Educational TV show focuses on biodiversity
WE often ask ourselves and our friends, 鈥淗ow are you?鈥 It is a question one might as well ask Nature. The fourth season of the art and science series Mind S-Cool highlights how problems affecting nature also affect the way humans live.
Mind S-Cool TV is a project of the Bonifacio Arts Foundation, Inc. (BAFI), the nonprofit behind the Mind Museum and BGC Art Center.
After attracting 2.2 million viewers to the series鈥 third season, the show鈥檚 latest season will educate the viewers on 鈥渂iodiversititis.鈥
Episode one is where they introduce the term 鈥渂iodiversititis鈥 or the 鈥淏ig B鈥 鈥听 a term coined by the show to refer to the effects of biodiversity crisis on human health.
鈥淔or Season 4, we confront the very real conditions in our local biodiversity that are clearly affecting our health,鈥 Mind S-Cool director and executive producer Mitzi Borromeo said at the show鈥檚 launch on June 8 at the Mind Museum in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
鈥淭he message is 鈥業 am OK only if biodiversity is OK,鈥欌 said the show鈥檚 lead writer and BAFI managing director and curator Maria Isabel Garcia in a video message.
The six-episode series will also welcome guest experts Dr. Aldrin Mallari and Rina Rosales, both biodiversity conservation practitioners, who will tell the viewers stories of Philippine biodiversity and explain how many lives in nature are tied to ours.
The fourth season鈥檚 final 2 episodes are meant to help empower viewers discover that the treatments for what ails Philippine biodiversity are within reach.
The show鈥檚 fourth season was created by an all-Filipino team of creatives in partnership with the Sustainable Interventions for Biodiversity, Oceans, and Landscapes (SIBOL) Activity of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Dr. Aldrin Mallari said that in the 1990s, the lack of awareness about the problems in Philippine biodiversity resulted in there being no public and community involvement.
鈥淏ut now, it is an age where we are living in an overly communicated world,鈥 Mr. Mallari said, so people are better informed. 鈥淗owever, the level of engagement remains low.鈥
He noted that the concepts in biodiversity tend to be limited to those who understand the jargon. He said that explaining concepts in an educational TV show makes the conversation more reachable and understandable.
With this new season of Mind S-Cool, SIBOL aims to focus on the need for environmental conservation in oceans and landscapes, facilitating a deeper understanding with a wider audience.
Mind S-Cool TV Season 4 premieres on Cignal TV鈥檚 ONE PH Ch.1 on June 26 at 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The show can also be streamed on the Mind S-Cool YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/c/MindSCoolPh). For more information, visit . 鈥听 Michelle Anne P. Soliman
