Public health alumnae produce TV documentary on environmental heroes

Three recent public health alumnae were part of a television documentary team that profiled North Carolina environmental heroes. The documentary airs Thursday, Feb. 24, at 9:30 p.m. on North Carolina Public Television (UNC-TV).

 

Emily Brostek, Anna Gieselman and Lauren Poor, all of whom received Master of Public Health degrees in health behavior and health education from UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in May 2010, were among UNC public health and journalism students who wrote and produced the documentary, “Environmental Heroes.” Brostek served as a segment producer, and Gieselman and Poor were associate segment producers.The program, a collaboration between UNC-TV and students and faculty from the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is hosted by Tom Linden, MD, journalism professor and director of the Medical and Science Journalism Program. The documentary was written and produced by students in Linden’s science television documentary class.

 

The first “Environmental Heroes” profiles were aired on UNC-TV in 2010.

 

This year, the class profiled:

• Will Blozan, an arborist from Black Mountain, N.C., who tries to help control the Woolly Adelgid, a tiny imported insect that kills hemlock trees in the Appalachian chain from Canada to Georgia.
• Alex and Betsy Hitt, owners of Peregrine Farm in Alamance County, N.C., and longtime practitioners of sustainable agriculture. The Hitts have been selling vegetables and flowers to local farmers’ markets and Triangle restaurants for more than 20 years.
• Diana Tetens, executive director of the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association in Durham. Tetens and her volunteer board are helping restore the health of Ellerbe Creek, a polluted urban stream that flows from Durham to Falls Lake, which supplies drinking water for nearly a half million people.

“People around the state are working hard to protect our natural environment,” Linden said. “We hope our documentary inspires viewers to become environmental heroes themselves in their local communities.”

Associate producer of the new program was Jim Sander, documentary film producer from Chapel Hill, N.C. Andrew VanDerVeer, a medical student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was assistant producer.

Director of videography and video editor for the program was UNC-TV’s Mike Oniffrey. Peter Bell, Alan Brown and Mike O’Connell provided additional videography.

Music was by Carrboro resident Chris Frank of the Red Clay Ramblers.

 

Journalism students working on the project included segment producers Facundo Diego del Villar and VanDerVeer and associate producer Hertta Heinonen. Scriptwriters included Courtney Harrington, Niveditha Ravi and Jeff Yeo. Broadcast design was by Resa Toeller of UNC-TV.After the program airs on Feb. 24, it will stream on the UNC medical and science journalism website.

 

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.