If you haven’t already heard, Grist is tickled to be the editorial sponsor of Hot Dish, a climate change news-‘n’-activism Facebook app that has all the cool kids talking. It’s the brainchild of online social media and news aggregator NewsCloud, made possible by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. (Yours truly even had a hand in it.) Hot Dish is where online news meets real-world action to fight climate change.
Grist helps drive the conversation around the day’s top climate change news, and Hot Dish enables users to share it with each other within the comfy confines of Facebook. But wait — there’s more! Users can join the Action Team to complete challenges and earn points by, say, writing to a congressperson, setting up composting, or volunteering with an environmental group.
Hot Dish is aimed at spreading climate awareness both online and off, and for lucky 16- to 25-year-olds, it encourages eco-activism by featuring prizes for the most active weekly users. The grand prize winner will even land a trip for two to the Arctic with Quark Expeditions. The app is all-ages, but only those young’uns are eligible to win prizes. It’s all part of a University of Minnesota study on how youth interact with new media. Homework on Facebook? Sign me up!
Why “Hot Dish,” you may wonder? Because the news dished up is hot off the online presses and because the climate is getting too hot to handle. We can dish it out, but can we take the heat? Don’t wait to find out; join Hot Dish and kick climate change in the a- … er, shin.
P.S. You can even follow Hot Dish on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hotdishnews