VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 141
AIR DATE 09 25 2020
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Peace of the Forest
((SOT))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
That's really what the point of all of this kind of stuff is in the
end, is creating a public space for people to come do those
things.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Power of the Sun
((SOT))
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
All the insides of the kiln will be painted black, but the roof is
clear. So, it’s going to let the sunlight in and heat up that
space a lot.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Potential of the Bees
((SOT))
((Vince Ylitalo, US Veteran))
It's very, very helpful for me because it keeps me in the
moment. It brings me into now, which is very beneficial for
me.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) HEYWARD COMMUNITY FOREST TRAILS
((TRT: 04:06))
((Banner: A Community Forest))
((Reporter: Martin Secrest))
((Camera: Philip Alexiou, Martin Secrest))
((Editors: Philip Alexiou, Martin Secrest))
((Map: Charlottesville, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Popup Banner))
A community forest was recently acquired by the city of
Charlottesville, with a donation from the landowner and the
help of a federal grant.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
I'm deputized to go out and buy land in the city, maybe just
at the city limits, in order to construct a trail system, while
this land, this is now the community's forest effectively.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
We ask, would you rather the trail be on this side of the
hollow or that side of the hollow or should we build two
trails? And the community is already heavily involved. The
trails you see behind me were built by volunteers.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
Let’s go right up here. I think there’s good rock stuff. Not
very far.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
One of the bits of trail maintenance is to let them settle for a
while.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
So, here's an example where the hill used to come across
like this and we have cut in the back, made the flat surface,
so you're running this way. And then you lay that piece
back, so the water still wants to come down and this trail still
slopes outward just enough that water keeps going like that.
This is a very good example section of where they had to
come along here with their picks and pick into the hillside.
And you can see they cut through a root here and then you
lay it out flat. And then once it's in here, this could be here
for 50 to 100 years as long as it's stable and drains well
and that's our goal.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
This is a section here where we will be building a trail around
and up into that hollow. You can see we've started laying
out the pink flags. It's generally pretty easy to tell volunteers
spread out along that line of pink flags. By the end of the
day, you connect all those dots and you have one
continuous trail. Had the COVID not hit, we would probably
have most of the trails built now.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
We had a big blowdown storm come through here two
weeks ago. When this tree decides to fall across the trail,
this is when I come out or some of our crew members and
we would just cut through enough that people can walk
through it. And they also offer an opportunity for
education. We can interpret these tree rings and you can
say, “Okay, this is an 80-year-old tree.” Some of the trees
we cut are about this big around. So, you know, what we'd
probably do is use one of those really big ones. The bad
thing is we have to cut through trees that are about this big
around every so often. So, we might as well use them for
education.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
Just behind me and down the hill is the small city of
Charlottesville. There’s about 50-thousand people in the
city. You'll see how this looks a lot like a trail. It’s going to
look a lot more like a trail very soon. This will become
the off-road bicycle-jog-hike up here. You've got this lovely
creek next to you.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
So, the final step here is to open the front door to all of these
woods to the big community down the hill, get them to start
coming up here and enjoying it for swimming, for hiking,
learning about nature. And that's really what the point of all
of this kind of stuff is in the end, is creating a public space for
people to come do those things.
((NATS))
((PKG)) WHIFFLETREE FARM
((TRT: 03:52))
((Previously aired April 2020))
((Banner: Farming Amid COVID))
((Reporter/Camera: Philip Alexiou, Martin Secrest))
((Producer: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Warrenton, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
Whiffletree Farm is a non-genetically modified sustainable
poultry and livestock farm.
Young chickens are being moved to pasture.))
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
So, you want to grab around their wings and like I'll grab two
together. I'll grab them around their wings here and hold
them together. Yeah, that way they feel safe.
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
If you pack it too tight, especially like in the summer when it's
hot and the crates are all stacked on top of each other and
there's a lot of body heat, you know, then it's dangerous.
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
We’re going to go out to the pasture. You can see we’re
going to go through that tree line and that's where the empty
chicken shelters are. That's where these chicks are going to
on pasture.
((NATS: Jesse Straight and his co-worker))
Oh, I put the count on the sheet.
OK, you updated the total?
Yep, yep.
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
A big distinction for us is what you see on the ground here.
This is fresh grass, fresh air, sunlight, etc. So, we have to
kind of baby them in the brooder barn until they get hardy
enough at about three or four weeks to bring them out to
pasture. At this point, they now have their mature
feathers. So, you can kind of see like, you can see they still
have some of their baby feathers here. So, these like downy
little soft feathers on their neck, you know, that's their baby
feathers. That's what they were totally covered with when
they are first the little peep, you know. But then, these white
mature feathers, that's what actually insulates them
and keeps them warm and they can regulate their body
temperature themselves as opposed to what in nature their
mother would do that for them.
