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.
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The scores are in -- now on to judgingPosted by Will on 11/27/10
The points are tallied, and we're just about ready to hear from our judges. Congratulations to the top 5 scoring teams from each country (coicidentally the top 15 scoring teams overall also) for reaching the judging round of the Race. Here are the standings after all the points have been counted...
These 15 teams have submitted final reports summarizing all their efforts for the Race, which will be submitting to our judges panel this week. We will announce the judges' findings from an event that will be web-cast from the United Nations climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. The conference starts this week, but the GPR awards event will be broadcast during the second week, in early December (more details to come).
We are excited and very grateful to all the judges who will review the final GPR reports and help select the overall winners. Those judges are:
Wen Bo, Pacific Environment’s China Program
Wu Changhua, The Climate Group
Maggie Fox, Alliance for Climate Protection
Van Jones, Center for American Progress and Green for All
Bill McKibben, 350.org
Raj Patel, Author, The Value of Nothing
Bittu Sahgal, Sanctuary Asia
Vandana Shiva, Navdanya
Zhang Yue, Yuanda Air Conditioner CompanyThanks to all of them, and good luck to the teams who's reports these judges will be reading in the coming week!
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Congratulations!Posted by Will on 11/13/10
And thanks -- to all of you!
What an exciting finale to the race. Hundreds of projects reports poured in the past few days. We'll need a few more days to tally all the results, so you can anticipate some continued changes on the scoreboard. We'll try to have it all wrapped up as soon as possible, and we'll be in touch soon regarding next steps.
But for now, just a great thanks to all of you for helping lead the international race towards solutions we want to see the world over. More soon.
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3 days leftPosted by Fei on 11/09/10
Here we are -- just 3 days to go!
This Friday, November 12th, is the closing day for submitting your GPR project reports. So now is the time to give it everything you’ve got to finalize ongoing efforts or even organize a few more if you can manage. And once you’ve done so, please submit your reports to the GPR website with as much complete information about your project as possible.
To offer a little added inspiration, the GPR coordinators in China and India have put together brief videos cheering you on for this final week’s work.
Watch the videos and report your projects...
(Message from China, in Mandarin, here: http://www.greatpowerrace.org/zh-hans/santianjiyu).
What will happen after the 12th? Our coordinating team will need a few days to review all the projects you submit, and once we have completed a final tally, we will announce the 5 teams from each country who earned the most points in the Race. We will then work with those 15 teams to compile final reports from all their work in the Race. A panel of judges will review those reports and select our global winners, who will be announced during the United Nations climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico in early December.
Here are just a few of the latest examples of projects you all are implementing:
The University of South Carolina, a campus with loads of sustainable initiatives prior to GPR, held an energy forum and sustainability week to carry momentum forward and get students thinking big for competing (and cooperating) on an international scale. They held a “No Cosmetics Day” at the St. Francis Degree College For Women in Hyderabad, India as a step towards more sustainable life-styles among students and teachers. And at Shenyang Agricultural University in China they donned their own GPR jerseys and cycled through campus to raise awareness for sustainable transportation and clean energy.
That’s all just a small sample of the great work you are all up to. Keep it up, and send in your final project reports by Friday. Thanks!