*Managing Editor, Fired Up Media

Fired Up Media is hiring a Managing Editor to lead our flagship blog: It’s
Getting Hot in Here – dispatches from the youth climate movement.

In 2005, leading youth climate campaigners came together at the
International Climate Negotiations to start ItsGettingHotinHere.org. In the
last six years, the site has been recognized as a Best Green Blog, a Top 10
Climate Blog by Climate Progress, a “Suggested Source” by NYtimes.com. With
a legacy of over 300 writers, 2 million readers, and 4,000 articles, It’s
Getting Hot in Here has left an indelible mark on the online climate
community.

With a dynamic and newly empowered youth movement fighting against the tar
sands, mountain top removal mining, fracking and the corruption of our
democracy and media by the corporate polluters profiting from the
plundering of our collective future, Fired Up Media is seeking new
leadership to cover the most important story of our time: The generational
struggle for a just and sustainable future against the wealthiest and most
entrenched interests in the history of money. Are you up for the job?

The Managing Editor’s role will be developing a new content strategy,
recruiting a new cohort of youth climate bloggers and reporters, soliciting
community input of the site’s editorial voice, and reinvigorating It’s
Getting Hot in Here as a leading online community covering youth resistance
to dirty energy and movement-building for sustainable solutions on campuses
and in communities across the country.

We are looking for someone who has experience in new media, is an
entrepreneurial self-starter, and is passionate about using the web to both
inform and inspire young people to take action on climate change.
Preferred location is Washington DC, but telecommuting is an option for
the right candidate.

Primary Responsibilities:

- Establish and maintain site-wide content strategy and editorial tone.
- Manage a team of volunteer editors overseeing more than 300 bloggers,
maintaining regular communication and editorial oversight and providing
advice on everything from headlines to writing topics (little copy editing
is required – most bloggers publish content immediately without going
through an editorial process).
- Recruit additional editors and reporters to cover priority issue
categories: (ie. Tar Sands, Coal, Fracking, Green Finance, Clean Energy).
- Maintain and expand relationships with student media, advocacy groups,
other online media organizations and the press.
- Oversee strategy for distributing content through relationships with
other bloggers, syndication, listserves, and social media.
- Representing organization and site at media appearances, public
speaking, and partner meetings.
- Soliciting sponsorships from partner organizations and meeting
sponsorship obligations.

Requirements:

- Experience with new media and social networks
- Demonstrated success in managing daily flow of digital content,
managing website development, implementing social media strategies and
growing website traffic and user engagement.
- Experience leading and managing teams of writers, producers and
multi-media content developers for web or other platforms.
- Strong, proven leadership skills.
- Excellent writing ability and patience with editing contributor
content.
- Demonstrated record of creativity, innovation and success.
- Ability to work under pressure and deliver content on deadline.

Education and Experience
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education and experience in journalism, new
media, or communications preferred. Knowledge of climate advocacy, campus
organizing, and/or renewable energy ideal.

Compensation and Benefits
The position will start at half-time (20 hours per week), with the
potential to expand to full-time after a six month evaluation. Salary is
commensurate with experience. Benefits include a professional development
budget & paid training, free access to conferences, and referrals for paid
speaking and reporting for partner organizations, such as the Earth Island
Journal and Bioneers.

To apply, please send a resume, cover letter, and links to two writing
and/or links to multimedia samples to: jobs@firedupmedia.com

What are people saying about this book?

“Organizers spend decades developing tools and learning systems that Sharon Smith puts at the fingertips of young activists within a weekend.”—Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO, Green for All

“If you ever thought about wanting to change the world, but didn’t know where to start, then buy this book. It’s an inspiring and practical guide for young people who want to take the first steps toward finding real solutions for the planet.”—Michael Brune, executive director, Sierra Club

Well, that is really exciting to hear, as Fired Up Media staff and supporters helped edit and contribute to the book. Richard Graves, the founder of Fired Up Media, was a significant contributor to the Making Media Headlines chapter. In fact, it took almost a decade to learn a lot of these tools and skills and we are super fascinated to see what the next generation of youth environmental activists are able to do with a clear and effective guide like this one to guide them.

