Media Fund 2010

The Irish media have a key role to play in informing public debate on sustainable development. The Comhar Sustainable Development Media Fund 2010 aims to secure more and better coverage of sustainability issues in the Irish media.

The Media Fund 2010 offered two funding streams:

1. Funding for media practitioners – to produce and publish / broadcast media projects focusing on sustainable development issues.
2. Funding for capacity-builders – to deliver an event aimed at increasing the capacity of media practitioners to understand and effectively cover sustainable development issues.

Overall, Comhar SDC received over 30 applications in 2010– an increase of 100 per cent from the year before. Out of these, almost half were selected to receive funding. Some of the projects include an animated film on how to achieve a low carbon future; a radio documentary on sustainable development and carbon neutrality in Sweden and Costa Rica; and a photographic exhibition on Ireland’s green movement. Comhar SDC Media Fund recipients must also commit to employing sustainable practices in delivering their projects.

Projects that were awarded funding by Comhar Sustainable Development Council (SDC) Media Fund 2010 were showcased at the Sustainable Environment Fair in the Botanic Gardens on Sunday the 15th of May 2011.

Media Fund 2010 Projects

To date a number of projects supported by the 2010 Media Fund have been broadcast and published.

Resilient Cities and the Carbon Neutral Race
Susan Cahill, radio producer with Newstalk 106 - 108, received funding to produce a multimedia project on sustainable development in Ireland, Sweden, and Costa Rica.

The project has resulted in a documentary ‘Pura Vida: Resilient Cities & Carbon Neutral Race’ in which Susan travels to some of the most unique carbon neutral locations in the world – to see if countries as diverse as Costa Rica in Central America and Sweden in Northern Europe can reduce their carbon footprint by 2021. ‘Pura Vida’ highlights the opportunities available in renewable energy for mitigating the catastrophic affects of climate change and showcases some of the best global examples from Costa Rica and Sweden. A slideshow was produced to exhibit some of the photographs taken on the trip.

Susan has also produced 

• a report on Newstalk's show, 'Lunchtime', to mark International Car Free Day which falls annually on 22nd September,
• a package on Malmo as a carbon neutral city on Newstalk's 'Culture Shock' on 18th November,
• a feature on ‘The Wide Angle’ which focused on Costa Rica as a carbon neutral state and its goal to go carbon neutral by 2021,
• an interview with Jessica Webb of The Rainforest Alliance Costa Rica from the atmospheric Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in central Costa Rica,
• a package on how the Irish Franciscan missionary movement is supporting the homeless and destitute of Costa Rica,
• and a package on ‘Global Village’ which featured an interview with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and founder of The Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice (MRFCJ), on climate justice, climate change and food security
  

You can listen to some of the clips below.

International Car Free Day clip:


Malmo as a Carbon Neutral City clip:


You can listen to rest of the clips on the Pura Vida website.

Susan has also produced a photo-slide show from her trip to Costa Rica, which is available to view here:



Timpeall Orainn
Cian Mac Cárthaigh received funding to produce a radio documentary series documenting on how to build sustainable communities, specially focusing on the community based project, 'Navan Facelift', the 'Green Schools' campaign in schools in Dublin, and people in Dublin’s perception of the ‘Electric Car’. The series was presented by Cian and Macdara Ó Maolmhuaidh, and included contributions from Richie O’Domhnaill (Director of ‘The Pipe’); Peadar Kirby (University of Limerick); Michael Ó Cinneide (Environmental Protection Agency); Darragh Ó Tuama (Motoring Expert); Peadar Kirby (Navan Facelift); volunteers from Raidió Na Life and students from St. Joesph of Cluny Secondary School Killiney, Co. Dublin

The radio documentary series was broadcast on Dublin’s Irish Language station ‘Raidió Na Life 106.4FM’ www.raidionalife.ie.