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
Of course, our customers love what we do, particularly, you
know, that the animals are actually on fresh pasture, which is
a real game changer. Obviously, right now everyone's
thinking about the coronavirus and that's sort of our moment
right now. I think people are increasingly interested in
thinking about their food as a source of health.
((NATS: Jesse Straight, on phone))
Whiffletree Farm, this is Jesse. Yeah. Here's the deal. I
just put something on our website to offer like for elderly and
immunosuppressed people to do something like a
curbside. If, you know, if you fall in that category.
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
About half of our business before corona(virus) was with
restaurants and half was retail directly to customers.
Restaurant business, totally toast (stopped), you know,
nothing there, pretty much. There's going to be a real lag
time before the restaurant business can recuperate. I do
whatever I can to calm people down, just to be like, ‘Hey, we
have food, three people at a time in the farm store, we're
taking these measures.’ Just trying to assure people of all
the things that might be on their mind especially and try and
comfort them with the ways that we can with what we have
and what we're doing.
((NATS: Store, Jesse Straight))
Let’s do curbside after chicks and then let’s do…..power’s
ongoing from there, yeah.
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
You know, obviously, coronavirus as an international story
has been developing for a while. It's exposing how
vulnerable we are. People are so dependent on this
industrial food system and it has such a vulnerable supply
chain and it's run to such tight margins. The inventory is
tight and the supply chain is long and that means there's not
a lot of grace for runs on the system like this.
((Popup Banner:
Recorded before Virginia mandated safe distancing due to
COVID-19.))
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Useful Waste
((SOT))
((Sandy Nurse, Founder, BK ROT))
New York City businesses produce about 650,000 tons
[590,000 metric tons] of food waste. It is a 100 subway-cars
of food every day. So, what we're trying to do is capture this,
create it locally and distribute it locally, with as little fossil fuel
use as possible.
BREAK ONE
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
NOMINATION CONVENTION
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) SOLAR WOOD KILN
((TRT: 03:28))
((Filmed early in the pandemic))
((Banner: Green Wood, Green Energy))
((Reporter: Martin Secrest))
((Camera: Phillip Alexiou, Martin Secrest))
((Map: Charlottesville, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
University of Virginia graduate Andrew Sparks and wife
Emily are building a solar kiln for drying wood))
((NATS))
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
I’d say that I was always a person that liked to tinker with
stuff, tinker with Legos, so on and so forth. But it wasn’t
really until I got here to UVA [University of Virginia], had
access to the woodshop, that I realized that I really liked, you
know, woodworking.
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
Newly-cut wood must be dried to stabilize it for projects))
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
I’ve been just following the plans and the instructions that I
found and that should hold up for a good while.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
These are a little, there you go. There’s some ‘shorties.’
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
This is about a year into an idea to try and make something
out of the logs that are, you know, already coming down
across campus and to mill some wood.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
Okay…..
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
All the insides of the kiln will be painted black, but the roof is
clear. So, it’s going to let the sunlight in and heat up that
space a lot. But at the same time, we need fans to be
moving that heated and now more humid air. So, we’re
actually going to have some solar panels out in the front and
those will power the fans and push that hot air out and
through vents in the doors. You get that power from the
commercial kiln of really, kind of, ‘cooking’ the wood but you
get that same kind of heat-and-cool cycle that you get with
air drying outside.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
Alright, here are two more.
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
She’s been awesome. She’s been a great support. And a
lot of things, I think, she’s pretty comfortable with. She
actually also worked in the woodshop this last year while she
was enrolled in a program here at the university. But before
that she was, I think, a little bit on the edges of what all of
this was. But as I’ve just come home every day and been
really excited about it and talked about what we’re doing,
I think she’s gotten more comfortable with it all. Yeah, she’s
been a great help here.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
Sure, I can come cut a piece.
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
It’s been a few weeks now and we’ve made some more
progress. We’ve got the outside coated with some good
exterior paint and we’ve also got the roof on and a few coats
of this black paint. And let me tell you, it sure is dang hot in
here. All we’ve got left to do is to put some vents in the
doors because the fans will be hanging down about here,
right? And so those will suck air in and push it down and
through the stack and that will vent out. You know, basically
we’ll get quite a few logs in here. They’ll come up to,
you know, about this height, right? So, about waist-
height and we’ll stack those really nicely and we’ll monitor
those as they dry. In this kind of heat, we’ll probably see a
load of poplar, which you can dry pretty fast. We could
probably get that out of here in five weeks, which would be
great. Yeah, hopefully we’ll start munching through our good
log pile here.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
There we go. All buttoned up.
((NATS))
((PKG)) COMPOST BIKERS
((TRT: 02:19))
((Previously aired October 2020))
((Banner: Compost Bikers))
((Reporter: Nina Vishneva))
((Camera: Aleksandr Barash))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub character: 1 female))
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
BK ROT is New York’s first sustainable food waste hauling
and composting service.))
