Popular Media
Policy change starts with an informed public.
I use a variety of media platforms to engage with the public about science, policy and environmental issues. Through media, I offer a lens for the public to peer through, fostering intimacy with remote places, like the Ross Sea, Antarctica.
I use a variety of media platforms to engage with the public about science, policy and environmental issues. Through media, I offer a lens for the public to peer through, fostering intimacy with remote places, like the Ross Sea, Antarctica.
Videos
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Capturing the essence of Antarctica in all its sheer and austere beauty has eluded me, until perhaps my most recent trip in 2013. Every day of the 52 days I was at sea, in between long hours of sampling, I would race to the bridge at the top of the ship. I would brace myself for the crazy wind and cold, then step outside and scale the narrow and icy railing to affix my camera to the front of the vessel. In the end, I condensed more than 30 hours of footage into a five-minute timelapse, added narration and music and released it into the world. The video went viral overnight, and reached every corner of the world by the end of the week. In the news coverage that followed, a CNN feature stressed that, “Many scientists now believe the Ross Sea is the last untouched marine ecosystem in the world. If Brooks’ stunning video is anything to go by, it’s also one worth protecting.”
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Blogs
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Every one of my four trips to the Antarctic has been a great gift and privilege and one that I try to share with the world. What started as long and descriptive emails to my mother, siblings and friends, has turned into blogging for education and conservation non-profits. I've contributed to a variety of blogs and projects, including the San Francisco Exploratorium's "Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists" and National Geographic.
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The Written Word: Features, Briefs & Op-Eds
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Since my first popular publication in Orion magazine in 2007, I've continued writing about science, environment, health, and culture, in long feature form, short briefs, opinion editorials, and blogs.
Some of the outlets I've published with include: The Conversation (see my Conversation author page here) The Seattle Times (see my Seattle Times author page here) Santa Cruz Sentinel (sample clip here) The Monterey County Weekly (Delivering Ecstasy story here) The Monterey Herald (2013 Op-Ed here) ScienceNOW (sample clip here) Pacific Ecologist (Most Remote Fishery On Earth story here) Journal of Antarctic Affairs (Story on Antarctic toothfish here) Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University Winds of Change (American Indian Science & Engineering Society) SACNAS Biography Project and SACNAS News |
Multi-Media & Outreach Projects
I've worked on a variety of multi-media and outreach projects at the local, national and international level, featuring science and environmental issues. I spent three fall seasons at Point Reyes National Seashore producing podcasts, slideshows and videos for The Natural Laboratory. I led the Science Video Project for the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). Recently, I co-founded AntarcticaNOW. Two of the most powerful projects I've had the honor of contributing to have been the Last Ocean and the Ocean Voice:
The Last Ocean is an international outreach effort focused on protecting the Ross Sea, Antarctica, a region characterized as the most pristine large marine ecosystem on Earth. We produced an award-winning documentary, website, photography shows, social media and more.
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The Ocean Voice & Ocean Outdoor Theater are grand outreach efforts focused on using high impact media to influence policy change and ocean conservation outcomes. Project areas include shark sanctuaries in the Bahamas, Micronesia and Indonesia and marine protected areas in Indonesia.
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In the NewsIn addition to producing media, I make time to talk to the press and media.
My Antarctic work has been featured in a variety of outlets, including news stories in Nature, The Washington Post, BBC, Financial Times, Audubon, Spiegel (Germany), and La Repubblica (Italy), New York Times, Scientific American, and Oceanographic Magazine; audio podcasts and news in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Generation Anthropocene, Speak Up for Blue, Wild Voices, China Dialogue Ocean, and NPR; and video coverage in Reuters, PBS' Age of Nature series, and 9 News. In 2013, my video Two Months Breaking Ice in Antarctica's Ross Sea (Timelapse in Under Five Minutes went viral, reaching every country in the world. News outlets that featured the video included CNN, Washington Post, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, Live Science, Imaging Resource, and The New York Times. |
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