Part of our Team in Copenhagen
Project Survival Media launched forward in August 2009 after a successful launch party that raised nearly $1000.00 and celebrated the birth of a global youth journalism network.
Our first Team Leader conference call represented India, Singapore, Lebanon, Egypt, Togo, Argentina, Brazil, England, the Netherlands, Australia, the US, and Canada. We soon released our application for the general teams and within 16 days we received 200 applications, testament to the need our program was beginning to fill.
By November we had raised $46,000.00 and at the end of our program we had engaged nearly a hundred youth journalists, brought a team of 18 young people to Copenhagen, and produced blogs, photo essays, and 6 mini-documentaries.
Even though Copenhagen was an extreme disappointment, failing to secure a fair and binding international climate deal, the negotiations were an important step in building an international civil movement. PSM was an important player in this effort, using new-media tactics and tools to urge passage of policies that “safeguard the survival of all countries and peoples.” Our bottom line: To make sure that the survival message of peoples around the world penetrated the political dialogue.
Project Survival Media was created for young people to report on these very issues and strengthen the dialogue on what is possible in order to ensure our survival. We are launching a new part of the program focused on solutions, which we hope will draw some big attention on the cutting edge technologies, ways of thinking, and opportunities out there for our local communities and national governments to replicate. We hope to answer the all too important question of the year, “Do we have to invest in dirty energies because we just don’t have enough clean energy available.”
Project Survival Media’s success on a tight time line and shoe string budget in mobilizing youth journalists, shows that our new program Solutions for Survival is also set up for success. The youth we worked with are hungry for a program like this to continue.
We will take their enthusiasm for reporting on climate change and combine it with new direction and a new program to focus on solutions, especially, solutions of women. With the talent of our story tellers, we will create transformative media that could not come at a more important time.
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