Since taking on the role of Team Leader for North America / East Coast a few months ago, I have had the fortune of working with a lot of driven, inspiring people. Together we harnessed the power of new media to produce and distribute meaningful content that addressed local issues of global relevance, raising awareness of the challenges we all face in adapting to climate change, and sending a message to the United Nations negotiators that the world can not and will not wait any longer for progress to be made.
Noting the degree of consciousness shifting society around us, our media focused on what people are doing for the movement toward sustainability: activism, alternative energy, and green jobs. Everyone on our team agreed that it was more productive and inspiring to look at solutions rather than listen to dooms-day predictions, and that made the pursuit of our stories charged with excitement. It was a lot of fun to work hard with a group of people driven by meaningful purpose, and the result of our efforts was very rewarding.
We used borrowed gear, shared our skills, and supported one another in jumping hurdles along the winding way between idea and product. It wouldn’t have worked just fifteen years ago– our team was spread across the Eastern United States, brought together by virtual technologies like Skype and Google Docs. To move large video files across distances, we used Wistia media server technology, with an account donated by the good folks at Animal LLC, a digital media design studio in Providence, Rhode Island.
I’m proud of what we have accomplished so far, but I also feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more stories that need to be told, and the urgency of learning to grapple with the effects of climate change is increasing daily. In the quest for a sustainable civilization we need to work together, harness technologies, share our resources, and survival will be our profit. Project Survival Media is a prime example of people doing that, and I’m grateful for having been a part of it.