Farmers are an important but challenging audience for nature protection and pollution control people. Making up just 2% of the U.S. population, they have outsized influence on waters across the country and far out into the Gulf of Mexico. And nobody knows how to sweet talk a farmer into participating responsible conservation efforts better than Lena Beth Carmichael, coordinator for the Pond Creek Watershed Project in Athens, TN.

Lena Beth knows that putting people at ease is key to getting their cooperation. She applies her deft touch with farmers along Pond Creek and with audiences for her presentation “Top 9 Forms of Communication with a Farmer.”

Eric: You tell a number of funny stories in your presentation. For the benefit of Water Words readers who haven’t seen it, what are your big laugh lines?

Lena Beth: “First I admit that I’m a redneck farmer, myself… then I add I was married to their king for over 20 years.

I also have some funny photos of trees growing up through the bed of a pick up truck and say that “Change comes slowly”

I have a picture of a barn, and ”King Jesus Is Coming Soon” is painted on it. I tell people that when he gets here, he’s going to be really disappointed with how they took care of his place.

Eric: A lot of conservation professionals have a hard time understanding where farmers are coming from. What’s your secret for building trust?

Lena Beth:  I only live 20 miles away.  I’m not just flitting in and leaving. I have my own reputation and my good name that I intend to keep. I think they take me more seriously because of that.

I also have a good sense of when it’s time to shut up, drop it, or leave. (I hope.)

Eric: Do you talk to farmers the same way you talk to your professional peers? 

Lena Beth: No. I’ll admit that I have used conversations discussing “what it looks like from the road” because that’s what the community can see.  One farm in particular, will do things for social standing.  But they are not actually seen by the community as “SomeBody”.  Their social standing is all in their head. Doesn’t matter to me.  I can still use that, too.

One meeting, I called a particular farmer about 30 minutes before the meeting, and said “you’re coming, aren’t you?” of course he said,” is that today?” and I said, “Yes, and I’ve forgotten an extension cord to run my projector for my presentation. Can you bring me one?” He did.

Of course, I had an extension cord all along.

Yep, I’m manipulative. I’m a mother.

Eric: What kinds of things can you talk a farmer into doing with this approach?

Lena Beth: On one farm, my project built a fence to make a “sacrifice lot” at the top of the hill, near the parlor (creek is at the bottom of the hill maybe 200 yards).  We installed two 6-hole waterers in the lot.  The hillside was seeded down toward the creek.  The farmer was to buy and install the gates, which he was slow to do, and often does not close them now. 

It is amazing how the cows choose to stay on top of the hill, in the level sacrifice lot, and drink the clean water provided for them.  I have pictures of them staying there, even with the gates wide open.  The hillside stays grassed.  The cows will go to the bottom in the heat of summer, to get shade, but they have not demolished the vegetation. It has worked really well. 

It’s also right beside the road, so that’s good for the neighbors to see.

I’ve had my eye on a local conservation group, Save Palmyra Cove Nature Park, for a while. They’re very skillful in their use of free Internet tools and they do a good job turning out citizens to work together to protect their beloved natural area. Now they’re weighing in on New Jersey Governor John Corzine’s plan to close nine state parks (boo!), and since they’ve posted their talking points for all to see, I’ll offer some praise – and a little free advice. Click here to see their call to action.

Praise: Really great job with the photos! When you’re trying to get everyday citizens off the couch to do something, it’s “monkey see, monkey do.” Showing pictures of people excercising their freedom of speech is the best possible way to get more people to exercise their freedom of speech.

Praise: Great job telling people what they can do to influence the governor. Contact information, talking points, links to various organizations in on the campaign.

Suggestion: So what’s with the “sad sack” attitude? The group writes:

As environmentalists in New Jersey, we have been beaten down time and time again. Even with our small victories to protect Palmyra Cove and restore Green Acres funding, we are still fighting a tough battle.

Whether or not it’s true, this kind of language is very demotivating to those considering speaking up. It’s human nature to want to join the winning team. The group should cite their victory at Palmyra Cove and hold it up as an example of the great things that citizens can accomplish by working together and demanding that elected officials plan ahead to protect natural areas that are important to local families. Be positive!

Suggestion: And speaking of families, why is the consequences of park closures on families at the bottom of the list of talking points? After a boring recap of the history of the NJ DEP budgeting going back two governors, and a bunch of hard-to-read factoids about # of dollars, employees, acres, and so on?

It’s important for top activists to know those facts so they can raise it in a private conversation with a politician or their staff – but that stuff is not helpful for getting another dozen or so everyday citizens to show up at your event and carry a sign.

Best wishes to the New Jersey conservation community! Go get ‘em!

Disclosure: The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is a past client of Water Words That Work.

According to a recent mailer, “Environment America” is “the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.” At first glance, the relaunch/rebranding excercise is impressive — appealing colors and a tasteful contemporary design, but upon closer scrutiny, some old bad habits from the environmental movement are still quite evident.

The new slogan is a good place to start the critique – ”Clean Air, Clean Water, Open Space” — a striking combination of words that work and words that don’t. As you know, clean air and water are terrific words to use in all circumstances, words that everyday citizens and voters understand and use themselves. But “Open Space” … not so much.

In their landmark study “The Language of Conservation,” Lori Weigel (Public Opinion Strategies) and David Hart (Fairbanks Maslin Maullin and Associates) were quite explicit about the shortcomings of this term:

DO NOT say “open space.” “Open space” is not one of the better terms to use in the vocabulary of conservation, and “urban open space” is even worse. In focus groups, voters perceived “open space” as empty land, not near them, and did not necessarily see how they benefitted from it or could use it. “Urban open space” was perceived as a bench between sky scrapers or an abandoned lot.

Put another way, while Environment America means one thing with the term “open space,” some everyday citizens will understand somthing else entirely. My spidey senses are tingling here and they tell me that “Environment America” might get more of the reaction it is looking for if the slogan was something like “Clean Air. Clean Water. Healthy Nature” or “Clean Air. Clean Water. Natural Areas.”

So I’m really quite curious about this. Did U.S. PIRG go to the effort and expense of launching a whole new brand for itself without showing it to people outside the office first? Or did the organization show the slogan to people, who had a different reaction that participants in previous efforts?

Because if they did, I’d sure like to get my hands on that work.

The Save Our Springs Alliance are the guardians of Austin’s Barton Springs, a giant spring-fed pool where families gather to swim, wade, escape the otherwise oppressive summer heat. The alliance’s recent animation provides another example for me to deconstruct about the importance of calling everday citizens’ attention to the future, and the mistake of trying to educate them about the past first.

This video highlights the threat of proposed irresponsible overdevelopment by a big corporation in a natural area that provides clean water to the springs. It has some strong messages, but a weak script overall. Check it out, and then read on.

Like many conservation communications pieces, the filmmakers have buried the lead, meaning they have put the punchline — a crisis, a crossroads — at the end, after a long long long story about the history of the springs. Since the future is always more interesting to everyday citizens than the past, the filmmakers wrote their script basically backwards. They should have raised questions about the future of Barton Springs, the families that enjoy it, and the wildlife that lives there from the opening scene, only later exploring the history of citizens’ prior efforts to make a difference to protect the site.

And it’s too bad, because for those who do elect to sit through the entire video, the payoff at the end is rewarding. I’m particularly fond of the line “I wish I knew the end of this story, but the people of Austin will write the rest.” And there’s a “Help save Barton Springs” link that probably went to some kind of action alert center back when this video was first launched.

Congrats to SOS Alliance for experimenting with animation to make their point. Good luck in your efforts to protect Barton Springs.