With support for a TogetherGreen Fellowship from Audubon and Toyota, we started a conversation with VEIC Consultant Nick Lange about how to harness developments in mobile technology and social media to help people save energy. When artist and activist Kathy Blume joined in, this budding collaboration was infused with boundless creativity and world-changing ambition, and Vermontivate was born.

Vermontivate is an online community sustainability game in which teams of Vermonters tackle weekly energy, food and transportation challenges. The challenges were delivered by a motley crew of steam-punk barnyard animals, including the cow Jersey Jill (Moostress of Play) and a rooster called Scratchy Dave (Captain of Kudos). But despite the playfulness of the engagement strategy, the experience took very seriously the game design and engagement process that helps people connect an abstract issue like climate change to their lives and take meaningful local action. 

We were a technical partner for Vermotivate through various iterations of the website and game design. We also managed an intensive social media campaign that ensured their network grow steadily through each round of the game. From 2012 to 2015 Vermontivate engaged thousands of Vermonters in schools, workplaces, and communities and brought fun, action, and infinite possibility to the serious work of tackling climate change.