In my role as an academic (and as a board member of Filmmakers for Conservation,) I have occasion to speak on issues of the relationship between mass media and conservation.
Below are examples from previous years of my theoretical observations and practical applications in this area.
Madidi Monkey Name Auction
At the the 2006 Wildscreen Festival I was interviewed about a WCS project I helped produce - featuring a unique application of broadcasting and on-line media to raise awarness and funds for the protection of a new primate species in Boliva. (Thanks to Amanda Theunissen and Wildscreen for this clip)
Click to play - 4 min.
... How Television Can be the Environment's Worst Enemy
Many years ago Neil Postman advised me that the best way to get picked to speak at a conference is to find out the title of the keynote speech and then write one arguing the opposite.
At the BKSTS Wildlife Filmmaker's Symposium, held in Bath in 1989, Jonathan Porrit (then president of Friends of the Earth, UK) was giving a speech on "The Greening of Television - how TV can be the environment's best friend." From a Media Ecology perspective, I wrote "The Browning of Television ..." Which was published the next year in BBC Wildlife under the less confrontational title "Slums of the Global Village"
I am currently wrting an updated version addressing the question "can the new digital media be friends of the environment?"
click to open
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