“Conservationists in Action” Interviews

ENVIRONMENTAL ARTS

Behold the Earth

NCTC Historian, Dr. Mark Madison, hosts an interview with filmmaker David Conover on his new film “Behold the Earth”.

David Conover was born and raised in a New England family with strong ties to the sea and a tradition of active storytelling. Both grandfathers were amateur filmmakers in the 1920′s and 30′s. Upon graduating with a degree in comparative religious studies from Bowdoin College, David worked as a professional seaman—and then as an outdoor educator with the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine and in Florida. This was followed by a Master’s Degree in Education at Harvard, with a focus on moral development. His production company Compass Light has produced dozens of award-winning science and history programs for major broadcasters for 18 years, including the experiential series Sunrise Earth.
For more information, visit: http://www.compasslight.com Behold the Earth provides an original opportunity to re-examine and expand the community of U.S. environmentalists, charting steps into the future that builds on Rachel Carson’s discussion of destructive trace toxicity in the 20th century, with the addition of a destructive climate in the 21st century. Carson inspired a wide range of rising young scientists of that time, people like E.O. Wilson and Cal DeWitt and Theo Colborn, to better understand how the natural world works, so as to better track human impacts within it.
At the beginning of the 21st century, a new generation of scientists and evangelicals is coming-of-age, people like Katherine Hayhoe and Ben Lowe and Corina Newsome. They are standing on the shoulders of Cal DeWitt and others inspired by Rachel Carson. Can these emerging leaders and the next wave of Creation Care conservationists reduce the human degradations of the living planet, wrought by trace toxins and a destructively warming climate? Along the way, can they revive the reach and relevance of both the environmentalist and the evangelical movements in America? Film Director and Conservationist David Conover began this highly original film 12 years ago, as an inquiry into America’s divorce from the outdoors, before-and-after the arrival of those known as the digital natives. He is neither scientist nor evangelical. He draws upon some of the same talented field staff behind the spectacular natural sequences in his series Sunrise Earth and Big Picture Earth. For information, visit: http://www.beholdtheearth.com

Wildlife Art and Photography with Sharon K Schafer

Mark Madison, USFWS Historian, interviews Sharon K. Schafer, Wildlife Biologist, Artist, and Photographer. October 21, 2016.

PBS Filmakers Discussion: “Rachel Carson”

NCTC Historian, Mark Madison, hosts a studio interview with PBS filmmakers, Michelle Ferrari and Rafael de la Uz on their new film “Rachel Carson”.

January 19, 2017.  NCTC Historian, Mark Madison, hosts a studio interview with PBS filmmakers, Michelle Ferrari and Rafael de la Uz on their new film “Rachel Carson” which will premiere nationwide on the PBS American Experience, Jan. 24 at 8pm ET. Michelle Ferrari (Producer/Director) has been creating innovative, critically acclaimed documentary narratives for more than two decades. Her work as a screenwriter and story editor has been seen on PBS, HBO, and at film festivals nationwide, and has garnered honors from the Writers Guild of America, the Western Writers Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
The writer of numerous American Experience episodes including The Perfect Crime, Silicon Valley, Roads to Memphis and Kit Carson, Ferrari is perhaps best known for the highly rated Seabiscuit, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing. She most recently wrote and directed American Experience’s Edison. Additional recent credits include the landmark PBS series Half the Sky and the Emmy-winning HBO documentary Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and holds an M.A. in American History from Columbia University. Rafael de la Uz (Director of Photography) Born in Havana, Cuba, Rafael graduated from the University of Havana in 1996, then, in 1998, earned a degree in Cinematography from the world-renowned International School of Film and Television, in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba.
The following year, he shared credit as a Cinematographer on Spanish director Manuel Martín Cuenca’s El juego de cuba (The Cuban Game), a feature-length documentary that won critical acclaim and garnered awards from film festivals around the world. In 2001, Rafael moved to New York, where he went on to direct the cinematography for numerous high-profile documentaries, among them Venezuela, Revolution in Progress, a production of Discovery/Times TV, Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq for HBO, and Roads to Memphis for the prestigious PBS series American Experience. “Rachel Carson” premieres on PBS American Experience, Jan. 24 at 8pm ET Local times may vary, for details visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexper…

Mapping the Blue: The World’s Largest Marine Park

NCTC Historian, Dr. Mark Madison, hosts an interview with Alison Barrat, Filmmaker, Living Oceans Foundation and Sam Purkis, Ph.D. Oceanographer, National Coral Reef Institute.

March 11, 2015.  The National Conservation Training Center invites prominent conservationists, writers, historians, scientists, filmmakers, and educators to discuss their work to a broad and interested public. In this program NCTC Historian, Dr. Mark Madison, hosts an interview with Alison Barrat, Filmmaker, Living Oceans Foundation and Sam Purkis, Ph.D. Oceanographer, National Coral Reef Institute

Wildlife Photography with Karen Hollingsworth

Mark Madison, USFWS Historian, interviews Sharon K. Schafer, Wildlife Biologist, Artist, and Photographer. October 21, 2016.

Children and Nature – Using Books to Help Children Make a Difference in the World

FWS Historian Mark Madison hosts an interview with Lynne Cherry.

Lynne Cherry is an author, illustrator, filmmaker and environmental lecturer. She has written and/or illustrated over thirty award-winning books for children. Her best-selling books such as The Great Kapok Tree and A River Ran Wild teach children a respect for the earth, have sold over a million copies and are translated into many languages.