Documentary
Project: Pushing the Limits
Pushing the Limits is a collection of resources for public libraries that includes customized, online professional development about informal science learning (ISL) and public library STEM program materials. Pushing the Limits is funded by the National Science Foundation.
One of the resources for this project is a collection of short documentary films that illustrate STEM and climate change resilience in all kinds of lives. Below are a few of the videos produced.
Roles: Writer, researcher, associate producer
Tasks: researched story ideas, conducted pre-interviews, wrote story treatments scripts, coordinated production logistics.
Steer Wrestling in West Texas
Darrell Petry is a Black cowboy from Cheek, TX. After a successful career as a bulldogger, an injury propelled him into new roles as a hazer, educator, and full-time father. As he’s aged, he’s gained wisdom on using and caring for his body through an intuitive understanding of physics and physiology.
Cooling down in AZ
Flor Morales likes to get her hands dirty. Inspired by her mother and her neighbors, she’s constantly seeking opportunities to improve her life and the lives of others around her. In the intensifying heat of southern Arizona, Flor is focused on building cooler, healthier futures for Tucson families.
Through a nonprofit organization, she organizes volunteer health workers called promotoras to support and educate residents in underserved neighborhoods about environmental health. Flor and the promotoras are helping families adapt to the extreme heat by planting desert trees to offset rising temperatures, and constructing rainwater harvesting systems to store water.
Flor’s organization - the Sonora Environmental Research Institute - has partnered with local energy companies and the city of Tucson, to provide additional resources to meet these the challenges, and to get federal grant assistance. With this forward-thinking strategy, a Tucson yard flourishes and shades the house for an adapted, healthy, and resilient desert oasis.
Crafting ukuleles and growing a forest
Joe and Kristen Souza live in Hawai’i. He’s Native Hawaiian, and she’s kama’aina, a lifelong resident of the islands. They are ukulele makers, and their love of history and knowledge of acoustics enable their craft. The ukulele derives its characteristic beauty from the endemic koa tree, which Joe and Kristen have committed to restoring to the islands. Along with their three sons, the Souzas work tirelessly to remove invasive species, grow new seedlings, and plant trees on their land parcel on the big island. Joe and Krisin will pass their business – and a native forest – to their children, and their children’s children...
