Newsletter November 2007

blueEnergy: CNN Heroes viewers’ choice vote mobilization, Larry King Live, and more!

CNN Heroes viewers’ choice awards - Vote mobilization

As most of you know, blueEnergy, being represented by Mathias Craig, is in the running for the CNN Heroes Viewers’ Choice Awards. Mathias has already made it to the final round where 6 nominees are competing in the web-based poll for a prize of $25,000 in project funding and a live appearance with Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour. Needless to say blueEnergy could really use this funding and exposure to solidify its operations in Nicaragua and bring more light and opportunity to those in need.

The online voting ends at noon EST on Monday, November 26th. We need each and every one of our supporters to log in tohttp://www.cnn.com/heroes and vote!

Furthermore, CNN has clarified that while multiple voting is allowed, they do cap the number of votes allowed per computer per day (although they don’t say at what number). Therefore, we ask that all our supporters please vote at least 5 times a day from as many different computers as you can, and repeat each and every day until the end of the voting on Monday. Some of the other finalists have the backing of major celebrities and media outlets and we need our network to mobilize in a major way if we are to have any chance of winning.

Outstanding voting pictures contest

In order to motivate and interest our network in the CNN voting process, we have organized a “Get the vote out picture contest”. The idea is simple, you take incredible and/or wacky and/or hilarious pictures of you voting and send them to media@blueenergygroup.org . At the end of the vote our campaign committee will select their favorite picture and the winner will receive an original “wind turbine landscape painting” from Bluefields’ own painter Julio Godoy. An example of Julio’s work:

Larry King Live

We have recently learned that Mathias Craig, Executive Director of blueEnergy, will be featured on the Larry King Live show on Sunday, December 2nd, as part of a show focusing on the finalists of the CNN Heroes Viewers’ Choice Awards.

The Larry King Show on CNN is regularly watched by over one-million viewers worldwide. An appearance on this show can drastically raise awareness of and donations to our cause. Your dedication to voting in the first round of the CNN Heroes Viewers’ Choice Awards has made this possible. Thank you!

blueEnergy’s 4th birthday

Anniversaire

On Monday, November 19th, blueEnergy marked it’s 4th birthday! blueEnergy marked the date calmly since all our attention is focused on the CNN Heroes vote. The major celebration will take place in Bluefields, Nicaragua in early December – stay tuned for details in case you want to try and make it!

Talk at Haas business school, UC Berkeley

Mathias Craig will be giving a talk to the Berkeley Energy and Resource Collaborative at the Haas School of Business on December 3rd, 2007. The talk is focused on the business and entrepreneurial aspects of blueEnergy. More information is available here: http://berc.berkeley.edu/

blueEnergy: Tech Awards / CNN viewers’ choice Awards - Final round! / Hivos partnership

Trophies Tech Awards / Presentations at Stanford business school and Santa Clara university conference

As we reported back in September, blueEnergy was selected as a 2007 Laureate of the Tech Awards, hosted by the Tech Museum in San Jose, CA. On November 7th, at the Tech Award Gala, attended by 1,500 of the Bay Area’s most influential innovators, philanthropists and business icons, blueEnergy was given the high honor of being selected as the prize recipient in the Economic Development category.

The Tech Awards program inspires global engagement in applying technology to humanity’s most pressing problems by recognizing the best of those who are utilizing innovative technology solutions to address the most urgent critical issues facing our planet. People all over the world are profoundly improving the human condition in the areas of education, equality, environment, health, and economic development through the use of technology. It is the goal of The Tech Awards to showcase their compelling stories and reward their brilliant accomplishments.

Each year, candidates are nominated and then invited to submit applications. Individuals, for-profit companies, and not-for-profit organizations are eligible. International panels of judges review the applications and annually select 25 Laureates. Awards are presented in five categories: Health, Education, Environment, Economic Development, and Equality. Five Laureates in each category are honored and one Laureate per category receives $50,000. Laureates are honored at an annual Gala event and inducted into the Tech Laureate Venture Network (TLVN). The TLVN is the extension of the Awards from an annual event to a year round program. The goal of the TLVN is to create opportunities for learning, networking, and exposure to assist the Laureates in furthering their work. Freeplay

The Awards program was launched in November 2000, and the first Awards Gala was held in 2001. The concept for the Awards and the five universal categories were inspired in part by the State of the Future report, published by the Millennium Project of the American Council of the United Nations University. The report recommends that award recognition is an effective way to accelerate scientific breakthrough and technological applications to improve the human condition. The Awards categories are based on the 15 Global Challenges identified in the report.

Partners and Sponsors include: Applied Materials, Inc., Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University, American Council for The United Nations University, UNDP, World Bank Institute, Catholic Relief Services, Intel, Accenture, Microsoft, The Swanson Foundation and SanDisk.

While participating in the weeklong events in San Jose, Mathias Craig also had the opportunity to give a presentation to the “Social Innovation and the Social Entrepreneur” class at Stanford University and a presentation to the conference “Technology Benefiting Humanity: Taking Innovation to the Next Stage” at Santa Clara University.

For more information visit: http://www.techawards.org

CNN Heroes viewers’ choice – Final round of voting starts monday

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

The final round of voting in the CNN Heroes Viewers’ Choice Awards starts this coming Monday, the 12th of November, at 12 noon EST. Voting is between the finalists of the 6 categories in the CNN Heroes profile series, which include: Defending the Planet, Fighting for Justice, Community Crusader, Medical Marvel, Championing Children, and Young Wonder (under 18).

The winner in the final round of voting will win a cash prize of $25,000 and will be featured in a live global telecast December 6, hosted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour.

Needless to say, blueEnergy desperately needs this prize money to solidify its operations in Nicaragua and bring electricity to more people in need. With your help, we can make a large showing on this national and international stage and get the support we need.

And there is good news: you can vote once a minute, up to sixty times an hour! But please remember to follow all CNN rules — most importantly, no automated (or script) voting.

Starting November 12, noon EST you can vote here: http://www.cnn.com/heroes

If you want to help coordinate a network to moblize votes, please contact us at mathias.craig@blueenergygroup.org .

Partnership with Hivos

In late October, blueEnergy launched a 3-year program to increase its organizational capacity and expand its operational capacity into communications, community water delivery and gender equality. blueEnergy will partner with IPCC-INATEC (National Technical Institute), the Municipal Government of Pearl Lagoon and the Indigenous and Creole Territorial Government to execute the project with significant financial and logistical backing from Hivos, a Dutch nonprofit organization.

Hivos is a non-governmental organization, rooted in The Netherlands and guided by humanist values, that wants to contribute to a free, fair and sustainable world where citizens, women and men, have equal access to resources, opportunities and markets and can participate actively and equally in decision-making processes that determine their lives, their society and their future.

Hivos’ basic commitment is to poor and marginalized people - and their organizations - in countries of the global South and East, and Eastern Europe. A sustainable improvement of their situation is the ultimate benchmark for the work and efforts of Hivos. The empowerment of women in order to achieve gender equality is a primary directive in Hivos’ policy.

Hivos’ aim is a world in which people are equal and in which no limits are set on people’s opportunities for development.

For more information on Hivos you can visit: http://www.hivos.nl/english