THE OCEAN IS RISING ARE WE GOING TO BE IN THE NEXT NOA´S AGE?

	South Florida's Rising Seas January 15, 2014, at 8 p.m. TWO FIU PROFESSORS PRODUCE A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT SOUTH FLORIDA AND SEA LEVEL RISE NORTH MIAMI, FL (January 3, 2014) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predicts sea levels in South Florida will rise from three to seven inches by the year 2030 and from nine to 24 inches by the year 2060. Such changes would mean daunting challenges for South Florida communities to stay habitable. This theme, explored in the documentary, “South Florida’s Rising Seas,” produced by Florida International University (FIU) School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) professors Kate MacMillin, an award-winning TV producer, and Juliet Pinto, a journalism associate professor whose research focuses on environmental communication. "We could not be more pleased with the documentary produced by our two professors with the intent of informing the South Florida community of such an important topic as is sea-level rise. They did an outstanding job of going deep into a subject that is often misunderstood but that is a reality for our area,” said SJMC Dean Raul Reis. Shot on location in South Florida, the half-hour production, "South Florida's Rising Seas”, deals with the subject of sea level rise with vivid video and interviews with geologists, engineers, lawyers, community leaders and environmental activists. The documentary explains sea level rise, its potential threat to South Florida and what is being done about it. “We are one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impacts of rising seas, and so as communicators we felt that this was an important topic that we could present as a visual narrative,” said SJMC Associate Professor Juliet Pinto. WPBT2 contributed animations designed by Norman Silva to the documentary. They will air the documentary for the first time on Jan. 15, 2014, at 8 p.m. Local award-winning composer, Dan Gralick, designed the music, and summa cum laude SJMC graduate Jonathan Shaffer was the associate producer and editor. “It was a labor of love, and a challenge to make this complicated topic visual. We are grateful for the partnerships that allowed us to make this production a reality,” said Professor MacMillin. “South Florida Rising Seas” debut on WPBT2 on January 15 will be followed by a half-hour roundtable discussion moderated by Helen Ferré and featuring: John Englander, author of "High Tide on Main Street"; Dr. Hal Wanless, chair of the University of Miami Department of Geological Sciences; Richard Grosso, director of the Environmental & Land Use Law Clinic and professor of law at Nova Southeastern University; and Dr. Juliet Pinto, co-producer of the documentary. The half-hour documentary will air again on January 22 from 7:30-8 p.m. Watch the documentary’s 60-second HD trailer at http://journalism.fiu.edu/#!/Spotlight | Follow hashtag #SFrisingseas For more information, please contact Kate MacMillin at (305) 903-3507 or kmacmill@fiu.edu Two SJMC faculty, Assistant Professors Juliet Pinto and Kate MacMillin, explore the narrative of a community under threat from sea level rise in their half-hour documentary, "South Florida's Rising Seas." The program will air on WPBT2 on January 15, 2014, at 8 p.m., to be followed by a half-hour panel discussion. The documentary will air again on January 22, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.http://youtu.be/-W5f2KYHyBA

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