Step One: Begin With Behavior

Environmental awareness — that’s often the goal of the communications efforts of the conservation community. We imagine a world where enlightened individuals consider how all of their daily choices affect the natural world.

But how do we get there? One step at a time — so we should organize all our environmental communications around promoting that next step for our audience. Consider the two photos below. At first glance, they’re similar. But the sign on the left is better environmental communication because it has a call to action — and then conveys an important fact to support the request. The sign on the right conveys only a fact, but leaves the reader to draw their own conclusion about what to do.

environmental-writing-page-08312009

Begin With Behavior

These photos reveal an important distinction between education and leadership. As you prepare to do some environmental writing for everyday citizens, pause first to envision success. In your mind, envision the day after your audience read or heard your words – and you have successfully inspired, outraged, touched, or otherwise moved them to act. Now answer this deceptively simple question: What are they doing today?

Will they…

  • Change a personal habit or behavior, such as starting carpooling or stopping use of pesticides in their garden?
  • Buy a different product or service than they have been?
  • Make a donation of time or money to your organization?
  • Call or write a government official?
  • What?

As the leader, it falls to you to telegraph what your audience should do next. If you can’t come up with any way for them to make a difference, they won’t come up with one, either. If you can’t narrow down a list of options to the single best place to start, they won’t be able to, either.

Environmental Awareness and Action

Here’s an important thing to note: People talk about what they do. By encouraging your audience to take simple steps to protect nature or control pollution, you are arming them with something to talk about with others. Consider:

  • Those who have participated in a beach cleanup or much more likely to confront litterers than people who just happen to dislike litter.
  • Donors to an organization are more likely to tell others about the group than those who have only read about the group in the newspaper.
  • Voters who write a letter to an elected official about an issue are much more likely to discuss that issue with their friends than those who just saw something in a newsletter.
  • People who volunteer for a nature center are more likely to recruit other volunteers than people who see an announcement on a bulletin board at the nature center.

Begin With Behavior

The most effective way to raise environmental awareness is to offer your readers and listeners an opportunity take a concrete action of some kind that makes a difference. That initial emotional investment, however small, will yield dividends of new attitudes and word-of-mouth for you down the road down the road.

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