Discussing ways to raise awareness of their impact on the world around them Sunday, lecture panelists targeted the media and the role its outlets should play in promoting awareness of key environmental issues in the Southwest, including urban sprawl.
The lecture, "Moving the Message: How to Tell the Story of the West," addressed the importance of effectively communicating the values of place in the West - the dramatic landscapes, the natural resources, the human communities - so that society will begin to make wiser choices about land use.
The forum was the final lecture of the interdisciplinary series, "Visions for the American West," providing up-to-date, authoritative reports on the status and issues of the American West.
Richard Johnson-Sheehan, director of the professional writing program at UNM and lecture mediator, said that he hopes environmental concerns are treated with the same regard as "high profile" issues such as strip mining and animal extinction.
"I would like to see the media start viewing us less of a special interest group and more of a mainstream group whose voices deserve to be heard," Johnson-Sheehan said.
Speaking from personal experience, he said local media does not always give environmental issue the attention they deserve.
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Johnson-Sheehan is the chairman of the mid-Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club.
Michael Kamins, executive producer of KNME, said that the urgency of environmental degradation is often downplayed by the lack of coverage by media.
"Anyone with the slightest appreciation for life on this planet has to come to the conclusion that the human race has lost its mind," Kamins said. "When I look around I see the earth being abused and under attack from all sides. We are screwed."
Kamins, who considers environmentalists to be realists, suggested that one reason such issues get little attention by the media is that the public does not want to hear just how bad the situation is. Kamins suggested that the urban sprawl across the country is an "unalterable course" that we are "all going to suffer from in this century."
Lawrence Spohn, deputy editorial editor and senior science writer for the Albuquerque Tribune, said that the lecture was an important step in striving to offer hope and vision of a rebirth of a West that we would all like to see take shape.
"I hope that this lecture provides a broader context and insight into the current situation of our environment and stimulate thought about altering our current actions," Spohn said.
Spohn, who spoke at the lecture, said he hopes his work in media will help raise further awareness of critical environmental issues.
