A multi-disciplinary team of Whittier College professors is curating a series of documentaries and creating the accompanying educational curricula that explore human rights and the environmental protection and conservation issues that result from global development and climate change in Asia.
This effort is part of a three-year multi-media project—The Global Environmental Justice Collection. The initial release of the project in the summer of 2018 will gather stories from Asia, with support from the Henry Luce Foundation, and from North America with support from Face to Face Media and the Global Reporting Centre. Films exploring environmental justice issues in North America will be selected by Professor Amity Doolittle at Yale University. Additional documentaries from Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the Near East will follow in a subsequent phase.
Professor Rebecca Overmyer-Velazquez is the faculty coordinator for the Whittier team.
“Protecting natural resources, restoring ecosystems, dealing with the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations: these are global concerns that students will have to live with throughout their careers,” said Overmyer-Velazquez. “Documentaries can help us to see that we have common problems that need common solutions.”
Face to Face Media producer Gary Marcuse adds, “With the support of the filmmakers, the faculty, and the Luce Foundation, we’ll deliver dozens of documentaries online at an affordable subscription cost that will encourage widespread use.”