So, I was all ready to pick a new video to feature this week, and went over to the Think Green Live Green Challenge page on YouTube to enjoy the latest offerings. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there were none! Did everyone’s video camera crash at once? Or, were the initial week’s offerings just too intimidating? C’mon, people, this is your chance: online video fame awaits you!
Seriously, though, this is a great opportunity to make your voice heard on green living. If you don’t think you’re doing some eco-unique things in your own life (and I’ll bet you’re wrong), you’ve certainly got questions about the barrage of information out there on green living. Juntoventure’s contest stands out in that it’s asking you not to simply make a video, but to join a conversation… and we can all do that. Get those cameras a’rollin’…
Also keep in mind that Juntoventure has pulled together a pretty impressive list of prize sponsors for the contest: Sierra Designs, Timberland, Pacific Outdoors, Buck Knives, Burt’s Bees, Mountainsmith, Mission Playground, and Lonely Planet. Certainly you’d like a shot at some of the swag they’re offering…
The videos are starting to roll in for Juntoventure’s “Think Green Live Green Challenge,” and organizations and individuals are answering the call to discuss their green activities and questions on YouTube. While the collection of videos is fairly small one week into the entry period, several of the submissions could easily be contenders for the prizes Juntoventure and Challenge sponsors are offering to winners.
I had a tough time making a choice for our first “Think Green Live Green” video of the week: several of the entries were well-shot and edited, and told compelling stories. Given the contest’s purpose to create “a community of dialogue about the challenges of eco-friendly living,” I didn’t use professional presentation as a criterion, though. Rather, I asked myself which ones really engaged me in such a way that I wanted to respond. Ultimately, while I enjoyed almost all of them, I found some of the least polished videos to be the most appealing. My choice for this week’s featured video came from YouTube user MattG124. Here it is:
User-created video contests are all the rage lately, and Juntoventure, a non-profit organization dedicated to “sustainability education through digital media,” has joined the fun with its “Think Green Live Green Challenge.” Starting tomorrow (Friday, January 18th), the Challenge invites participants to do a little bit more than just make a video about green living practices they’ve adopted: Juntoventure and the contest’s sponsors ask entrants to create videos that contribute to “a community of dialogue about the challenges of eco-friendly living.”
“A community of dialogue” is one of those phrases that comes out of my former academic life, but the concept is simple: make a video that contributes to and advances the conversation about sustainable lifestyles. In this spirit, Juntoventure starts the discussion with a video collection of its own that provides some great examples, and also frames the conversation. Your task: join the dialogue by contributing a video with your perspective. The contest provides some questions to get those creative juices percolating:
- What are the biggest challenges you face in becoming more eco-friendly?
- What questions do you have about eco-friendly living?
- Are you taking any specific actions right now to be more eco-friendly, and if so, do you have a way to do it easily and conveniently?
- What changes would you like to see happen from companies and the marketplace?
