Share Some Knowledge With Someone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phcPLg22pkk

This movie clip and so many others on environmental issues are so extremely moving. In our free time as college students, we tend to get carried away on the internet and look at this site more than ay other: YouTube. But instead of watching movie clips that share knowledge about the world around us, we watch silly videos of Joe riding his dirt bike and getting stuck in the mud. Personally I wonder what the higher authorites, such as people in congress and maybe even the president, do in their free time? I would assume they try to spend a lot of it with their families after a long day of work in the office. But what if they spent some of that time on YouTube? Would they learn about the world around them and how it is changing due to the toxins their cars and SUVs emitt everyday as they drive to and from work? Would they teach their kids how to recycle and compost? I realize that the president and even congress are trying to change some things to help heal this

planet, but when do they here from the public? How many of us have written to our senator? I think that if these higher authorities were to watch a couple of informational movies on YouTube, they might understand how much we do actually care and want to make a difference for this planet and future generations. Hey, maybe we could send them this blog website!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vge67xmNirc&feature=related

Now That's What I'm Talking About!

I hate to do embarass anyone here, but I just gotta do it...

Two recent posts by Valerie and Molly illustrate two different, but really powerful approaches to blogging.

Molly's "Contradictory Lifestyles" post demonstrates a familar, highly personal, and provocative approach to blog success.  Now that's a post that goes by quickly, invites a response, directs the reader to more information (about themselves), and is just plain entertaining.

Valerie's "Violent Elves on a Rampage of Destruction," is full of careful (and interesting) information, offers a well-thought out opinion, and invites contradictory views.

I wonder whether there is a third way to offer a really powerful post...

Blog Prompts | Oct 6 - Oct 13

Other than science, what grants an individual, a public official, an advocacy group, a policy, a source of knowledge, or an approach to a problem authority and legitimacy in our society? Make a list. For each entry on your list, imagine that source of authority matters more than science. How would that change or inform issues and policies regarding climate change?

What is the proper role of science and scientists in public environmental disputes? How is a scientist like or unlike a doctor in this regard? Are scientists properly thought of as “early warners?” Should they be advocates as well?

Have a look at the Union of Concerned Scientists investigation into the Bush administration's policies regarding science production and publication. Under what circumstances should the government influence scientific findings, or edit the publications of government employed scientists?

Diesel Power

Over the past years i have worked for a company working on Yanmar diesel engines. When i first started i really didnt care about what i was spilling into the bilge or out into the water. Then I came to realize that i wanted to be a Conservation officer and the major goal is to protect and serve wildlife. Nearly all of the boats i worked on were in the water and all of the contaminants that is was spilling was going into the water. I went to my boss and asked if he had anything to prevent the contaminants from going into the water he said "no". I told him how big of a problem it was and he agreed with me and we started looking in some books and found a solution. I ordered some things called "pig blankets" they only soaked up oil and dirt and fuel but they didnt soak up water.I took them on the boat with me and when i spilled some diesel fuel and oil i tried the "pig blankets" and they worked amazingly. \I was pleased I was able to help the environment and it made my boss happy because he didnt have to worry about getting any fines for dumping contaminants into the water.

Why fill it up when you can plug it in?

I recently learned that our school didn't make the top ten list in the enviromental schools. One of the reasons that we didn't get on the list is because of the fact that we have poor transportation ways. Now I think the reason for this is because we live so far away from things like stores so when people have to go and buy something they have to travel so far and there's not much that can be done about that.
But I can think of a way to make things better for traveling close to campus like going to spanky's. The school could buy electric golf carts for the students to rent out and that would make such a big defence in the amount of pollution that we put in to the air as a school and I think that would be a huge help in getting us on to that top ten list of enviromental schools.

The Most Effective Mode of Advocacy

Of all the Modes of Advocacy which one do you think is the most effective? I would have to say Political Advocacy would be the “most” effective. Meaning if you could only use one mode I would use this one. In order to actually make a change though, I feel like you have to use every mode at your disposal. The reason I believe this is the most effective is because you are dealing with the people who ultimately vote and pass bills that we have to go by. Notifying the public about certain environmental issues that are going on in the world lets people know of our current issues. However, it doesn’t necessarily get us anywhere. A lot of people might not like things that are currently happening in our world but they usually don’t go about trying to change it. I hear a lot of people complain about issues on our campus such as selling bottled water in our SAC. But how many of these people try to do anything to change that? There are a few such as those who belong in the Constructional Activists Club but that only makes up a small percentage. The best way to go about changing something is to communicate with the higher power that can actually make a change while still trying all the other modes of advocacy. And lastly don’t give up because making changes are not at all easy to do. We can make a difference, but in the corporate world we live in today, it doesn’t come about easy.

