Environmental Perspectives -—Saraoiason

Environmental Perspectives Taking Earth to the airwaves

By Sara Olason

Western graduate Colleen Majors doesn’t alwayswearanexecutive’sbusinesssuitorcommute to ahigh-techstudio, butshe’s takingtheenvironment to the airwaves.

A petite 36-year-old with friendly gray-green eyes and long, brown hair, Colleen is executive director and a producer for Environmental Perspectives, anon-profit organization thatproduces audio and video programs for the public.

Colleen gained hands-on experience at KUGSFM, theradiostationoncampus, whilecompleting a major at Huxley College in environmental studies with a mass media concentration. She also earned a minor in the speech and broadcast department(nowthedepartmentofcommunication). With friend and fellow Huxleyite, Susan Dixon, she produced and aired Ecological Perspectives, a weeklyprogram on KUGS that doubled as a seminar in radio production. The show ran from 1987 to 1989.

Colleen graduated fromWestern in 1988. Today she lives not far from Bellingham, on awooded lot with cedar trees, garden, a pen full of ducks, and three large dogs. Colleen in the studio. Rich Fotheringill Photo

In 1989 EnvironmentalPerspectives tappedinto a $5,100 contract from the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, for production of a series of radio public service announcements to be broadcast throughout PugetSound. Tuneinandyou’llhearaboutissuessuch asproperdisposalofantifreezeorwiseuse ofpesticides, about how stormwater flows to streams and into Puget Sound, and about what each person can do to protect the waters we share.

Another project is the Earth Watch Report, an environmental news program aired weekly on KUGS-FM and KGMI-AM. Topics are as diverse as the planet on which we live, ranging from composting to marine debris, public transit to wild bird rehabilitation. Issues are usually related to Whatcom County, but have featured state and national organizations, such as the Washington Department of Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy.

Recently Colleen branched into television. Working with volunteers in the Getting Greener program. Environmental Perspectives has co-produced half-hour programs for public access television. Aired on TCI’s Bellingham Cablevlsion Channel 10, the series has included the proposed Chuckanut Ridge development. Earth First! founder Dave Foreman, and the artistic creation of a silk peace bird used in a rally at Blaine. In this “Decade of the Environment,” when every corporation seems to paint itself as ecologically concerned, Colleen has not sold her skills to the highest bidder -- in fact, she works part-time at a Mexican restaurant to make ends meet. “I knew I could probablyget ajob in public relations, but thatwasn’t where I could be most effective. I didn’t want to be just another cog in the wheel.” Before coming to Bellingham in 1980, Colleen completed a liberal studies degree at De Anza College in Cupertino, Calif. Lookingback on her time atWestern, shesays Huxleygave herabroadeducationonenvironmental topics, and the opportunity to structure her studies in mass media. She finds journalism skills valuableforbroadcastwriting, whichmustsaymuchin fewwords. She is quicktoemphasize thatEnvironmental Perspectives is a team effort, impossible without co-workers such as Ann Eissinger, business manager, and Valerie Jean Fisher, project coordinator and producer. Colleen may not make millions, but she seems to havefoundriches indoingwhatshewantsto do: “I don’t need luxury. This is luxury to me.”