Paparazzi are pretty much universally thought of as an irritant at best, and absolute scum at worst. They are relentless in their pursuit, they intrude, spy, reveal, expose and shame. There is no privacy from the prying eyes of the paparazzi, but imagine if the Earth had a team of paparazzi working for her, a team of ecopaparazzi traveling the globe, documenting and exposing the relentless damage to the Earth.
Meet Jeanette McDermott, one of the world’s unsung eco-heroines and founder of Ecopaparazzi, an online media portal for eco journalists working to expose the environmental stories that the mainstream media ignores — bear bile farming, corrupt development, deforestation, illegal trade in wildlife species’ poaching and the list, unfortunately, goes on and on.
We caught up with Jeanette, who is currently based in South America, to find out more about the growing number of Earth heroes and heroines who call themselves ecopaparazzi.
What is an ecopaparazzi exactly?
We don't stalk celebrities in the sense of the word paparazzi, but we do stalk Earth abusers, hence the coined phrase ecopaparazzi. We look for the bad actors, the corrupt and greedy governments, corporate leaders, land developers and others who are responsible for destructive practices that negatively impact all Earth beings who need clean air, water and uncontaminated soil to grow and/or browse for food.
When we discover who is behind the destructive, and often illegal activity, in our communities, we take photographs to document the assaults so we can have impact in rallying others to stand against the destruction.
We also look at how environmental issues are related, like poaching and poverty and human overpopulation and deforestation. As every paparazzi knows, you are not always successful with the camera. Sometimes we're run out of places by armed security guards, local police and ferocious dogs.
I've been escorted gently and not so gently out of my fair share of timber poaching camps, fur boutiques, mountaintop removal sites, toxic waste dumps and personal garages and basements holding terrorized wildlife captured for the illegal pet trade.
POACHED SEA TURTLE
Sea turtles have been swimming in the world's oceans for more than 100 million years. All species of sea turtles were listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act more than 30 years ago, yet no sea turtle species has recovered. Trawl fishing and poaching are the biggest threats to sea turtles. Some poachers kill the source of all future egg production (the female adult), and eat the entire clutch of offspring (the eggs), believing the eggs make them virile. Photo by Sami Abdelmalik.
Tell us about the Ecopaparazzi site.
I created Ecopaparazzi after my friend Nancy and I traveled to the once isolated coastal and rainforest communities of Costa Rica to document the shocking horrors of unplanned development. Nancy drove, and I repeatedly bolted from the car to snap photos and roll off video footage of what we witnessed. At one point it became ludicrous. There was so much damage to the natural landscape that I was unbuckling and hopping out of the car every fifty yards to record the damage. My antics tickled Nancy and she said something like, "You're like the paparazzi, but instead of stalking celebrities you stalk Earth abusers. And in that second a new idea was born and a week later Ecopaparazzi was up and running on Ning. Politicos and developers don't like for people to learn about the nitty gritty of rampant unplanned, and often illegal, construction, because the stories typically include dirty little secrets, like kickbacks and bribes. Citizen journalists and environmental watchdog vigilantes have to step in to be the voice of change.
For example, when eco warriors began sounding the cry last year that Costa Rica's most coveted beach front and third most popular tourist destination spot had fecal concentrations 7,000 times above the maximum levels considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it resulted in widespread shock and panic. Swimmers and surfers fled the sea, visitors panicked and packed up, and even banks re-evaluated construction loans, spelling disaster and a potential market crash. When citizen journalists and community activists made village residents aware that the developers were tapping into their local water supply to siphon it to irrigate monstrous golf courses and flush thousands of toilets used by tourists, it led to a full-blown citizen revolt.
The actions of citizen journalists, eco warriors and community activists resulted in 40 large-scale development sites being slapped with cease and desist construction orders, which are now pending in the Costa Rican courts. The voice for Mother Earth needs forums for getting the word out, and social media sites like Ecopaparazzi can serve that role.
What type of stories are published on Ecopaparazzi?
The eco-stories featured in Ecopaparazzi are both horrific and uplifting. We focus on the damage and the people who are working to solve the problems. But we also have a feature called What We're Doing Right, which showcases innovative approaches to Earth healing. And we feature Eco-Active Celebrities, who are the members in our network that are contributing to Earth healing. I would love to feature additional eco warriors and deep ecologists who dedicate their lives to conserving Mother Earth but I need to know about them in order to promote their successes.
Ecopaparazzi also has a column for eco-education, economy and environment, the global food movement, wake-up calls that sound the alarm, and eco-scribbles, which are musings from our members in diary-like form.
KIDS IN DUMP
Inside La Chureca, Central America's largest waste dump in Nicaragua's capital city, there live families who earn less than a dollar a day scavenging garbage. Children work side-be-side with adults, competing for scraps of food to eat and anything that they might be able to sell to recyclers. Photo by Milton.
Why do we need a site like Ecopaparazzi?
I went to a peace activist rally a few months ago and saw a fabric patch that I bought. It says "Don't blame the media, become the media." That's the reality. It is true that the pen is mightier than the sword. Sites like Ecopaparazzi remind people that we are the media, and that we have the power to change the world just by getting involved, even if it's taking one photograph or uploading one poster onto a Facebook profile to bring an issue to light. We need sites like Ecopaparazzi as a place to tell our stories, because stories are what connect us as a community of humans.