On a bit of a different note, here is a video you might find interesting. It's a SNL skit that was only aired once on TV.

conspiracy theory rock

Wake up!

Do you agree that relying on the worsening of environmental problems to wake people up is an effective strategy for making real change? I don't. I think that waiting for a problem to get worse until we take action to make it better might not give us enough time to actually fix that problem so that it can, in fact, get better. What if it's too late by the time "people have woken up?" What do you do then? There really isn't much that you can do if it is too late. Waiting for things to get so bad that people are finally like "oh crap, this is a problem" is just cutting it way too close. Waking up, is just too late to wait. I mean if there are people that know there is a problem, why wait for it to get so bad before doing something about it, just so that it will have the attention of other people? If we do something before it becomes worse, maybe we could stop it from actually being a major issue, such as climate change. As long as there is someone that knows about it, is there really a reason for it to worsen? I don't believe so, but what do you think?

McFlurry of Disaster

I think Green consumerism is the best out of all the Mode of Advocacy. Green consumerism is as defined by Cox is, “To use consumers’ purchasing power to influence corporate behavior.” The Green consumerism is the most effective because I feel that it is the strongest. I feel like it makes the most difference.


I found an article that represents Green consumerism really well. The article is of a hedgehog that got its head stuck in a McDonalds McFlurry. There is also a picture that goes along with it.

The article states that many hedgehogs have gotten their spiky heads caught in the lid and died of starvation. Many people complained about this to McDonalds and they finally changed the design of their lids. When the people complained about this, they said they wouldn’t eat at McDonalds again until they changed it. This has only been a problem in Britain, thankfully it hasn’t been a problem in the United States of America.

Environmental Protester or Adrenaline Junkie?

I was on the computer today when I found this interesting article by Greenpeace. This article talked about Greenpeace demonstrators in Italy protesting coal power plants because of the pollution they create. These protesters climbed over 200 meters to the top of massive chimney stacks that tower over the power plant below. The protesters hung banners about global warming and refused to come down. This protest actually temporarily prevented the power plant from feeding coal and producing greenhouse pollution.

When I first saw this Article I immediately saw how it was an excellent example of “Direct Action” in Robert Cox’s list of Advocacy Modes. In Cox’s book Environmental Communication he describes Direct Action by saying “To Influence Specific Behaviors Through acts of protest, including civil disobedience.” I think Direct Action is the strongest and most influential Mode of environmental advocacy. It is quick to grab your attention and can come in many forms. I believe these climbers atop the chimney stacks in Italy demonstrate Cox’s “Direct Action” extremely well! It also shows just how far some people are willing to go in order to communicate their perspective in the form of protesting.

How Powerful Can A Teacher Be?

Being in an environmental based class, you are faced with many different environmental issues. Whether it is global warming, the effectiveness of recycling, or cutting down rainforest's. It opens your eyes and gives you more than one look on a certain situation and problem. You try and figure out different ways to successfully accomplish each issue in a positive way. In the end, You are now educated on certain issues and ways to successfully fix them.

To me, my class "environmental oral communication" is an excellent example of public education. In the list of Advocacy Modes, Public education is "to influence societal attitudes and behavior"(Cox 228). I believe Public education has the most impact of all the modes of environmental advocacy. Take our class for example, not only does our teacher tell us different issues and problems. He teaches us about the problems and explains to us different ways to attack each problem and come up with ways to solve them. This is the best mode because not only are you told, you are taught. Our teacher John, makes sure we understand thoroughly. Basically, I believe this is the best mode because a teacher can educate us on certain subjects like "going green" and educate us one on one. Rather than trying to get through to someone through a picture. Public education is just the most sensible and can be understood a lot easier. In the end, Public education gets through to a lot more people easier and has a big impact.

Boaters Behaviors

Two summers ago I realized something. I do a pretty good job at keeping my own living space prim and proper, recycling what should be recycled and not littering the ground with my trash. However, as I venture out of my own comfort space I tend to forget my habits and don’t care as much when I see the rest of the world used as a dump.

