Moderator: Veronica Barriga
Producer: Jasper Harris
Associate Producers: Veronica Barriga, Ethan Hanson, Esteban Reynoso
Anchor: Bridgette Creamer
Social Media Editor: I’maiya Milan Wright
Reporters: Veronica Barriga, Bridgette Creamer, Ethan Hanson, Jasper Harris, Esteban Reynoso, Londy Sagastume and I’maiya Milan Wright
Climate change is a problem affecting the entire planet, but not everyone is educated on the subject.
A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the world has approximately a decade to get its act together before catastrophic climate changes begin to happen.
“It is the biggest story of our time, without question,” CSUN Physics, Mathematics and Sustainability Professor Loraine Lundquist said. “The reason media don’t cover it, is because it doesn’t get good ratings.”
Many people, including some powerful ones, seem oblivious to the global warming issue. Websites like End Climate Silence promote a healthy discussion on the topic, and also provide links and other information on minimal changes people can incorporate into their everyday lives.
“As dire as the IPCC report was, what it is basically saying is, we do have a very narrow window now to get a handle on climate change,” said Sean Carlin, environmental activist and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps program.
California State University, Northridge was one of the first universities to partner with DC Solar to install 39 solar panel mobiles around campus. The goal was to educate and empower the community by promoting solar energy. The university established a recycling program in 1991, offering opportunities for students to volunteer. The Sustainability Center does community clean ups, and promotes the use of recycling bins and water-bottle refill stations on campus. They also suggest eating less meat for the good of the environment, by providing their Instagram followers with vegan recipes to try.
Animal agriculture is the one of the leading causes of greenhouse gases. The American diet is heavily meat-based. Shifting 320 million Americans to a more plant-based diet could save 91 million acres of land currently used for livestock cultivation. Raising livestock for food is also one of the leading causes of global deforestation. Nearly a third of biodiversity loss is linked to animal agriculture. Many CSUN students say they have started cutting down on their meat intake. They say they have not gone completely vegan, but are committed to buying more plant-based foods.
“I think that these small stories about single-use plastics, plant-based eating and innovation around that, electrification of vehicles, Tesla, Elon Musk, [make a difference],” artist and Valley Green conservationist Miles Lewis said. “People [like Musk] end up being on the news, and they all implicate climate change as sort of the larger topic, so hopefully that gets people identified with a way of being, and a change in industry.”
Moderator: Leonard Tesher
Producer: Andrea Tanchez
Associate Producer: Samantha Rodriguez
Anchor: Nicholas Logan
Social Media Editor: Tory Isaac
Reporters: Brandon Benitez, Tory Isaac, Nicholas Logan, Samantha Rodriguez, Andrea Tanchez and Leonard Tesher
November’s midterm elections are fast approaching, and young voters are being urged to make their voices heard. Voter registration is at an all-time high, and 19 million people are registered to vote, but young voter turnout rates are still low.
The Pew Research Center has reported that less than a quarter of eligible millennials voted during the last midterm election. Older voting populations had ten-percent higher turnout rates.
As the baby boomer population decreases, the results for the upcoming election on November 6th will depend primarily upon young voters.
CSUN Political Science Professor Tyler Hughes said encouraging younger generations to vote should start at their homes and on campus.
“If you talk more politics at home, you’re more likely to be active,” he said. “We should at least be giving students the tools to participate, instead of just telling them to participate.”
CSUN Associated Students Chair of Community and Government Relations Tracy Johnson said a combination of institutional and psychological barriers may be discouraging young people to vote.
“The psychological barriers are efficacy;” he said, “believing that this matters, and that it’s going to make a difference; the voter’s education; the knowledge; the trust in government; these things are barriers that can discourage young voters.”
Young people have been more likely to engage in activism in 2016, but the main concern is whether or not that activism will make it to the polls.
Hughes said the older someone gets, the more likely they are to vote.
Johnson said he dislikes blaming older generations for societal barriers.
“We need to all come together,” he said. “Three or four generations together will change things. One generation isn’t going to do it, in my opinion.”
The last day to register to vote in California is October 22nd, but anyone who misses that deadline can still register to vote conditionally.
Moderator: Ahmad Akkaoui
Executive Producer: Mario Saucedo
Associate Producer: Natalia Vivino
Anchor: Sandy Chavez
Social Media Editor: Tammera Magana
Reporters: Ahmad Akkaoui, Sandy Chavez, Manuel Fuentes, Tammera Magana, Mario Saucedo & Natalia Vivino
Los Angeles has long been known as the entertainment capital of the nation, but in recent years, it’s also becoming known as the homeless capital. Places like downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row, Venice Beach, the Los Angeles River bed, and even the sidewalks around City Hall, have become home for many people. According to the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, more than 60,000 people in Los Angeles are homeless. All over the county, homeless people are struggling to live, struggling to stay clean, and struggling to get back on their feet — and all of them have stories to tell. But for journalists, covering these stories can present particular challenges.
CSUN Photojournalism Professor David Blumenkrantz has been documenting the lives of homeless people for years, and he said he tries not to show the ugliness of homelessness, but rather tries to show the beauty in the struggle. “We [need to] know them as people, not as a species,” he said. Blumenkrantz said he uses his photography to portray homeless individuals’ struggles.
But journalists and reporters have ethical standards, and Blumenkrantz said he must try to walk the line between what’s right and what’s wrong in his photography.
“[There can be a problem with] how [homeless people are] used, and how they’re presented,” he said. “It depends on their situation, but you try to put a human face to the crisis.”
“[I try to] remove the stigma,” Blumenkrantz said. “We have enough pictures of people in pain and suffering.”
Laura Rathbone is an activist for the homeless, and co-founder of Sisters on the Streets and the Hygiene Campaign, serving homeless people in the San Fernando Valley.
“I remember the first time [I helped a homeless person],” Rathbone said. “I got them connected. [I thought] ‘they’re gonna be off the streets’. But it wasn’t that easy. [It] took them eight months before they finally got off the streets.”
Those months on the street can be especially difficult for women. “Sometimes [homeless women] have to choose between a meal or female hygiene,” Rathbone said. “It’s not right. [Help for women] is needed.” The Hygiene Campaign has opened shower stations and provided soaps, hand sanitizers, and other hygiene products to homeless people, especially women. “And if you see a homeless girl,” Rathbone said, “give her a tampon!”
Blumenkrantz’s work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Social Justice. He received the CSUN Exceptional Creative Accomplishments Award last spring for his work covering the homeless community.
Moderator: Londy Sagastume
Executive Producer: Ethan Hanson
Associate Producers: Veronica Barriga, Jasper Harris & Esteban Reynoso
Anchor: I’maiya Milan Wright
Social Media Editor: Bridgette Creamer
Reporters: Veronica Barriga, Ethan Hanson, Jasper Harris, Esteban Reynoso, Londy Sagastume, I’maiya Milan Wright
Moderator: Brandon Benitez
Executive Producer: Tory Isaac
Associate Producer: Andrea Tanchez
Anchor: Andrea Tanchez
Social Media Editor: Samantha Rodriguez
Reporters: Brandon Benitez, Tory Isaac, Nick Logan, Samantha Rodriguez, Andrea Tanchez and Leonard Tesher
Moderator: Jade Davis
Producer: Sammy Shaktah
Anchor: Daniel Martindale
Social Media Editor: Jiani Navarro
Reporters: Jade Davis, Kaylee Kealani, Daniel Martindale, Jiani Navarro and Sammy Shaktah
Fire is a word Californians are all too familiar with these days.
Every year people anticipate fire season, however more and more fires are happening outside the seasonal norm. Human activity as well as climate change have caused this irregularity.
“We used to think there was a fire season,” CSUN Geography & Environmental Studies Professor Amalie Orme said. “In our traditional way of thinking, probably from mid-20th century into the early years of this century, we always thought it was going to be sometime in the fall and maybe into early winter, but I think in the last two decades now, we’ve seen a very different type of pattern, where we can see fire year round.”
Data show that these fires are becoming larger as well. The most recent highly destructive fire in Southern California was the Thomas fire. It burned for more than a month, leaving thousands of acres burned and destroying nearly 800 homes.
In efforts to control fires, campaigns like Smokey Bear have been used. This wildfire prevention campaign educates the community on what it can do to prevent these fires with fuel management practices. Unfortunately, these efforts do not always work when Mother Nature gets involved.
“All these fires are driven by these natural things,” retired LAFD fire-fighter and FlameMapper.com co-founder Anthony Shafer said. “The real thing, that I personally think adds to it, is the buildup over the years of fuels, and the tons per acre of dry fuels on the landscape, and the fact that we haven’t figured out how to get rid of that, or decrease that.”
“You have this other dynamic in here,’ Orme said, “when you have this big fuel-loading, especially in areas that are difficult to access, because when you start to look at the way fires are patterned over time…we wind up with these mosaics of vegetation, which may not have the adaptive capacity to regenerate and prevent the understory from basically refueling itself.”
Climate change is another driving force behind these California flames. Temperatures are rising, causing landscapes to be drier for longer periods of time. The current California drought does not help the situation either, and experts say heavy rainfall may not even be enough to counteract the rising temperatures. These conditions leave certain areas more susceptible to catch and sustain fire.
These susceptibilities can change someone’s life overnight.
“When I was about 8-years-old, my family lost their home to the 1993 Topanga fire,” FlameMapper.com co-founder Shea Broussard said. “I didn’t really understand how to process the feelings of emotion at the time. It was very strange and very odd. When you lose your house, you don’t realize you lose that sense of place, that sense of home… You’ve had the worst day that could ever happen to you, and you don’t have a place to go home to.”
Broussard said no one can really prepare for the devastation of a fire. Fires occur unexpectedly, and many people do not know what to do after they’re over, or how they can protect their homes against the scorching flames.
“[People] don’t have their to-go bags,” Shafer said. “They don’t have all their financial information; they don’t have all their insurance documentation…That’s where the devastation is, the fact that they get to [shelters], and they’re sitting there on this bench, and they realize the only thing they’ve got in the world is what they are sitting there with.”
No two fires are the same, but they have similar and lasting effects.
“A fire can really change a community,” Broussard said. “It takes years to try to recover, and it’s a bigger event than people can actually wrap their brain around.”
Moderator: Angela Bickmann
Producers: Angela Bickmann and Marissa Martinez
Anchor: Marissa Martinez
Social Media Editors: Karin Abcarians and Melanie Rosales
Reporters: Karin Abcarians, Angela Bickmann, Jesyka Dunn, Marissa Martinez and Melanie Rosales
The conflict in Syria has escalated into one of the century’s most deadliest civil wars. It started in March 2011 as a peaceful protest against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, but violence erupted and spread throughout the country.
Nearly 400,000 Syrians have been killed and more than half of the country’s population has been displaced, many of them fleeing abroad, according to the United Nations.
CSUN Cinema Television and Arts major Dilek Ince created the student film “AMAL”, about an American volunteer doctor who witnesses a tragic event that leaves a young Syrian girl named Amal without a family.
“I did this story for children that feel forgotten,” Ince said. “I knew I wanted to make this film because I wanted to reach as many people as possible.”
Ince said she wanted to tell a story about what’s happening on the other side of the world, a story that people may not know much about. She wanted to show how the war is affecting children’s lives, and she wants to make people aware of what’s going on.
“I researched a lot of articles and I spoke with people who went through this war, because I wanted to make the film as authentic as possible,” Ince said. “I also spoke with some organizations that help kids.”
Fadia Afashe, an artist, activist and a refugee who left Syria, said it wasn’t easy to survive in that country.
“The minute you start to question things, the minute they recognize you are out of order and you start to demand any human rights, you are on the list,” Afashe said. “[When you’re on that list, it means] your life, your family life, everyone you know will be in danger.”
Afashe said that when she was growing up, even before the war, her parents would discourage her from speaking up or voicing her opinions on certain issues in public. They feared there would be dangerous repercussions towards their family if she did.
“I started to be a women’s rights activist because I was witnessing horrible things happening in my society and I wanted to change it,” Afashe said. “Even just asking for women’s rights … was forbidden, and they put me on the list.”
Afashe said she couldn’t invite people over and didn’t have access to the internet to share information on women’s rights. Instead, she started using art to share that information.
“I started to think maybe art is the solution, because that is probably how I can get into every Syrian home, because Syrians love movie stars,” Afashe said. “I created my first movie in Syria about women’s issues.”
Afashe said she wasn’t able show her film on television in Syria, and she said people didn’t have access to the internet at the time. Now that they do, activism can spread more easily.
Both Ince and Afashe agreed that art can be used as a tool to educate the public on social issues.
“Definitely it can be used to spread awareness,” Ince said. “Even though it’s a fiction story, [the audience] get inspired by the real stories.”
Ince said films can also show people what they can do to help.
Moderator: Savannah Palacio
Producer: Son Ly
Anchor: James Farr
Social Media Editor: James Farr
Reporters: Karen Elle, James Farr, Kelcey Henderson, Son Ly and Savannah Palacio
The idea of eliminating tipping in restaurants has been brought up more in the media lately, but it is hard to say what will happen to servers’ overall salaries if tipping is eliminated.
Barcito restaurant owner Andrea Borgen has eliminated tipping in her restaurant. Barcito is a restaurant located in downtown Los Angeles, and the restaurant has been using the so-called hospitality-included model since 2016.
“I’ve been able to create a work environment where I am able to provide stable wages for my employees,” Borgen said. “Their income is stabilized much more dramatically. On average, they make the same amount as they used to make when they were making tips. It’s just not as many peaks and valleys. We’re also able to pay the kitchen [staff] a little bit better as a result, and we’re able to provide all of our full-time employees with health insurance.”
Being able to provide employees with health insurance is rare in the restaurant industry. A couple of years ago, several Los Angeles-based restaurants attempted to provide their employees with health care by adding a 3 percent surcharge to their customers’ bills. Customers were given the option to ask that the surcharge be removed, and a few reportedly did.
Another issue in the restaurant industry has been the increase in California’s minimum wage. Some local restaurant owners say this puts even more pressure on their ability to stay in business. Workers say they are glad of the raise, but still worry about their ability to make a living through tips.
“Tipping is incredibly unstable,” Borgen said. “There have been countless studies that have shown that it is sexist, and racist, and completely depends on the guest’s mood on that particular day. The idea [of eliminating tipping] was, at the end of the day, for the guest to still pay the same amount for the same experience, but on the back end of things; they are distributing the funds in a different way.”
Some restaurant consumers have raised concerns about the idea of eliminating tipping.
“One big issue, of course, is whether service declines if you are guaranteeing people money,” CSUN Professor of Marketing Art Shulman said, “and to what extent does service decline. People don’t have to work as hard, maybe, to make their money [if] they get paid anyway.”
“I do like the ability to control the amount that I’m leaving,” Shulman said.
“If there is an employee that is not meeting their potential, and that is not exceeding our customers’ and our guests’ expectations, [then] we as a business need to address that,” Borgen said. “It can’t just be that every individual costumer or guest gets to decide.”
Moderator: Kelcey Henderson
Producers: Karen Elle and Son Ly
Anchor: James Farr
Social Media Editors: James Farr and Savannah Palacio
Reporters: Karen Elle, James Farr, Kelcey Henderson, Son Ly and Savannah Palacio
Activism is defined as the action of using campaigning to bring about political or social change.
These days, activism seems to be on a rise, with people coming out as a powerful force, to raise awareness about different topics like gun violence, immigration, women’s rights and more.
Could this era of activism be because of the Trump presidency?
“Yes! A thousand percent,” said CSUN Communication Studies Professor Amanda McRaven. “When you have something to push against, you fight harder.”
“In the eight wonderful years that we had Barack Obama as president, we thought ‘finally, we made it; we’re okay now; we’re on the right track; it’s okay’; and then Trump was elected, and it was suddenly: ‘we’re not’,” said Maria Collis, a representative of the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
These days, young people are also using social media as a tool for activism, and, particularly in the areas of gun control and immigration, many see young people as a driving force for social activism.
“Who else?” Collis said. “Absolutely, young people are the future.”
Voter registration drives are present at marches and protests, and many believe an increase in voting among young people may cause a shift in the political world, with more officials having to pay attention and address issues that often were ignored in the past.
“You have to constantly keep your elected officials accountable for what they are doing,” Collis said.
“I think…the youth are galvanized in a way,” McRaven said. “They’re signing up teenagers to vote, which is awesome! That hasn’t happened before. Teenagers signing up teenagers.”
“The most important thing you can do: if you’re old enough to vote, register to vote, and vote,” Collis said. “And vote for candidates that support the things that you support, and educate yourself, so you know who they are.”
Moderator: Jesyka Dunn
Producer: Jesyka Dunn
Anchor: Karin Abcarians
Social Media Editors: Karin Abcarians and Angela Bickmann
Reporters: Karin Abcarians, Jesyka Dunn, Marissa Martinez and Melanie Rosales
