Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past thirty years or have never watched television in it’s 80 years of existence, then you probably know who ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ is. Well, if you still don’t know who he is – shame on you. Just kidding. ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ produces quality programming to educate young children and teens about scientific research by connecting education with fun learning techniques and a totally catchy theme song. His goofy, self-deprecating humor, and awkward antics provide comedy to the masses. However, that’s not what I wanted to bring to the spotlight today. Instead, the idea of creating quirky yet intellectual content through website is the topic de-jour.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire native, Evan Karatzas has created a Website, based the rising issues of climate change, but more specifically arranging the content to be more kid-friendly. Seem brilliant, no? There are days where even the most intelligent M.I.T. graduate just wants to hear funky songs and watch creative versus trying to reason through a complex algorithm. Karatzas has designed a website that implores children to go on scientific adventures with incentives to gain points but also by revealing surprising facts. Eventually using “the Science Guy” technique was also in affiliation with Chabot, a museum in the Smithsonian family in which Karatzas designed to keep educating young people, but also to help reduce the carbon footprint. The final products, Bill Nye’s Climate Lab and Proximity Lab have transitioned to other projects, most notably, the building of mobile greenhouses.

So you’re thinking, that’s cool, but what does this matter? Well, as a relatively young person, who checks her phone for updates every 12 seconds and keeps her laptop in her handbag, another website popping is really nothing. However, it’s the revolutionary idea that has such immense power. I was so surprised by how simple of an idea it was, but also how fun it sounded. With that in mind, I’m asking people to weigh on this idea of creating a weekly forum/post through The Climate Community, that has interesting and funny material, sent in by readers, and compiled by me. Just by reading this article, it has inspired to me to work on a site that educates not only kids my age, but also adults through innovative means. There are so many sites that spill out tons of minutia, and although it is complete necessary and justified, I personally think that blogs or articles should be stimulating but also heartfelt. With Bill Nye  as my inspiration, I’m currently investigating different techniques that make up a successful website via educating people about Climate Change and other relevant issues.