Unfortunately, the media currently favors negative news over positive news. So a lot of the people who are doing great work never get the recognition that they deserve. Even worse, their message and example to lead by never gets heard or shared and the opportunity for funding their efforts – or even just getting volunteers to help in order to fix these issues on a large scale – is minimal.
I know from experience how frustrating it can be to put so much time and money into trying to solve an environmental problem and not making the progress that you would like. Instead of getting more support to help with the effort, the media works against you by only sharing the problem over and over again without sharing a potential solution. This makes it even harder to get funding or even volunteers – because everyone is being told that we are all doomed anyway. So there are less people who are willing to spend their time helping a “lost cause” according to the media. Which is not true – these are all fixable problems. The media is just choosing to focus on the issue instead of the solution.
For example, I have created over 175 videos on my ocean conservation YouTube channel. I’ve produced everything from a shark rescue by airplane video:
to pop culture themed beach clean up videos to help raise awareness about trash on our beaches:
I have been creating videos since 2012 and the only video that ever got shown on the news was the one about Black Sea Nettles. The news piece?
“Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water – a new ‘menace’…”
is how they opened the segment. Menace? Hardly. They don’t even have eyes or teeth, they are not going to “hunt you down” – jeez. Check out the news piece that aired below to see just how ridiculous they made this whole situation out to be.
P.S. Marine species of any kind do not “infest the water” – they LIVE there.
What was meant to be a video showcasing these beautiful creatures on my channel was turned into a 5:00 pm fear mongering news piece. I the editor and distributor of the content nor the person who gave me the footage to use in order to showcase this beautiful species – were paid a penny. ABC, however, made money off of the commercial break that played right after they teased the segment that contained the footage. Here was the original video that I posted:
Annoying yes – but even more motivating to do what I’m doing. So thank you ABC – for motivating me even further! 🙂 Next time you ask to use my footage you will be required to tell me exactly how you will use it and I will give a price for using it that you will be required to pay. Don’t worry, I will let you know exactly what project that money will be funding. And maybe – just maybe – you will promote that project and help me get some volunteers. Let’s face it – that probably won’t happen but a girl can dream 🙂
So what exactly are they motivating me even more to do you are probably asking your self? I have been trying to grow my brand and audience for Aquapparel since 2011. My goal? To make the largest, most positive impact for marine life and for our environment as I possibly can.
Aside from owning Aquapparel, I am a full time digital marketing consultant who specializes in paid ads. Between all of my clients, I manage hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad spend every year. By the way, the article link that you just clicked on in order to land on this article that you are reading right now, was actually a paid “native ad”. Based on your browsing history the ad platform that I used in order to get my content in front of you feels that you will find this article to be relevant. And so you got served the ad and – as they predicted – you clicked on it. This whole tactic is called Content Marketing and as you can see – it is very effective. Luckily for you and I – we have the same question – why it is that the media is not sharing all of the positive work that is being done in order to fix our environmental issues and teaching us how to better conserve marine life?
The answer that will probably not shock you: Money. Articles with very scary headlines make people want to click on them – and in turn – the website who publishes them makes a ton of money. So I thought to myself, I know how to do that too! And so my plan is simple, I created a blog for my website in order to create my own positive news source. I am researching and creating lots of content that features all of the positive things that are being done in order to fix our environment and conserve marine life all over the world! I can then take all of that money and use it to help solve environmental issues and save lots of marine life! With the money that I have invested so far, I have made plenty of positive impacts. Here are just a few: Current Conservation Projects But I want to do even more!
So if you are reading this and you know someone whose work should be shared with the world, please feel free to get in touch with me! I would love to give anyone with a positive message or project a platform.
If you want some positivity right now, check out the Conservation Wins section of this website here: Conservation Wins
Together we can support and uplift one another so that we can all be a part of making our planet healthy again!