RACE NEWS
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Congratulations...Posted by Will on 12/10/10
...to everyone!
Yesterday's closing ceremony in Cancún, Mexico reaffirmed what the Great Power Race was all about -- standing together to promote clearn energy and climate solutions. Witnessing Chinese, Indian, and US youth all stand together to celebrate such work through both friendly competition and direct collaboration was deeply meaningful, particularly knowing that government representatives and press were looking on as well.
For anyone that missed the event live, the results are in. More video coverage of the event will be coming soon -- for now, a big thanks to our friends at the University of South Carolina who captured some of the footage from the webcast. Here are those clips...
USA:
India:
China, Most Collaborative, Most Determined, Global Winner, and Closing Remarks...
We all got involved in this race, not to beat each other, or triumph over one another -- but to show our friends and businesses and governments the sense of urgency and speed we need to address the climate crisis. We got involved not just to rack up points, but to rescue our only home of a planet.
We also got involved in this race to create practical change now. Nearly 1,000 campuses got to work on over just as many projects. Dorms were made more efficient, cafeteria food was sourced locally, and many classrooms now get their energy from the sun, and newly erected turbines. So in a crucially important sense, all of our campuses won this race.
But of course, you’re all itching to know the results...
Congratulations to all the winners selected by the GPR judges:
• China: Shenyang Agricultural University and South China Agricultural Univesity
• India: the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and St Francis Degree College for Women
• U.S.A: the University of California, Berkeley and the University of South Carolina
• Global: the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
• Most Creative: St Francis Degree College for Women
• Most Collaborative: the University of Alaska’s Mat-Su College
• Most Determined: Sri Pratap CollegeWatch the coverage above to hear more about the judges reviews for each of the winning campuses.
And with that, we draw this phase of the Great Power Race to a close. Many thanks to everyone who took part, particularly all the teams who dedicated so much time and passion towards advancing clean energy and climate solutions on your campuses. We very much look forward to hearing how all your efforts continue and working with you again soon enough.
You’ve all started us on the path to victory for a safe climate future -- Congratulations again!
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Thursday: winners announced from Cancun, MexicoPosted by Will on 12/06/10
UPDATE: Live webcast of the event can be viewed here: http://j.mp/GPRclosingLIVEYou all are an inspiration! Ever since the project submission deadline last month, our team has been mighty busy sorting through all the results, and let it be said that the work you all accomplished in just a few months time is truly extraordinary. From local foods to renewable energy, from administrative reports to Facebook pages -- you all worked incredibly hard these past weeks and months and created real and important change on your campuses. And it doesn’t stop there.
Perhaps one of the most beautiful elements of the Race was witnessing several campuses also begin to form cross-campus, even cross-border connections and community. We said from the beginning that GPR would be a friendly competition, but we never imagined just how many friendships might actually be forged in the process. And for this reason, we know that even though the Race is coming to a close this week in Cancun, Mexico, the movement will carry on.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, about Cancun...
As you may have heard, the UN climate negotiations are underway at in Cancun, Mexico. It is still unclear what to expect from those negotiations after the failed meetings last year in Copenhagen, Denmark -- but it is quite certain that China, India, and the United States all play an enormous role within the process. That is why we are holding the final ceremony for the Great Power Race there in Cancun this Thursday:
Please tune-in to the event, web-cast live online from 22:00 GMT - 22:30 GMT this Thursday, December 9th.
Information about how to view the web-cast will be here on the GPR blog as soon as possible. Video will be available afterwards as well. Other live times in different time-zones include...
In Beijing: 06:00 - 06:30 Friday, December 10th
In New Delhi: 02:30 - 03:00 Friday, December 10th
Easter US: 5:00 - 5:30 PM Thursday, December 9th
Pacific US: 2:00 - 2:30 PM Thursday, December 9thThanks for everyone’s patience as we sorted through the immense results from the Race, and stay tuned later this week to hear the results from the judges.