Planet Forward
Online/Digital
Effective environmental and science communication is needed now more than ever.
Planet Forward, a project of the Center for Innovative Media at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, teaches, celebrates, and rewards environmental storytelling by college students. It is the premier engagement tool for GW’s many sustainability initiatives.
Emmy Award-winning journalist Frank Sesno formed Planet Forward in 2009 to empower new voices and lead a global conversation on the planet’s future.
Engaging a diverse audience of college students from across the country, Planet Forward uses storytelling, media, and educational events to tell the stories of invention and innovation that can move the planet forward.
Just one of the ways we work with students is our annual storytelling contest, Storyfest, which rewards winners with a storytelling expedition like no other. Watch the video above to see what our 2017 Storyfest winners experienced in the Amazon rainforest — and hear the real inspiration we provide students, from a diverse mix of colleges across the country. Source
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Media Outlet details
| Scope | International |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | United States of America |
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Recent Articles
Search ArticlesWhat if Greenland was mined? Navigating landscapes, resources, and autonomy
“In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference.” This is a quote from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published in 1962, but it might as well have been written today. Peacefully beautiful, southeastern Greenland’s clear blue sea reflected 6,000-foot-high snowy mountaintops.
D.C.’s Living Infastructure: Rock Creek Park
This video explores the idea that Rock Creek Park functions as part of Washington, D.C.’s climate infrastructure. We usually think of infrastructure as roads, buildings, and transit, but Rock Creek shows how nature can perform essential work for a city too.
‘We all come from here’: On Indigenous consciousness and place in Kalaallit Nunaat
At 11 p.m. during the final days of our expedition, the ship cut through waters along the southeastern coast of Kalaallit Nunaat (the term for Greenland in the local Kalaallit language). The Arctic sun still hung above the sea, casting a warm amber light in its final minutes before dipping below the curvature of the Earth. Mountains rose from the sea and glaciers hushed between them, leaving morning and night to fold into one another.
Wild Vermejo | Preserving 300,000 acres of ponderosa pine forest
Every forest tells a story. The Ponderosa Pine forest at Vermejo, a 550,000-acre property of Ted Turner Reserves, tells a story of resilience. Spanning approximately 300,000 acres, this forest has been shaped by natural processes, a history of human influence, and decades of careful restoration and management. After European colonial settlement, a century of fire suppression, logging, and grazing altered the Ponderosa Pine ecosystem.
Wild Vermejo | What does “eco-hospitality” really mean?
Imagine you have a property that spans over half a million acres. Then you choose to leave it in its natural glory, restore the bison population and several other species, and pour billions into conservation.
Announcing our 2026-2027 Planet Forward Correspondents!
In 2026, compelling and inspiring environmental stories not only represent essential dishes in our media diet, but galvanizing artifacts to expand and strengthen our sustainability community. The general Correspondent Program, now in its 11th cohort, continues to provide space for post-secondary students to explore and experiment as environmental storytellers while building their networks.
‘Chautauqua butterfly’ advocates seek support for bat colony recovery
According to Caroline Van Kirk Bissell, teenage bats are like teenage kids. “They don’t know what they’re doing, and they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she joked. In the last month, Bissell — who led the Chautauqua Institution’s weekly bat chats from 2000 to 2018 — rescued four of what she refers to as “Chautauqua butterflies” across the grounds.
Introducing the 2026-2027 Planet Forward Ilíiaitchik: Indigenous Correspondents!
“Your mouth is like a bow. Your tongue is the arrow. Your voice is that arrow you let fly and you have the power to speak good or harm,” eloquently shared by Azalia Harvey, one of our 2026-2027 correspondents. The Ilíiaitchik: Indigenous Correspondents Program is just that. Ilíiaitchik means to speak good words in the Biiluuke/Our Side/Crow language and has been the overarching mission of our program.
Wild Vermejo | Preserving Bison: A living link to the past
The Castle Rock bison herd in Vermejo, New Mexico is a live link to the species’ past. Settlers in the West hunted the species to near extinction. Today, the conservation herd is part of a larger program of 45,000 bison. Beneath their coarse, fluffy coat, the Castle Rock herd carries the genes of three original bison herds from the West.
Wild Vermejo | Where education meets conservation
What happens when one person’s vision transforms a landscape and inspires generations to protect it? At Vermejo Reserve in northern New Mexico, the legacy of media titan Ted Turner extends far beyond conservation; it is rooted in the belief that protecting the land begins with educating people about why it matters.