NEW STORIES & NEW REALITIES TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE & CHANGE THE WORLD NOW

This week we are featuring the most beautiful things happening in the world of Virtual Reality (VR). We begin with at look some of the new ways VR is helping to make the “real” world a better place.

If you could experience the worst hardships of our world yourself, would it cause you to take action to help others facing the same? If world leaders could feel what it’s like to live with hunger, thirst, homelessness, disease, and terror, would they make policy changes that would improve the lives of millions for whom this is a reality now?

CLOUDS OVER SIDRA

While most people consider VR to be all about gaming, it is proving to be an effective tool in solving helping people to understand social and environmental issues and to take action.

Milk and Patrick Milling Smith co-founded California-based VR production company Vrse.works which has recently focused on social realities. Milk and Smith consider VR to be the “ultimate empathy machine.”

Vrse.works partnered the UN to produce videos that can help people to understand the everyday reality of ordinary people caught up in the crises of war, poverty, disease, and other catastrohic circumstance. The hope is that this will inspire action, form new policies and raise funding.

Clouds over Sidra, one of Vrse.works’ latest VR productions brings viewers into the home of Sidra, a 12-year-old Syrian refugee who lives among 90,000 others in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

The film enables people to take an immersive 360° tour of refugee camps and settlements to inspire them pledge more humanitarian relief. So far many have been extraordinarily moved. Operators have literally found when they collected headsets after viewings that they were filled with tears. Further evidence --the film has already raised almost $4 billion.

The UN distributed smartphones and headsets to participants at the World Economic Forum, taking place right now in Davos, Switzerland. Diplomats and global decision-makers will be able to virtually experience harsh “realities” themselves, enabling a new level of understanding of what it’s like to desperately need food, water, shelter and other essential services.

The global refugee crisis is being described as the worst since World War II. It’s not just a matter for governments to deal with. We can -- and must -- all help. 

This past November, The New York Times mailed 1.1 million Google Cardboard headsets to its print subscribers so that they could optimally experience Clouds Over Sidra. But you can access it also here from your smartphone and still get an awesome experience.

In a recent call to action, the White House recently featured Clouds Over Sidra in a campaign. Please visit the official website here to experience this yourself and to find out how you can help millions of refugees around the world.

WAVES OF GRACE

Put yourself in the shoes of Decontee Davis, an Ebola survivor who uses her immunity to care for orphaned children in her village, in Waves of Grace, a new VR experience by director Chris Milk and Gabo Arora, featured at Sundance Film Festival 2016.

As Liberia struggles to recover and rebuild from their catastrophic Ebola outbreak, it’s important to remember, that while the story has died down in the news, Ebola is still very much a threat we all face and must deal with.

Read more about Beautiful Reality, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Waves of Grace.
2. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Clouds Over Sidra.
3. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Clouds Over Sidra.
4. Image: Courtesy of World Economic Forum. World premiere collective viewing of the virtual reality film Collisions.
5. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Clouds Over Sidra.
6. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Clouds Over Sidra.
7. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Clouds Over Sidra.
8. Image: Courtesy of TEDxYouth@KL. TEDxYouth@KL participants experienced Clouds Over Sidra at UNICEF's booth.
9. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Clouds Over Sidra.
10. Image: by Detlef La Grand. Google Cardboard.
11. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Clouds Over Sidra.
12. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Waves of Grace.
13. Image: Courtesy of Vrse.works. Waves of Grace.
14. Image: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival.
15. Image: by BN App - Download now!
16. Image: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival.