Kickstarter Fundraiser Kickoff. Help Put Climate Crocks on Ice!!
June 25, 2012
Starting today, you can help kickstart Climate Crocks to a whole new level – at kickstarter.com.
As of now, I am starting a 3 week fundraiser aimed at outfitting myself to join a scientific team on Washington’s Mt Baker, an active volcano in the Cascades Range. I’ve been invited by one of the world’s foremost glacier experts, (and an advisor to this series..) Dr. Mauri Pelto, to come along and document his annual research foray onto a rapidly declining mountain glacier.
Unlike well-funded, professional climate deniers, I don’t have the Heartland Institute, The Koch Brothers, Oil, Fossil Fuel, and Tobacco Companies paying my way. If this is going to happen, I have to rely on my viewers to jump in and help out, as many have in the past.
Therefore, from now until midnight, Friday, July 13th, I’m running a fundraiser on kickstarter.com, a crowd sourcing site with a good track record, and inviting any and all friends of Climate Crocks – if you’ve ever thought about what you could do to help communicate the science on the issue of the millennium, here’s one of the most direct and efficient opportunities you could have.
My first goal is to get there and back with all my fingers and toes intact, so I’ll need to outfit myself with some decent mountain gear and the appropriate tools. With any luck, this will be stuff I can use on future research expeditions as well. Then I have to have some resources for travel and accommodations. I have therefore set a modest funding goal of 4000 dollars. Imagine what it would cost some giant organization to get where I’m going and do what I’m going to do – any gift you give is going to go a lot farther than it would almost anywhere else!
Under kickstarter rules, I have to raise ALL of the goal by the deadline, or none of the pledges will be collected. If I go OVER the goal, then that’s great, and more resource that will quickly be plowed into better cameras, better sound, and more videos.
Now – here’s the cool part – you can get some GREAT gifts for pitching in – Just look!!
$25 or more:
Disc 1 of the three DVD collections of the earliest Climate Crock videos!
Save ’em, swap em, collect ’em, show ’em on your local cable channel!
Bring ’em to your local tea party meeting and watch the fireworks!
Disc One: –
•Party like its 1998
•2009 Arctic Ice Update
•”Creepy at the EPA!”
•”Birth of a Climate Crock”
•”The Temp Leads Carbon Crock!” (first edition)
$50 or more:
Three Disc Set of Climate Crock Classics:
Disc One, see above.
Disc Two
•”32,000 Scientists!”
•”It’s so Cold, there Can’t be Global Warming”
•”Climate Crock Sacks Hack Attack” Part 1 – the story of ‘Climate Gate’
•”Climate Crock Sacks Hack Attack” Part 2 •”In the 70s, Scientists Said there’d be an Ice Age”
Disc Three
•”How do We Know About Climate Change?”
•”Flogging the Scientists”
•Renewables Solution of the Month: Hybrid Cars
•Renewable Solution of the Month: Wind
$100 or more:
Long before there was Climate Denial Crock of the Week, there was Alex’s Restaurant, the first green cartoon strip, syndicated (briefly) in papers across the planet. I put the strip together in part inspired by James Hansen’s testimony to congress in 1988, and for a few years in the early 90s, it was syndicated by the giant King Features syndicate. I like to think it was ahead of its time – but it still exists in book form.
These are true collector’s items, I’ve had book and comic collectors write to me over the years about finding them in out of the way book shops and garage sales. I have 75 mint condition copies, ready to go for anyone that wants a piece of Climate Crocks, not to mention comics, history.
This volume, published by Crossing Press in 1993, features the first year and a half or so. Comes with the DVD set mentioned above, as well.
“There are so many strips around with no heart…..Alex’s feels real and has a ring to it – the drawing is terrific!” -Pulitzer winner Jim Borgman
“The drawings are great, and the IDEAS are wonderful!” – Pulitzer winner Mike Peters
Those that have been watching this series and reading this blog can judge for themselves what an opportunity like this could mean, and what I’ll bring home from this trek. My commitment is to keep learning, keep growing, keep speaking and spreading the best information possible.
The fundraiser starts now. There are 18 days to go.
June 25, 2012 at 12:40 pm
[…] Kickstarter Fundraiser Kickoff. Help Put Climate Crocks on Ice!! […]
June 25, 2012 at 1:04 pm
[…] Kickstarter Fundraiser Kickoff. Help Put Climate Crocks on Ice!! […]
June 25, 2012 at 3:00 pm
looks dangerous.I made a small doanation cause I cannot live without without Climate Crock.I hope you are exercising and get there early to adjust to altitude …build up your red blood cells..Thanks for going
June 25, 2012 at 3:34 pm
I’m walking around with a bag of bricks on my back. Will be climbing stairs with said bag starting tonight.
June 26, 2012 at 3:13 am
Wow, on Google Earth this looks like a worthwhile trip for glacier study. There looks to be lots of ice sheets on either side of what appears to be the main hiking path to the summit. The lower ones look like they are tagged as Coleman and Roosevelt. They look to have carved themselves a sharp valley, but have melted away from that valley.
Hmm, the main trailhead looks to be at 3,700ft while the summit is about 10,700ft. Around 1.3 vertical miles of travel, impressive ascent.
Anyway, a big step forward in visibility for Climate Crocks lately. Not only getting interviews from a wide variety of scientists, but tagging along with a scientific expedition. This is some awesome hands-on communication going on here.
June 26, 2012 at 3:30 am
I don’t think we’ll be summiting. Mauri tells me we will have about a 2000 foot elevation gain – “not that bad” – he claims.
I’m still climbing those stairs.
June 26, 2012 at 10:46 pm
If studying the retreat rate, it makes sense to hang out around the bottom of the glaciers much of the time, rather than the top. I don’t have all that much alpine experience, but I would agree with Dr. Pelto that the elevation gain doesn’t seem that bad. Nevertheless, I have never trudged around on a steep glacier before, all the while avoiding crevasses at mile-high elevation.
Good stuff.
June 26, 2012 at 4:11 am
Glad to help out a bit, Peter. Wish it could be more.
But be careful out there, I’m very greedy, and want you to come back and keep up the posts.
BTW, you are the only person I’ve ever been acquainted with who lives in Midland and doesn’t work for Dow.
June 26, 2012 at 4:46 am
My favourite mountain who looks over us…. “The Great White Watcher”
http://www.mountainmadness.com/resources/reference-materials/lummi-legend
BTW it is an active one….
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs059-00/
Enjoy!
June 26, 2012 at 10:27 am
Move over, Richard Alley! Ye got competition. I’ll be contacting you to make sure you get some cheddar.
June 26, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Well damn, that was quick.
June 26, 2012 at 11:05 pm
[…] been invited to join a research team to Mt. Baker to document the glaciers on this active volcano. His further appeal for funding is here: Unlike well-funded, professional climate deniers, I don’t have the Heartland Institute, The Koch […]
June 27, 2012 at 5:04 am
[…] hours after it began, the Kickstarter.com funding project to put Climate Denial Crock of the Week on a glacier this August is funded, and a […]