| Barbara Pyle | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Barbara Y.E. Pyle |
| Born | Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Media, Environmental Activism, Film making, Photography |
| Influenced by | Her father, Charles Y. Pyle, who said to her when she left home for college at age 18, "Always carve away from yourself." |
| Influenced | A generation of children to be more environmentally aware with her production of Captain Planet and the Planeteers. |
| Awards |
United Nations Environment Programme's Sasakawa Prize, Global 500 Roll of Honour (Inaugural Member), United Nations 100 Most Influential People, United Nations Imminent Person, David R. Brower Journalism Award (Sierra Club), National Association of Environmental Educators President's Award,[1] Earth Summit Award, Aveda Environmentalist of the Year, Planned Parenthood Foundation Special Maggie Award for Outstanding Media Coverage of Reproductive Health and Rights, Rome Reportage Human Rights Award (Italy) |
Barbara Y.E. Pyle is an American Executive Producer, Film maker, Environmental Activist and Media Innovator who pioneered the use of broadcast programming to inform critical social and environmental issues on a global scale.
Contents |
Prior to her two decades with TBS/CNN, Barbara Pyle was a photojournalist producing photo essays for NBC News, both nationally and locally in New York. She has three TIME Magazine covers to her credit and has been a major contributor to ten books.
She has traveled the world as a photojournalist and filmmaker in over 100 countries, to capture the human spirit in film. Pyle has photographed major news, events and personalities.
One of her most famous subjects is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. She documented their work in the studio as they created their breakthrough album Born to Run and accompanied them on the tour, photographing them at the beginning of their meteoric rise to stardom.
In 2009, in association with Photographers Against Hunger,[2] Pyle donated two of her rarely seen photos of the Boss and the band to benefit the New Jersey Food Bank, a pet cause of the iconic singer. Pyle donated Dawn Rehearsal, a rarely seen black and white portrait of the exhausted band after a 3 day recording session before embarking on the Born to Run tour. The second donated photo, My Home Town, was taken in 1975 after leaving Pyle's childhood home in Pauls Valley, OK.
Barbara Pyle[3] first met Ted Turner in 1980 when she was photographing the America's Cup for TIME magazine and the media mogul was helming the Courageous for the last time. Turner, immediately impressed with Pyle's media savvy and commitment to environmental issues, hired her as Vice President of Environmental Policy at TBS. Pyle served over two decades in this role and was responsible for creation of the Turner Environment Division and setting the company's environmental broadcast agenda.
Pyle worked hard to brand TBS as "The Environmental Network". Simultaneous to this, she was CNN's Environmental Editor where she introduced and oversaw environmental news reporting and programming on both CNN and TBS. As one of the first environmental corporate executives, she championed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies and initiatives company-wide and set the standards for energy efficiency, recycling and carpooling with her department's award-winning Clean Air Commute program.
While at CNN/TBS, Pyle introduced and oversaw environmental coverage, including Earth Matters, a daily environmental news shows which premiered on CNN in 1981 and launched CNN's World Report, which featured international journalists presenting breaking news from their countries vis-à-vis their local perspective. With Jane Fonda serving as host, Pyle executive produced the ground-breaking and award-winning show People Count [4] which put a face on global issues addressed by a series of United Nations summits. She also co-created Captain Planet and the Planeteers with Ted Turner which Pyle proudly says "created a generation of eco-literate youth."
After leaving CNN/TBS, Pyle concentrated on running the Barbara Pyle Foundation (BPF) [5] which she established in 1997 with the financial portion of her Sasakawa Prize.[6]
Pyle is the only member of the media to ever receive this prestigious honor which is typically reserved for scientists and known as the "Nobel Prize for Environmentalism".
The mission of the BPF is to harness the power of positive media communication to make a better world. BPF supports environmental programs and projects that improve the well being of marginalized peoples. In the past, BPF has awarded grants for projects focused on sustainability and empowerment of women. Currently, BPF has implemented an invitation-only grant making policy.
