In addition to being involved with my local Transition San Lorenzo Valley, I've also started working with MIT's Climate CoLab (http://climatecolab.org) which allows people to work together to create proposals that address climate change. This year we're organizing a section on community/grassroots ideas, and we are looking for volunteers with experience in Transition to be advisors to people submitting proposals.

Please contact me or Erik Duhaime eduhaime@mit.edu if you're interested.

Thanks,

Mike

Climate CoLab Advisors
 
Who are Climate CoLab Advisors?
Climate CoLab Advisors are experts, business executives, policy makers, non-profit leaders, and others with:
–    Deep knowledge about a key aspect of climate change, and
–    An interest in helping to guide activity on MIT’s Climate CoLab, a web platform that seeks to harness the collective intelligence of thousands of people from all around the world to generate creative proposals to address climate change.
In many cases, Advisors are representatives of or very knowledgeable about key stakeholders who would need to be involved in implementing proposals that emerge from the Climate CoLab process. 
 
What do Advisors do?
Advisors will focus on specific contests within the Climate CoLab, and multiple advisors may assist with a single contest. Advisors will work with at least one Climate CoLab Fellow.
 
Each contest addresses a focused topic within the broad overall realm of what to do about climate change, for example, building efficiency or adaptation finance.
 
Climate CoLab Advisors will contribute in four ways:
–    before a contest, help to define a question to be addressed by contest proposals and resources that would be useful to contest participants
–    during a contest, provide feedback on proposals submitted by members of the Climate CoLab community and share key recent developments in the field so the community can be kept up to date,
–    near the end of the contest, serve as a judge or identify peers who can serve as judges,
–    throughout the process, identify other key stakeholders and help to make them aware of the contest and its results.
 
What is the time commitment for Advisors?
The minimum time commitment expected for Advisors is about 4-6 hours per year. This time will includea roughly one-hour phone call held on a quarterly basis with the Fellow associated with the contest area.
 
If Advisors choose to serve as judges, this will involve an additional 3-4 hours at the end of the contest.
 
Advisors are encouraged to spend as much additional time as they wish monitoring and participating in Climate CoLab activities, but this is not required to become an Advisor.
 
What are the benefits for Advisors?
Members of the Climate CoLab community come from many different educational and other backgrounds, but all have a deep interest in what to do about climate change. As a result, the Climate CoLab is a place where real exploration and novel thinking occur.
 
By participating, CoLab Advisors can gauge the pulse of public opinion on issues in their areas of expertise and may even be able use the CoLab’s online community to undertake work on pressing topics in their field.
 
In the past, the community has proven itself to be a source of novel and creative ideas for addressing climate change. By offering their guidance, Advisors will enjoy a unique opportunity to help steer a large, diverse online community of climate thinkers on issues of importance and relevance.
 
For further information
Contact Erik Duhaime eduhaime@mit.edu