Archive for September, 2007

A reader named Gary sent me a very pertinent question last week:

I recently accepted a job to build a non profit watershed council for the City of XXXX. They will provide ongoing funding once the council is established. I’m a little concerned about the title “Watersheds Council”. The city’s public outreach guru feels the word doesn’t present as negative an impression in the west as it might in the east, but I’m wondering if I should push for a title like “XXXX Clean Water Alliance.” It will be an uphill battle, but I have a suspicion it might be worth fighting before I put out a name to the public that will cause me problems from the start. Any advice?

Gary, you’re absolutely right. Your life will be much easier and you will make more of a difference if you replace the word “watershed” with “clean water” in the name of this new entity.

The problem with “watershed” is not that it provokes people, it’s that it’s just meaningless to so many. Click this link and scroll through the quotes to get a sense for that.

To be blunt — and provocative — it’s a big mistake to hide the fact that we stand for something as popular as clean water behind a word as puzzling as watershed. Yet many of us voluntarily handicap ourselves this way. There are countless “watershed councils,” “watershed associations,” “watershed specialists,” and “watershed coordinators” out there working quite a bit harder to secure appreciation and cooperation from their fellow citizens, just because of the unfortunate choice of organization names and job titles.

As if our jobs weren’t hard enough. I have no idea why we do this.

I suspect this question hits close to home for a lot of folks out there, so I’m curious about what others think. Hit the “comments” link below and share.

P.S. As for the question of whether “council” is better than “alliance,” I have no idea.

The votes are in. The blog readers have spoken: posting grant opportunities is a big hit. So how about jobs? Like this one…

Marine Outreach Specialist (Level 13) Marine and Earth Studies

The position is with the Delaware Sea Grant and the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies in Newark.

The requires “Experience in developing science-related outreach efforts for non-science populations or the general public” and a whole bunch of related skills.

Click here for the full description. Deadline for applications is 9/14/07

Jack Stern from Ocean Champions wrote an interesting post on the Shifting Baselines blog about the frustrations of trying to mass mobilize citizens to pressure Congress to do right by the ocean. He said:

This to me is our biggest problem in getting people activated on ocean issues: they have a hard time seeing or feeling most of the destruction that happens in the oceans, and so no matter how much we squawk about it, it’s a “problem for the future.”

Ponder that quote for a minute. He’s right about two things, but still misses an important point. It’s true that everyday citizens have a hard time personally relating to problems in the open ocean. It’s also true that they tend to view environmental problems of every kind as manifesting themselves in the future rather than today.

But like many of us, Jack seems to believe that outrage leads to action, and that’s just not true. At least not by itself. Alarm is just one ingredient in the recipe for action on the part of everyday citizens.

“Now matter how much we squawk,” most of the citizens who hear us lack the knowledge and confidence to act on the outrage we provoke unless we tell them what they can do. If we don’t paint a clear picture for how their actions make a difference, they won’t see it, and most won’t bother. And because they think their individual sacrifices are of little consequence, we need to tell them and demonstrate that others are doing their part and we are all working together towards a common goal.

And Americans’ tendency to think their individual efforts aren’t worth it is particularly pronounced when the necessary action is civic or political in nature. Check out this excerpt from Belden Russonello & Stewart’s landmark Communicating About Oceans: Results of a National Survey report. Note how citizens perceive that writing Congress is one of the least effective things they can do to protect the ocean.

You can shock people all you want, but unless you help people overcome the sense of futility about their actions, that outrage won’t get you much.

That’s why Secret to Success #4 is to both Warn and Encourage.

Thanks to Mark at Blogfish for the tip.

NC Beautiful works to improve the splendor and quality of North Carolina’s environment while developing our future environmental leaders.

Between now and October 15th, NC Beautiful is now accepting applications for its “Windows of Opportunity” mini-grants of up to $1000 for teachers to improve their students’ “appreciation of the environment which in turn improves the beauty of our State.”

It looks like you have to be in North Carolina to qualify. If you are, click here!