Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

Phil Houtz's Blog (31)

Evokation - Solving Real-World Problems in Virtual Gamspace

The project I would like to work on would be to create an online simulation game that would mirror real world systemic problems and allow players to work together in order to create systemic solutions. The game would by playable through an internet connection or SMS messaging. There would be a crossover effect wherein real-world events (such as the BP Deepwater oil spill) would change outcomes within the game. Likewise, players would be encouraged to take in-game solutions out into the…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 19, 2010 at 4:18pm — 1 Comment

The Evoke Manifesto

We live in unprecedented times with the fate of humanity in peril. It is not a question of saving the planet - the planet can go on without us. It is not a question of saving the ecosystem - the ecosystem will adapt, although perhaps in a much different form that we know now.


The challenge before us is whether or not we can save ourselves.


Team Evoke is a network of individuals who believe that humanity is worth saving. We work…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 12, 2010 at 1:15am — No Comments

Evoke Season 2 Spec Script

SEASON 2
Episode 1


PAGE 1


PANEL A


A military checkpoint on the outskirts of the Mexican city of Tapachula. Sunset.


A Mexican COMMANDER and SERGEANT look down the road at an approaching horde of ragged people, men women and young children. Concertina wire and a sentinel post signify that the checkpoint is impenetrable.


COMMANDER - Where do…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 12, 2010 at 12:58am — No Comments

Add Fun and Games for an Energetic Evoke!

THE GAME SO FAR...


I thought Urgent Evoke was great fun and a really intriguing way to learn about complex issues. I particularly like the way that the game interacts with real people and encourages real actions.


However, I think that the challenges became a little repetitious and started feeling a bit too much like "homework." Kids in California already have a ton of homework and unless this was part of a class activity, the…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 11, 2010 at 5:52pm — 1 Comment

Playing with Fire - Using an Online Game to Mitigate a Flu Pandemic

In 2011 as the worldwide Avian flu pandemic swept across Southern California one of the problems that emerged was how to get reliable epidemiological information from the many small immigrant groups scattered across the area. For instance there is a significant population of Mixteca in Oxnard, California and several populations of Hmong in Orange County, California. These people groups tend to be insular, self-supporting and largely invisible to social services personnel. There is a great fear… Continue

Added by Phil Houtz on May 10, 2010 at 10:31pm — No Comments

Ventura Earthquake Darksite

My town is no stranger to floods, fires, tornados and other catastrophes. However, the situation that will most likely compromise communications would be an earthquake.


I created a quick Earthquake response darksite with information local to the city of Ventura. The site can easily be edited when more information comes online, such as road closures and emergency shelters.…


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Added by Phil Houtz on May 10, 2010 at 10:11pm — No Comments

Things Are Even Worse than They Appear - Overreporting During Catastrophic Unfolding Events

Imagine an event cluster of fatalities in central Lagos, Nigeria, from a previously unidentified airborne virus. The ratio of fatalities to nonfatalities is much higher than typical with a virus this type. Serveral things are possible -


1) The virus is more aggressive and more deadly than is typical, suggesting that this event cluster is an early signal of a pandemic.


2) The virus may actually be mild, with many cases unreported. This skews the…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 10, 2010 at 8:20pm — No Comments

Indigenous DNA - The Year 2060

By the year 2060 most humans have genetically altered their DNA to protect themselves from cancer, environmental toxins and increasingly virulent strains of bacteria and fungal infections.


People in lesser developed countries are more likely to have "native DNA" and would be considered truly indigenous. Likewise some people in developed countries, a rapidly shrinking population, have unaltered DNA.


This poses an interesting and challenging set of…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 10, 2010 at 4:01am — No Comments

A Vaquero's Riata - the Interweaving of Indigenous People



The Spanish riata is a long braided rope made of rawhide. It is tough, stiff and excellent for roping cattle. I chose this project for my Secret Object because it brings to mind the early days of European settlement in California.



I used brown paper packing tape instead of rawhide. I colored the center strip brown…

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Added by Phil Houtz on May 10, 2010 at 3:38am — No Comments

Children's Games - A Rich Yet Disappearing Subculture

Anyone who has ever recited the rhyme "teacher, teacher I declare, I see someone's underwear" has taken part in a rich yet mysterious subculture. Children's games, riddles a rhymes exist in a world of their own in parallel with the adult culture that surrounds them. By and large these artifacts are passed from child to child without adult intervention. In fact, adults all too often forget the hopscotch and jumprope chants of their childhood.


New forms of childhood activity…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 9, 2010 at 9:57pm — 3 Comments

Futurecity Ventura: Collaborative Mixed-Use and Education as a Pillar of Community



View Future Ventura in a larger map


The city of San Buenaventura has population of around 107,000 and is situated between Santa Barbara to the North and Los Angeles to the South. The city has a moderately dense…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 9, 2010 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Moving the Region Toward a Sustainable Future

I know that my city, Ventura, California with a population around 170,000 has done some innovative planning in the past. The result has been a commitment to development by infilling empty spaces within the city with higher density mixed use properties.


On the other hand there remain some big problems, particularly with public transit, that seem to be largely unaddressed.


I was surprised to find that there is a…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 9, 2010 at 2:19pm — No Comments

Deadly Fungus Outbreak Hits Five West Coast Cities

In 2012 a mysterious and almost always fatal respiratory disease overwhelms the city of Seattle. Within days it is seen in Portland, Eugene and as far south as San Francisco. The outbreaks are so sudden and widespread that at first a terrorism attack is suspected.