As I sat besides the fire at the boat club I belong to and watched the flames dance and crackle to life I also noticed several bottles and cans tossed in along with the wood. I have always been a fan of recycling, especially cans since they seem to be the easiest to sort and so I began to wonder why after all my life of belonging to this club I haven’t decided to bring my habit of recycling to one of the places I love most. Truth is I didn’t feel obligated to keep any space that wasn’t my own clean and until that moment and I never really even noticed all the bottles tossed in with the fire. I’m sure I’ve tossed a few in myself more than once. But the more I thought about it I began to notice that there was a complete lack of recycling bins. At home I always have the recycling box close by and because it’s so close I feel motivated to do good and recycle. The reason I didn’t recycle here was so ridiculously simple: there was merely no recycling bins. I actually had a good laugh at how silly it was that I could forget my good habits simply because there was nothing to remind me but that just goes to show how forgetful the human mind can be. Ironically this was also the summer that my dad had been elected as the club’s president and both my mom and I had the same idea to start implicating recycling. He agreed and thought it was a great idea and so we placed several big blue bins around the pavilion.

The next time I sat down besides the fire I couldn’t help but smile. Not a can or bottle was to be seen because behind me the recycling bins were filled.

Now that I realized my actions reflected on what was around me and what was influencing my behavior I‘m now more conscience of my surrounding environment. But it now also makes me wonder why there aren’t more recycling bins in public places. In my opinion people are willing to help out the environment as long as it isn’t too much out of their way.

ROAR for the Future

Reach Out. Act. Respond. For animals. That’s the message of the Roar campaign, launched by Animal Planet in 2006. If you’ve ever watched Animal Planet, you’ve probably seen advertisements for this widespread campaign. The success of this campaign is most definitely due to several factors:

The goal: This campaign was launched to benefit animals around the world, by helping to prevent endangerment of wild animals or to find homes for the stray cats and dogs all over the globe. This is a clear goal with a wide range of opportunities. The goal is to improve the lives of these animals through protecting species habitats, conservation and pet health care.

Objective: A clear objective of this campaign was to gain world-wide supporters in the form of organizations and Federations. Just a few partners of the campaign include the American Humane Society, National Wildlife Federation, Roots and Shoots, World Wildlife Fund and Wildlife Warriors. These groups represent other organizations from around the world to help spread the message of animal health and conservation.

Audience: Through the use of the media, Animal Planet is able to reach worldwide audiences, more specifically to those of us who find animal health and education interesting enough to watch shows like Animal Precinct, Crocodile Hunter, Jeff Corwin, Animal Wars, just to name a few. These are all shows broadcasted on the Animal Planet network. These shows reach viewers everywhere and help to introduce animal awareness to everyone.

Strategies: The strategies of this campaign all center around education. Using television as a key tool, Animal Planet broadcasts information and inspirational videos, like the one above, on their network. This also allows people of all ages and backgrounds to hear the message and learn more about what they can do to improve their animal community.

Tactic: The Animal Planet’s ROAR website is a great tactic for informing the public about the need for animal conservation. This website provides further links for adopting pets, information about their causes and issues, and other ways to get involved in the project.

The message: ROAR. Animal Planet’s campaign message is a simple and catchy message that clearly defines the goal to improve the lives of animals throughout the world. The message conveys the strength and power of the project, motivating people to get involved and make a difference.

Though this campaign was launched in 2006, the message is still going strong today. As you can tell, when a huge amount of effort is put into a good advocacy campaign, the message speaks volumes. Are you ready to ROAR?

Contradictory Lifestyles?

After neglecting to clean the fridge at work (large cafeteria) for a week, I knew I would find some gross stuff. Sure enough, I did. And man, was it a TON of rotten food. My friends and I filled 2 trash cans with rotten fruits, vegetables, chicken (grossest smell EVER!), and old soups and sauces. We obediently brought the bags as quick as we could over to the garbage bins, hoping that they wouldn't rip all over us (because we would have quit). After this disgusting day at work, I went home to eat some fruit, and since it was just a terrible day, the peach I wanted to eat was moldy. So, I threw it in the trash. Now, I am living on my own.

The other day my friend came over (while I was again, cleaning the fridge. My life is just haunted by fridge cleaning). She watched me throw all kinds of old rotten fruits and vegetables and cheeses in the trash can, just shaking her head. "Molly," she said, " I thought you were all about recycling and reducing waste?" I was dumbstruck. "Well of course I am!" I said. "Well, then why are you throwing all that food in your garbage can instead of composting it?"

Dang, she got me. That got me to thinking, how much am I really doing to help the environment? I mean, I obviously care about climate change, and I recycle everything recyclable, but is that really enough? I was curious, so I went to see what my Carbon Footprint was, and got the following graph.

