Video Producer. Journalist.
Facing Down the Fossils: Rise Up
The gas industry’s quest for profit is running into resistance from people in the path of new fossil fuel projects. Proposals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals that send U.S. methane to other countries are igniting activism across the country. One former oil-and-gas worker is fighting the industry’s plans from his backyard on the Louisiana Gulf Coast.
June 2023: Associate Producer, DP
Facing Down the Fossils: Restore
Can discarded glass bottles be used to protect one of the country’s most endangered landscapes? A New Orleans startup is turning bottles into sand that can support new vegetation, prevent erosion, and restore lost land along the Gulf Coast. Researchers and entrepreneurs are working together on this unique solution to the combined effects of sea level rise, ecosystem damage, and climate change.
June 2023: Associate Producer, DP
Facing Down the Fossils: Resist
Drawing on an Indigenous tradition of running to share news and spread messages, a youth-led journey on foot across Texas is taking on the fossil fuel industry. From the Permian Basin to the Gulf of Mexico, this display of cross-tribal solidarity is building a new movement to honor sacred sites, protect the Earth, preserve an endangered way of life, and secure a better future.
June 2023: Associate Producer
Facing Down the Fossils: Renew
What do solar panels and battery-powered microgrids have to do with protecting the unique culture of New Orleans? Meet the local organization turning restaurants into disaster recovery centers using community solar microgrids — and charting a way forward for a just energy transition in the American South.
June 2023: Associate Producer, DP
The US town swallowed by Big Oil’s ‘chemical soup’
IIn the mid-2000s, the United States unearthed a huge amount of methane – the main ingredient in natural gas. To ship it overseas, companies built factories to compact it into a liquid. But these facilities weren't just built in industrial areas; they were also built near people's homes.
March 2023. Associate Producer
The 'gift of God' that has poisoned American kids for 100 years
This means an astounding number of America's most vulnerable children have high levels of lead in their blood. To understand why lead has been so difficult to remove from one of the world's wealthiest nations, we have to understand just how obsessed America was with lead – and how the industry spread propaganda about the benefits of lead, even after research showed it was dangerous.
January 2023. Associated Producer, Motion graphics
Drying up: inside the Californian communities without enough water
California's Central Valley grows a large portion of America's food – and that requires a huge amount of water. gion is experiencing a drought and drying up the surface water that farms rely on. So farms are now pumping water from underground. There's a problem, though: it's drying up the wells in vulnerable communities that have long relied on underground water.
November 2022. Producer and Motion Graphics
Ravaged by hurricanes, a historic Black community fights for survival
Ironton, a small incorporated community in Louisiana, was devastated by Hurricane Ida. But the destruction was not inevitable. Founded by freed people who were previously enslaved, Ironton residents had to fight for running water, sewage – and levees.
September 2022. Associate Producer.
In Chile, Even Water Is Privatized. The New Constitution Would Change That.
In 1980, the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet replaced Chile’s constitution with a new charter employing the principles of famed American free-market economist Milton Friedman. Forty years later the dictatorship is gone, but the constitution — and a key provision called the National Water Code that privatized Chile’s vast natural water supply — is still in effect.
In 2022, Chileans drafted a new constitution that could vastly change water rights in the country. The short film “Hasta la última gota,” or “Until the Last Drop,” follows the fight for water in Petorca province, the epicenter of Chile’s mega-drought, and a hotly contested area within the constitutional debate.
Hasta la última gota was part of the Official Selection at Mill Valley Film Festival, Banff Mountain Film Festival, and SF Green Film Festival.
August 2022. Produced by Ben Derico & Jocelyn Tabancay Duffy. Directed by Ben Derico
Bayanihan & Resilience
Penny Baldado, a queer Filipino immigrant and proud owner of Café Gabriela, makes it through the COVID-19 pandemic by giving back to Oakland.
Bayanihan & Resilience was featured on NBC’s Asian Pacific America and screened at Frameline Film Festival, Seattle Queer Film Festival, Long Beach Q Film Festival, and Bay Area Shorts Film Festival.
December 2021. Produced & Directed