Isla Earth Writer's Guide

Contents

• 1.0 Business Matters
• 2.0 Scope of Topics
• 3.0 Nuts and Bolts
• 4.0 Seven Tips for Radio Writing
• 5.0 Sample Scripts

1.0 Business Matters

Beginning January 1, 2007, we pay $100 for each script that is accepted for broadcast. Scripts are considered “accepted” after they have been reviewed by our first scientific reviewer. Author credit is given for each script published online.  Invoices are processed within 14 days of receipt.

2.0 Scope of Topics

We invite you to pitch story ideas to us. The pitch is usually a short paragraph that summarizes the story, mentions the key people and/or source study, and originating source (include a URL or paste the original source document into your pitch).  Assignments, including those a writer may have sent to us, are returned to the originating writer with notes regarding angle and additional information or points to consider.

We are especially interested in stories that demonstrate the following scientific concepts:

Sustainability and Our Future.  The future of life on Earth will depend on humanity’s ability to change its approach to using the planet’s resources.  This will include our behaviors and attitudes towards life, our technologies for manufacture and disposal, and our usage patterns.

Keywords: Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Alternative Fuel, Aquaculture, Eco-Friendly Corporate Trends, Fisheries Management, Habitat Conservation, Market Mechanisms, Methanol Economy, Open Space, Population, Poverty and the Environment, Strategies for Sustainability, New Frontiers.

The Diversity of Life:  This is the Century of Biodiversity.  This is the time when we figure out what we have and decide what we want to keep and what we want to let go, or become extinct.  It is humanity’s choice.  This is also the time when we need to make biodiversity a real part of our life.  We are more than just another species.  We are the species, the one that will thrive or disappear with the rest according to our conscious actions.

Keywords: Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hot Spots, Endangered Species, Environment, Evolution, Hybrids (Species), Marine Ecology, Native Peoples and the Environment, Water, Wetlands, Wild Lands

Technology and the Environment: Humanity’s challenge today is to find better ways to coexist with the planet’s biodiversity, using it mindfully, benefiting from it, and thriving on its bounty.  Technology is our modern vehicle to find sustainable ways of living, to lessen our impact on the stressed natural systems, and thus improve our quality of life.

Keywords: Bio-Prospecting, Bioremediation, Clean Air, Environmental Restoration, Genomics, Human Health and the Environment, Hybrids (vehicles), Landfills

Inspirational Environmental Learning: Most aspects of our lives revolve around our environment and our interactions with it and other species. An environmentally literate person knows its impact on the natural systems, and has a choice to reduce it, sustain it or increase it.  Many people blindly stumble through life making the wrong environmental choices, without knowing.  Ecoliteracy is the new environmental education frontier.

Keywords: Education, Ecologists and Local Heroes (Profiles)

The Processes that Affect Life: Species (including humans), their habitats and their abiotic world (soil, water, air) are the elements of the unique and complex Earth Ecosystem.  They all relate to each other through processes that define their interactions.  Excessive inputs or outputs of these elements in the environment affect the delicate (but often resilient) balance.

Keywords: Fire and Ecosystems, Global Warming, Harmful Algal Blooms, Introduced Species, Invasive Marine Species

3.0 Nuts and Bolts

• Length: The spots must be exactly 90 seconds in length, including the brief musical cues at the beginning and end. Script length, including the following language (not counting the writer’s name or copyright information) must be 220 words.

• Format: The following text is standard on each script.

Open

Welcome to Isla Earth.

Web Reference

Learn more at I-S-L-A-earth dot org.

Tag

Isla Earth is produced by the Catalina Island Conservancy supported by its Fund for a Sustainable Planet  because Earth IS an island.

Author’s Name & Copyright (not counted toward the 220 words, online only)

Pat Florez

Copyright 2007, Catalina Island Conservancy

Discovery Links (not counted toward the 220 words, online only, supplied by author)

            John Muir Day Study Guide (Sierra Club)

            http://www.sierraclub.org

            Navigation, Compass and GPS (Wilderness Outings)

            http://www.wildernessoutings.com/

• Tone: When you read the final script out loud it should sound conversational. Imagine sharing this information with a friend at a dinner party. You’d be an authority on the subject, of course, but you’d want your friend to feel comfortable and eager to hear what you have to say. It might include a touch of humor or perhaps a witty play on words. In the end, you’d want your friend to leave the discussion feeling empowered by the information you shared.

