Runningman an Explanation: Explorer Justin Hall
As a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an environmentally focused interactive explorer, I’ve never been one to climb mountains for no reason… To me, the challenge of exploration in the 21st Century is an urgent one. It’s not about discovering new lands, personal endurance or facing fear… it’s about…
exploring the issues of a world well-known, about examining the relationship between Man and Nature, cultures and commerce, land and its governance, about the science of change and the quest for solutions. As an early adopter of emerging tech, I have always looked to enhance and share expedition findings in new and exciting ways… films and my presenting within them, have been a by-product of this driving passion.
Interactive Amazon Expedition; In 2000, exploring the potential of new media, and accompanied by a small team,
I embarked on a three-month expedition through the Amazon jungles of Suriname. With my focus firmly on the issues affecting habitat, resource, nature and people, I charted a journey through the tribal heartlands of eight forest communities.
Armed with a smile and good intention, and weighed down by almost 500 kilos of hi-tech kit: military laptops, solar panels and satellite communicators, we set about applying our ‘tools’ at a grassroots level, offering the remote tribes of the interior a digital platform from which to voice their hopes and fears.
Via satellite, we relayed their stories directly from source, initiating discussions between like-minded groups and NGOs, in the hope that we could raise awareness of the issues affecting the region…
While visiting an Amerindian tribe on the border of Brazil, the Tirio of Kwamalasamutu, Their Paramount Chief, Granman Asongo, was quick to understand how our technology could make his voice louder.
His concerns were echoed by all of the leaders of the interior that we met.
They included the threat of logging and mining, a need for education and simple infrastructure, the imperative right of self-determination, the importance of perpetuating ancestral knowledge, and all importantly, land rights. Essentially, their need to keep their tribes alive.
Throughout the ninety days of incredible encounters, the expedition captured a rich, interactive mosaic of cultures and issues. But more than this, to me, it proved that technology can and should be used to Engage, Inform and Empower.
With the web then in its infancy, an astounding 2.5 million joined us online; collectively people spent tens of thousands of hours reviewing our work, digging deeper into information, learning of issues and in some cases even taking an active role.
Runningman 2000 was Change Making Endevour: a clear Proof of Concept:
The most astonishing example of this, a truly pivotal moment in my life, occurred late one night during a tropical thunderstorm…
Alone, huddled around a rugged laptop, I scanned the lightning-streaked skies as I set up my satellite. We had entered into the frontier world of gold mining territory and had spent the previous day reporting on the processes involved and problems faced by local tribes.
Thousands of miles away in New York, a little girl had been following our story. Calling her father, she shared her concerns for the tribe. I didn’t feel the lash of wind nor rain as I read the email. For there onscreen, and copied to Suriname’s Ministry of Natural Resources, was a communiqué formally relinquishing ownership of 100,000 hectares of forest. For the little girl’s father was, in fact, Henk Narrandorp, the owner of the largest concession in the region – and the focus of our work.
There is a world full of incredible projects – and small steps can lead to great change. Great strides have been taken by NGOs and the tribes of the Amazon. Just check out what’s happening today in the region via the incredible work of Google Outreach and the inspired initiatives of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT). ‘Laptops and Bows’ on YouTube is a good illustration (from 2008).
And here’s the most crucial point – the 500 kilos of near-NASA technology it took to empower the project nine years ago, now sits neatly in my pocket.
Today, with high street hardware, each of us can geotag blogs, photos and podcasts, upload vlogs, live stream to Facebook, createTrippermaps and rant on an ever-increasing array of connected Apps. Simply put; our 21st Century tools have arrived, and they quiet literally place the power to make a difference in the palm of your hand. There is much more to this story and the deeper thinking behind my work…
As this site hopes to communicate, I have spent my life looking for ways to better engage inform and empower others through media and in this way deepen the debate, If you are inspired in any way, have a project or want to know more then please feel free to get in contact
EndNote: The beaten hollow of a tree echoing out through ancient forests was probably one of Man’s first forms of media. From the outset, and perhaps never more so than now, communication has always been key to survival; a conch shell signalling a call to action, cave paintings, a rising column of smoke as an alert across the plains. By natural means and more, across the ages and with ever-increasing complexity, we have fashioned tools with which to share our knowledge, tell our stories and, when need be, rally support…