Guess what, we will be covering them on It’s Getting Hot in Here, Check the Weather, and all the other amazing youth climate activists. So, if you want to make an impact, pick up the book, get reading and get out there and change the world.

Just don’t forget to drop us a line and tell us your story, because we want to hear it.

Over the last two years, it has been my pleasure to work with Shadia Wood and Madeline Kovacs, who started working with Fired Up Media several years ago. We had some terrific successes together, covering the Poznan Climate talks for LinkTV, training dozens of young journalists at Power Shift 07 and 09, and especially – the launch of Project Survival Media.

Now, after getting the program launched in the chaos of the lead-up to the Copenhagen Climate talks and bringing incredible youth journalists from countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to report on the negotiations – Project Survival Media is now standing on its own (Support them!) – an independent project of the Earth Island Institute.

Shadia has had a lot of experience with Earth Island, as  a Brower Youth Award winner, one of the first staff members working with the Energy Action Coalition and at the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, and lately, with Fired Up Media. It is going to be exciting watching her take on the challenges of coordinating a network reporting from the front-lines of climate change. f you have questions about PSM’s program, media content, or being a Team Leader or Team Member, please contact Shadia.

Madeline has likewise had a lot of experience in the field, dating from our time together at MacCARES at Macalester College, to her work with Focus the Nation, Working Films, and now as the co-coordinator of Project Survival Media. If you would like to donate to the project, have questions about PSM’s website, or are an organization looking to partner with us, please contact Madeline.

It is exciting to see their success and I hope you check out their new effort, Solutions for Survival. It is going to be awesome. If you agree, support Project Survival Media today and just wait till you see the impact of a global youth journalism network dedicated to broadcasting stories of survival and ingenuity in the face of climate change.

I will be involved as a board member and I will be working to raise money, help where I can, and find opportunities to connect Fired Up Media platforms and training programs with Project Survival Media’s reporting teams.

-Richard Graves

Devil’s Bargain: How the BP Disaster Sank the Climate Bill

—Excerpt
A week after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, entertainer Rush Limbaugh suggested that environmentalists had caused the disaster in order to pass cap-and-trade legislation that wouldn’t include new offshore drilling or loan guarantees for the nuclear industry. A massive environmental disaster, on the eve of the fortieth Earth Day celebration, right before the planned introduction of the Senate climate bill — the timing, as Limbaugh noted, seemed too pat. And, in fact, toward the end of the failed Copenhagen climate talks last December, some despondent green campaigners privately confided to each other that they thought only a major disaster could build the public pressure to enact policies sufficiently ambitious to tackle global warming.

If only. Because four months later, the Gulf oil spill, rather than putting anti-environmental senators on the defensive and coalescing the movement for climate legislation, has shattered the fragile alliance that environmental advocates had built in the US Senate. In July, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the climate bill was dead, saying, “We know we don’t have the votes,” and suggesting instead a package that lifts the liability limits on oil companies and contains some relatively minor energy initiatives.

How, exactly, did the BP blowout frustrate the assumptions of both right-wing radio shock jocks and progressive environmentalists? The counterintuitive result grew out of the byzantine politics of the Senate and the increasingly desperate compromises many environmental groups have felt forced into as time runs out to tackle climate change. The big green groups — frantic to pass a bill before the mid-term elections — thought they could use a proposed expansion of offshore drilling to attract the votes of senators hesitant to put a price on carbon. With the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon, that scheme backfired and sunk, too.
Read the full article at the Earth Island Journal.

Project Survival Media

Local Solutions

As governments fail to take necessary action on climate change, ordinary people the world over are becoming innovators. People are finding real solutions that empower communities and ensure their survival. Over the next 18 months, www.projectsurvivalmedia.org will document and share these solutions via regular “updates from the field,” from five continents. Stories will focus on a variety of areas related to sustainable community development.

For example, you might read about how small-scale solar technology in Africa is being adapted and used in ways that most people in the United States don’t even know about. Or, you could hear a personal account from a woman in India who is leading the fight to secure food and water for her family in a region plagued by drought. Stories are being reported and written by young journalists, aged 15 to 30, who are documenting local leaders in action and sharing inspirational stories and best practices. These writers are on the ground, reporting directly from their own regions.

