Women Making Waves - Global Women's Water Initiative

Hello everyone, this is Cella, one of the teen interns for Earthscope Media. On Thursday, October 25th, I had the pleasure of attending the Women Making Waves/Global Women's Water Initiative (GWWI) presentation  (by the wonderful organizations Women's Earth Alliance and Crabgrass) at the Brower Center, and interviewing the amazing and inspiring founder of  GWWI, Gemma Bulos.

GWWI was formed in order to address the need to involve women in water and sanitation efforts and decisions in their communities. Since 2008, GWWI has organized trainings in East and West Africa, and has trained 92 women; providing them with the knowledge, tools, and technologies necessary to establish sustainable water and sanitation strategies in their communities. Through the organization, women are taught to build water tanks, toilets, and water filters. GWWI's main goals (many of which have already been successfully implemented) are: reducing waterborne diseases, improving education for girls, helping communities save money, and enabling women's voices to be heard.
Gemma Bulos, the founder of GWWI, became inspired to start the organization after singing at the United Nation's Water For Life Conference: she learned that 1.2 billion people did not have access to water, and 3-5 million people were dying of waterborne diseases. Whilst developing GWWI, it was clear to Gemma that the women who would be participating in the organization (women with less luxuries than most Americans are accustomed to) are incredibly resourceful, and all she needed to do was expose them to these wonderful technologies, and allow the women to utilize them in their communities. Gemma maintains a loving and respectful attitude towards the women she works with, as opposed to the often condescending attitude of many other organizations, and believes that one of the reasons GWWI is so effective is because they approach the women they train with a mentality of serving, not saving. Due to her inspiring sense of humility and determination, Gemma was, indeed, the single drop of water (like that in the GWWI symbol pictured above) that lead to waves of change.

The interview with Gemma Bulos will be posted soon! If you'd like to learn more about GWWI & Gemma now, please visit GWWI - About Us.

2012 Brower Youth Awards

Hello, 
    I'm Hailey a teen intern for Earthscope Media. I'm posting today about our amazing experience on October 23, at the 13th Annual Brower Youth Awards. 

    Since 2000, The Brower Youth Awards has recognized bold young environmental leaders immersed in visionary, strategic, and powerful leadership and activism. Each year out of over 3000 applicants age 13-22 six are selected for recognition. Chosen by the selection committee (including activists, educators, journalists, and environmental advocates), with the support of the Brower Youth Alumni, and the Earth Island Institute staff. The Honorees receive a $3,000 cash prize and travel to the Bay Area for the Awards week which holds amazing speaking opportunities to promote their accomplishments. They also gain access to resources, mentors, and training to help ensure their continued success.

    At the 2012 Brower Youth Awards in San Francisco we had the pleasure of interviewing two of this years honorees. Brittany Stallworth of Maryland, age 21; was awarded for campaigning and educating for food and environmental justice. Ryland King of California, age 22; was awarded for educating the youth on environmental awareness through his organization Sprout Up. Before the awards ceremony Ms. Stallworth and Mr. King were able to answer some questions about their achievements, the motivation and goals behind their environmental work, as well as their plans for the future. 

    The recordings of these interviews will be posted soon, I highly recommend taking a moment to listen to them. Their stories as well as those of the other award winners are truly inspiring and exemplify the impact an individual can make on the health and protection of the Earth. We all have the power to make a difference.

For more information on The Brower Youth Awards, and a complete list of the 2012 Award winners. Please Visit www.broweryouthawards.org

Friends of Eel River

Hi

I’m India and I’m one of the teen interns for EarthScope Media!

EarthScope Media and the Teen Environmental Journalism Program teaches students critical communication skills, brings diverse voices to the media, and provides the public with essential information about the environment. Our Media program, which was featured in National Geographic Kids Magazine, provides in -depth job training to high school youth in journalism. Many of our students have gone on to become professional journalists since the program’s inception in 1999. All of the students gain confidence, employment experience and marketable communication, technology and leadership skills.


This last week we had the fortune of interviewing Nadananda, founder of the Friends of Eel River Organization. She began this program when she heard that the Eel River river, that used to be the largest producer of salmon in the state, was dead. She was astound to hear this and decided to educate herself and research why this was occurring. Just at a glance the Eel River seemed flowing and healthy but upon closer inspection she found that was not the case. What she uncovered was that the river wasn’t quite dead, but it was dangerously close, due to major fishing and logging. In order to save the Eel River, people needed to be brought together and fight for its survival and rehabilitation.

By becoming aware about how important the environment, it changes peoples prospective on nature and makes their cause for helping it more meaningful. “Getting people reconnected with the earth,” she said, “and…learning and understanding how the environment systems work…how a little spring will then create a little creek, that will then become a bigger stream, that then joins the bigger river…and in the process people start really caring about the land.” To learn more about Friends of Eel River and how to get involved, visit http://eelriver.org/ .