There are many ways to enhanceYears of Living Dangerously screenings and watch parties on campus. Make it an event not to miss! Be creative and brainstorm ideas. Here are a few possibilities:
Host a Tree Planting
A tree planting is a great way to beautify your campus and reduce greenhouse gases while providing a hands-on activity for the community. NWF’s Trees for Wildlife program can help provide native trees and planting instructions. If you want to include younger students or a nearby school in your campus planting, educational activities are provided for grades K-12.
CFLs
Work with a local hardware store to get compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) donated to your event and give out to the first ___ (number of bulbs you receive) people who arrive at the event; or set up a light bulb exchange, where students bring an incandescent bulb to exchange for a brand new CFL. Have information showing the energy savings from using CFLs rather than incandescent bulbs.
Introductory Event Speaker
Recruit an effective speaker to introduce the YEARS screening event. She or he could be a student leader on campus, facilities manager, college president, community leader, local political figure or any other dynamic speaker.
Free Food
EVERYONE loves free food. Have a pizza party for the screening. Or chill out with an ice cream social. Work with local retailers to get donations of local and organic foods to serve at your event. Use compostable, recyclable and reusable materials when possible or ask participants to bring their own.
Raffle and Giveaways
Ask local businesses to donate products to your group to give away. You can sell raffle tickets or give them out. Inviting local businesses to be involved is a great way to get community involvement in your event. Invite business owners to attend and make sure to give special thanks to all that donate items.
Breakout Group
Open-ended questions are a great way to get people talking. Planning small group discussion before or after the YEARS screening would be a great way to get people interested and talking. Use the education resources, videos, quizzes, polls and quotes provided here to help you get started. Good discussion often leads to action. Get the conversation going on your campus!
Coal and Wind Celebrity Death Match
Perform a skit where coal and wind battle; and wind will come out on top. This is always entertaining and a fun way to get students involved. Include a referee and emcee in the cast. The emcee should narrate the match, focusing on the positive solutions. Make sure to come up with a storyline that shows how and why wind is better than coal. Students should take away knowledge on the consequences of coal and the benefits of wind. This could be staged in a high traffic area immediately before the broadcast (and Wind could lead people to the viewing site), or as a promotion earlier in the week.
Planet Superheroes
Create a superhero whose mission is sustainability, clean energy, or something related or get your campus mascot involved. Have him or her walk around campuses handing out fliers, talking to people, doing acts of heroism (like picking up trash, changing light bulbs), etc. Stage a small drama in a high traffic area to encourage attendance at the YEARS screening.
Recruit and Engage Student Groups
Allow student groups and academic clubs to set up tables to provide information and recruit new members before and after the screening. This allows engagement on many levels from people who attend the event.
Climate Change Gameshow
Set up an event after the YEARS screening with categories and questions relating to climate change. Invite big names on campus to be contestants. Ask local shops or restaurants to provide prizes. This can be entertaining, but also people will walk away knowing more about climate change than they did before. Get creative!
Panel Discussion
Have a panel discussion after the screening. Involve faculty, students and administrators if possible. Make time for questions from the audience. This can be a great opportunity for the college community to learn more about climate change, its impacts, and how the campus is taking action.
Find My Clean Ride
Ask a local car dealer or car owner to bring a hybrid or other alternative vehicle to campus so students can see and learn about them as they walk into your event. This can be used as a promotional event the week of your event to raise awareness of the YEARS screening.
Kick Off
Use the YEARS screening to kick off a larger campaign on campus, such as a dorm energy-savings competition or a student clean energy fee campaign.