About six out of ten Americans report that they drink tapwater, at least some of the time, and there’s no evidence that suggests that the bottled water trend has eroded their concern about clean streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.
In fact, a 1999 study found that bottled water drinkers want more action to protect water bodies than tapwater drinkers. And when given a choice, participants tell pollsters that both clean water inside and clean water outside are very high on their list.
That’s all very interesting, but a key point is that you can’t count on most people to know the natural source of their tapwater. When your community doesn’t react to a threat to their water supply, it’s probably not complacency. It’s probably that they’re overlooking this important connection.
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Thanks for doing this, Eric! THat’s a great point about the media not being the answer to education. Glad you’re thinking about this stuff so we don’t have to!
BY the way, I really like the old cartoon clips you add in–nice touch!
Thank you for the kind words, Jesslyn. Plenty more good stuff on the way.
Eric
[…] I’ve been getting really interested in web video that has the purpose of advocating for particular issues. Eric Eckl has created a terrific videoblog called Water Words That Work that takes an interesting approach to issue advocacy. Eric’s goal with Water Words That Work is to teach people who are involved in environmental protection how to better communicate with the public. In particular, he seems to target folks who are so deep into the field of environmental protection that they unconsciously use heavy duty environmental jargon. He uses video to teach people who who work how to get their message across in a way that the public will understand and respond to using everyday language that people can connect to. I am learning a great deal about communication from watching these. But don’t take my word for it. See for yourself. […]
[…] to communicate with the general public without drowning them in jargon. Check out one of his vids here. Meanwhile, Ashley Schillingsburg and Chris Parandian, are catalyzing conversation about mobile […]
Eric:
Really well done!! Bravo!! I wish we had more time at NTC to talk video stuff … I’m going to have to do an interview with you soon.
BTW, I posted your magic eightball program evaluation of the Day of Service ..
http://kanter.blip.tv/file/194345/
[…] speaking, I frown on trying to squeeze an environmental education into news story soundbites or 30 second public service announcements, but an hour long documentary […]
