Equipping motivated citizens for a healthier and more peaceful planet https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2017/equipping-motivated-citizens-for-a-healthier-and-more-peaceful-planet https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Equipping motivated citizens for a healthier and more peaceful planet

Additional Information
Used for	The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists requests a grant of $10,000 from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation to provide evidence-based analysis that advances a safer and healthier planet, and equips motivated citizens with the background needed to demand responsible public policy. In the coming year the Bulletin will:  Support a new webinar series that will connect the Bulletin’s leading experts with stakeholders worldwide. The Bulletin has had great success with past teleconferences, and we are seeking to enhance these platforms to broaden our reach.  Build on the Bulletin’s effective social media outreach and communications strategies, by offering more data visualizations to accompany its reporting. This will continue to engage younger audiences who are more video-savvy (and dependent), and who receive a substantial portion of their information from social media.
Benefits	Recent actions to roll back advances to protect the planet from the threats of climate change, muzzle the voices of scientists and other experts, and broadcast irresponsible rhetoric related to nuclear weapons and aggression, have caused considerable alarm. Citizens in large numbers, however, are pushing back, and showing a renewed interest in becoming agents of change and making their voices heard. The Bulletin seeks to use its powerful platform to support: • A reactivated, informed and engaged global community demanding and achieving movement toward nuclear disarmament and responsible policies addressing climate change. • The promotion of trusted sources of information that maintain the highest levels of journalistic integrity, giving voice to experts whose informed perspectives are increasingly muzzled. • Renewed public awareness that science, and seasoned expertise, is critical to creating a peaceful, healthy world.
Proposal Description	For over 70 years, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has engaged science leaders, policy makers, and the interested public on topics of nuclear weapons and disarmament, climate change, and disruptive technologies. Through its award-winning journal, iconic Doomsday Clock, public access website and regular set of convenings, the Bulletin bridges the divide between a public eager to take action, and the scientific research and analysis that support their efforts. In a context where leaders increasingly use reckless language about nuclear weapons proliferation and war, and endanger the planet by showing blatant disregard for scientific expertise and fact, a trustworthy platform for citizens to make their voices heard and get engaged is urgent. To address this need, the Bulletin works to support two important communities: an informed and active citizenry; and policy makers. Informed, active citizens need cutting-edge information and accessible platforms for interaction if they are to advocate effectively for policies that will make the world a safer and healthier place. Policy leaders must be equipped with information and analysis available in language that can be understood by both their constituents and their peers as they grapple with some of the world’s most complex problems. The Bulletin, with its powerful and growing platform, has a unique opportunity to engage its increasingly young and energized audience looking for trusted sources of information to be effective as they take action. Fifty percent of the Bulletin’s community is under 35 years old, and half of its audience comes from outside the United States. Over the next year the Bulletin will continue to provide a platform that attracts and promotes the best thinkers and leaders who are tackling 21st century challenges head on, with an aim to advance the health and safety of our planet. Activities will include:  To publish creative analysis and thought-provoking interactive and visual offerings for the Bulletin’s website and bimonthly journal, addressing issues attentive both to current as well as to longer-range global concerns. Bulletin editors will engage its pool of over 1,000 experts and authors to seek out and publish the widest array of perspectives from around the world on issues of climate change, nuclear security, and the use of powerful disruptive technologies.  To build on already very successful social media outreach and communications strategies to wider and younger audiences, reaching new communities seeking to be engaged in finding solutions to persistent global security dilemmas. A twice-weekly newsletter is sent to 45,000 individuals encompassing academic, governmental, NGO, and industry sectors. Signups to the newsletter have doubled in the past year, and continue to grow by 1,200 each month. In the coming year, the Bulletin will seek to continue that rate of growth and increase it with even broader social media outreach and targeted appeals particularly to younger cohorts eager to get active.  To continue to make the most effective and relevant contribution possible, with sufficient funds in the coming year the Bulletin will convene up to three gatherings with leading experts connected to the Bulletin, and invite new participants to help identify how emerging technologies are impacting the global security landscape, consider their risks and benefits, and connect this thinking to the Bulletin’s growing audience. This will enable the Bulletin to more effectively address modern manifestations of legacy challenges, with sufficient agility to respond to new concerns as they arise. Everyone’s voice matters, and people are hungry for platforms that will equip them to stand up, be heard, and make a difference. The stakes are high, the risks are great, and the need for reasoned exchange is profound. We would be very grateful for support from the Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation to help the Bulletin address these challenges, and would be happy to provide any additional documentation requested to assess our request.