No coding experience needed! Solutions don't have to be app or website-based!
About the Challenge:
Climate change is among the most urgent issues of our time.
In fact, the warmest seven years on record have all been since 2015. Up to one million species are at risk of extinction due to climate change. Hundreds of millions of poeple will be displaced from their homes because of it. The Climate Action Tracker anticipates a 4 degrees increase in global temperatures by 2100 if we keep with our current trajectories... The delicate balance that we have on Earth is at risk.
So, what do we do about it? The need for action & innovation is more urgent than ever. And to make headway in addressing the problem, it will not be a "magic bullet" that solves everything, but rather the joint efforts of engineers, artists, coders, educators, politicians, business-people & others coordinating with a variety of diverse solutions to make both individual and collective impact.
Our challenge: Can you (together) create that next key solution to our climate change dilemma?
It can be locally-focused, it can be globally-minded. It can be an art concept, a new machine, a code-heavy app, a proposal for an event, a plan to conserve an ecosystem, an education campaign or more. It can be a business, a non-profit concept or anything in between. It can be many things. As long as it's built with the planet and its people in mind, working to address the climate crisis in its own unique way.
The Logistics:
Details will be finalized closed to the date, with some key logistics shared:
A final note that the submission itself with be a four-minute video, with finalists then being invited to present their solutions live at a finals time TBD, likely during the week following the event!
Our Four Challenge Themes:
Over the course of this two-day event hackathon, we will focus on four sets of challenges that will need to addressed as we fight climate change. These are described below:
1. The Adaptation Challenge: From sea level rise to the increased extreme weather events, we must face a reality that some impacts of climate change are here to stay... And with that, comes a need to adapt our communities, infrastructure and processes to be more resilient to the new and ever-evolving reality we find ourselves in. What can you do to help with climate adaptation, locally or globally?
2. The Biodiversity Challenge: We cannot solve our climate crisis without also addressing our biodiversity crisis, and vice versa. Looking at things like mangrove restoration, coral reef regeneration or the protection of unique ecosystems like the Arctic, nature-based solutions offer some of the greatest potential to address the climate crisis. How can we protect biodiversity from climate change or use it to mitigate impacts?
3. The Capacity Challenge: Even as impacts of the climate crisis become more real, there exists much misinformation spread about on climate. And beyond this education piece, how to shift our workforce and activate humankind's potential to act on climate is a real question... There is a lot of work we need to do to meet our climate goals, how do we develop our capacity to do so?
4. The Technology Challenge: Much of our climate dilemma coms from using carbon-heavy technologies to address problems of the past. From changing how we transport goods to how we create electricity to how we build cities differently, there is a lot in our current technology that needs to change. And the potential of engineered carbon sinks also must be explored. How can technology be used to address the climate crisis?
Our Four Lens that Every Solution Must Consider
Regardless of what theme/ challenge you choose to focus on, participants choudl also consider the following perspectives/ lenses in designing their proposed solutions:
The above "lens" are not specific to any solution but rather apply to any project concepts that one might develop. These are not necessarily things you will be asked about in your submission, yet must always be front-of-mind when creating new (or evolving old) solutions for the climate crisis!
About the Organizers:
The OATHE Project is an environmental non-profit whose mission is to create a global community dedicated to eco-action. OATHE itself stands for "One Act at a Time to Help the Earth," and our core is to encouraging a commitment in all of us to value the environment in everything we do, whether it be our work, our politics, our mindset in how we think about the work or our daily lives. Find out more at www.oneactatatime.org!
The Youth Impact Challenge (YIC) is a non-profit with a mission to help youth innovators 16-25 turn their ideas into action... YIC runs a number of programs but in particular a summer innovation competition for Canadian youth aged 16-25 that brings together innovators across the spectrum build projects that look to make social and/ or environmental impact. Their website here: www.youthimpactchallenge.ca.
Beyond our two hosting organizations, we are also keen to recruit other patners to support with specific hackathon tasks, such as to help manage judges, to help recruit mentors, to help deliver workshops or to provide additional financial/ other supports to make this event possible... If at all interested in partnering with us as an organization, be sure to reach out @ [email protected]!
Dec. 3, 2022 - Dec. 5, 2022
The OATHE Project
Online
$CAD3,700