Civic Geek Catalog

Activities For The Civic Geek: Be A Green Geek

by

We’ve got to live on this planet (even if some of us want to explore beyond it), and that means a keeping a healthy environment.  Geeks can do their part to make sure we keep Earth livable.

If you’re at all informed about environment science, you’re probably a bit concerned about the environment.  From global warning to the effects on fracking, it’s a bit hard not to come to the conclusion we could manage our use of the planet much better.  As we geeks are usually quite enthused about science, we’re also painfully aware of the problems we face.

Fortunately there’s no small amount of people out there you can help, get involved with, or donate too.  Everyone’s got the same idea as you, and there have been organizations dedicated to helping us preserve the environment around for a long time.

It’s also hard to know where to start.  Here’s a few suggestions to get you going:

  • Donate or get your geeky club/group/convention to donate to appropriate causes.
  • Donate time.  This is great if you’re particuarly oriented towards either STEM (and the hard science of the environment), have the skills needed by the various groups (such as web work or speaking), or both.  Time is often more valuable than money
  • Spekaers.  Run a convention?  Get speakers from appropriate organizations to discuss the science and issues of the environment.  If you’re part of a fiction-writing geekdom, you can combine good world building with good awareness of how our world has structural problems.
  • Do citizen science – From dedicating time to local citizen science groups, you can often find people focused on daily, hands-on scientific activities from recording to explaining issues.

There’s problems.  Maybe we geeks can do what we can to help out.

Resources

  • Engineering for Change – A community to connect engineers, governments, social scientists, and more to share knowledge and solve problems in a sustainable way.
  • Engineers Without Borders Canada – A nonprofit Canadian organization that supports sustainable community engineering projects around the world.
  • Engineers Without Borders USA – A nonprofit US organization that supports sustainable community engineering projects around the world.
  • Marine Conservation Institute – An organized, sustainability-oriented institute focused on protecting marine ecosystems. Heavily driven by partnerships, alliance, and outreach.
  • Nerds For Nature – And all-volunteer organization that brings together communities, scientists, and technologists to understand and preserve nature, including hands-on projects. Located in California.
  • Oceana – An international organization focused on sealife preservation and marine issues
  • Project Noah – A software platform that brings citizen scientist together in various projects to record and preserve biodiversity and understand nature.
  • Skeptical Science – A site dedicated to explaining the science of global warning. Always looking for help in donations or paper review.
  • World Wildlife Fund – Focuses on preserving and protecting wildlife and related environmental and pollution issues.

 

Activities For The Civic Geek: Free Speech

by

Free Speech isn’t just talk – it’s a real life issue, and one that’s often misunderstood.  Do something real about free speech issues in an intelligent way.

There’s two problems with Free Speech – there isn’t enough of it, and most people don’t know what the hell it’s about.

For the latter, we need more education, better understanding, and occasionally informing people they’re full of crap for thinking someone defriending them on social media is censorship.  However, I’d like to focus on the former – actively helping people get over it and understand it.

Internet drama aside, there are a lot of threats to free speech – often subtle.  A banned book list at a school library, lawsuits designed to squelch opinion, and countries outright controlling what people think and see.  Issues of internet access, net neutrality, and freedom.  Maybe we geeks can do something about it.

Something like:

  • Invite authors who’s books and works have been banned to your events.
  • Do reading groups of controversial literature.
  • Get involved with organizations that support freedom of speech, from donations to getting speakers to events.
  • Provide access to banned literature or promote it at events.
  • If it’s relevant to your geeky media (books, comics, video games) do panels or studies of free speech in various countries.

Beyond doing good and helping overcome the at-times subtle censorship people face, being involved in free speech efforts also teaches you what it’s really about.  It’s one thing when people complain someone deleted their message board comment – quite something else to realize a beloved book was widely banned in a state.  Sometimes understanding free speech is best done by seeing it’s lack.

Here’s a few groups to get you started:

  • Banned Book Week – Celebrate the freedom to read – and take a stand against censorship – with Banned Books week.
  • Free Press – A savvy organization focused on a free press.
  • Public Knowledge – An organization focusing on intersecting issues of technology and free speech – access, copyright, net neutrality, innovation, and more.
  • The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund – A non-profit organization focused on protecting the First Amendment rights of everyone in the comics/publishing/reading chain. Provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance and education.

Activities For The Civic Geek: Support The Troops

by

Being in the military is challenging, as many people know.  Support the geek troops by supporting your mutual interests!

Being stationed away from home and loved ones, moving around when required, tough training, unexpected surprises – being in the military, simply, isn’t an easy job.  We’ve all known people in the military life, know the challenges – and know supporting the troops is one way we civilians and current civilians can help our.  If we’re geeks, gamers, and so on, we can help out our geeky brethren who wear the uniform.

After all we’re geeks.  We know the importance of games, comics, literature, anime, and so on.  We know what our fellow geeks in the service like.  Let’s make it easier to get it to them.

You could:

  • Join any number of groups (I’ve got a few listed below) to help out.
  • Your events, club, and conventions could support groups that help out geeky troops.  Imagine a manga donation marathon!
  • You could invite current and former members to speak on their experience to your supporting group or club so people know exactly what they experience.
  • Find ways to get care packages of appropriate material to those in the service.
  • Work with current military charities in your own geeky ways.

You get to make a real difference in the lives of people, you’ll learn more about what military service is like (or show people), and you get to do good for people in uniform.

In your own, geeky way.

 

Comics

Literature and Technology

  • United Through Reading – Connects US military personnel with their children by video-recorded book readings.

Literature

Technology

Video Games

  • Military Gamers – A community and support network for military and former military gamers from the US military. Promotes healthy gaming and support.
  • Operation Supply Drop – A military gaming charity that delivers video game care packages for American and American allied soldiers in both combat zones and military hospitals.