The last part of my journalism studies revolved around the Practicum course, where students practice hands-on by producing a package for broadcast.
I took on the role and many hats of a multimedia journalist and created “Sustainable Ways to Campus”, a video about biking to the heart of Atlanta to attend Georgia State University.
From researching, to pitching, shooting, interviewing, scripting, and editing, the whole process is the only way to learn and get a feel of how things happen in the field, while also allowing room for mistakes.
Under the guidance of an amazing instructor and journalist herself, it was encouraging to just go for it and not overthink. I enjoyed filming creative angles and the use of editing techniques to enhance my storytelling.
As an amateur environmental journalist, I put together a short video story for a school project in my Digital Journalism class at Georgia State University (go Panthers!!). I chose to report about a program called Adopt-A-Spot after I saw a sign in the neighborhood, and I also couldn’t help but notice how well-kept and green the area was.
The program runs nationwide; however, it is up to each city to sign-up and participate. Kanika Greenlee, the Executive Director of the Keep Atlanta Beautiful Commission, told me that when she first joined the Keep America Beautiful affiliate in 2015, there were only two spots adopted throughout the city of Atlanta. Roughly 200 parcels of the city’s public spaces are now delegated to individuals and groups of concerned citizens to perform their eco-duties.
The program’s rising popularity coincides with rising awareness about climate change and the solutions all around us to clean-up our acts as a collective and get together as a community to restore nature. This neighborhood is beautiful, Atlanta, Georgia, is beautiful, the world is beautiful, and yes, it would be nice to keep it that way, but it’s also vital.
To participate and adopt a spot or a street, you’ll commit to pick up litter monthly for one year, complete a Department of Public Works safety training, and all the equipment necessary will be provided to keep your spot clean.
To check if your city is part of the program, go to https://kab.org/ and find your local affiliate, or create one yourself!
Get involved.
#DoBeautifulThings
By Laure V. La Vie en Green, reporting for a better, greener world.
Forever improving
3 things I would change in my video story and improve next time
Sound: I will buy and use a handheld microphone or a Lavalier microphone in the future. I recorded with my Iphone 11 Pro Max and the image/sound is usually pretty good but this was on location near a road and traffic is loud. Pandemic safety protocols do not help either; masks muffle people’s voices.
The beginning is a bit shaky and even if I meant to shoot it that way to give it a raw, walking by feel to it, it’s better not to walk and move the camera around.
Include the name of my interviewee as an edit.
Thank you for reading and watching as I continue learning, adapting, evolving and growing in a fast-moving world of information and misinformation.
My goal is to keep creating authentic and ethical content about the environment from the ground up that lifts up the community, too.
Laure V., multimedia journalist in the 21st Century
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Journalism Ethics 101
I understand the media get a bad name, but journalists shouldn’t, and not all media are the same. I pledge allegiance to the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics.
The 4 principles of ethical journalism
SEEK TRUTH AND REPORT IT – MINIMIZE HARM – ACT INDEPENDENTLY – BE ACCOUNTABLE AND TRANSPARENT
With a successful career in advertising, nothing predestined Rojiar Aldashi to lead the way for women in Georgia and solar energy–until she met her husband, a philosophy professor turned investor.
In 2018, Aldashi and her husband of twenty years, Kaveh Kamooneh, dropped their comfortable positions in the advertising world and as a real estate investor to start a solar panel installation business in Atlanta, Georgia. Together with their vision and determination to make a difference, their company became one of the two woman-owned solar companies in Atlanta at the time and is one of only a few in Georgia. But first, they started at home, and they started small, sometimes at a high price.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Kaveh, my husband, has rubbed off on me” she says at the beginning of the interview speaking about her partner in life and business before telling me how her family home has been powered by the sun, since 2005. Aldashi says that back then, they had a hard time sourcing the hardware and installing a solar energy system on the roof of their Decatur, Georgia, home. Fifteen years ago, there was only one company to do the job, and only one other private home in Atlanta had solar installed.
We were just trying to do our part.
Rojiar Aldashi, on living sustainably and leading by example
They’ve always had the environment in mind when it came to their home. When they lived in a small apartment, they started a corner for compost. As homeowners, when LED lights came out, they switched their lighting, and when they renovated their floors, they made sure to use wood cut from sustainable forestry practices. The Nissan Leaf came out in 2010, and two years later, Kamooneh purchased the electric car. He was himself one of the first to drive a true zero-emission car charged with solar energy around the city.