((NATS))
((Sandy Nurse, Founder, BK ROT))
The business itself is based on moving food waste, organic
waste, from households and businesses, for a fee. And so,
Victor and Sonia, they go and collect by bike from about, a
bunch of, a handful of small local restaurants, cafes.
((NATS))
((Claire Conway, Manager, Little Skip’s Café))
So, we've been working with BK Rot for quite a couple of
years now. We're focusing on making sure all of our cafes
are as green and eco-conscious as possible and
we're working to make this café, specifically, a little more
sustainable in the kitchen. No food waste, no, you know,
paper products. You know, it's a big goal, but we're striving
towards that and then BK Rot, kind of, incorporates itself into
that as well.
((NATS))
((Sandy Nurse, Founder, BK ROT))
Each week, we're doing about four to 5,000 pounds [1800 to
2200 kg] a week from businesses that we bring into the
space. And so, everything we bring in comes through here,
comes through this giant pulverizer that’s in the
background. And we turn it into compost, and this material
is then brought to different farms and gardens in this area
and couple other neighborhoods. People can come get it on
the weekends. They can come grab their bag and fill it up
for a small donation, and then we also sell it in retail stores in
a small, little bag.
((NATS))
((Sandy Nurse, Founder, BK ROT))
So, one thing I found really amazing when we started to get
into commercial waste was that New York City businesses
produce about 650,000 tons [590,000 metric tons] of food
waste. I think the visual they talk about is a 100 subway-
cars of food every day is just going straight to the
landfill. So, what we're trying to do is capture this, create it
locally and distribute it locally, with as little fossil fuel use as
possible, and also use that as a model for building jobs and
kind of making, like, educational spaces where people can
come learn about this, get more awareness about where
their waste is going, how much food waste they’re actually
producing, and how much of their, like, household trash is
actually something that can be transformed for future use
here.
((NATS))
((PKG)) HARBOR CLEANUP / TRASH WHEEL
((TRT: 02:51))
((Previously aired May 2020))
((Banner: Keeping it Clean))
((Reporter: Martin Secrest))
((Camera: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Baltimore, Maryland))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub character: 1 male))
((Popup Banner:
In 2014, the Inner Harbor Water Wheel, the first of its kind,
began operation at Baltimore, Maryland.
It has already collected over 680,000 kg of trash))
((NATS))
((John Kellett, Inventor, Trash Wheel))
So, I worked on Baltimore Harbor for 20 years, and
Baltimore Harbor is a beautiful harbor. But one of the big
things that people would notice, one of the first impressions
they would have, would be the amount of trash that’s in the
water. And most of that trash comes from the trash that’s on
the land. When it rains, all that trash gets washed off the city
streets and off anywhere that it is and gets washed down
into the storm drains or into the small creeks and then
into the river and it comes out primarily here from the Jones
Falls River.
((NATS))
((John Kellett, Inventor, Trash Wheel))
So, the water wheel powers the machine. When we have a
hard rain, we get a lot of flow and the flow pushes and turns
the wheel around. A lot of the time though we don’t have a
lot of flow, so what we found is that we needed to
supplement that water current. And so, what we did is we
put solar panels, and the solar panels charge batteries, and
the batteries power pumps, and all the pumps do is pump
water out of the river and dump it into the buckets of the
wheel. And so, it’s still working as a water wheel and it’s still
providing all the power for the machine, but it’s being
augmented by solar energy. So, we use hydro and solar to
turn that water wheel. The water wheel provides the
mechanical power to power the conveyer and the rakes that
we have out here. The rakes push the trash up onto the
conveyer, then the conveyer lifts it from the water, dumps it
into a dumpster, and then we can keep cycling dumpsters
through. We’ve taken out as many as 12 dumpsters in one
day after a hard rain, and that added up to about 40 tons [36
metric tonnes] of trash.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: Conway Bristow))
((Adam Lindquist, Director, Healthy Harbor Initiative))
I mean, Mr. Trash Wheel, the technology is incredible. But
incredibly, it’s also only half the story. The other half is the
Mr. Trash Wheel marketing campaign. Mr. Trash Wheel has
really become a mascot for the restoration of the Baltimore
Harbor. And as this technology expands to new places, we
really see it becoming a mascot for keeping plastics out of
our oceans.
((NATS))
((John Kellett, Inventor, Trash Wheel))
This wheel has become a real inspiration to people and an
educational opportunity. You know, it’s not every day where
you have a piece of infrastructure, particularly dealing with
trash, that people take pictures of and they watch, and you
know, has a million hits on YouTube and things like that. But
this trash wheel has been a real opportunity to inspire people
to become part of the solution.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Backyard Birding
((SOT))
((Michael Zuiker, Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited))
Gardening’s the first. Backyard bird feeding second. And
they pretty much blend into each other.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) BEEKEEPING VETERANS
((TRT: 02:35))
((Previously aired December 2019))
((Banner: Learning Calm Through Bees))
((Reporter/Camera: Deborah Block))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Manchester, New Hampshire))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 male; 1 female))
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
Beekeeping is helping US veterans cope with Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]))
((NATS))
((Vince Ylitalo, US Military Veteran))
Couple of weeks into it, I was, I was hooked, absolutely
hooked. It's actually helped me so much that I've actually
cut down on my PTSD visits. This has actually taken care of
or in place of that. So, it's really helped me dramatically
because it's grounding me now into the fact that I have to be,
at the moment, taking care of the bees because I have to
remember what to do, how to do it, when to do it.
