Notes on climate change

Tolulope Aina

Tolulope went as a social media reporter to cover a protest against the Perenco pipeline oil spill at Poole Harbour. He was able to speak several protesters who expressed their displeasure and needed their voices to be heard. The experience was emotional, said Tolulope, as each one of the protesters was personally affected by the problem. He felt that it was more enlightening than challenging.

“For me, I really didn't know much. This gave me more exposure in terms of climate change issues and I've seen that it is beyond not using plastic. That was the only thing I have been acquired in my orientation, but I realized that it's beyond that.”

This week he is a social media team member, so he used the videos of the protests to create content for the social media accounts. He is enjoying the experience, he believes that being in the social media team is interesting because it gave him a better knowledge of what everybody is doing.

 Yui Yamashita

Yui is a member of the podcast team. She didn’t report on a specific story this week, but she participated as a guest speaker in the podcast The Issue.

She took part in a discussion with another team member elaborating on carbon footprint and everything that revolves around that.

Yui found this quite challenging because she was required to be conversational and impromptu. Knowing that she has worked on podcasts before, Yui has always preferred to stay in sync with premeditated notes. This time, it was different. She spoke from her heart and expressed her point of view in a spontaneous manner. Yui confessed that it was difficult for her but that she learned that improvised discussions are actually what make the podcast sound more authentic.

“I did it, even though I thought that it would be difficult to speak spontaneously into the mic at the beginning, but I felt satisfied after we were done. I loved our conversation.”

Yui was pushed out of her comfort zone and now feels more empowered to carry out conversational unscripted conversations with more confidence. The next time there is a podcast, Yui will be front and centre!

 Natasha Salloum

“As an international student in Bournemouth, I will be traveling back and forth and I now feel more responsible to book flights that are carbon efficient” said Natasha, who covered the earth-rounding initiative Diamondo - onboard a sustainable aircraft to promote greener aviation and various solutions to offset carbon dioxide emission.

She said that the topic of climate change was initially intimidating and too overwhelming to think about, but the reporting she did and the experience and knowledge she acquired made her more serious about holding herself accountable and changed her entire perspective, especially her mindset towards air travel.

“He was very passionate about the initiative, proud of the work they did because he believed in the cause. He was doing this in his free time and I honestly felt like he was a hero.”

Thanks to this interesting experience, Natasha feels less intimated by climate change matters. She has become more solution-oriented and finds herself constantly looking for other solutions to find small ways to contribute to the climate crisis.

Reporters of the photo essay on Highmoor Farms reflect on their process

“As a reporter, I did the one big thing reporters are not supposed to do; I got attached to the story, but it was impossible not to! We were seeing and hearing stories of families whose whole lives have been attached to the farm. They were facing the loss of what brings them together and gives them their identity. I feel like this experience was different because I haven’t covered a story from a human angle before, and the reporting itself was so challenging because we were spending so much time in the heat. In between interviews we would sit down, pet the dogs and say hi to all the people passing, watching the water flowing and wind rustling. Those moments of calm made us realise that it was so special!”- Carol Spencer

“The place was pretty, and really close to the campus. We experienced the nature and saw some beautiful cows. As a photographer I wanted to make them more comfortable, we started conversation to make them more comfortable because I wanted to convey their feelings to my photographs. I try to capture emotions and whatever I could get to illustrate what is really happening in the story."- Simran Mehan