|
EarthVision had barely kicked off Thursday evening when Gillian Caldwell, a filmmaker, lawyer, Co-founder of Witness and current Campaign Director for 1Sky arrived to speak about creative strategies for using video and the internet to advocate for the environment. Before her presentation, Caldwell took a few minutes to talk with SCA staffer Teresa Shipley about her background in videography, how others can get started in the medium, and why technology is still no substitute for old-fashioned face time.
 How did you get into videography?
I grew up in the back of an art gallery in Soho so I had a lot of early exposure to visual imagery and to the power of images to affect you. I came across a chance to work with…a friend of a friend who had been investigating the trade in Siberian tiger pelts in the Russian Far East. This was 1995, and he invited me to work with him to design a campaign which would involve an undercover investigation, using hidden cameras and video technology, into mafia involvement in trafficking women for forced prostitution. So we went undercover for a year and I produced a film called “Bought and Sold,” and used that as a part of a major international advocacy campaign which led to federal legislation. Through that, I got connected to Witness. Witness focuses on donating video cameras to human rights groups and helping them use video and advocacy.
Why is video so important for getting the message out?
I think we are all inundated in a very multi-media rich environment with content all the time. The question is how do you break through the clutter and really make a connection with people and inspire them to get engaged, and not just confront them with the horrible realities of the world? Video has the power and authenticity and a narrative potential that’s really enormous if you use it well.
How should young people get started?
The FLIPthat [SCA] is giving out are really point-and-shoot, a very inexpensive scenario. The nice thing about the FLIP is that it’s an easy to use camera with a built in USB port so you can record just a little bit of FLIP, whether it’s a place that you’re working to preserve, or a community impacted by a planned coal-fired power plant. Upload the imagery to your Facebook account or to an online platform, contextualize it with a blog, connect people to a link, an opportunity to get active and engaged, sign a petition, join a conversation in a congressional district… There are lots of ways in which people can make their personal passions more manifested and more visible and more potent by using video cameras.
Many say this is the most socially disconnected generation, and yet conversely the most connected technology-wise. What are your thoughts on that?
It’s almost impossible to imagine a life without email, and I think it’s also difficult to calculate, because we’re experiencing it in real time, what kind of impact it’s having on our lives and the social fabric of our country and the world. On the upside, it connects us readily, instantaneously, and very inexpensively, which is a huge boon for nonprofits. On the other hand, email as well as the online environment can become a substitute for face-to-face human engagement, and I don’t think there is any substitute for that in terms of how we develop as human beings and how we nourish and sustain communities. The most effective uses of online territories are ones that have offline components and enable people in an online environment to stimulate, for example, meet-ups as a vehicle.
How do you see the environment as related to human rights?
It’s integrally related, and I think it’s actually a big problem that climate change has been sequestered in an environmental box. I came from a life-long passion around human rights and humanitarian work, and I still see myself as doing human rights-related work. People say ‘Oh, you’re an environmentalist now.’ It’s not a primary identity for me. As a species and an ecosystem, we are fundamentally interdependent and we cannot afford to compartmentalize any more. I think people are starting to understand that.
What resources would you recommend for young people to learn more about videography?
Witness.org is an amazing resource. It is oriented towards people doing human rights-related work, broadly defined. You can download either a video or a manual that will teach you how to shoot, frame, focus, and record sound using a video camera. You can also download a manual called video for change, which will explain technically and tactically how you can integrate video into advocacy. The Witness Web site now contains participatory media environment, like a YouTube for human rights, where people can upload content and create communities and petitions and opportunities for discussion and engagement around issues.
Tell me about 1Sky.
1Sky is a new, highly collaborative national campaign to pass bold federal legislation to tackle global warming. The policy platform that we’re pushing for is well beyond what’s being discussed in Washington D.C., vis-à-vis the Warner-Lieberman bill or any other legislation. We are standing by the scientists, like James Hansen, who is a keynote speaker at [EarthVision] and renowned NASA scientist, who says we need at least 25 percent cuts in carbon emissions by 2020 and at least 80 percent by 2050. We’re also pushing for five million new green jobs through a massive energy conservation wave…and for a moratorium on new coal-fire power plants.
What are some innovative solutions that 1Sky is using to accomplish its mission?
I would describe it as a “clicks and mortar” campaign rather than a bricks and mortar campaign… We have a national call to action for Mother’s Day, which is to make your mother proud by calling for stewardship of the planet. A goal is for hundreds of groups around the country to create images and murals which they’ll send on a piece of fabric to the 1Sky office, which will be delivered to the congressional districts. Those murals will reflect why climate matters and why communities around the country are standing up to say we have to make a difference.
 |
About SCA 
Subscribe to this comment's feed