Featured, Roddenberry Fellowship
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – May 7, 2018 – The Roddenberry Foundation announces its $1M Prize for Climate Change.
The 2018 Roddenberry Prize, officially launching May 7, seeks to recognize unexpected, overlooked, and unheralded solutions to climate change. The $1 million prize is focused on food waste, plant-rich diets, girls’ education, and women’s rights—all generally underfunded and often unrecognized for their impact on climate change.
This year’s Roddenberry Prize is inspired by Project Drawdown, an international coalition of scientists, economists, and other experts who cataloged and ranked the most effective solutions to global warming. Surprisingly, the rankings indicate that access to quality education coupled with gender equity, food waste reduction, and plant-rich diets have the greatest potential to slow the pace of global warming—even more than switching to solar, electric, or wind energy.
“These findings opened our eyes to a set of solutions that need to be a part of any conversation about climate change,” says Lior Ipp, CEO of The Roddenberry Foundation. “Not only are these issues critical in their own right but we now know how integral they are to the health of the planet”.
Judges for the prize include Musimbi Kanyoro, President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, Yasmeen Hassan, Global ED for Equality Now, Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and Alice Albright, CEO of the Global Partnership for Education.
“Solar panels, LED lights, and electric vehicles are all known quantities. It’s time we expand how we think about and take action on climate change,” says Heidi Roddenberry, board president.
The $1 million Roddenberry Prize will be awarded to fourming organizations working to: (1) reduce food waste, (2) support plant-rich diets, (3) improve girls’ education, and (4) ensure women’s rights. Through a two-round application that includes a peer-to-peer review process, the global prize will be awarded to non-profit organizations, businesses, coalitions, universities, or other institutions that have exhibited impact to date and a potential to significantly scale their work.
Four organizations will each receive $250,000; top-ranked finalists in each category will also be recognized publicly. Awards will be announced in November 2018.
About The Roddenberry Foundation
Launched in 2010 to honor the life and legacy of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, The Roddenberry Foundation offers opportunities for original thinkers and innovators from all walks of life to pursue significant, lasting social change. The Foundation is committed to finding and supporting remarkable people and organizations that disrupt existing dynamics and challenge convention through its Catalyst Fund, a small grants program for early-stage ideas, its annual Roddenberry Fellowship, and the Roddenberry Prize, a biennial competition to crowd-source innovative solutions to global challenges.
Four organizations will each receive $250,000; top-ranked finalists in each category will also be recognized publicly. Awards will be announced in November 2018.
About The Roddenberry Foundation
Launched in 2010 to honor the life and legacy of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, The Roddenberry Foundation offers opportunities for original thinkers and innovators from all walks of life to pursue significant, lasting social change. The Foundation is committed to finding and supporting remarkable people and organizations that disrupt existing dynamics and challenge convention through its Catalyst Fund, a small grants program for early-stage ideas, its annual Roddenberry Fellowship, and the Roddenberry Prize, a biennial competition to crowd-source innovative solutions to global challenges.
