2016 Fall Update

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Our Before It's Too Late team has been hard at work to create a virtual reality experience that will engender empathy and action for climate change. We are taking an interdisciplinary approach combining climate science, behavioral psychology and communications in order to create a truly impactful experience. In order to achieve this, we have been building an academic coalition of organizations at MIT, Stanford and Yale. We plan to begin outreach to directors, producers and funders by the end of 2016.

In the past two months, we have:

• Built coalition of supporters at MIT (Sustainability Initiative, System Dynamics Group, Presencing Institute, Media Lab, Center for Collective Intelligence and Climate CoLab)
• Initiated partnership with Stanford’s Virtual Human Interactive Lab (VHIL), which has been studying VR’s impact on human behavior for the past decade
• Initiated partnership with George Mason's Center for Climate Change Communication 
• Received a $1,500 Development Grant from the MIT Global Ideas Challenge
• Commended fundraising outreach to private investors, foundations and corporations

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Before the end of 2016, we plan to:

• Reach out to Directors and VR Production Companies
• Continue fundraising outreach to private investors, foundations and corporations
• Continue interviews with grassroots organizations, legislature and other voices related to the stories we want to tell in the U.S.

We want to thank you for your continued support in our project. We look forward to our next meeting and we will continue to provide you with periodic updates on our progress.
- The BITL Team