the center’s programs range from “classroom in the wild,” a one-week offering over spring break in which 14 students travel to the  chesapeake bay to gain environmental filmmaking experience to various scholarships and prizes that the center provides to students through the support of center donors. when deciding to create the center and become its director, palmer said he felt there was a need for students to be inspired to produce powerful environmental films, and said that the center at au remains one of very few similar institutions found at universities worldwide.

“i started the center because i think there is a strong need to inspire the next generation to produce films that help people be good stewards of the world,” palmer said.

one of the programs of the center is the annual eco-comedy video competition, with this spring’s theme being “conservation and environmental protection.” palmer said that the idea of the competition stems from his passion for environmental activism along with comedy, having been a stand-up comedian in the d.c. area for five years.

“i had been interested in comedy for a long time, and i had been an environmental activist for a long time, so those two things, comedy and environmental activism, come together in the eco-comedy video competition,” palmer said. “the whole point of it is to try and show how humor, comedy, laughter, can be used to advance an environmental agenda.”

the winner of last year’s competition, julia schaefer gomez, is currently a research fellow at the environmental protection agency, in the office of water. she said that working on her submission to the contest last year exposed her to filmmaking and the field of environmental communication and played a major role in her realizing her career aspirations.

she thinks the competition should be adopted by more universities, as it gives people a chance to use creativity and humor to reach broad audiences on serious environmental issues and can be a life-changing experience.

“participating in this competition actually made a difference in my life,” she said. “obviously, winning the grand prize was great, but more than that, the opportunity and the process of getting to do this – it was validation for me that this is the area i want to be working in.”

elizabeth herzfeldt-kamprath, a graduate student in the school of communication’s film and electronic media program with a focus on environmental and wildlife filmmaking, is a center scholar and a graduate teaching assistant for palmer, and said that palmer’s mentoring along with the center’s regular events that bring in speakers has been of tremendous help to her.

herzfeldt-kamprath, currently working on a film being partially funded by the center, said her project is about a bird rehabilitator who has established a bird sanctuary on the island of st. croix in the virgin islands. the film attempts to show how rehab decisions lead injured birds to recovery and release back into the wild, or kept in captivity and care.

“there are so many critical environmental issues happening right now that are going to dramatically impact the future of our planet, and i think film hasn’t quite figured out as a medium how to best present these ideas, so that is part of the challenge for young environmental filmmakers – we need to figure it out now,” herzfeldt-kamprath said.

center scholar kent wagner is another graduate student pursuing the environmental and wildlife filmmaking concentration. wagner said that the center was what brought him to au, and he sees the role of the center increasing in years to come.

“i think that the role that the center for environmental filmmaking will play in the next five years, or may be ten years, is going to be significant, or has a chance to be significant,” wagner said. “we need good films being made, now more than ever.”

wagner is currently working on a film about deforestation on the island of borneo and its impact on the dayak people, borneo’s indigenous population. he traveled to borneo last summer to work on the project and hopes to return this summer to shoot additional footage. wagner said that 90 percent of the funding for the film is coming from the center.

“this project i’m working on would not exist at all if the center for environmental filmmaking did not exist,” wagner said. “they came to me with this idea and i looked into it and said, ‘yes, this is it’.”

palmer said that he is proud of the work students are doing through the center, and people must act now and realize the urgency to protect the environment.

“they (students) are out there doing good work, at a time when there is desperate need for people like them to combat the anti-environmentalism of the new administration,” palmer said.

palmer said that what he enjoys most about his work is the opportunity to help students launch their careers and ultimately do meaningful work that creates an impact.

“it is immensely rewarding to help young people who are just starting out, who are eager to get going, who want to grow professionally, who want to make films — who want to make films that make a difference,” palmer said. “it is so satisfying to help them, to work with them, to give them resources, to help them find jobs, to introduce them to all my contacts, and to give them opportunities.”

1. hawaii green business program

the hawaii green business program recognizes businesses that are striving to implement sustainable practices. the program, a partnership between hawaii’s department of health; department of business, economic development, and tourism; and the chamber of commerce of hawaii, assists businesses in various areas including waste reduction, pollution prevention, and energy and water conservation.

2. hawai’i volcanoes national park’s rainwater conservation

this park has the state’s largest public rainwater catchment system, in operation since 1929, providing 5.5 million gallons of drinkable water per year for visitors and staff. the raw water is pumped through a treatment system, purified into drinking water by large sand filters, and then distributed to 56 facilities around the park.