Using Ushahidi the Center for Disease Control is able to quickly collect data and begin the work of epidemiology. The cause…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 9, 2010 at 1:32am — No Comments

From Soccer Star to World-Changer

What began as a game for Shawna Kigali has turned into so much more. At first soccer was simply a way to spend time with her friends when Shawna was done with chores. But thanks to the organization Women's Football for Unity, Shawna's team was able to practice regularly and compete against other villages in her… Continue

Added by Phil Houtz on May 8, 2010 at 5:47pm — No Comments

Supporting Women Football Coaches in Rawanda

I'm trying to move through this quickly, yet take it seriously. And I'm not flooded with cash. So what to do?




By involving women in this pastime once considered a male-only activity it is…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 8, 2010 at 5:18pm — 1 Comment

Using Fun and Games to Empower Women

Women's rights are a serious matter but that doesn't mean that people can't have fun along the way. UNICEF and sister organization UNAIDS have formed a partnership with the International Cricket Council to involve young Namibian girls in the sport of cricket.


Cricket helps teach the girls self-discipline and gives them a passion for involvement in a larger community. By adopting the lifestyle of an athlete these girls have an alternative to the gender roles in their…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 8, 2010 at 5:05pm — No Comments

ZapCard - Fungible Energy Transfer



A revolution in nanotechnology has greatly increased the storage capacity of batteries. A battery the size of a credit card can power a laptop computer for 24 hours.



Better battery carrying capacity combined with the cascading climate crisis has led to electricity as a fungible product. ZapCards, small…

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Added by Phil Houtz on May 8, 2010 at 4:35pm — No Comments

Kickstarting a Barter System

I pledged $1 to Trade School on Kickstarter.


From their description: "At Trade School, students barter for instruction. We turn storefront space into a platform for learning, a place where enthusiasts and specialists teach in exchange for basic items from students. Anyone can offer to teach a class. Students sign up for cla**** by agreeing to meet the teacher's barter needs. We ran Trade School for 35 days and we want to open…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 8, 2010 at 3:51pm — No Comments

Ubiquitous Computing and the Post-Scarcity Economy

Writer Jason Stoddard foresees a future in which scarcity itself becomes scarce. This not a new concept, Buckminster Fuller believed that scarcity was unnecessary in the presence of the abundant energy available from the sun. Humanity simply needs to accept end of scarcity and begin working accordingly.


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Added by Phil Houtz on May 8, 2010 at 6:09am — 1 Comment

Fish Race Across America

Six steelhead trout will race across the United States in specially designed plexiglass tubes to highlight the need for clean water around the world. Six parallel 100 mile tubes will be assembled, disassembled and re-assembled along a 3148 mile course from August, Maine to Los Angeles, California. The tubes will be transported by human-powered freight trucks.


Fresh water for the fish will be provided at key points by solar powered mobile grey water reclamation plants. These…
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Added by Phil Houtz on May 8, 2010 at 1:17am — No Comments

Latest Activity

Ning Admin is now a member of Urgent Evoke
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Sep 25, 2020
Sophie C. commented on Asger Jon Vistisen's blog post Stinging Nettle
"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
Aug 19, 2020
Meghan Mulvey posted a blog post

Fourth of July on the Lake

This past weekend was the annual celebration at the lake house in Connecticut. It is amazing that the lake is still so clear and beautiful after all these years. The watershed association has done a wonderful job protecting these waters from the damaging effects of development.The wood grill was finally ready to cook on, so we didn't miss the propane tank fueled grill anymore. The food actually tasted fresher than in the past and was easy to keep fueled.Dad was very proud of the solar hybrid…See More
Jul 6, 2020
Asger Jon Vistisen posted a blog post

Stinging Nettle

In this blog post I will focus on a plant that is abundant in our nature, and which is immensely nutritious. It's of course the Stinging Nettle. Let's start with the chemical constituents of this plant:37 % Non-Nitrogen-Extracts19 - 29 % Ash9 - 21 % Fiber4 % Fat22 % ProteinOnce the leaves are drid, their protein content can reach an astounding 40 %, which is much higher than beef, which even under the best of circ**stances can never exceed 31 % protein. In addition the Stinging Nettle consists…See More
Apr 13, 2020
Jonathon McCallum posted a blog post

The meal

It is 7'oclock, I was late home from work due to an assignment that i wanted to get ahead on. By the time I get home I am feeling extremley tired and I cannot be bothered to make a proper meal. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what there is for me to eat. All of the out of date foodstuffs have been automaticaly thrown away by the fridge, they will be recycled tomorrow as animal feed or something. I see i have organic local eggs and some local cheese. Foods are vacc** sealded for easy…See More
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Mar 1, 2020
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Future

FutureToday is 2020/1/1. It is just like yesterday. The war is still continuing. It has started since 2010. In 2010, that year was a horrible year. Almost every energy ran out. Every country’s governments were crushed down at the same time. There were riots everywhere. All of the big company’s bosses were killed xdeadx in the riots. Troops fought each other everywhere. Food was bought up xawayx at once. There were no more food supplies in any shops. The economy was all crushed down. All the…See More
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The exchange works directly for state and public workers and servants. It gives them credit in exchange for the amount of public work they contribute to the community. The more constructive they are based off a base rate the more credit they recieve.
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