Category: Direct Action

Board Game Jam: Play to Change

Board Game Jam is happening in Toronto this month and it’s a chance for people to explore the world of game making. If you’ve ever wanted to make a game then this is a place to start!

Being a fan of educational and serious games I encourage all of you in Toronto to check out Board Game Jam and participate to make a game that can make the world a better place!

Board Game Jam
Board Game Jam

At the same time, even while videogames seem to occupy the headlines, the world of board gaming is seeing a resurgence in some smaller part of our collective consciousness. All the hipsters know how to play Settlers of Catan, and Snakes & Lattes seems to be packed every single day. If you ask me, it’s part of some broader reconnection to real social interaction in so-called “meatspace,” but I’ll spare you the philosophizin’.

The point is that board games are both wonderfully accessible and quite deep. Everyone can intuitively understand the basics of what goes into making a board game. On a mechanical level, it’s simple arts and crafts. For people looking to be creative, that can be a great change from making a film or any kind of digital media, which require significant technical knowledge and a team of specialists. But making a board game can be lead you down a rabbit-hole into a world of rich creative exploration and sophisticated design. Like the best games of any sort, making a board game is both easy to learn, and tough to master.

Board Game Jam is a low-barrier way to enter the world of gamemaking, and have fun doing it.

Check out Board Game Jam!

30 Ways in 30 Days

The United Nations Environment Program has a new campaign that shows 30 case studies that prove that we already have the knowledge to stop climate change. Their campaign is call 30 Ways in 30 Days and will promote one case study each day – starting today!

This is to drum up support and interest for positive environmental polices for COP16 which takes place at the end of the month.

From creating mass markets for solar water heaters, improving vehicle efficiency, using waste for energy or installing energy-efficient cooking stoves or planting trees and protecting forests, UNEP’s 30 case studies prove that solutions to combat Climate Change are available, accessible and replicable.

Across the globe, in myriad ways, from community-based programmes to large entrepreneurial endeavors, the solutions have much in common. These projects do not represent the status quo, they embody innovation and creativity; they harness benefits for the people they serve as well as help us to take the actions needed to reduce global emissions.

The stories have been arranged according to UNEP’s Climate Change priorities, areas of work that support countries in their accelerated and effective response to a warming world and its unpredictable consequences.

Check out the official site.

Encouraging Engagement in Canadian Politics

A good chunk of Canadians have been feeling disillusioned by our current government’s actions that go against what the majority of Canadian actually want. This is unfortunate because the less engaged the populous becomes the easier it is to pass bad policy.

A new organization in Toronto is looking to change this by encouraging leaders to get engaged in politics. It also has a strong emphasis on supporting MPs and helping them stay engaged and get them to encourage other people.

“Our ultimate goal is not to influence policy change on xyz policy issues,” says Loat. “We are much more about igniting the public imagination and conversation.”
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One of the first tasks of the fledgling organization, now housed in a Victorian mansion on Prince Arthur Ave, was to figure out not only its actual mission but it premiere project. One idea involved supporting an MP’s difficult transition to public life via a training program, mentoring or even, executive education. Instead, it was suggested that that they simply ask the MPs what they needed.

It was a small suggestion that became a “light bulb” moment. Why not conduct the kind of formal exit interviews common to corporate life?

“We learned that it had never been done before,” says Loat. “And we thought that this is so obvious.”

The two co-founders travelled across the country to do more than half of the 65 interviews personally in what Loat proudly considers to be one of the largest pieces of research on leadership in Canadian history. The results of the MP Exit Interview project, designed specifically for future use by academics, will continue to be published just like The Accidental Citizen; future reports will cover what the work of an MP, their role as the “nexus” between government and citizens and finally, their reflections and recommendations

Read more at Yonge Street Media.

Reminder: Support Bikes in Toronto

Toronto could be the next city with a Bixi bike sharing program and you can help make it happen! The more people who ride in a city the safer bicycling becomes so it’s in everyone’s interest to get Bixi up and running in Toronto. Also, bicycles are always good news.

The City of Toronto has made it difficult to setup the program by requiring 1000 people to register for the service by November. Right now about 650 have signed up.

Don’t forget to sign yourself up to make the streets of Toronto greener and safer!

Here’s how Bixi describes itself:

Toronto has the chance to join major metropolises on three continents – Minneapolis, Washington D.C., London, Melbourne and Montreal – that have adopted BIXI, the finest bike sharing system in the world. We deserve access to an active and green alternative to traditional forms of urban transport to reduce pollution and traffic congestion. BIXI is simple, fast and economical. You just take a bike when you need one and drop it off at any station on the network when you’ve finished your trip.

Sign up for Bixi on their website.

Here’s all the times we’ve looked at Bixi on Things Are Good!

A Well of Change

Well of Change is a website that encourages people to give more than money to organizations that need help. Their visions is to” create widespread systematic change that will revolutionize how people support the not-for-profit organizations they care about.” The site is run entirely by volunteers and they recently held an event at MaRS in Toronto.

“Who wants to learn yoga?” “I’ve got Indian cooking over here!” “Can you teach my kid how to play drums?” People ring out with their requests at this “Skills Drive” organized by social enterprise and MaRS client, Well of Change.

Well of Change is devoted to raising money not by tapping into people’s wallets, but by exploiting their skills and hobbies. At the beginning of the evening, participants network and brainstorm all the skills they have, whether borne of professional training or basement tinkering.

They then put a dollar value on their skills and participants bid on them: $40 for pilates lessons, $90 for a good carpet cleaning. The lesson takes place and the money goes straight to a charity of your choice. As a buyer, you’re paying for a service and as a skills provider you’re donating with your time instead of your money.

Read the rest of the article here.