3. electric vehicles

hawaii is right behind california, ranking second in the country in the number of electric vehicles registered per thousand people. the hawaii state energy office has created the mobile application “ev stations hawaii” to assist drivers in finding publicly available charging stations statewide. there are currently several green driver incentives offered by the state to encourage the use of electric vehicles.

4.  rooftop solar power

the hawaiian electric company, which is the electricity provider for 95% of hawaii’s population, has set a goal to triple the amount of distributed solar power by 2030. although the state is heavily dependent on oil for its electricity generation, use of renewable energy has been on the rise in all counties, and the state is a national leader in rooftop solar power usage.

5. smart power for schools program

the hawaiian electric company is also behind the smart power for schools program, an initiative to educate hawaiian youth about renewable energy technologies and sustainability. the program works in partnership with the state of hawaii department of education and community members to assist in smart grid technologies and energy management and efficiency strategies to reduce electricity use in hawaiian schools. it has been in place since july 2015 and succeeds the sun power for schools, which started back in 1996 to promote the knowledge of renewable energy in the state.

the event, which was hosted by the d.c. chapter of the sierra club in conjunction with the university’s center for environmental filmmaking, office of sustainability and zero waste club, took place in the malsi doyle and michael forman theater at the school of communication.

sierra club’s daniella castiel, one of the organizers of the screening, said that as consumers, one of the first steps in making a difference is seeking out as much information as possible on how our clothes are made, including by reading about the topic online or watching documentaries on it.

“when you know what actually happens, the next time you walk into a store and pick up a pair of jeans, you think twice about it,” castiel said. “when you think twice about something, you are being considerate, you are being conscientious about making that decision, you are looking for a better source, a better place to buy from.”

in her opening remarks introducing the film, castiel spoke about how the fashion industry is currently the planet’s second largest polluter of freshwater resources. castiel also brought up ethical implications of the fast fashion phenomenon, with consumers constantly chasing new trends and expecting cheaper items, leading to inhumane working conditions for many around the world.

“have you ever thought about the power and influence we all have the moment we purchase a piece of clothing?” castiel said. “did you know that 80 percent of garment workers are female teenagers and young adults, women and girls between the ages of 18 and 25, the ages of many of us, in this room?”

directed by andrew morgan, the documentary follows the making of clothes in today’s globalized world, looking at the cotton fields in texas, the busy factories in bangladesh and india where production is often outsourced to, and the fashion runways and shopping malls buzzing with customers. it includes voices from the fashion industry like designer stella mccartney.

the film discusses the 2013 rana plaza factory collapse in dhaka, bangladesh, that killed more than a 1,000 people. it showcases the struggles factory owners often face with retailers pressuring them to lower prices of products, forcing them to ignore the safety measures of the spaces in which their workers are in to keep up with consumer demand for cheaper clothing.

the film also talks about leather factories in kanpur, the leather export capital of india. there, every day, more than 50 million liters of toxic wastewater is produced, contaminating the only source of drinking water in the area with chemicals used to treat leather, causing serious health issues for the residents. major retailers from outside india are able to source cheap products while avoiding all accountability for the rising cost to the planet and human health, according to the filmmakers.

the film closes with morgan questioning how long people will continue to turn a blind eye to the lives of those behind our clothing, and whether or not we are at a turning point on the path to making real change.  

“in the midst of all the challenges facing us today, all the problems that feel bigger than us and beyond our control, maybe we could start here, with clothing,” morgan says at the end of the film.

castiel hopes students become more thoughtful consumers and examine their wardrobe and see the people behind the fashion labels after having seen the film, she told planet forward.

“consumers need to be more curious,” castiel said. “when they put on a t-shirt, they need to think, ‘whose hand has touched this t-shirt? who suffered to make this t-shirt?’”

au students jessica balerna and celange beck, co-presidents of the au zero waste club, said that they thought that while the film was a great place to start the conversation about the negative consequences of fast fashion, they would have liked to see more perspectives shown in the film, like the role of local and national governments when it comes to accountability, and more in-depth analysis and suggestions on how to create a more sustainable world. they said that their club has been working on starting a thrift store on campus for over a year and are currently waiting for approval from the university for their project.

balerna, a senior in the environmental science program in the college of arts and sciences, said the documentary ties in well with the idea behind the thrift store project, which is to try and encourage people to reuse items and be thoughtful buyers.

“instead of buying new and throwing it away, and buying new and throwing it away, you can buy used for less and sort of recycle it,” balerna said. “so when you get bored with what you have, instead of throwing it away, it goes to back to the thrift store for someone else to get excited about.”

beck, currently studying business administration at the kogod school of business, said that if and when the thrift store project is approved, the entire au community will benefit from it.

