During photography workshop with young women from Salvador-based Calafate Women's Collective.
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Pulitzer Prize-wining author Alice Walker, narrator of film, "Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil".
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What is Project Zula?
Project Zula / Projeto Zula is home to the work of Donna Carole Roberts, M.S. and collaborators. (Zula was the name of Donna's grandmother.) Projects to date have focused on documentary film, education and engagement in diverse communities, centers of higher learning and non-profit organizations in North and South America, with a particular focus on issues targeting women, the natural world and social justice.
Currently, Donna is engaged in presenting the film Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil, narrated by Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alice Walker, while teaching in the Falk School of Environment and Sustainability at Chatham University, alma mater of Rachel Carson, considered the Mother of the modern environmental movement.
She is also a writer whose recent articles have appeared in the online investigative publication PublicSource and in the upcoming Voices from the Attic anthology (ed. Jan Beatty, 2019). Donna has translated essays about the Earth Charter - a longtime inspiration and guide to creating a more just and sustainable future - by great Brazilian Liberation-theologian Leonardo Boff. An abridged version of her masters thesis was published as the book chapter, Voices of Brazilian Women socio-environmental educators (Young people, education and sustainable development-eds. Corcoran, Osano, 2009).
After working in broadcast news, TV production, and contributing to non-profit organizations in Montreal, Canada, Donna was invited to produce a video for the Rio + 5 Forum on Sustainability, in Rio de Janeiro (1997), and to attend as a delegate. That was the beginning of a Brazilian journey which would span the next two decades, culminating in production of the film Yemanjá, Brazilian residency, and a deep connection to the international Earth Charter, an initiative and movement integral to Donna's personal and professional worlds.
Connect to Care in the Heart of Brazil
She also went on to create the cross-cultural travel project, Connect to Care in the Heart of Brazil, sharing her love of the culture of Bahia, Brazil, with small groups of traveler, and conducting service with at-risk young women, while re-examining life purpose. After a hiatus to produce the film, Yemanjá, the travel project is being revived this August!
Donna's TV and production work include producing and directing the Telly Award-winning public television documentary, Sea of Uncertainty, about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (see web page), Canadian special, Celebrate the Earth, and the tri-national special, From the Yukon to the Yucatan: ECO Variety, hosted by Academy Award-nominee Graham Greene (see web page: "Past TV work"). She also worked in broadcast news for several years in the U.S and Canada. While living in São Paulo, Brazil, Donna produced bilingual films for non-profit Associação Mulheres pela Paz (Peace Women-São Paulo) focusing on its domestic violence campaigns. Donna created short videos on environmental and marine science projects for Florida Gulf Coast University.
Advocacy. Education & Service
After a career in broadcasting and production, Donna's passion for environmental and social justice work prompted a return to formal education to earn an M.S. in Environmental Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she went on to teach Environmental Humanities. Donna's thesis focused on Brazilian women "socio-environmental" educators, to help fill the gap of perspectives of women from the global South in international environmental education.
During her time in southwest Florida, Donna served as president of Earth Charter of Sanibel, organizing and leading public education events based on the broad notion of sustainability promoted by the Earth Charter. This followed earlier service work in Canada and more recently, in Brazil. (See page, "Being More, Not Having More!")
(above photos- Donna with Calafate Women's Collective, Bahia, Brazil; with Yemanja film narrator Alice Walker in Northern California.)
Donna and family - husband Gerald (a brilliant still photographer turned videographer) and son Gabriel (a musical 19 year-old with autism) - are currently based in Pittsburgh, PA, a vibrant renaissance city with a thriving arts and philanthropic community. However, Pittsburgh's existing air pollution, from the remaining steel-related industry, fracking of natural gas, and the region's apparent commitment to continued fossil fuel development, lead Donna to keep her eyes open for healthier places to contribute her time and energies.
Currently, Donna is engaged in presenting the film Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil, narrated by Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alice Walker, while teaching in the Falk School of Environment and Sustainability at Chatham University, alma mater of Rachel Carson, considered the Mother of the modern environmental movement.
She is also a writer whose recent articles have appeared in the online investigative publication PublicSource and in the upcoming Voices from the Attic anthology (ed. Jan Beatty, 2019). Donna has translated essays about the Earth Charter - a longtime inspiration and guide to creating a more just and sustainable future - by great Brazilian Liberation-theologian Leonardo Boff. An abridged version of her masters thesis was published as the book chapter, Voices of Brazilian Women socio-environmental educators (Young people, education and sustainable development-eds. Corcoran, Osano, 2009).
After working in broadcast news, TV production, and contributing to non-profit organizations in Montreal, Canada, Donna was invited to produce a video for the Rio + 5 Forum on Sustainability, in Rio de Janeiro (1997), and to attend as a delegate. That was the beginning of a Brazilian journey which would span the next two decades, culminating in production of the film Yemanjá, Brazilian residency, and a deep connection to the international Earth Charter, an initiative and movement integral to Donna's personal and professional worlds.
Connect to Care in the Heart of Brazil
She also went on to create the cross-cultural travel project, Connect to Care in the Heart of Brazil, sharing her love of the culture of Bahia, Brazil, with small groups of traveler, and conducting service with at-risk young women, while re-examining life purpose. After a hiatus to produce the film, Yemanjá, the travel project is being revived this August!
Donna's TV and production work include producing and directing the Telly Award-winning public television documentary, Sea of Uncertainty, about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (see web page), Canadian special, Celebrate the Earth, and the tri-national special, From the Yukon to the Yucatan: ECO Variety, hosted by Academy Award-nominee Graham Greene (see web page: "Past TV work"). She also worked in broadcast news for several years in the U.S and Canada. While living in São Paulo, Brazil, Donna produced bilingual films for non-profit Associação Mulheres pela Paz (Peace Women-São Paulo) focusing on its domestic violence campaigns. Donna created short videos on environmental and marine science projects for Florida Gulf Coast University.
Advocacy. Education & Service
After a career in broadcasting and production, Donna's passion for environmental and social justice work prompted a return to formal education to earn an M.S. in Environmental Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she went on to teach Environmental Humanities. Donna's thesis focused on Brazilian women "socio-environmental" educators, to help fill the gap of perspectives of women from the global South in international environmental education.
During her time in southwest Florida, Donna served as president of Earth Charter of Sanibel, organizing and leading public education events based on the broad notion of sustainability promoted by the Earth Charter. This followed earlier service work in Canada and more recently, in Brazil. (See page, "Being More, Not Having More!")
(above photos- Donna with Calafate Women's Collective, Bahia, Brazil; with Yemanja film narrator Alice Walker in Northern California.)
Donna and family - husband Gerald (a brilliant still photographer turned videographer) and son Gabriel (a musical 19 year-old with autism) - are currently based in Pittsburgh, PA, a vibrant renaissance city with a thriving arts and philanthropic community. However, Pittsburgh's existing air pollution, from the remaining steel-related industry, fracking of natural gas, and the region's apparent commitment to continued fossil fuel development, lead Donna to keep her eyes open for healthier places to contribute her time and energies.
