West Post Digital Press
Kickstarter: Become an Advocate Online
There are new ways to let the world know about your worthy cause or your social-action film. Kickstarter is one of them. It's a website that alerts you to change-making projects and shows you how you can help them launch. A documentary called FUEL is one such project on Kickstarter. FUEL is a film about America's need to get off oil, and that certainly makes it timely. What makes FUEL important is that it brings you real information and workable solutions to make that happen. It looks at biodiesel, solar and other power sources as it examines where our FUEL really comes from, what the true cost is to create it, and how we must change.
The filmmakers behind FUEL, Josh and Rebecca Tickell, are hitting the road to start up a peaceful march for clean energy. They are starting in Los Angeles, with a mass eco-vehicle rally that parades to a screening of FUEL. Then they are taking a bus that runs on biodiesel and a car that runs on algae all the way to Louisiana. Their plan is to host a think tank with a group of CEOs, politicos and scientists, followed by a tour of the Deepwater oil spill disaster in Louisiana. They want to command media attention by organizing a march of at least a thousand people in the streets of New Orleans and filming it all in 3D for their next movie, which is called "Spill, Baby, Spill."
To support the trip, the march and the think tank they're looking to raise $10,000 by July 1st. Kickstarter has given them a "kick start" by helping get out the word on the protest and the film. If you want to know more and might want to donate, click here.
Documentaries and causes have been friends for a long time, but the online world has jump-started (shall we say "kick-started?") the relationship. A few years ago Al Gore started current.com as an online source of news about social change. Now there's causecast.org, where you can explore issues while connecting with a community of people who want to make a difference. Causecast currently is featuring a video with John Legend talking about the importance of education.
spot.us is something of a cousin to kickstarter. It allows you to look over a selection of investigative journalism stories that are looking for funding. You can pledge a modest amount to help fund a story or take a survey to earn credits that can also help a story that you care about get launched. Lights. Camera. Help. is a website that functions as a "matching service" for filmmakers who want to get involved in causes and not-for-profit organizations that could use some media.
There are so many ways to get involved, and now so many of them are just a click away.
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