((NATS: Beekeepers))
((Valerie Carter, Recreation Therapist))
I am a beekeeper myself and so I have found that being
connected to the beekeeping community, being able to go in
the hives and not, you can't really focus on much else except
the hives when you're in there. Focus on the bees because
you're really, just really in with about 70,000 bees. So,
you’re very focused on what you need to look for, what you
need to do. So, the veterans that we have come into the
beekeeping program, you didn't see their self-esteem
growing, their confidence growing around beekeeping. And
you see that with them educating other people or knowing,
“Oh, this is what we need to do today. I know how to do this
and I can do it.”
((NATS: Beekeeper))
So, anybody that has mites that are going to weaken their
hives, these bees being strong and healthy, will go rob those
and bring home mites. So, we're not out of the woods before
winter yet, OK?
((Anthony Jenkins, US Military Veteran))
It’s fascinating. I didn't realize just how much was involved
in it and how much animal husbandry, if you will, goes into
the maintenance, the upkeep, the establishment of the hives,
and it's very complex. It's a lot more involved than I
expected it to be.
((NATS: Beekeeper))
So, let’s see if there’s any brood in this frame and this frame,
these two. It should be only honey on the outside.
((NATS: US Military Veteran, off-camera))
No brood. I mean, I’m talking about the bee itself.
((Vince Ylitalo, US Military Veteran))
It's very, very helpful for me because it keeps me in the
moment. It brings me into ‘now’, which is very beneficial for
me. Sometimes I wasn't, but now I am and I’m constantly
thinking about it. Even when I leave, I'm always thinking,
‘OK, what did I do, what did I need to do.’ So, I'm constantly
going back to ‘now’ throughout the week until next week,
then we start up again.
((NATS: Reporter, off-camera))
This is like a science.
((NATS: US Military Veteran))
It is, and to be honest, science was not one of my biggest
subjects but I’m learning to love it now.
((NATS: US Military Veteran))
Right? Me too.
((NATS))
((PKG)) BACKYARD BIRDS
((TRT: 01:19))
((Previously aired April 2018))
((Banner: Birds at Home))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Arlington, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 male; 1 female))
((NATS))
((Michael Zuiker, Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited))
There’s a lot of reasons why people feed, but I think one of
the most important reasons is that it’s a very, very peaceful,
emotional experience. You put the food out there. You
spend time on your deck in the nice weather. In the winter,
you’re indoors watching the birds from the perspective of
outdoors in the winter, and you never know what’s going to
show up. So, there’s always activity. Most of the yards
around here can easily get 30 different species of birds in
their backyard.
((Reporter))
I didn’t know that it’s the second largest hobby in America.
((Michael Zuiker, Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited))
Yes, 52 million people. Gardening’s the first. Backyard bird
feeding second. And they pretty much blend into each other.
((NATS))
((Sumner Askin, Wild Bird Hobbyist))
It’s a lot of fun, just because you see the individuality of each
of them. Like the little invasive species around here, like the
house sparrow and the European starling. The catbird that
we saw will eventually migrate back south, more towards
Florida and the islands and stuff, just like the
hummingbird. The robins will leave too. But things like the
blue jays, cardinals, goldfinches, woodpeckers, they’re here
all year.
((Michael Zuiker, Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited))
Anywhere from, I’d say, the 20s to 80-year-olds, all in
between. We spend a lot of time too also with the
schools because a lot of school teachers have
environmental programs and they’ve set up habitats in their
schools to teach the young kids about the birds, the species,
the nesting and how to attract them. It’s so important to just
spend that time in nature, being outdoors, listening to the
birds, getting up in the morning. If you just look up, you’ll
see tremendous amounts of things.
((NATS))
((PKG)) TRIBUTE TO MARTIN
((TRT: 00:42))
((Banner: Goodbye to one of our own))
((Producer/Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Courtesy: Moira Secrest))
“It’s the Executive Producer.
Am I too close?”
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy….
Added oils and sugars….
Martin Secrest, VOA News.
“Sorry everybody about all the wild camera work. That’s
kind of the new hip thing, so we were just being
hip. Yeah. Really. Yeah, like that. There we go, just like
that.”
Martin Secrest
1957 -- 2020
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
BREAK THREE
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
WHO ARE YOUTH VOTERS?
