Forest of Dreams – Seeds of Hope
News Crew from U.S. Features Green Acres Costa Rica
Emmy nominated U.S. TV news anchor, Mia Gradney, visited Green Acres Research and Development Farm in Tarcoles, Costa Rica to interview founder Eduardo Acosta and report on the amazing biofuel prospects of Jatropha Curcas Costarricense. Gradney anchors KIAH-TV, Channel 39 in Houston weeknights at 5, 5:30 and 9 p.m. She traveled to Costa Rica to report on a number of exciting Eco-friendly facets of the country's commitment to nature, including former President Oscar Arias' pledge to become the first carbon neutral country by the year 2021.
After interviewing Acosta and seeing the work he is doing to help identify and cultivate the highest yielding Jatropha plants for biofuel farming and learning about his million gallon challenge to bring small farmers all over Costa Rica and Central America into production, Gradney was so impressed with Acosta's passionate reasons for becoming involved in biofuel farming that says she plans to expand her coverage into a two part series to be fed out over news affiliate feeds, including CNN and Tribune stations nationwide in July, 2010.
Mia was accompanied by KIAH TV's chief photographer, Shannon Runyon, Public Relations/Marketing specialist Magan M. Hunt and KIAH intern Brittany Brown. All four professionals were impressed with Mr. Acosta's story and efforts to teach the children about conservation and to help small independent farmers lift themselves out of poverty while also reducing the world's carbon emissions and dependency on fossil fuels through the cultivation of the fast-growing, high-yielding, non-food plant jatropha curcas. The crew explored the entire 200 acre R & D farm to report on the work being done at Green Acres to identify the best strains, pruning and irrigation techniques to optimize production of this amazing, formerly uncultivated plant that can be grown on marginal lands and also inter-cropped with other crops and animals, including the high-yielding oil producer plants macauba, ricinus communis (castor oil) and rapeseed (canola oil), while still leaving room for cows and sheep too.
Field of Dreams/Seeds of Hope, KIAH TV, Houston Channel 39 News Anchor Mia Gradney features Green Acres Ed Acosta in 2 part-series.
http://www.39online.com/news/miaincostarica/
Seeds of Hope aired on 7/28/10 and Forest of Dreams aired on 7/27/10
As a tease for the series Mia's crew uploaded photos of her visit to Costa Rica on her station's website at http://www.39online.com/entertainment/kiah-where-is-mia-pg,0,3250517.photogallery
For more information on Mia Gradney and the KIAH-TV News team go to: http://www.39online.com/about/station/newsteam/kiah-mia-gradney-bio,0,903008.story