Secondly, having sites like Ecopaparazzi lets government and industry know that we are watching. We are paying attention. Our eyes are open, and we have cameras, mobile phones and computers to spread the word virally about who is making wrong choices and acting badly. Equally important, sites like Ecopaparazzi provide a forum for telling the stories about people who are doing the right thing.
Third, Ecopaparazzi is a gathering spot for like-minded people who care deeply about issues affecting our planet. Sometimes we need the support of others who know what's it like to be David up against Goliath, and we need to find encouragement and share strategies to motivate, inspire and spur us ever onward.
Did you always want to be an ecopaparazzi?
I think my Mom would agree when I say that I emerged from the womb an ecopaparazzi. At 8 years of age I knew that I was going to spend my life as an investigative photojournalist. I cut my teeth on Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkly news reporting styles and was fascinated by the hard new stories and undercover reports being flashed on the screen in television's early years.
As a kid I was constantly cruising my neighborhood in search of news stories and interviews. At 18 I left home to begin a photojournalism career. I started out in newspaper reporting and then became skilled as a radio disk jockey, television anchor, photographer, and later as a magazine editor and layout designer, and then a video producer. It was natural for me to embrace social media when it burst onto the global scene.
STARVING DOG
There was nothing I could do for this starving dog in La Chureca, except give it the water from my bottle and a few cookies that I had in the backpack. The image of this dying dog haunts me. I see this beautiful soul in my day hours and night dreams. In another place this dog would have been someone's beloved companion, probably mine. Photo by Jeanette McDermott.
What is the most shocking eco-story you have covered?
I have reported on many shocking human activities in nature. It's hard to fathom sometimes just how cruel humans can be toward other Earth Beings and creation itself. But the most shocking eco story I have covered is Mountaintop Removal, where coal companies blow up entire 330-million year old mountains in Appalachia to get the seams of coal.
The wildlife, who have called the biologically diverse ecosystem home for millions of years, can't read, and so on blasting day, unaware of the dynamite that has been set into the mountain and the blasting signs that have been posted, they stay and are blown to bits. The few that might survive such destruction are suddenly homeless with no food, shelter or water, and so they wander, dazed and often injured from the dynamite explosion.
Resulting soil erosion contaminates local water supplies and turns once thriving aquatic ecosystems into dead seas. Mountaintop Removal (MTR) is one of the most despicable practices on Earth.
But even more shocking than Mountaintop Removal is another top-ranking vile human practice that I have written about — Bear bile farming. This is a practice in China, Vietnam and Korea, where bears are locked in crush cages no larger than their bodies for up to 25 years, until they die, so that their bile can be drained for non-essential products through an excruciatingly painful procedure that leads to unfathomable suffering and agony for the bears. Bear farmers often rip out claws and break the bear's teeth so they can approach the cages without fear of being hurt —without anesthesia or medical treatment for infection and illness. In my opinion, bear bile farming is the most cruel and abhorrent human action perpetrated against another sentient species.
What are the three most under-reported environmental stories?
The incredible loss of life and diversity in the oceans, how our choices as consumers contribute directly to loss of entire ecosystems and the role of the plastics industry in wholesale environmental destruction.
Do you think people are becoming more environmentally aware?
Without a doubt. However, what I am observing is that most folks are staying in safe waters. They are becoming aware of energy use of home appliances, shopping fair trade, and recycling but don't know much about the perils of the meat industry or commercial fishing, hidden costs of alternative energy or bio-piracy and seed modification.
We need more global watchdog citizen journalists writing in-depth original investigative eco blogs about such things as the wildlife pet trade, perils of new pesticides, public land use accountability, tourism's effect on the environment, and the connection between privatization of the world’s water and growth of the largest private water companies. So, on the one hand, there is greater awareness within the general public about the overall state of affairs of the environment. But on the other hand, there isn't much awareness at all about causes and effects of specific issues.
So, you see ... we are becoming aware and we are staying in the dark. Without citizen journalism, the most important issues will remain hidden from public view. Social media networks give us a platform for sharing thoughts, raising questions and sounding the alarm to wake each other up.
How can people get involved?
Take action in your community. Look around, pay attention, ask questions, do some research, right any wrongs. Teach and inspire others. For example, some Ecopaparazzi members teach others the importance of the natural world and our link in it by taking people to wilderness zones to experience first hand the wonders of Earth. They lead kayak and canoe expeditions and treks to indigenous reserves and rainforests.
Other members take direct action to conserve and protect animals that humans have harmed through bile farming, hunting, and poaching and buying for the illegal wildlife pet trade. Other members organize artists for public awareness about environmental concerns. Some of our members heighten others' perception of nature through teaching, blogging, and creating additional social networks that spread the word.
Most of our members are conscious about their personal impact and do what they can to lighten their footprint through recycling, reduced home energy use, conscious consuming and other personal actions that contribute to Earth care.
You can also join Ecopaparazzi and share your eco stories, news tips, ideas and photos.
Visit: http://ecopaparazzi.ning.com/
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