Pyle cofounded Earth Secure [7] with writer Marc Barasch and one of their first projects was One Child - One Voice which conveyed the plea to protect the planet in the voice of five children from around the world to promote the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit). To encourage world leaders to participate in the summit and raise awareness of the issues, Earth Secure initiated a Tree of Life campaign. Over a million people worldwide sent postcards with a leaf drawn on it to serve as a call to action to their leaders. These postcards were hung from an enormous Tree of Life as a visual testament of support for the Earth Summit’s goals and a reminder to its delegates that the world’s voice was with them.
It was in 1980, after she read The Global 2000 Report to the President, commissioned by Jimmy Carter's presidential administration that Pyle says she "switched from being a so called "objective" journalist to an advocate." In order to bring global concerns to the forefront of public attention, Pyle has worked with and built collaborative relationships between major environmental issues such as The United Nations Environment Programme, National Geographic Explorer, The National Audubon Society and The Cousteau Society.
Pyle's activism was firmly grounded in media production. Her 35-part documentary series People Count, hosted by Jane Fonda, profiled everyday people from around the world working to address issues of sustainable development, population, and the rights of women and native peoples. Pyle traveled around the world to film this series, acting both as executive producer and reporter. People Count aired domestically on CNN and TBS, and internationally on CNN International. To extend the audience further, People Count segments were distributed free through an international distribution program that reached broadcasters in over 180 countries with a potential viewing audience of two billion.
Broadcast to more than 80 countries and viewed by more than one billion people, Pyle's film The Day of Five Billion, co-produced with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), featured original music videos by renowned artists from around the world combined with mini-documentaries and messages from international leaders and futurist authors. The Day of Five Billion created an energetic video representing the birth of the five billionth person on earth. Participating in the film were world leaders such as President of Costa Rica Óscar Arias, Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland, President of Indonesia Suharto, Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang, as well as music legends Peter Gabriel, Crowded House, Jimmy Cliff, Stevie Wonder, The Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, Clarence Clemons, Dr. John, Nona Hendryx, Youssou N'Dour and renowned authors Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut and many others. This celebration expanded into the annually celebrated World Population Day and the film received numerous accolades including a Population Institute Global Media Award, a CINDY Award from the International Association of Audio Visual Communicators (IAAVC), a Silver Hugo Award as well as nominations for CableACE and Emmy awards.
Pyle's Without Borders expanded her distribution network to 127 countries and included a satellite grant from Intelsat and firnly established her as a world leader in the international distribution of free environmental and social programming.
Her One Child - One Voice was the centerpiece of the United Nations' Save the Earth media campaign. This film initiated a letter-writing campaign in support of the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The film was distributed to over 100 countries and more than one million 'leaf postcards' were received from around the world for the Tree of Life in Rio.
For her professional work, humanitarian efforts and activism, Barbara has received dozens of personal commendations. When presenting the United Nations Sasakawa Award to Pyle, then Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan said, “For more than two decades, Barbara Pyle has encouraged the media to assume a major responsibility for informing and educating the public, including decision makers. Pyle has brought environmental issues closer to the hearts and minds of people the world over. As a writer, director and producer of numerous television programs, she has inspired countless individuals to care about the environment and to take responsibility for its protection.”
Pyle now personally focuses on the rights of women and native peoples, as well as serving on several boards addressing environmental concerns. Heartfelt in her concern for and dedication to these critical world issues, Pyle often says, "Our world will not be saved by any one big decision, but by many individual choices. Choice by people like you and me. We may be the last generation to be able to make these choices. "
Pyle serves on various boards of philanthropic organizations such as:
In the past, Pyle worked with:
Pyle’s documentary and environmental filmmaking earned her five Emmy nominations and countless other media awards and recognitions including:
In July 1971, Pyle and Dr. Horace Hale Harvey III opened the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health in New York City.[16] The clinic was, at the time, the largest free-standing abortion facility in the world and the opening was scheduled to coincide with the first day that abortion up to 24 weeks became legal under a newly enacted New York State law. Pyle served as the clinic's first administrator.[17]