The Climate Reality Project and communications agency Arnold Worldwide announced on Thursday the global launch of Reality Drop, an innovative social media tool that educates users about the reality of climate change and uses modern gaming techniques to combat climate-change deniers.
Developed through a collaboration with the website Skeptical Science and made possible in part through the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Reality Drop curates hundreds of online news articles daily that demand a response — whether it’s a misleading quote from a climate denier or a heated debate raging in the comments section. Reality Drop also catalogs more than a hundred of the most pervasive climate myths and distills complex science into simple and succinct rebuttals that can be shared on social networks or on comment threads beneath news articles. Reality Drop makes it easy for users to find the best science-based responses, apply accessible and easy-to-understand language, add users’ voices to the conversation — and help cool the argument.
“Just like the tobacco companies in the ’50s, the fossil fuel industry has engaged in a well-funded and coordinated effort to mislead the public about the scientific reality of climate change,” said former Vice President Al Gore, founder and chairman of the Climate Reality Project. “Reality Drop provides an easy, intuitive way for people to arm themselves with the facts, educate their friends, family and networks, and call on the media to report the truth.”
“When we sat down with Al Gore to talk about ways to move the climate change conversation forward, media coverage had declined sharply over the past three years,” explained Pete Favat, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Arnold Worldwide. “We had to custom-design a strategy that wouldn’t just find the right people passionate about this topic, but also make it easy for them to speak up and take part in real-time discussions that work in our digital culture. Traditional advertising just can’t do that.”
“More and more, readers of online publications are leading by steering the public conversation, which is why Reality Drop is both timely and powerful,” said Maggie L. Fox, president and CEO of The Climate Reality Project. “We hold the media accountable to report the real facts, and we educate our communities about the reality we are facing together. Reality Drop connects and empowers these communities to engage in a fact-based conversation about climate change, and have fun in the process.”
With a global movement more than two million strong and a grassroots network of trained Climate Leaders, the Climate Reality Project is one of the world’s leading organizations dedicated to mobilizing action around climate change.
Despite the continued skepticism around climate change, more and more investors are choosing to support companies that are being proactive on the matter: Last month, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reported that investors representing a third of the world’s invested capital have asked more than 5,000 public companies to report their carbon emissions and climate change strategies through the CDP.
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Published Mar 2, 2013 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET