Mission Statement
YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip) is a year-long eco-expedition through all 50 United States. With video camera in hand and tongue in cheek, we're exploring the landscape of America's unique approach to environmental sustainability. We believe that Americans want to do the right thing - they just don't want to look strange doing it, and they don't have the time or the means to explore all the options. That's where the YERT team comes in. Follow us each week as we shamelessly bathe ourselves in the best (and weirdest) of America's ecological progress with a mix of outrageous antics, provocative examples, and thoughtful reporting. Got an idea? Want a clue? Let's get rolling!
(Hey! On July 4, 2008 we completed our initial travel phase, and after filming interviews with over 800 people, we're now waist deep into YERT Phase 2! We recently completed a trailer for our feature film and we're hunting for volunteers and donations to help us cross the finish line. We are also scheduling live presentations about the project with interested groups and schools all over the country. Contact us for more information, and read all about the past AND future of YERT by visiting our blog.)
Description
YERT, which stands for "Your Environmental Road Trip," (http://www.yert.com) is a one year 50-state video documentary road trip to explore and personalize sustainability across the country. All throughout the journey, Mark Dixon, Ben Evans, and Julie Evans released fast-paced videos online to share their adventures, including their very own "road rules" eco-challenges (like keeping all of their garbage in the car all year), visits to environmentally significant destinations, and most importantly, interviews with over 800 leaders, businesspeople, researchers, and average citizens from all walks of life. Their work has been featured on the Weather Channel, Voice of America, the San Francisco Chronicle, and on NPR stations nationwide via the environmental news program, "Living on Earth." Now the team is working on "YERT Phase 2," developing a feature film, additional short films, live presentations, and educational curriculum based on the project.
The YERT team has been sharing their journey with live audiences all around the country, including presentations at the Bioneers Conference in Portland, ME, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture 2009 Conference, GLUE Conference '09 in Milwaukee, WI, Duquesne University, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University, Westminster College, Point Park University, and many other venues!
YERT is a project of Media Changing Media, LLC, which is a for-profit legal container for YERT. Media Changing Media, LLC is fiscally sponsored by the Pittsburgh Filmmakers to enable non-profit contributions to the project.
