JenniferOladipo.com

Environmental stories for radio? Yes, please. I just inished my first fast and dirty lesson in radio production the at our local public radio studio.  There was even a little bit of “acting” involved - or rather, some gesticulating that somehow helps you sound more human.  Though it was very basic, the other two print reporters and I came out with our own 47-second (ish) pieces. The curtain of mystery has been removed and I’m ready to start learning radio. It’s fun.

Our gracious coach, WFPL reporter Kristin Espeland Gourlay, let it be known that she had ulterior motives, namely encouraging us to contribute to the new Ohio River Radio Consortium. It’s coverage area is Ohio River watershed (freelancers, listen up).

I love that the consortium’s coverage area is defined by a natural feature, as opposed to political lines. As its brochure says, “just as the watershed ignores states lines, so does pollution.

I’m a long way from sounding like the local and national reporters I admire, but at least today I got my start. More to come on environmental reporting for radio.

This Saturday I’ll be on a panel at Bluegrass Bioneers conference talkin’ environmental journalism alongside two great journalists. And there will be plenty more to see and hear throughout the weekend, live and via satellite from Cali.

From the website:

Bluegrass Bioneers 2009 (bb2009.org) - presented by BEcreative, Rauch Planetarium, and the University of Louisville Center for Environmental Education - is the southeast’s Beaming Bioneers incarnation and is based in Louisville, KY. Louisville is proud to be a 2009 Bioneers satellite city (the only satellite city within 350 miles in any direction). The 3-day conference will be held at the Rauch Planetarium (Google Map Link) and on the UofL campus, October 16th-18th.

Bluegrass Bioneers 2009 will combine national plenary speakers and experts beamed in via satellite from California with live local & regional speakers, experts, and performances for an entertaining and enriching event that encourages innovative, creative solutions to help Louisville and the mid-west build a more just and sustainable society. Issues covered locally will include: MTR/ENERGY, SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, GREEN MEDIA & ECO-ART, LAND USE & TRANSPORTATION, BUILT ENVIRONMENT, POLICY & ACTIVISM, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION, and OTHERS.

On a national level, Bioneers is an inspired and inspiring annual 3-day conference in Northern California of more than 3,000 social, scientific, and environmental innovators working to create a more just and sustainable world for humanity. The website is www.bioneers.org and the organization’s tagline is “Revolution from the Heart of Nature.

See you there!

I had a long chat about Gandhi with his grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi, over lunch a year and a half ago. He and I were among 50 or so people invited to gather for a weekend in New York and discuss how Gandhi’s principle of satyagraha, which dubbed his movement for social change, related to the human approach to climate change. Satyagraha means “grasping to truth” or “truth force.” Most of the people there, like Rajmohan Gandhi, had been doing incredible work worldwide for decades, and I’m still amazed when I think about having been invited. The details of that lunch conversation escape me now, but I do recall how well he articulated the connection between his grandfather’s work (he was the elder Gandhi’s biographer)  and the future of environmental stewardship.

So that’s what I’m thinking of today, Gandhi’s birthday. I also can’t help but consider the many people I’ve met since then who will never reach Gandhi-status, but are similarly defined by their life’s work of righting wrongs and writing wrongs, of voicing truths, or of reminding the world about those tangible and intangible treasures that threaten to disappear if we don’t remain vigilant. If we don’t remain grateful. Some of you are those people, and I thank you for the inspiration.

Read Mohandas Gandhi’s writings here. This site is packed. I can’t vouch for it 100%, but it seems valid.

It’s not just blood diamonds.

I’ve been assisting on a project of the Majora Carter Group to bring a green economic empowerment plan to a small group of the thousands of rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has meant becoming more aware of the intersection of war, sexual violence, and natural resources.

Right now, 10 a.m. EST, the Diane Rehm Show is discussing these issues, as well as some history of the decade-long conflict, and how the rest of the world, including the United States, is implicated in the conflict. Hint: if you’ve got a cell phone, or you’re reading this on a laptop, it’s got to do with you. Google coltan, for starters.

The big motivation for this is Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s visit to Congo Monday. The shows are are archived and it’s been really informative so far, so you can check it out at www.drshow.org if you’ve missed it.

At the Society of Professional Jounalists awards ceremony last night in Louisville, biggest ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’ moments came after a couple of brief power outages caused by thunderstorms. We couldn’t really hear the ruckus outside, insulated as we were in a room at the Louisville Zoo, chatting loudly in a room just above an orangutan, tapir and other endangered or threatened species in the Islands exhibit.

Then came the rapid-fire award announcements. I won 2nd place in the Continuing Coverage in the Newspaper/Wire category for my environmental reporting at LEO. I’ve been trying to forge something of an environment beat there, and I guess I have in the eyes of judges in some midwestern state somewhere.

It was fun being a freelancer at the event, having ties to more than one publication. The schmingling (schmoozing + mingling) was good. So were the brownies. Another freelancer buddy of mine, about eight months pregnant, wondered aloud who would get the story out first if she went into labor during one of the power outages. We decided it would probably be the bloggers.

I’ll be covering the Dream Reborn conference in April 4-6 in Memphis. I’m looking forward to meeting many of the people who have been making a push for “green collar jobs,” which they say are good for the poor and good for the planet, not to mention the national economy. They include people like Van Jones with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, and Majora Carter of Sustainable South Bronx in New York.

The program shows forums on topics ranging from environmental justice to food security, as well as media primers for activists. The online description notes that “Special emphasis will be placed on ecological solutions that can heal the Earth while bringing jobs, justice, wealth and health to ALL of our communities.”

Green collar is not quite there, but well on its way to reaching buzz word status, especially since the President Bush signed the Green Jobs Act of 2007 into law in December, authorizing up to $125 million for state and federal job training programs.

It’ll be great to learn a bit more at the conference about how viable a green economy is, and what’s happening around the country to make it a reality. Organizers are trying to pin down and clarify just what makes a green collar job now, before the definition becomes too watered down and fuzzy.

This is going to be, in a word, awesome. I’ve been awarded an Environmental Reporting Fellowship at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in May. Journalists will spend a week learning about “tropical ecosystems … deep background in tropical ecology to enhance the accuracy of reporting on science and environmental issues.” There will be opportunities to interview scientists and other specialists working at the congressional-chartered nonprofit.

This particular journalist will be sure to spend some free time soaking up information about medicinal indigenous plant species.