In 2017 with a sharp decrease in solar energy prices, they decided to add more panels to their roof and completely covered it. In the end, it was still cheaper than their first installation. Back then they paid up to $9 per watt, while it costs around $3 per watt, or less, nowadays. Naturally after that, when Aldashi left her job, and Kamooneh sold his business, the timing was right for them to make things happen and really make a difference. Better Tomorrow Solar was born in 2018.
At the federal level, homeowners can enjoy a 26% tax credit for solar systems installed before December 31, 2020. But the trends for those incentives are going down. Georgia lags in terms of policies and incentives at the state level despite a high solar insulation value.
The Database of State Incentives for Renewable and Efficiency counts 36 existing incentives and policies in favor of sustainability and renewable energy, compared to the most in California with 148 of them; 44 for Georgia’s neighbor South Carolina; and 72 in Florida. According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, as of 2020 Georgia had over 2200 solar installations–enough solar installed to power 312,450 homes.
Now Aldashi leads a diverse and dynamic team of young professionals. The Better Tomorrow Solar’s website is user-friendly for potential clients or anybody curious about solar energy, thanks to original creative marketing and informative videos. “It all comes down to education” she says when she explains an investment in solar eventually pays for itself, adds value to the property, and reduces electricity bills.
Slideshow, from left to right: Outside view of Better Tomorrow Solar building with rooftop solar panels; Electric company car powered by building; Entrance of Better Tomorrow Solar with Kaveh Kamooneh
And so behind the creation of Better Tomorrow Solar is the story of a persistent, forward-thinking family with love and respect for the natural world, determined to expand the reach of a sustainable lifestyle and make tomorrow better.
A green energy. Source: Better Tomorrow Solar. Retrieved on December 2, 2020.
Though they have not broken even yet in their business venture, the company has a bright future and powerful ambitions for Georgia.
WOMEN IN ENERGY NEWS
When women talk solar energy… Watch a fast-forwarded short clip of my engaging zoom interview with solar panel installation business owner Rojiar Aldashi
The Women in Clean Energy Symposium and awards is online and free to all this year, and will take place December 8-9, 2020. The U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment initiative highlights women’s accomplishments and leadership in clean energy around the theme “Accelerating the clean energy transition in a changing world.”
Harnessing the sun’s power is a matter that began since the evolution of life on Earth, with plants and the photosynthesis process, or the role of the sun and the seasons in agriculture. We adopted the heliocentric vision of our solar system model but ancient civilizations revered the sun and understood its elemental role a long time ago.
The sun’s importance and our use for it aren’t new, but solar energy is going through a timely revival.
The difference in 2020 comes from the sharp decline in both the cost of production and installation of solar energy systems, rendering it more accessible to the general population. A report released in October 2020 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) confirms it is now the cheapest electricity in history. The World Energy Outlook 2020 report analyzes global energy systems and named solar the “new king of electricity”.
Solar energy is an inexhaustible resource; it is a natural renewable energy. The Earth offers finite resources and materials that we use and overuse until near exhaustion and ecological collapse to produce and consume more and more energy and goods, mainly based on the extraction of fossil fuels such as coal, and oil. But the sun has been shining for 4.6 billion years and is estimated to shine another 5 billion, according to NASA.
Switching to solar energy is in line with the zero emission targets and policies to fight climate change. Using the sun to generate power does not emit carbon dioxide unlike fossil fuels; it is considered a clean energy and contributes to cleaner air and less green gases emissions.
Image Source: Energy.gov
The federal government does not track the numbers related to solar energy employment. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has measured its sharp and steady increase throughout the years, and estimates that solar installation will be the fastest-growing occupation in the nation over the next decade. Investing in solar and renewables creates jobs and stimulates a green economy.
Homeowners with solar installations may earn money and become energy independent. When more solar energy is produced than consumed, the electricity generated can be sent back to the grid and sold to power companies. Australia is the country with the most residential rooftop solar installations, with about one in four Australian homes equipped with solar panels. Although the main motivation may not be climate change, financial and economic growth can line up with environmental causes when managed in a sustainable way.