“the thrift store is another way to improve the community on campus,” beck said. “it’s about caring about the people and the planet simultaneously and having students involved in what we are doing at the store.”

the facility suspended its contract with the university in november 2014 after receiving contaminated waste. the composting facility was only a pilot program and did not have the technology needed to separate plastic, glass or other contaminants mixed into the composting samples sent to them, according to au zero waste coordinator helen lee. 

as the only commercial food waste composting facility left in the metro area, pg county struggled to keep up with demand, becoming very selective and adopting a zero waste policy, meaning that if the school left any non-compostable items in the bin, pg county would reject them from the program. this strict policy left the school with no option but to send food waste to the landfills. 

however, the pg county composting program has grown, and the university has been working to reduce contamination by educating students and staff on the topic. pg county will be ready to work with au again, as long as it complies with the zero waste policy, lee said. 

since pg county can still easily refuse to work with the university if any contaminants are found in the compostable waste that is to be sent to them later this semester, students and staff must be extremely careful about where each item is going in the weeks ahead, lee said.

“if our bins are not clean, they will reject it. it’s on every single person on campus, not just on housekeeping and dining. there is no magic fairy sorting the waste,” lee said. “everything in the orange bins all over campus will be sent to be composted. every single person’s decision on where they are throwing each item matters.”

lee trained au dining staff during the fall 2015 semester in an effort to make composting easier for them. she worked with sustainability chef kyle johnson from the terrace dining room on correctly sorting tdr waste and took the managers of other on-campus dining vendors on a tour of the area where the dumpsters are located so that they know how to avoid contamination. 

“our goal is to compost 100 percent of the organic waste from tdr and the davenport coffee lounge by this spring and have a really clean stream of waste going to the composting facility,” lee said. 

since lee started in her position four years ago, many changes have been implemented to create a more environmentally friendly campus, including redesigning all of the waste bins and introducing the orange compost bins in all the buildings. prior to her arrival, the university only had a recycling program, she said. 

lee said she is trying to increase awareness about composting by posting updates through the zero waste program’s social media pages on facebook, twitter and pinterest. her plan is to keep the zero waste initiative section on the university website updated as well and to reach more students and encourage them to reuse. lee said she is grateful for all of the support the zero waste program has received and hopes to see the trend continue. 

“we have been getting support from many departments,” lee said. “we have been asked by environmental faculty to come speak in their classes and have received tremendous support from athletics by them hosting a zero waste themed basketball game in february, and housing and dining’s help with move-in and move-out waste such as furniture and electronics.”

the au student zero waste club has spearheaded the composting initiative at the student level. the club is currently focusing on student outreach and education and has been working alongside the office of sustainability in informing students on sorting waste, according to celange beck, a senior in the kogod school of business and vice president of the club.

“we are working really hard on educating faculty and staff, and we are trying to do the student component on how to sort correctly so that way we can send perfect compost to the facility,” beck said.

the organization is made up of three committees that are working on different service activities on campus, including collecting donations of reusable dorm items at the end of the spring semester and selling them back at a reduced price when school starts again, according to beck. they are currently trying to find a space on campus to accommodate all donations and expand the program by making it open to graduate students and staff. the club is also in the process of creating an event guidebook with suggestions on how to incorporate the zero waste idea into planning events, beck said.

“it’s a little bit easier to reach staff here because we can have formal training sessions with them,” beck said. “with students it’s a little bit trickier, but we try to target during times like summer orientation. we are trying to integrate training though the event guidebook so that it can be more direct than speaking to people in a crowd and then hoping that they follow through at events.”

beck hopes that students realize the overall societal impact of composting and sorting waste correctly.

“sorting your waste has a really large impact that people don’t assess immediately, but landfills and incinerators are placed in impoverished areas, and there are huge environmental justice issues related to waste,” beck said. “when you sort your waste and send it to recycling facilities and composting facilities, that really helps reduce the amount of environmental justice issues along with other environmental quality issues associated with landfills and incinerators. it’s a big thing you are doing by just sorting waste.”

at the moment, the au student zero waste club wants to work on having all of the organic waste from mgc be free of contamination, and then have residence halls and other areas of campus follow in the same direction. 

“until we get perfect non-contaminated organic waste, we cannot send it to the compost facility because they will not accept it,” beck said. “we cannot put ourselves at the risk of losing the contract for a second time. unfortunately, the composting facilities in the area have been shutting down, and this is our last option. we’ve got to be perfect this time.”

this article was originally published in american university’s student newspaper, the eagle, on feb. 4, 2016.