!
• low budget, high impact: our total budget from 2006-2010 is <$3000, thanks to collaborations with partners and in-kind sponsors. As NOW! is run entirely by volunteers, all funds go directly into NOW! programs with no administrative fee.

Thank you for all your help throughout these years in fostering and expanding the impact of NOW!’s creative sustainability education programs. We are excited to take this to the next level in 2011!

Related links:

Drum rolls… announcing the results of the 2009-2010 competition: Young playwrights shine at Canadian sustainability playwriting competition

A Sneak Peek of Current Projects

• Act NOW! Playwriting Competition
• Act NOW! Play Performances
• NOW What? Conferences
• Workshops

NOW! in 2009

Thank you again for your support of the NOW! creative education programs. Here’s an update from us!

1) NOW! play performances (February 2010)

NOW! partnered with Katimavik (www.katimavik.org) Vancouver to bring creative sustainability education to elementary schools and Katimavik program volunteers. Under the mentorship of Shawn MacDonald, a playwright and director at the Vancouver Arts Club, the Katimavik Vancouver troupe brought engaging performances of the 2008-2009 Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition junior category winning play “The Essay” to ~400 kids in Richmond, BC: Errington Elementary, W.D. Ferris Elementary, and McKinley Elementary. Thank you Beau Llewellyn and Marco Adamovic from Katimavik for an amazing opportunity to connect with dedicated youth volunteers from across Canada. We look forward to further collaboration with Katimavik!

2) Upcoming NOW What? conferences (May 2010):

• NOW What? Conference – Cochrane Edition

• Resourceful Thinking

3) 2nd annual Act NOW! Playwriting Competition (September 2009 – March 2010)

Entry submission was closed on March 31st, 2010. Decision from our judging panel will be announced on Earth Day, 22 April 2010. Outstanding entries will be posted on our website.  Here are the stats:

23 participants
Average age: 19
Average number of pages: 14

12 communities
Toronto, ON (3)
Markham, ON (1)
Mississauga, ON (1)
Anmore, BC (1)
Richmond, BC (1)
Surrey, BC (2)
Coquitlam, BC (1)
Burnaby, BC (2)
Vancouver, BC (8)
Lanley, BC (1)
Odejaye, Nigeria (1)
Hampstead, QC (1)

19 entries
Senior entries (age 19-26): 8
Junior entries (age 14-18): 11

——

Next Steps:

- putting together the 2010-2011 NOW! team (Join our team)
- exciting collaboration opportunities with educators, students, community leaders, organizations, and institutions to take the impact of NOW! creative sustainability programs to the next level

Thank you again for your time, and happy holidays! :]

Sincerely,

The NOW! Team

The international community mobilized and collaborated  immediately during H1N1. But why are countries pointing fingers and delaying action when it comes to climate change? The impact of climate change on public health can be deadlier. After all, a vibrant economy is fueled by a healthy society.

Curious to learn more? A few resources to get started:
Human Development Reports (HDR) – United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
WHO | Climate change and human health
Climate change: The biggest global-health threat of the 21st century
Climate change diagnosed as biggest global health threat

1500+
number of people participating in NOW! programs, in particular the Act NOW! Play Performances (2008: 200)

50+
size of the NOW! Team (2008: 15)

20
number of Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition Judges (2008: 11)

20+
number of Advisors who have been instrumental in the learning and growth of the NOW! Team.
(2008: 3)

22
number of Act NOW! sponsors and partners for a truly grassroots initiative across Canada. (2008: 6)

2100+
number of NOW! program participants (2006 – present). Learn more about our story.

Unquantifiable
The passion, dreams, inspirations, and energy felt at the NOW! team and beyond! Team adventures in the BC mountains and waterfalls. Bustling discussions at coffee shops. Recognizing our personal weaknesses and growing as people amidst leadership and teamwork. Splashing into things that we have no idea about and bumping into things that we believe in and love to do…. We will continue to work our butts off doing what we love to do while making a difference. We will lay a strong foundation to fashion NOW! into a platform for aspiring change-makers to realize their dreams. Visit our New Direction. Let’s dream sustainability.

Team motto: We dream, we do.

Organizational challenges that we are seeking to solve:
(Have any advice for us? Please give us a shout at info@now-org.com. Thanks in advance!)

• Better harness the power of internet and social networks to spread the word and engage youth across Canada
• A more financially independent and sustainability NOW!
• Building a strong national yet grassroots team
• Fashioning a vibrant platform to support youth dreamers and change-makers to turn sustainability innovations into reality

A Sneak Peek of Current Projects

>> Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition

>> Performances of Act NOW! winning plays

>> The [currently untitled] NOW What? Project

>> NOW What? Conference

>> Wanders: bits of insight

>> Workshops

2009 Press Releases

• Winning play debuts in Vancouver
• Two Teenage Playwrights Win Canada’s First Ever National Youth Sustainability Playwriting Competition

In the Media

• 24 hours
• The Vancouver Sun
• Terry*
• Sustainability Television
• Walking the Talk
• Youth in 57 Minutes Radio
• The Next Stage
• Summerworks Theatre Festival