I recently bought a couple of hundred posters of Earth from space which I've been putting over and next to freeways along the west coast. Some I post by themselves - like the flags that went up after September 11th - and some I put up with messages. I want to make this action as effective as possible, so I'm turning to you for help.
Think of the most effective message(s) to go along with (or without) pictures of our planet and send them to me at freewayblogger@yahoo.com . Best one wins a thousand dollars and will be seen by a million people: at least. 2nd and 3rd place winners get $500 and $250 and will be seen by a couple of hundred thousand, if not more. Deadline is March 15th.
The best messages are short, fit well into a rectangle and force people to think a bit before moving on. Last year's winners were "This is one sign of global warming." "2010 was the hottest year on record." and "Climate Change = Primate Change"
If you're skeptical of cash offers from anonymous activists on the internet, I can hardly blame you. But as some of you know, I've spent over ten years on this project and put up thousands of signs, so it's not something I take lightly. I believe that global warming and the state of the Arctic is far and away the most important issue of our time and that the best thing I can do right now with the resources I have is to sound the alarm. So help me.
Here is how I make the signs. I attach them to fencing using bungee cords and duct tape: takes about five seconds. Sometimes they'll stay up for hours, sometimes days or even weeks. Because of the ease of signmaking and the density of traffic, a sign that takes ten minutes and five cents to make can be seen literally hundreds of thousands of times before coming down. So long as it's easily detachable and posted safely (on the inside of the fencing rather than the outside) it's just as legal as putting up a flag. And it's a hell of a lot of fun.
The pictures shown are an extreme example of the power of the medium: an almost-but-not-quite sealed overpass on the 405 by LAX. Both the signs and posters are double-sided and passed by 325,000 cars per day. The first sign stayed up for three weeks before I replaced it with the second, which stayed up for another three weeks before I replaced it with "Help Wanted." You can see the fading of the earth poster over time.
More examples and details here.