These stories will not only illustrate best practices, but will also direct viewers to helpful resources, connect real people with each other, and call on world governments to do more.

— Madeline Kovacs

Project Survival Media‘s new website launched at the Copenhagen International Climate Conference and it looks great! Check it out and get dispatches from Project Survival’s media teams around the world.

Young people from the developed world have pioneered uses of new media for advocacy and partnered with youth networks around the the world to build platforms, like YouthClimate.org. However, UNICEF and the other Unite for Climate partners have developed appropriate technology to connect young people without access to the internet and computers or in low-bandwidth areas, by using SMS polls and other online-to-mobile technology to reach youth in the developing world.

Another focus of the effort is online video, with low cost video-camera manufacturer FlipCam, YouTube, and the 1 minute to save the world contest coming together to provide equipment, host content, and screen video. Alongside the online video initiative, the site will have social networking tool available on the Unite for Climate site, for young citizens engaged in facing the challenge of climate change.

The platform was unveiled at the TUNZA International Children and Youth Conference in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, which is organized by the youth network affiliated with the UN Environment Program, TUNZA. Children and youth from some 110 countries participated in the launch of United for Climate, as well as released a statement they are delivering to world leaders.

The statement, titled “Listen to Our Voices”, led with this statement

We, young people – 3 billion of the world population – are concerned and frustrated that our governments are not doing enough to combat climate change. We feel that radical and holistic measures are needed urgently from us all. We now need more actions and less talking.”

The statement also made commitments by young people to work for sustainable solutions, work to green schools, campuses, and communities, as well as mobilize around the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen, this fall.

To support this youth commitment on campuses and schools, Unite for Climate will connect at least 150 schools around the globe from September 2009. The Connecting Classrooms project will foster dialogue on climate change between school children, and is supported by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Mediterranean Center for Sustainable Development.

For more information:

United for Climate:  www.uniteforclimate.org

Youth Climate Debates: www.youtube.com/youthclimatedebate

Youth Climate: www.youthclimate.org

It’s Getting Hot in Here – dispatches from the youth climate movement – www.itsgettinghotinhere.org

Madeline J. Kovacs : SolveClimate & It’s Getting Hot in Here-  Jul 26th, 2009 – Students Lead Charge to Power School with Renewable Energy

Richard Graves: CommonDreams.org – Friday July 24, 2009 -  Unregulated Carbon Credit Markets Threaten Local Sustainability Projects Worldwide

Kevin Kim: It’s Getting Hot in Here – July 21st, 2009 – A Green Way Forward? US/China Launches Joint Energy Research Center

Richard Graves: It’s Getting Hot in Here – July 14th, 2009- Unity over Divisiveness: Generational Approaches to the Climate Crisis

We will do another round-up soon, as we are writing up articles for America.gov’s eJournal USA and other publications, so keep an eye out!

He wrote:

Hey, everyone. My name is Kevin Kim and I’m from the Orange County in California. I’ve been involved with a youth rights organization, many student groups, and grassroots political campaigning, and I hope to bring a new perspective to Fired Up and help you guys out on your projects. I’m really happy that I get the rare opportunity to actually roll up my sleeves and do some serious work that could bring about an important change in the youth climate movement today. I know we’ll have a great time.

Getty Images, the leading distributor of still imagery, launched the Grants for Good program to support exceptional photographers partnering with a nonprofit to support a cause and issue that needs to be visualized. Robert van Waarden, together with the Global Youth Action Network and Fired Up Media, submitted an application to photograph the emerging global youth climate movement. It was an exciting application to put together, including the development of a new media platform of social documentary photography. Now, while unfortunately our application was not selected as one of the two winners, it was selected as an exceptional finalist. Read about the finalists.

“In its inaugural year, Getty Images received more than 403 proposals from photographers in 26 countries, who partnered with non-profits working in more than 55 countries. Jurors Dennis Freedman, Creative Director for W Magazine, Christopher Phillips, Curator for International Center of Photography and Lesley Martin, Publisher for Aperture Foundation, selected the winning proposals. [emphasis added]” Read their release.