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
SHOW ENDS
EPISODE # 141
AIR DATE 09 25 2020
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Peace of the Forest
((SOT))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
That's really what the point of all of this kind of stuff is in the
end, is creating a public space for people to come do those
things.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Power of the Sun
((SOT))
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
All the insides of the kiln will be painted black, but the roof is
clear. So, it’s going to let the sunlight in and heat up that
space a lot.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Potential of the Bees
((SOT))
((Vince Ylitalo, US Veteran))
It's very, very helpful for me because it keeps me in the
moment. It brings me into now, which is very beneficial for
me.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) HEYWARD COMMUNITY FOREST TRAILS
((TRT: 04:06))
((Banner: A Community Forest))
((Reporter: Martin Secrest))
((Camera: Philip Alexiou, Martin Secrest))
((Editors: Philip Alexiou, Martin Secrest))
((Map: Charlottesville, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Popup Banner))
A community forest was recently acquired by the city of
Charlottesville, with a donation from the landowner and the
help of a federal grant.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
I'm deputized to go out and buy land in the city, maybe just
at the city limits, in order to construct a trail system, while
this land, this is now the community's forest effectively.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
We ask, would you rather the trail be on this side of the
hollow or that side of the hollow or should we build two
trails? And the community is already heavily involved. The
trails you see behind me were built by volunteers.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
Let’s go right up here. I think there’s good rock stuff. Not
very far.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
One of the bits of trail maintenance is to let them settle for a
while.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
So, here's an example where the hill used to come across
like this and we have cut in the back, made the flat surface,
so you're running this way. And then you lay that piece
back, so the water still wants to come down and this trail still
slopes outward just enough that water keeps going like that.
This is a very good example section of where they had to
come along here with their picks and pick into the hillside.
And you can see they cut through a root here and then you
lay it out flat. And then once it's in here, this could be here
for 50 to 100 years as long as it's stable and drains well
and that's our goal.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
This is a section here where we will be building a trail around
and up into that hollow. You can see we've started laying
out the pink flags. It's generally pretty easy to tell volunteers
spread out along that line of pink flags. By the end of the
day, you connect all those dots and you have one
continuous trail. Had the COVID not hit, we would probably
have most of the trails built now.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
We had a big blowdown storm come through here two
weeks ago. When this tree decides to fall across the trail,
this is when I come out or some of our crew members and
we would just cut through enough that people can walk
through it. And they also offer an opportunity for
education. We can interpret these tree rings and you can
say, “Okay, this is an 80-year-old tree.” Some of the trees
we cut are about this big around. So, you know, what we'd
probably do is use one of those really big ones. The bad
thing is we have to cut through trees that are about this big
around every so often. So, we might as well use them for
education.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
Just behind me and down the hill is the small city of
Charlottesville. There’s about 50-thousand people in the
city. You'll see how this looks a lot like a trail. It’s going to
look a lot more like a trail very soon. This will become
the off-road bicycle-jog-hike up here. You've got this lovely
creek next to you.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Chris Gensic, Parks and Trails Planner, Charlottesville,
Virginia))
So, the final step here is to open the front door to all of these
woods to the big community down the hill, get them to start
coming up here and enjoying it for swimming, for hiking,
learning about nature. And that's really what the point of all
of this kind of stuff is in the end, is creating a public space for
people to come do those things.
((NATS))
((PKG)) WHIFFLETREE FARM
((TRT: 03:52))
((Previously aired April 2020))
((Banner: Farming Amid COVID))
((Reporter/Camera: Philip Alexiou, Martin Secrest))
((Producer: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Warrenton, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
Whiffletree Farm is a non-genetically modified sustainable
poultry and livestock farm.
Young chickens are being moved to pasture.))
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
So, you want to grab around their wings and like I'll grab two
together. I'll grab them around their wings here and hold
them together. Yeah, that way they feel safe.
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
If you pack it too tight, especially like in the summer when it's
hot and the crates are all stacked on top of each other and
there's a lot of body heat, you know, then it's dangerous.
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
We’re going to go out to the pasture. You can see we’re
going to go through that tree line and that's where the empty
chicken shelters are. That's where these chicks are going to
on pasture.
((NATS: Jesse Straight and his co-worker))
Oh, I put the count on the sheet.
OK, you updated the total?
Yep, yep.
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
A big distinction for us is what you see on the ground here.
This is fresh grass, fresh air, sunlight, etc. So, we have to
kind of baby them in the brooder barn until they get hardy
enough at about three or four weeks to bring them out to
pasture. At this point, they now have their mature
feathers. So, you can kind of see like, you can see they still
have some of their baby feathers here. So, these like downy
little soft feathers on their neck, you know, that's their baby
feathers. That's what they were totally covered with when
they are first the little peep, you know. But then, these white
mature feathers, that's what actually insulates them
and keeps them warm and they can regulate their body
temperature themselves as opposed to what in nature their
mother would do that for them.
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
Of course, our customers love what we do, particularly, you
know, that the animals are actually on fresh pasture, which is
a real game changer. Obviously, right now everyone's
thinking about the coronavirus and that's sort of our moment
right now. I think people are increasingly interested in
thinking about their food as a source of health.