To listen to the first part of the series, click here:


To listen to the second part of the series, click here:


To listen to the third part of the series, click here:



How to grown your own community
Radio producer, Emma McDermott, received funding to produce a 30min radio documentary on the Moville Community Garden, situated in an area encompassing four housing estates. The documentary highlighted the benefits the community project has seen to date, including increased biodiversity, reduced carbon footprint and improved diet and nutrition awareness. The documentary was broadcast on Inishowen Community Radio on 24th December. You can listen to clips from the documentary below:


Clip 1:


Clip 2:



Growing on the Inside
Valerie Flynn received funding to produce ‘Growing on the Inside’, which is a radio documentary about ‘Growing for Life’ – an initiative run by the Eden Project in UK prisons. The project examines the theme of building sustainable communities from a rehabilitation perspective and addresses the lessons that can be learned in the Irish context.

Surfing the Waves of Change
Cultivate created a film called ‘Surfing the Waves of Change’. It is a 9-minute animation which, using surfing as a metaphor, introduces the concept of community resilience. The film explores how we can best take the steps to ensure that the places where we are living have the ability to get by in times of abrupt change and are brilliant places to live. It was supported by Trocaire, Comhar SDC Media Fund and Carnegie Trust UK. It is available on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdv_iAa5rnk&feature

The film accompanies a new publication from Carnegie UK Trust called, ‘Exploring Community Resilience in Times of Rapid Change’.  It is available http://resilience.cultivate.ie

Food Politics
Freelance journalist, David Ralph, received funding to examine the slow food movement in Ireland and sustainable food systems with a special focus on those who produce, consume and advocate for alternatives to the mainstream food production chain.

His project resulted in an article in Metro Eireann and is available here.

Passive Buildings
Architect, Frances Power, received funding to document the passive building movement in Austria and Ireland. She focused specifically on passive school buildings in Austria and compared them to their Irish counterparts. More information about Frances Power's work is available at www.fpa.ie.

The project resulted in print articles in The Irish Times and the Sunday Business Post.

The Green Box
Freelance photographer, Ines Billings, received funding to produce a documentary photographic exhibition on the green movement in Ireland. The exhibition consisted of 105 photographs documenting a green sustainable Ireland. The exhibition was showcased in the Body and Soul area of the Electric Picnic festival in Co. Laois from Friday, 3rd to Sunday, 5th September 2010. The Green Box has also been on display in the Greenhouse in Dublin (from 19th - 23rd November). The Green Box is an on-going documentary project.

To read Ines Billings' blog 'The Green Box', click here.

Sustainable Activities – What We All Can Do
Keith Brown, editor of bi-monthly magazine Corklife, received funding to produce a series of articles on how people in Cork can reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable development at a grassroots level. The articles were published in partnership with www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com.

To read Keith Brown’s article in Corklife, click here. To read the articles published on www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com, click Article 1 and Article 2.

EarthTalks Capacity Building Event
Gavin Harte organised a sharing event called EarthTalks in the Science Gallery for Irish media that explored the role of media in communicating stories like climate change, biodiversity loss, energy and resource use, human development, sustainable communities and the green economy. The event was also supported by the EPA, Friends of the Earth, Vodafone and www.climatechange.ie. You can read a post about the event by John Gibbons on www.thinkorswim.ie. A panel of media experts, including Prof Justin Lewis, Seamus Dooley from the National Union of Journalists, Dr Padraig Murphy from DCU and Minister Eamon Ryan TD provided their thoughts. Paul Cunningham, Environment Correspondent for the RTE left a video message for the audience. The event was chaired by Dr John Bowman.

You find more information at www.earthtalks.org.

ECO-UNESCO Youth Media & Sustainability Event
ECO-UNESCO received funding to host a capacity-building event for media professionals. The ECO-UNESCO Youth Media & Sustainability training day, which took place on January 26th, was a great success. The course brought media professionals together to examine the basics of Sustainable Development and key environmental issues and also to explore young people’s attitude to environmental issues and investigate how to develop engaging messages around the themes discussed. To find out more about ECO-UNESCO training see www.ecounesco.ie.




The Irish Times' John Holden gets ideas from the group at ECO-UNESCO's Youth Media & Sustainability event.

You can find out more about the 2009 Media Fund Award here. You can also access articles from the 2009 Media Fund in the documents box below.