Promoting the SDGs through the three key concepts of “concern, understanding, and action” (Hiroshima Home Television Co., Ltd.)Hiroshima for Global Peace

Promoting the SDGs through the three key concepts of “concern, understanding, and action” (Hiroshima Home Television Co., Ltd.)

The Earth Movement Declaration born out of Hiroshima’s environmental problems

<SDGs>. We often hear about the SDGs these days, and it is not only environmental companies that are tackling them. Here, we interviewed Hiroshima Home Television Co., Ltd. We covered the “Earth Movement Declaration,” which is known to all residents of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the station’s SDGs initiatives.
Twenty-nine years ago, the Earth Movement Declaration started with the strong feeling among the station’s employees that, in response to the Ota River water pollution accident and doubts about waste disposal in Hiroshima, they had no choice but to launch an environmental protection campaign. This Earth Movement Declaration is underpinned by the three key concepts of “concern, understanding, and action” and includes not only the sharing of information but also actual action.

Promoting the SDGs through the three key concepts of concern, understanding, and action

The Earth Movement Declaration videos do not use a lot of words but use their distinctiveness to engage viewers’ interest and make them think, ensuring that it does not become simply one-way transmission of information. The campaign message stimulates peoples’ interest, and the program adds more information to encourage understanding. On the other hand, they also reaffirms the importance of “action” as it is difficult to achieve the SDGs simply by conveying information. In recent years, as the SDGs have become more widely known in society, they feel that the initiatives of the Earth Movement Declaration, which they have been working on for a long time, are now more easily communicated.
Part of the action they are engaged in is the environmental education “Earthkeeper Project.” Working with elementary schools in the prefecture, the project teaches students, through actual contact with nature, what ecosystems are and how humans affect them. The goal is to develop individuals who can act in an environmentally conscious manner.

A TV station addressing the SDGs beyond their strengths in communication

I was impressed by the fact that the station conducts programs that give people a chance to work on the SDGs.
It was the first time I had seen a company that put so much effort into environmental education, and I particularly admired that they not only convey information but also focus on developing individuals who can actually take action. I want to see an era filled with people who, through the station’s efforts to transcend the boundaries of television broadcasting, are able to act with the future of the earth in mind.
As a broadcaster whose main job is to provide and disseminate information, I felt that Hiroshima Home Television’s production capabilities were evident in the way they tried to create images that would make viewers think without talking too much. The events aimed at putting the SDGs into practice were also impressive.