Wallowa native wins Rocky Mountain Emmy

Published 4:40 am Monday, November 23, 2015

Cody Sheehy can add “Rocky Mountain Emmy winner” to his list of life accomplishments.

The Wallowa native has been serving as video coordinator for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ communications and cyber technologies department at the University of Arizona since 2013. His recent documentary, “Earthlight,” chronicles a NASA-backed project at UA to build 100 percent sustainable green houses to support space exploration such as trips to the moon and Mars.

The film earned an award from The Rocky Mountain Emmys on Oct. 17 in the category of topical documentary. Sheehy wrote, directed and produced the film. He shared the award with Executive Producer Dave Bogner.

The Rocky Mountain Emmys are a division of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences that is “dedicated to excellence in television by honoring exceptional work … (in) Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and El Centro, Calif.,” according to the chapter website.

“Earthlight” explores the Lunar Greenhouse project, a closed-system food-production program with broad implications both in space and here on Earth.

“Lunar Greenhouse is the third version of this particular project,” Sheehy said. “The work has been going on for almost a decade. It started as small project to get food to people.

“The basic concept is to minimize waste, inputs and dependence on the external environment.”

Lunar Greenhouse recently received additional funding from NASA, which moved the project to Phase III.

“There are three phases of funding,” Sheehy said. “Many projects stop at Phase I or Phase II. For NASA to move to Phase III funding is pretty rare.”

To learn more about “Earthlight” and to view the film online, visit http://cals.arizona.edu/earthlight.

Sheehy still has family in Wallowa and he said he tries to get home at least once a year. But his work can take him all over the world. When the award for “Earthlight” was announced, he was on the other side of the world.

“I was overseas in Israel filming something for my next project,” Sheehy said. “I wasn’t even there to get it. I didn’t think we would win.”

His next project, “Beyond the Mirage,” tackles the complex water issues gripping the Southwest United States. To learn more, visit www.BeyondTheMirage.org.

“The purpose of (“Beyond the Mirage”) is to raise awareness about southwest water issues. We’re entering a new era of water. We’ve already seen the effects of drought in California. It’s the first of a series of new, big issues we face.