The Planet Forward Environmental Media Lab is a new initiative designed to bring students of environmental storytelling out of the classroom and into the wild. Our programs inspire students to the see the natural world not just as a beautiful canvas, but as a living, breathing ecosystem where stories come to life. Our media projects are designed as teaching tools for classrooms, conferences, and community gatherings.
We can’t wait to start sharing these opportunities and experiences with you!
An environmental storytelling incubator to drive student learning
Since before the earliest written poems, humans’ relationship with the natural world has been a site of contest and respite. From negotiating the wilderness, stewarding lands, navigating waters; our role on this planet has been evaluated through song, story, and depiction for as long as we’ve conceived of medium.
As protections for natural spaces across the planet face increasing threats and uncertainty, stories that address the urgency of our current moment hold an important position in inspiring and informing public opinion.
The Lab is intended to increase impacts for students of environmental storytelling by including them in professional production teams creating short documentaries, providing hands-on resources to these students, and taking them out of the classroom and into the wilderness to put cutting edge storytelling into practice.
Our students not only learn current technologies but bring them outside and use them to capture the bounty of the natural world. Whether photographing the breadth of remote vistas, filming a herd of bison gathered by a babbling creek, or recording the rustle of trees animated by a rising wind, students gain skills and professional development while surrounded by a stunning natural canvas.
Students practice filmmaking skills at Vermejo Reserve in New Mexico.
Our three main areas of impact are:
Expanded Experiential Learning opportunities for post-secondary students across the United States.
Producing short environmental documentaries with student help to be used as teaching tools in workshops, classrooms, and conferences.
Biannual storytelling award cycles for Planet Forward Pillar School students via the SELF Award for independent projects.
The Environmental Media Lab is guided by Planet Forward Sr. Producer Aaron Dye. Dye is an award-winning filmmaker with an MFA in Documentary Production and Studies from the University of North Texas. Our projects are supported by Planet Forward’s experienced team including Associate Director Kim Ossi, Program Coordinator Jamila O’Hara, and our Founding Director Frank Sesno.
As a project of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, our mission is guided by a constellation of support across GW’s journalism school, The GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future, and our intrepid development team.
Moving the Planet Forward, One Story at a Time
Our upcoming projects include application-based Experiential Learning Trips, revamped access and support for the Planet Forward Experiential Learning Fund, and the production of a short documentary about sustainability in Alaska.
Check out the projects from our most recent Experiential Learning Trips to Vermejo, New Mexico here. And stay tuned for announcements for applications to our next trips!
The Planet Forward Environmental Media Lab is made possible with the support of The George Washington University, The NorthLight Foundation, and others. All editorial content is published independently.
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