“In addition to the two grant winners, Getty Images and the judges wish to recognize a number of outstanding finalists and their innovative grant proposals benefiting non-profits from around the world:”

For more information on these finalists and their proposals, please visit www.gettyimages.com/grants. Those interested in supporting any of these exceptional projects can secure additional information by sending an inquiry to Grants2@gettyimages.com.

The winners were really incredible photographers and one project in particular is one that will be really powerful on the issue of climate and justice is Karen Kasmauski’s project with Save Our Cumberland Mountains. She is going to be showing the Appalachian way of life and its devastation by Mountain Top Removal mining, one of the great American tragedies. View her work here.

You may have seen this photo, on the left, from the Bonn meeting of the UN Climate Negotiations. It seems simple enough, two men sitting at a table with a framed photograph perched in front of the microphone. Yet, it shows how everything has started to change on the fight to create a global agreement in Copenhagen this December. Why? It demonstrates how everything is in our hands now.

First, lets start with the framed photograph itself. You probably can’t see it too clearly, so lets take a look at the original. Floating above a sea of signs, Ethan Nuss of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network is speaking to the Power Shift 09 Lobby Day Rally in front of the US Capitol building. He is wearing a suit, but he is holding a megaphone. It is wicked cold out, due to a freak snowstorm. Ethan is an incredible speaker and despite the crowd noise is inspiring all the young people in the crowd, who are vigorously waving their signs, and fired up to go lobby Congress.

What does this have to do with Yvo de Boer, the UN’s top climate official and the Executive Secretary (think Secretary of State, not your dentist’s secretary) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – the body charged with creating a global agreement on climate change, and why did he put this framed photo up? In Poznan, Poland – there was an intergenerational inquiry on the role of youth and the UN climate process. There, I recorded Yvo de Boer state that, ” I think that civil society loses its power, when NGOs put down their banners and put on suits.” He spoke on how young people need to provide the passion, the activism, and not lose sight of their goals in policy thickets. He also called for governments to live up to their promises to include youth representation. See Unicef’s reporting on it, here.

At Power Shift 09, there was an incredible effort to document the conference and tell our own story. Our New Media Warroom, filled with bloggers, photographers, and videographers hailing from the Obama campaign, youth climate organizations, and Fired Up Media – recorded the incredible gathering.

Robert vanWaarden, the leading international youth climate photographer, came with Fired Up Media to shoot the conference. He captured some of the most stunning images you will see of Power Shift, showing the importance and vitality of the youth climate movement. He took this photo of Ethan and the Power Shift rally. Two days after the rally, Yvo de Boer came to Washington DC to speak at the Brooking Institute, a thinktank, where a lineup of speakers talked about political ‘realities’ that will force compromising on Capitol Hill. You can read a bit about it, here. Robert and I printed out the photo, met with Yvo and told him, “We may have put on suits, but we are never putting down our signs.”

I asked those pontificating about the impossibility of getting midwestern senators to support a climate agreement, if they thought the emergence of a citizen-based climate movement could change political ‘realities’, on camera. They seemed to be surprised to have heard of Power Shift 2009, let alone the fact that young people are stepping up to lead this movement. This brings us to the second part of the first photo, the man sitting next to Yvo de Boer.

His name is David Turnbull, he is 26, and he is the Director of the Climate Action Network – International, the coordinating body for Environmental NGOs at the UN Climate process. [Full Disclosure: He is my roommate.] David and Yvo are presiding over the liason meeting between the NGO community and the UN in Bonn. The fact that a twenty-six year old man is serving in this role and joining other rockstars like EAC co-founder, and 25 year old Meg Boyle, as a lead negotiator for Greenpeace, while Yvo de Boer holds up Power Shift 09 as the model for climate action before the assembled NGO community, means that we are in a new era. The youth climate movement might not have the money, the glass faced building in DC, or teams of economists at our beck and call, but we are starting to influence and direct the global climate movement. That is the story this photo tells us.

However, this story won’t be told without the photographers, videographers, writers, bloggers, and networks around the world dedicated to telling it. That is why I have been working on Fired Up Media and have been excited to partner with Robert vanWaarden to shoot the youth climate movement since the UN climate talks in Bali. Thanks to Marr Maiorana for snapping this last photo in Bonn and to everyone dedicated to telling the stories of victory in this movement.