Cleaning Up the Environment One Punch Line at a Time.

Transcription

1 Cleaning Up the Environment One Punch Line at a Time. PRESS INFORMATION: National Rollout of America s First Weekly Environmental Comic Strip November 1, 2004 GO NATUR L STUDIOS, LLC. 188 Shadow Lake Road Ridgefield, CT 06877

2 MEDIA FAST FACTS: WHAT: An environmental comic strip series, Rustle the Leaf, is launching November 1, 2004 via national distribution on environmental web sites. Although the series is kid-friendly, it is targeted to grownup environmentalists who are fighting the good fight of working to make the world a safer place to live and breathe. WHO: Rustle the Leaf is the collaborative creation of award-winning, nationally-syndicated comic strip artist and co-writer Dan Wright and creator and co-writer Dave Poncé. The comic strip is produced by GO NATUR L STUDIOS, LLC., a Connecticut-based company whose owners are long-time environmentalists with a desire to bring about real behavioral change on the part of industry, politicians and individuals. WHERE: Rustle the Leaf is distributed free of charge via environmental web sites. It is created in a satellite office in the Indianapolis, Indiana area, where both Dan Wright and Dave Poncé live. WHEN: November 1, 2004 marks the Official Launch of the Rustle the Leaf comic strip series. On that date, the new Rustle the Leaf web site will go live, and comic strip content will begin being distributed to environmental web sites from California to Florida and beyond. WHY: We believe environmentalists need encouragement, support, and a good chuckle! Rustle the Leaf is designed to energize and empower environmentalists to continue spreading the message of responsible, future-generation-sensitive behavior and lifestyle choices. It is also the intention of the creators and producers of the strip for it to be posted on bulletin boards, on office walls, in dorm lobbies, in cubicle space and wherever a good discussion about environmental issues might break out. CONTACT: For more information, contact Dave Poncé at (317) or via dponce@rustletheleaf.com. Dave Poncé and/or Dan Wright are available for interviews during the afternoons of most regular weekdays. Hi-res digital files of Rustle the Leaf comic strip content and character illustrations are available by special request for editorial use. GO NATUR L STUDIOS, LLC. 188 Shadow Lake Road Ridgefield, CT 06877

3 Rustle the Leaf is a creative outreach targeting people ages 6 to 106 in order to bring about Environmental awareness and true cultural change. The primary tool for this outreach is the Rustle the Leaf comic strip series, which is provided at no charge to educational and environmental web sites 52 weeks a year. The strip is funny, a little edgy, but always in good taste and driven by an underlying Pro- Environment theme. THE CREATIVE TALENT BEHIND RUSTLE THE LEAF Dan Wright is an awardwinning, nationally-syndicated cartoonist who received critical acclaim with his inspired comic strip creation WILDWOOD. Dan s intellect, humor and artistic style combine to bring the characters of Rustle the Leaf off the page and into your heart! Rustle the Leaf creator and co-writer Dave Poncé can t draw his way out of a paper bag, but knows the cast of characters better than anyone. A professional writer and lifelong lover of the art and craft of writing comics strips, Dave s off-beat sense of humor and passion for the environment give Rustle and his pals their drive to make the world a better place! Rustle the Leaf Cartoonist and Co-Writer Dan Wright, with some examples of his critically-acclaimed, nationally-syndicated comic strip WILDWOOD.

4 DISTRIBUTION OF THE WEEKLY RUSTLE THE LEAF COMIC STRIP SERIES Rustle the Leaf is a comic strip with the right message at the right time, benefiting from the right technological environment. Gone are the days when a comic strips existence was left up to a national distribution syndicate and the preferences of newspaper editors. Today, comic strips that offer well-developed characters, compelling dialog and inspired artwork can be taken directly to market via the internet. On November 1, 2004, Rustle the Leaf will begin distribution in exactly that way. Over the past three months, thousands of and phone contacts have been made to webmasters and editors of local, regional and national environmental web sites. The message: you can have creative, engaging, environmentally-themed content updated on your web site every week, at NO COST. In January 2005, a similar initiative will be directed at getting the series on educational web sites. HOW IT WORKS Host-subscribers to Rustle the Leaf comic strips are provided with javascript that automatically calls for new Rustle the Leaf content, which is posted on the Rustle the Leaf server every Sunday at midnight EST. Webmasters simply build the space into the.html page where want the comic strip to display, and the scripting does the rest. In addition to the environmental sites that are committing to become distribution partners, the web site will display both the weekly comic strip series, as well as monthly lesson plans, Earth Science content and other activities geared toward teachers, parents and children. Weekly Rustle the Leaf comics are provided free of charge to environmental web sites. The automation of the weeky updates enables a webmaster to simply define content space on an.html page, paste in a javascript from the Rustle the Leaf site, and let the computers do the rest!

5 MEET THE CAST OF RUSTLE THE LEAF! RUSTLE Rustle the Leaf is the catalyst for the strip. He is driven by a dream: to reach out to humans with his message of environmental responsibility and the need for real change. Rustle is the quintessential reformer... courageous, purposeful, and mostly at peace about how it will all come together. He s the most insightful, spiritual member of the cast. ROOTY Rooty the acorn sprout is the skeptical, wise-cracking best pal of Rustle the Leaf. Rooty s along for the mission of spreading Rustle s environmental message, but don t expect him to giggle and skip along the way. Rooty genuinely likes Rustle, but barely tolerates most everyone else especially his arch-enemies: the dreaded, polluting humans! DANDY Dandy the dandelion seed has self-image issues. Despised by humans (and often the target of their chemical warfare), Dandy takes broadleaf season personally. He wonders what he s ever done to make people so angry. Just below the surface, Dandy has some fairly bitter resentment toward plants that seem to be on the good side of humans. PAIGE Paige the water drop is the Renaissance person of the cast. She s 'been there and done that more than anyone else, and has an annoying way of reminding everyone of it. Her best friend is the Environment but The Spotlight comes in a close second..

6 RUSTLE THE LEAF SAMPLE COMIC STRIPS

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9 CLASSROOM COMICS The rustletheleaf.com web site provides teachers and parents a valuable educational resource. Each month, the site provides a downloadable (.pdf), comprehensive lesson plan about an environmental or Earth Science topic. Lessons include a Rustle the Leaf Classroom Comic, perfect for making the lesson stick with students. The sample here reflects what s included in each lesson: A teacher/parent lesson plan, an Ask Rustle About... page for students, an activity page for students, and a Classroom Comic that underscores some part of the lesson. The comics are provided ready-to-color, so teachers can use them as part of the lesson activity and send them home to help further reinforce lesson content. Rustle the Leaf Classroom Comics are incorporated into monthly educational lesson plan content available exclusively from Classroom Comics are left black and white so students can color the panels as part of interacting with the lesson content and the personalities of the characters.

10 For More Information, Please Contact: Dave Poncé (317)