Now, I knew it could be better, but compared to the rest of the country, mine wasn't too bad. Of all the underlying categories, though, my biggest footprint was in the food category. My friend was right. I was a member of the attitude- behavior group, which is the "all talk, no action" group. I talk and talk about how I want the planet to be saved and how I try to help the environment so much, and here I am, with a pretty big food footprint because, well, I'm too lazy to separate my food into compost instead of garbage, and I always have been. I really didn't like that title. Me, being someone in the attitude-behavior group? That's upsetting. I guess I should probably work on that, huh?

The TAP...the World's Source of Water

A recent New York Times article by Charles Duhigg states, “Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, West Virginia. In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater, polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals, caused painful rashes. Many of his brother’s teeth were capped to replace enamel that was eaten away. Their neighbors apply special lotions after showering because their skin burns. Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system. When 264 neighbors sued nine nearby coal companies, accusing them of putting dangerous waste into local water supplies, their lawyer did not have to look far for evidence. As required by state law, some of the companies had disclosed in reports to regulators that they were pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals, the same pollutants that flowed from residents’ taps.”

The government decided to instate The Clean Water Act (CWA) which gives the environmental protection agency (EPA) the authority to set effluent limits on an industry-wide (technology-based) basis and on a water-quality basis that ensure protection of the receiving water. The CWA requires anyone who wants to discharge pollutants to first obtain an NPDES permit, or else that discharge will be considered illegal. This act was initially put into play to help the American people feel safer about their drinking water. But the question is does the act really do its job? Do you feel safe drinking tap water? In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses.

However, despite all that, the “Take Back the Tap” campaign asks people to choose tap water over bottled water. And I know what you are thinking because I’m thinking the same thing why would I choose polluted tap water over clean bottled water? And the question I rise is how “pure” is bottled water than tape water?

Contrary to what the bottled water industry would have you think, public tap water is healthy, safe and monitored. In fact, the EPA requires extensive testing of public water for both organic and inorganic contaminants. When, in some communities, public water systems fall short of consistently meeting EPA standards it is likely due to pollution of the water source, inadequate water treatment, or deteriorating infrastructure. Federal, state and local governments must protect the quality and integrity of our water sources. That means full enforcement of the CWA.


Watching bottled water ads, you'd think that tap water might not be healthy. But it's not true. ABC wrote an article that stated, “Five bottles of national brands of bottled water and a sample of tap water from a drinking fountain in the middle of New York City was sent to a microbiologist, named Aaron Margolin of the University of New Hampshire, to test for bacteria that can make you sick, like E. coli. He said and I quote, "There was actually no difference between the New York City tap water and the bottled waters that we evaluated.” Many scientists have run tests like that and have consistently found that tap water is as good for you as bottled waters that cost 500 times more. Case in point: Dasani, a Coca-Cola product. Despite its exotic-sounding name, Dasani is simply purified tap water that’s had minerals added back in. For example, if your Dasani water was bottled at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Philadelphia, you’re drinking Philly tap water. But it’s not the only brand of water that relies on city pipes to provide its product. About 25 percent of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources, including Pepsi’s Aquafina.

Noting the problems associated with large scale consumption of bottled water, the Take Back the Tap campaign asks people to choose tap water over bottled water.

Facts

§ Bottled water costs consumers 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water, and is less likely to be ensured for purity.
§ Americans bought a total of 31.2 billion liters of bottled water in 2006.
§ That required over 17 million barrels of oil.
§ And 3 liters of water for every liter made.
§ 2.5 tons of carbon-dioxide where released that year from bottled water production.
§ Cars produced 27 million tons a year….
§ Which means bottled water produces 10% the amount of CO2 that driving does.
§ Recycling sounds great, but according to The Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become litter or garbage.
§ Americans hold some notion that bottled water is safer than tap...but in reality it all water (H2O).

TAKE BACK THE TAP!

http://blog.eatwellguide.org/
http://www.nytimes.com
http://abcnews.go.com
http://health.yahoo.com/

Blog Prompts | Sept 30 - Oct 6

Just in case some of you might need a couple of ideas...

Have you ever been part of an advocacy campaign?  Either environmental or otherwise?  Describe some of the tacts you used and how successful they were.

Have you noticed the attitude-behavior gap at work in your own life, or the lives of those around you?  Give an example (be careful about "outing" anyone other than yourself.) What do you think accounts for people's seeming unwillingness to "walk the talk?"

All things being equal, which of the modes of advocacy do you think is most effective?  Why?  Give an example.