Given today’s political climate, the need to educate the public about the fragility of our environment has never been greater. At UCSB, a summer program titled “Blue Horizons” intends to make an impact by teaching students the basics of documentary filmmaking and environmental science.
Blue Horizons seeks to bring typically disparate groups of students — scientists and artists — together in order to combine their skills for the purpose of creating an impactful and insightful 10- to 15-minute documentary. The program offers three courses: storytelling, environmental topics, and the core filmmaking, producing, and editing course. Founder Michael Hanrahan began the program 10 years ago with the goal of creating a new generation of environmentally conscious storytellers.
When asked about his motivations for starting the program, Hanrahan said, “My ultimate dream is to have environmental journalists all over the country and world that are coming together to create these pieces. I think that increasingly Blue Horizons is serving as a resource for other areas on campus to use media to talk more clearly and openly about the environmental processes and issues facing our community.”