Climate Change in My Back Yard

Our world is changing. As global temperatures rise, our landscapes are transforming in ways that threaten wildlife and ecosystems. Some communities and creatures are more vulnerable than others. We are embarking on a collaborative storytelling project with youth around the world to help us document and humanize the many ways that our own backyards are impacted by climate change. We are calling on you to get your creative juices flowing and to contribute to a collection of images that capture diverse experiences on the front lines of the climate crisis.
In an effort to #decarbonize through raising awareness and increasing knowledge across generations, these stories will contribute to an educational children’s book that will manifest in digital form as a tool to share with classrooms and libraries.

As you think about the submission that you will prepare, start with exploring your current context and observing changes in your own neighbourhood. If you live in a city, how much garbage is being thrown out? How do people get from one place to the next and what emissions result from daily lifestyle habits? If you live on or near a farm, how have recent weather patterns impacted the crops and livelihoods of farmers? If you live near a desert, how has the heat affected access to water sources? If you live near the ocean, have you noticed increased intensity of storms? If you live
in the arctic, how have changes in polar bear and caribou migration patterns influenced your daily life or community? We are looking for visual examples of both current realities as well as possible futures. Artwork can be created through photography, painting, drawings, comics, digital graphics and multimedia...

The method is up to you!

We want each entry to include a text description of up to 500 words that tells a story through the perspective a creature of your choice. It could be a pelican, polar bear, monarch butterfly, sea turtle or any other animal that you have come across where you live being impacted by climate change.
This project will be highlighted in Paris at COP21 and the Conference on Youth (COY11) and the collection will be open until World Environment Day (June 5) with opportunities for content to be featured at different conferences along the way.
Submissions entered prior to October 16th have a chance at being featured on television and webcast sessions being conducted on the tundra in Churchill, Manitoba by Polar Bears International.

Promote this contest to your networks with the Climate Change in My Back Yard Poster