TV series on saving the planet
TVE Asia Pacific, a Sri Lankan non-profit media foundation is working on television serial called Saving the Planet. Currently the films are being shot in six countries across South and Southeast Asia. The six-film series will showcase how grassroots communities, citizen groups and local media are contributing towards sustainable development.
"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
These words by anthropologist Margaret Mead capture the essence of TVE Asia Pacific's new regional TV series, Saving the Planet.
The series, currently being filmed on location in six countries across South and Southeast Asia, will offer glimpses of how grassroots communities, citizen groups and local media are quietly doing their bit to build better societies and a healthier planet.
- Filming the series / Photo credit: TVE Asia Pacific
When edited, the series will comprise six short TV films, each of ten minutes duration.
Stories covered in the series concern not only traditional ‘green’ environmental education and awareness raising activities, but a range of pursuits addressing many aspects of sustainable development.
Six projects or activities – each addressing an aspect of education for sustainable development (ESD) – were chosen from public nominations in 2007. The competition attracted dozens of entries from all over the world.
Saving the Planet, a project dedicated to the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005 –14), will produce, distribute and promote a TV series that will showcase innovative ESD activities that can inspire others.
Beginning May 2008, the series is being filmed by TVE Asia Pacific's production team working with locally engaged television crews.
Filming has already been completed in Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand during May – June. During September, filming will be carried out in Cambodia, India and Lao PDR.
But it is more than just another television series. It is an integrated communication project with capacity building, educational and online outreach elements.
“The world is in search of bright ideas and smart solutions to help us lead more sustainable lives. As professional story tellers, we see a role for ourselves to gather such information and amplify them as widely as possible,” said Manori Wijesekera, TVE Asia Pacific’s Regional Programme Manager.
She added: “Saving the Planet aims to do just that: identify the most innovative and interesting practices in education for sustainable development through a public nomination process, and then profile them through a regional television series."
The project will also build the communications capacity of those organisations whose ESD practices or initiatives will be chosen to be featured in the series.
"In filming Saving the Planet, we are once again following our preferred mode of working with and through locally based, internationally credentialed television professionals," says Wijesekera. "This is what we call distributed TV production”, she adds.
The series will go into editing and post production in October, with a likely launch date in December 2008. As with all TVEAP productions, the series will become available to broadcast, civil society and educational users without any license fees.
In July 2007, representatives of the story custodian organisations attended a five-day workshop in Khao Lak, Thailand that built their audio-visual and new media communication capacity. During that workshop, TVEAP’s production team agreed on plans and schedules for location filming their project activities.
Saving the Planet is implemented in collaboration with the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU), Tokyo, Japan, under the framework of ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Programme with support from the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust for the Promotion of Education for Sustainable Development.
