Every now and then I come across a press release that gets me all jazzed, sort of happy and optimistic and “that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” (Believe me, I read a lot of press releases. It doesn’t happen all that often. The more common reaction is “Wait… what? Why? Oh, for crying out loud….”)

Anyway, the point is that it’s sort of rare but exciting, when I read about something that sounds like a new and different and wonderful idea. So when I came across this piece about the impending launch of Nickelodeon’s “The Big Green Help” I was thrilled. Check it out:

With more than half of U.S. kids saying that they are concerned about the environment*, Nickelodeon targets April for the launch of The Big Green Help, its new multi-platform, global pro-social campaign. Designed to empower kids to take action on the environment through gaming and grassroots activity, the multi-platform Big Green Help will provide information and tools to help explain climate change to kids, and connect them to energy saving and earth-friendly activities in their everyday lives. The centerpiece of The Big Green Help will be the first-ever global multiplayer online green game for kids, which will provide actionable, measurable steps and information to directly link them to ways that they can positively contribute to helping the environment, on an individual and a community level.

Sounds awesome, right? And it says it’s launching in April, and right now it’s the middle of March, so I’m thinking that’s perfectly appropriate. A few weeks’ notice is a good idea, and now I have something to look forward to showing the kids, next month. But then I got to this part:

Rolling out new information and activities from April to December and beyond, the campaign’s cornerstone will be the November launch of the first global multiplayer online green game for kids.

Um, their cornerstone won’t be rolling out until November? For a program that’s supposedly going into motion in a few weeks…?

This must be that “new math” everyone’s always talking about, because it’s not adding up for me. Oh, wait:

Nick.com will launch a new website in April to help educate kids on all things green: www.thebiggreenhelp.com. This site will include features such as: a personalized questionnaire to track kids’ individual and family progress during the campaign; a glossary of environmentally focused terms; daily green tips for kids; a video upload tool that kids can use to share what they are doing to protect the planet; and green games to teach kids earth-friendly activities.

Okay, then—at least the website will be live, shortly. (As of this writing, it isn’t.)

Still, it’s only because they’ve got this huge project aimed at getting kids involved in protecting the environment that I’m not going to be more miffed about them announcing it now when the game won’t be ready ’til November. Hmph.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 6:31 am and is filed under Kid Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.