((NATS: Jesse Straight, on phone))
Whiffletree Farm, this is Jesse. Yeah. Here's the deal. I
just put something on our website to offer like for elderly and
immunosuppressed people to do something like a
curbside. If, you know, if you fall in that category.
((NATS))
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
About half of our business before corona(virus) was with
restaurants and half was retail directly to customers.
Restaurant business, totally toast (stopped), you know,
nothing there, pretty much. There's going to be a real lag
time before the restaurant business can recuperate. I do
whatever I can to calm people down, just to be like, ‘Hey, we
have food, three people at a time in the farm store, we're
taking these measures.’ Just trying to assure people of all
the things that might be on their mind especially and try and
comfort them with the ways that we can with what we have
and what we're doing.
((NATS: Store, Jesse Straight))
Let’s do curbside after chicks and then let’s do…..power’s
ongoing from there, yeah.
((Jesse Straight, Owner, Whiffletree Farm))
You know, obviously, coronavirus as an international story
has been developing for a while. It's exposing how
vulnerable we are. People are so dependent on this
industrial food system and it has such a vulnerable supply
chain and it's run to such tight margins. The inventory is
tight and the supply chain is long and that means there's not
a lot of grace for runs on the system like this.
((Popup Banner:
Recorded before Virginia mandated safe distancing due to
COVID-19.))
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Useful Waste
((SOT))
((Sandy Nurse, Founder, BK ROT))
New York City businesses produce about 650,000 tons
[590,000 metric tons] of food waste. It is a 100 subway-cars
of food every day. So, what we're trying to do is capture this,
create it locally and distribute it locally, with as little fossil fuel
use as possible.
BREAK ONE
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
NOMINATION CONVENTION
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) SOLAR WOOD KILN
((TRT: 03:28))
((Filmed early in the pandemic))
((Banner: Green Wood, Green Energy))
((Reporter: Martin Secrest))
((Camera: Phillip Alexiou, Martin Secrest))
((Map: Charlottesville, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
University of Virginia graduate Andrew Sparks and wife
Emily are building a solar kiln for drying wood))
((NATS))
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
I’d say that I was always a person that liked to tinker with
stuff, tinker with Legos, so on and so forth. But it wasn’t
really until I got here to UVA [University of Virginia], had
access to the woodshop, that I realized that I really liked, you
know, woodworking.
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
Newly-cut wood must be dried to stabilize it for projects))
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
I’ve been just following the plans and the instructions that I
found and that should hold up for a good while.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
These are a little, there you go. There’s some ‘shorties.’
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
This is about a year into an idea to try and make something
out of the logs that are, you know, already coming down
across campus and to mill some wood.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
Okay…..
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
All the insides of the kiln will be painted black, but the roof is
clear. So, it’s going to let the sunlight in and heat up that
space a lot. But at the same time, we need fans to be
moving that heated and now more humid air. So, we’re
actually going to have some solar panels out in the front and
those will power the fans and push that hot air out and
through vents in the doors. You get that power from the
commercial kiln of really, kind of, ‘cooking’ the wood but you
get that same kind of heat-and-cool cycle that you get with
air drying outside.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
Alright, here are two more.
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
She’s been awesome. She’s been a great support. And a
lot of things, I think, she’s pretty comfortable with. She
actually also worked in the woodshop this last year while she
was enrolled in a program here at the university. But before
that she was, I think, a little bit on the edges of what all of
this was. But as I’ve just come home every day and been
really excited about it and talked about what we’re doing,
I think she’s gotten more comfortable with it all. Yeah, she’s
been a great help here.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
Sure, I can come cut a piece.
((Andrew Sparks, Landscape Architect))
It’s been a few weeks now and we’ve made some more
progress. We’ve got the outside coated with some good
exterior paint and we’ve also got the roof on and a few coats
of this black paint. And let me tell you, it sure is dang hot in
here. All we’ve got left to do is to put some vents in the
doors because the fans will be hanging down about here,
right? And so those will suck air in and push it down and
through the stack and that will vent out. You know, basically
we’ll get quite a few logs in here. They’ll come up to,
you know, about this height, right? So, about waist-
height and we’ll stack those really nicely and we’ll monitor
those as they dry. In this kind of heat, we’ll probably see a
load of poplar, which you can dry pretty fast. We could
probably get that out of here in five weeks, which would be
great. Yeah, hopefully we’ll start munching through our good
log pile here.
((NATS: Andrew Sparks))
There we go. All buttoned up.
((NATS))
((PKG)) COMPOST BIKERS
((TRT: 02:19))
((Previously aired October 2020))
((Banner: Compost Bikers))
((Reporter: Nina Vishneva))
((Camera: Aleksandr Barash))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub character: 1 female))
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
BK ROT is New York’s first sustainable food waste hauling
and composting service.))