4.0 Seven Tips for Radio Writing

1. Make it relevant, right off the bat, in the first paragraph. Answer the question of why your listener should care about what you’re going to say.
2. List the long names of universities and organizations later in the script, not the first paragraph.
3. Can you really say that five times in a row without turning your tongue inside out? What about the structure of the sentence or paragraph? Read it OUT LOUD. The spoken word is different, don’t trust your eyes.
4. Use a quote, only if it really adds something to the piece. Quotes often don’t work on-air. 
5. Make sure your sources are reputable and carefully review all statistics and factual assertions for accuracy. Whenever possible, use source materials that have been peer reviewed. And when there is controversy among scientific experts, be sure to give both sides, a panel of academic experts review scripts for accuracy and nuance. List the source material and links at the bottom of your draft.  Newspaper articles might be a good place to begin your research but they should not be used as a source, same with Wikipedia.
6. Is there an opportunity for the listener to make a choice or get involved? Be sure to include these links at the bottom of your draft. They might make great Discovery Links.
7. Provide supporting evidence in your script and make it simple and clear to understand. Read it OUT LOUD.
   

5.0 Sample Scripts

Broadcast Date: 10/3/2007
Ref.: 05 - 632
Paint River

Welcome to Isla Earth

Have you ever bathed in paint? Canary yellow or baby blue? Well of course you haven’t! But almost three million Americans could have last year, since collectively, we threw away 68 million gallons of paint--enough to fill three million bathtubs! And that’s not counting store rejects.

If that doesn’t amaze you, imagine--that many gallons could have painted a million houses--more than all the homes in the City of Chicago--inside and out!

Latex and oil-based paints are an environmental hazard, and proper disposal isn't cheap for city waste managers.

But where some see red, Tom Nosker of Rutgers University sees green. He and fellow researchers have tested a way to blend used paint into melted plastic that’s about to be formed into bottles, plexi-glass, and other items. The result is called “paint plastics.”

Adding paint to plastic gets rid of unwanted paint, and it conserves plastic. The polymers found in paint also make some plastics more flexible and valuable.

All kinds of products can be made with paint plastics. One of Nosker’s favorites? Paint containers.

Bathtubs out of paint plastics? Not for the time being.

Learn more about paint plastics at I-S-L-A earth dot org.

Isla Earth is funded by the Annenberg Foundation’s Blue Planet Initiative and produced by the Catalina Island Conservancy, because Earth is an island.

Script by Dan Maxwell
Copyright 2007, Catalina Island Conservancy

And, one more sample script...

Broadcast Date: 07/17/2007
Ref.: 05 - 525
Wanted: More Wild Bees

Welcome to Isla Earth.

Domestic tranquility has its place, but we all need a little walk on the wild side from time to time. And, apparently, the same goes for bees…

We depend upon pollinators for some 15 to 30 percent of our food, and farmers rely on honeybees more than any other animal.

But despite their huge numbers, bees aren’t very efficient pollinators -- so lots of them are needed. Domestic bee populations have declined dramatically in recent years, mostly because of parasites and pesticides. And that’s caused declines in some crop yields. Scientists have suggested that increasing the honeybee’s efficiency as a pollinator might help boost crop yields.

Then, a new study by Susan Greenleaf of the University of California, Davis, created quite a buzz. She found that domesticated honeybees behave differently when they cozy up with their wild cousins. In fact, pollination efficiency rates are five times higher when wild bees mingle with domesticated bees.

Greenleaf suggests that farmers could enhance crop yields by preserving natural habitat for wild bees, and growing pollination-dependent crops near these natural habitats—two solutions for avoiding the sting of fewer bees.

Learn more at I-S-L-A Earth dot org.

Isla Earth is funded by the Annenberg Foundation’s Blue Planet initiative, and produced by the Catalina Island Conservancy, because Earth IS an island.

Script by Andrew Porterfield
Copyright 2007, Catalina Island Conservancy