Current TV // Ecospot

Have you noticed how the countdown clock has started to tick backwards?

It seems like there would have at least been an announcement on the deadline. I betcha there are some tuff choices for the judges to narrow it to twenty. I'm looking forward to seeing the semi-finalists and hopefully there will be a way to see all the sumissions. I wonder, will they be automatically submitted to Current for consideration for tv through the normal process if they didn't make the cut?

Looks like I didn't make the cut, but I did learn a lot. Better luck next time I guess.

Here is a look at my ecospot entry - I thought it was better than quite a few of the semi-finalists, but the celebrity judges didn't and that's the way it goes. Oh well.

It is a little dry and does not have any people or faces - people love faces. That is probably where I went wrong. The audio is a little shabby too.

It may be that Current's video viewer doesn't allow you to see the whole of our EcoSpot. I uploaded it twice today as part of this posting (tried two file sizes), and the right side of the screen was cut off both times. Who knows... perhaps that's why we were not selected as a finalist. Though, one would hope they would have alerted us if they couldn't view the right half of the spot.

Regardless, I must admit that I was heartbroken our EcoSpot did not make the list of finalists. Not because we'd hoped to win a new car (we would have donated it, as we have 2 newish cars). But we really wanted it to be seen BY MANY. So we've posted it on YouTube since the finalists were announced, and we've been trying to promote it in other ways. PLEASE watch it, and enjoy it (it's pretty funny, we think)!

The main substance of our message is that there are many small and easy adjustments people can make in their everyday lives which can help protect the environment and curb the global climate crisis. Unfortunately there are many people who, because of their own hang-ups, are unwilling to accept the facts, unable to embrace the notion that they have the power to help, and are unable to see that they too stand to benefit from the small, basic changes they can make. We have broken these 'hang-ups' down into common stereotypes … each one is a different type of 'Ass'. In total, there are nine ‘Asses’ that appear in our EcoSpot (though the list of asses we wanted to include was much longer).

Our objective was to reach viewers who fit the description above, prompt them to identify which type of ‘Ass’ they might be, and ask themselves, “Why truly have I not yet embraced this?” Perhaps it’s politically driven. Perhaps they just do not personally like the ‘messenger’ and it has nothing to do with the message or facts themselves. Perhaps they’re too ‘cool’ or too ‘bad’ to get on board. Or perhaps they’re just too dim to get their head around it. Perhaps they’re too shallow and materialistic, or their priorities are inwardly focused. You get the picture. Our hope is that viewers will look within themselves, identify privately why they’ve been climatologically “dormant,” and experience an illumination that affirms they too stand to benefit personally from such small, but critical changes.

I have written two follow-up scripts as well, as the hope was that 'Don't be an Ass' would actually become an ongoing campaign. There are a couple of other 'Asses' (Tight Ass and Stubborn Ass specifically) that we were looking forward to introducing the world to!

If you enjoy our EcoSpot, please invite your friends, family and anyone else you're comfortable inviting to view it. It can be found on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ckvAwYHl4 (we've received some really heart-warming and favorable emails from YouTube viewers).

We're proud of it. THANKS All!