What do Jason Alexander who played George on Seinfeld, Bill McKibben who founded 350.org, and Evanna Lynch who stars as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films all have in common?
They are all members of the real-world Order of the Phoenix for the non-profit Harry Potter Alliance’s Climate Change campaign!
If you are like me, then the biggest event of your weekend was the last Harry Potter film: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” And with the highest opening day in U.S. history, I know there are a lot of you like me out there.
Walking home from the movie, which was a cathartic experience for a reader who grew up as the books came out and who has read each one about three times, I found myself thinking as I often have about how we need a real-life Dumbledore’s Army to confront the evil villains of our time and their many horcruxes.
And that’s why I was so excited to uncover this morning: The Harry Potter Alliance (HPA). According to it’s mission statement, HPA “is a 501c3 nonprofit that takes an outside-of-the-box approach to civic engagement by using parallels from the Harry Potter books to educate and mobilize young people across the world toward issues of literacy, equality, and human rights.”
When it comes to mobilizing for human rights, it just so happens that for the HPA, the climate crisis is “our real world Voldemort’s most prized horcrux.”
To mobilize around climate change, HPA is asking people to get creative and encourage their friends to do the same. They call it “The Imagine Better Contest,” and they’ll be taking creative entries until this Wednesday, July 20th at 11:59pm ET (just 3 more days)! In addition to the page on the HPA site, the campaign also has its own website: imaginebetter.org.
So check out this very cool campaign (no pun intended) and take part! Voting on entries will begin after Wednesday and last till the end of the month.
One of the ways they’re encouraging people to take part is to submit a plan for inspiring people to participate in 350.org’s world-wide Moving Planet event on September 24th. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network has Moving Planet events planned in Maryland and Virginia and we’d love to hear your ideas as well!
Just like the Harry Potter books, this is a contest for all ages. Maybe I’ll submit a song. :)
