Sunday, December 16, 2007

Teacher's climate message goes global

Teacher's climate change message goes global

YouTube - Greg Craven's video appeal about the dangers he says we face draws over 4 million views













Click on photo to see video.

Sunday, December 16, 2007
SCOTT LEARN The Oregonian Staff

INDEPENDENCE -- Central High School science teacher Greg Craven had one night before the last day of school to finish "The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See" in time to let his students know about it.

Downing cans of Red Bull, Craven holed up in a science lab of the Independence school, near Salem, editing all night. At 6 a.m., bleary-eyed, he posted his nine-minute, 33-second global warming video on YouTube.

His students linked to it on their MySpace pages. By that night, 60 people had clicked on it. The next day, 300. By Monday morning, 1,000. Craven was psyched. That kind of "viral" growth gets you noticed on YouTube, the Internet's anarchic video smorgasbord. Within two hours, his wife called: It's up to 10,000, she said.

Now, six months later, Craven's earnest and quirky appeal to act on climate change has collected more than 4 million views worldwide -- roughly 500 times the population of Independence. That puts it near the top of YouTube's all-time list for views in the news and politics category, despite competition from videos featuring Britney Spears, Satan's face in a 9/11 explosion and an Alabama leprechaun.

The 38-year-old family man has sifted through some 7,000 comments and discussions, mostly critical. "My toddler drools more cogent arguments," one said.

After posting the first video, Craven agonized about a hole in his theory, skipped his aunt's wedding to fill it, took a monthlong break at his wife's insistence, then spent six weeks producing a 44-part, six-hour sequel, "How It All Ends." It includes small explosions, silly hats Craven bought in a Nepalese tourist mart and a script totaling 70,000 words.

He slept two or three hours a night. He spent $500 on energy drinks. He made his relatives very nervous.

"It became a little bit maniacal," Craven admitted last week from behind his desk at Central High. "But if you think you see the emergency escape hatch when the Titanic's going down, you're going to do what you can to help people get to it."

Craven's YouTube site gives little biography, and his first video gives none (the sequel says he's a science teacher and fellow "Joe Schmoe").

Jan Hawkins, Craven's mother, can fill in: As a young boy, Craven looked inside padlocks and tadpoles to see how they worked. As a young man, he camped out for four days in the Honolulu airport to reflect on his year of traveling in Asia.

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