Michelle Whiting is a filmmaker with a passion for highlighting the work people are doing to address climate change and protect vulnerable communities. She is currently working with a nonprofit called Climate Refugees to create a documentary about refugees in the Lake Chad basin who have been disproportionately impacted by climate change. Michelle’s first documentary, “Setting out for Sustainability,” is a part of the official selection at the 2022 Eugene Environmental Film Festival as well as the 2021 Nature Without Borders International Film Festival, where it received the “Award of Exceptional Merit.”

Michelle has produced three short videos for the POP Movement, highlighting the Climate Leadership Conversations, the life and career of the late Dr. R.K. Pachauri, and the “Protecting Mother Earth and Nature: Original Nations Voices” weeklong event. She also recently hosted an episode of the NET ZERO video series and podcast, and she is co-authoring a book chapter about refugees and asylum seekers in the context of COVID-19. In 2021, Michelle completed a greenhouse gas inventory for the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), which details three years of the university’s emissions trends and carbon offsets. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from UNCW in May of 2020. Michelle is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Sustainability at Wake Forest University.