((NATS))
((Sandy Nurse, Founder, BK ROT))
The business itself is based on moving food waste, organic
waste, from households and businesses, for a fee. And so,
Victor and Sonia, they go and collect by bike from about, a
bunch of, a handful of small local restaurants, cafes.
((NATS))
((Claire Conway, Manager, Little Skip’s Café))
So, we've been working with BK Rot for quite a couple of
years now. We're focusing on making sure all of our cafes
are as green and eco-conscious as possible and
we're working to make this café, specifically, a little more
sustainable in the kitchen. No food waste, no, you know,
paper products. You know, it's a big goal, but we're striving
towards that and then BK Rot, kind of, incorporates itself into
that as well.
((NATS))
((Sandy Nurse, Founder, BK ROT))
Each week, we're doing about four to 5,000 pounds [1800 to
2200 kg] a week from businesses that we bring into the
space. And so, everything we bring in comes through here,
comes through this giant pulverizer that’s in the
background. And we turn it into compost, and this material
is then brought to different farms and gardens in this area
and couple other neighborhoods. People can come get it on
the weekends. They can come grab their bag and fill it up
for a small donation, and then we also sell it in retail stores in
a small, little bag.
((NATS))
((Sandy Nurse, Founder, BK ROT))
So, one thing I found really amazing when we started to get
into commercial waste was that New York City businesses
produce about 650,000 tons [590,000 metric tons] of food
waste. I think the visual they talk about is a 100 subway-
cars of food every day is just going straight to the
landfill. So, what we're trying to do is capture this, create it
locally and distribute it locally, with as little fossil fuel use as
possible, and also use that as a model for building jobs and
kind of making, like, educational spaces where people can
come learn about this, get more awareness about where
their waste is going, how much food waste they’re actually
producing, and how much of their, like, household trash is
actually something that can be transformed for future use
here.
((NATS))
((PKG)) HARBOR CLEANUP / TRASH WHEEL
((TRT: 02:51))
((Previously aired May 2020))
((Banner: Keeping it Clean))
((Reporter: Martin Secrest))
((Camera: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Baltimore, Maryland))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub character: 1 male))
((Popup Banner:
In 2014, the Inner Harbor Water Wheel, the first of its kind,
began operation at Baltimore, Maryland.
It has already collected over 680,000 kg of trash))
((NATS))
((John Kellett, Inventor, Trash Wheel))
So, I worked on Baltimore Harbor for 20 years, and
Baltimore Harbor is a beautiful harbor. But one of the big
things that people would notice, one of the first impressions
they would have, would be the amount of trash that’s in the
water. And most of that trash comes from the trash that’s on
the land. When it rains, all that trash gets washed off the city
streets and off anywhere that it is and gets washed down
into the storm drains or into the small creeks and then
into the river and it comes out primarily here from the Jones
Falls River.
((NATS))
((John Kellett, Inventor, Trash Wheel))
So, the water wheel powers the machine. When we have a
hard rain, we get a lot of flow and the flow pushes and turns
the wheel around. A lot of the time though we don’t have a
lot of flow, so what we found is that we needed to
supplement that water current. And so, what we did is we
put solar panels, and the solar panels charge batteries, and
the batteries power pumps, and all the pumps do is pump
water out of the river and dump it into the buckets of the
wheel. And so, it’s still working as a water wheel and it’s still
providing all the power for the machine, but it’s being
augmented by solar energy. So, we use hydro and solar to
turn that water wheel. The water wheel provides the
mechanical power to power the conveyer and the rakes that
we have out here. The rakes push the trash up onto the
conveyer, then the conveyer lifts it from the water, dumps it
into a dumpster, and then we can keep cycling dumpsters
through. We’ve taken out as many as 12 dumpsters in one
day after a hard rain, and that added up to about 40 tons [36
metric tonnes] of trash.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: Conway Bristow))
((Adam Lindquist, Director, Healthy Harbor Initiative))
I mean, Mr. Trash Wheel, the technology is incredible. But
incredibly, it’s also only half the story. The other half is the
Mr. Trash Wheel marketing campaign. Mr. Trash Wheel has
really become a mascot for the restoration of the Baltimore
Harbor. And as this technology expands to new places, we
really see it becoming a mascot for keeping plastics out of
our oceans.
((NATS))
((John Kellett, Inventor, Trash Wheel))
This wheel has become a real inspiration to people and an
educational opportunity. You know, it’s not every day where
you have a piece of infrastructure, particularly dealing with
trash, that people take pictures of and they watch, and you
know, has a million hits on YouTube and things like that. But
this trash wheel has been a real opportunity to inspire people
to become part of the solution.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Backyard Birding
((SOT))
((Michael Zuiker, Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited))
Gardening’s the first. Backyard bird feeding second. And
they pretty much blend into each other.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) BEEKEEPING VETERANS
((TRT: 02:35))
((Previously aired December 2019))
((Banner: Learning Calm Through Bees))
((Reporter/Camera: Deborah Block))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Manchester, New Hampshire))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 male; 1 female))
((NATS))
((Popup Banner:
Beekeeping is helping US veterans cope with Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]))
((NATS))
((Vince Ylitalo, US Military Veteran))
Couple of weeks into it, I was, I was hooked, absolutely
hooked. It's actually helped me so much that I've actually
cut down on my PTSD visits. This has actually taken care of
or in place of that. So, it's really helped me dramatically
because it's grounding me now into the fact that I have to be,
at the moment, taking care of the bees because I have to
remember what to do, how to do it, when to do it.
