Intern Spotlight – Austin Amburgey

Ohio Environmental Council, July 19, 2022

I am the Ohio Environmental Council’s Public Affairs Intern this summer. This position entails a role alongside the rest of the Communications Team, in serving to promote the OEC’s goals and mission. I am aiding the team with virtual organization and in-person excursions to accrue media resources for the organization. The nature of the position—serving conservation and allowing me to travel around the state to create pieces of media—has me incredibly excited to participate.

While working as an RA and as a construction worker over the summers, I have been studying Screenwriting and Production through the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. I hope to pursue a career in the film and television industry, ideally bringing a new view to the world of media production.

I grew up in rural Ada, a tiny town in northwest Ohio that plays home to Ohio Northern University. I spent much of my childhood a part of 4-H, raising rabbits, goats and chickens for the county fair. We also went camping almost every weekend, myself spending countless hours wandering the fields and forests of my home. My very earliest media influences also have a touch of environmental conservation, my favorite channels on TV being Animal Planet, where folks like Steve Irwin set forth my love of nature in such a context.

No part of the world is untouched by climate change and deforestation. I believe it is the media’s role, both fiction and nonfiction, to help champion the causes that seek to reverse the effects we are having on the world. By creating projects that guide eyes to the issues that matter, I can play my part to help the Environmental Cause.

The Ohio Environmental Council is my first real step towards that reality. I have worked at length with video and sound editing, with an extreme focus on writing for the screen. This includes work with short films, live-streamed content, and podcasts. Bringing my background of living in Ohio’s rural areas and study of visual media, I can help the OEC in its mission to protect Ohio’s natural resources and, inherently, its people.

I also believe that it is the role of the average Ohioan to participate in this defense, which is where I think my work can have the greatest impact. Having lived alongside these people and worked in blue collar industries myself, I can recognize the best ways to reach these folks and bring to their attention the facts and realities that are affecting them and will continue to affect their children for generations to come.

I cannot wait to make a positive impact in the state I love.

-Austin Amburgey, Public Affairs Intern