((NATS: Beekeepers))
((Valerie Carter, Recreation Therapist))
I am a beekeeper myself and so I have found that being
connected to the beekeeping community, being able to go in
the hives and not, you can't really focus on much else except
the hives when you're in there. Focus on the bees because
you're really, just really in with about 70,000 bees. So,
you’re very focused on what you need to look for, what you
need to do. So, the veterans that we have come into the
beekeeping program, you didn't see their self-esteem
growing, their confidence growing around beekeeping. And
you see that with them educating other people or knowing,
“Oh, this is what we need to do today. I know how to do this
and I can do it.”
((NATS: Beekeeper))
So, anybody that has mites that are going to weaken their
hives, these bees being strong and healthy, will go rob those
and bring home mites. So, we're not out of the woods before
winter yet, OK?
((Anthony Jenkins, US Military Veteran))
It’s fascinating. I didn't realize just how much was involved
in it and how much animal husbandry, if you will, goes into
the maintenance, the upkeep, the establishment of the hives,
and it's very complex. It's a lot more involved than I
expected it to be.
((NATS: Beekeeper))
So, let’s see if there’s any brood in this frame and this frame,
these two. It should be only honey on the outside.
((NATS: US Military Veteran, off-camera))
No brood. I mean, I’m talking about the bee itself.
((Vince Ylitalo, US Military Veteran))
It's very, very helpful for me because it keeps me in the
moment. It brings me into ‘now’, which is very beneficial for
me. Sometimes I wasn't, but now I am and I’m constantly
thinking about it. Even when I leave, I'm always thinking,
‘OK, what did I do, what did I need to do.’ So, I'm constantly
going back to ‘now’ throughout the week until next week,
then we start up again.
((NATS: Reporter, off-camera))
This is like a science.
((NATS: US Military Veteran))
It is, and to be honest, science was not one of my biggest
subjects but I’m learning to love it now.
((NATS: US Military Veteran))
Right? Me too.
((NATS))
((PKG)) BACKYARD BIRDS
((TRT: 01:19))
((Previously aired April 2018))
((Banner: Birds at Home))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Arlington, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 male; 1 female))
((NATS))
((Michael Zuiker, Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited))
There’s a lot of reasons why people feed, but I think one of
the most important reasons is that it’s a very, very peaceful,
emotional experience. You put the food out there. You
spend time on your deck in the nice weather. In the winter,
you’re indoors watching the birds from the perspective of
outdoors in the winter, and you never know what’s going to
show up. So, there’s always activity. Most of the yards
around here can easily get 30 different species of birds in
their backyard.
((Reporter))
I didn’t know that it’s the second largest hobby in America.
((Michael Zuiker, Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited))
Yes, 52 million people. Gardening’s the first. Backyard bird
feeding second. And they pretty much blend into each other.
((NATS))
((Sumner Askin, Wild Bird Hobbyist))
It’s a lot of fun, just because you see the individuality of each
of them. Like the little invasive species around here, like the
house sparrow and the European starling. The catbird that
we saw will eventually migrate back south, more towards
Florida and the islands and stuff, just like the
hummingbird. The robins will leave too. But things like the
blue jays, cardinals, goldfinches, woodpeckers, they’re here
all year.
((Michael Zuiker, Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited))
Anywhere from, I’d say, the 20s to 80-year-olds, all in
between. We spend a lot of time too also with the
schools because a lot of school teachers have
environmental programs and they’ve set up habitats in their
schools to teach the young kids about the birds, the species,
the nesting and how to attract them. It’s so important to just
spend that time in nature, being outdoors, listening to the
birds, getting up in the morning. If you just look up, you’ll
see tremendous amounts of things.
((NATS))
((PKG)) TRIBUTE TO MARTIN
((TRT: 00:42))
((Banner: Goodbye to one of our own))
((Producer/Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Courtesy: Moira Secrest))
“It’s the Executive Producer.
Am I too close?”
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy….
Added oils and sugars….
Martin Secrest, VOA News.
“Sorry everybody about all the wild camera work. That’s
kind of the new hip thing, so we were just being
hip. Yeah. Really. Yeah, like that. There we go, just like
that.”
Martin Secrest
1957 -- 2020
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
BREAK THREE
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
WHO ARE YOUTH VOTERS?
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
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SHOW ENDS