Environmental Awareness: Encouragement vs. Education (garden creatures)
No commentsBy Eric Eckl
”I can do small things every day that will make an impact on water pollution.”
It’s such a simple statement, and it’s true. So why is it so hard to send a message — over the airwaves, online, or in print — that actually evokes that reaction? Unfortunately, many environmental messages accidentally evoke an entirely different reaction, instead:
“It is hard to believe that the actions of one person can really contribute to lessening water pollution.”
I pulled those quotes from test audiences that reviewed a pair of environmental public service announcements. It’s my job to help environmental organizations pre-test their commercials and other marketing materials before they are released to the public.
The two spots had a lot in common. Both of them urged everyday citizens to do their part in their daily lives to stop water pollution before it starts. But here’s the key difference — the producers of more successful advertisement crafted their message to encouraging. The producers of the less successful advertisement crafted their message to be educational.
Tennessee Water Works produced the “Heroes” advertisement, which prompted that confident “I can do small things every day” response. Who are the “heroes” this ad is about? People like you and me, who plant trees, recycle their motor oil (instead of dumping it in the drain), and care for their lawns responsibly. This advertisement holds up the example of ordinary people doing ordinary things and tells the viewer how great it is.
In just 30 seconds, the advertisements repeatedly sends the message that these people are heroes and their small actions add up to something important. According to the test panel, this message eventually sinks in.
The government of Honolulu produced the “Water for Life” commercial that prompted the second, doubt-filled reaction. This spot is educational. It shows images that reveal how trash and pollution find their way into storm drains and out into the ocean that Hawaiians love.
Sure, it’s true. But it’s grim — bumming the viewers out with shots of murky, polluted water, garbage, and choking wildlife. According to the test audience feedback, viewers see reason to believe that solutions are within reach, or that they they have a part to play in bringing it about.
Environmental experts are often dismayed at how little the average citizen understands about their work. It’s easy to find yourself falling into the “if only they knew” trap — “If only they knew they lived in a watershed,” “if only they knew the stormdrain went to the creek.” It is our natural tendency to produce commercials, web pages, brochures, and other materials that try to cram a whole of science into a tiny amount of attention.
But the test panel reactions to these commercials underscore the shortcomings of these line of thinking. When it comes to raising environmental awareness, it turns out encouragement is even more important than education.
Eric Eckl is an expert on using marketing techniques to raise environmental awareness and encourage environmental action. He writes the water blog ” Water Words That Work.”
Environmental Funerals - Go Green after Death
By lee101
Death is a part of life and so are funeral services. But did you know how much damage we do to the earth even after we have stopped living? Did you know that 60 million trees are axed every year to build coffins? Gases released during cremation account for 16 percent of the mercury emissions in U.K. Construction of vaults for burials lead to the introduction of about 1.6 million tons of concrete in the soil. The number of people who die each year is about 56 million now and this figure is expected to increase twofold by 2040, so things will only get worse.
We don’t really stop to think of the materials that are used to manufacture items like caskets that are used in traditional funeral services. According to recent research, the quantity of metal used to make the caskets used in North America is equal to the amount of metal used to manufacture the Golden Gate Bridge. Some funeral service rituals sometimes require embalming. Since these embalming fluids are supposed to retard the process of decomposition of the body by inhibiting the growth of bacteria, they also inhibit the growth of bacteria and other important enzymes in the soil.
To prevent all this damage to the environment, we can now choose to opt for greener funeral services.
Green burial tips
One way of ensuring that a funeral is environmentally friendly is to use a biodegradable casket. If you use a coffin made of used paper, buried in a place where there are trees and shrubs, the body will slowly become a part of the environment.
Another method is to cremate the body before it needs to be embalmed. If the body is embalmed, cremating it leads to air pollution because of the toxic gases released during the cremation.
Headstones also lead to pollution because they obstruct the growth of trees. Thus you may choose to have a living memorial for yourself or your loved one in the form of a tree. If this becomes a practice then it will be easier for the survivors of the decedent to cope with the loss because they will have a living substitute for the person who is no more and also lead to the planting of millions of trees. There are more than two hundred environment-friendly burial sites in England, so you can choose the one that is close to your home.
Another novel environment-friendly option is to get your ashes mixed with reef material. This material is then placed in an ocean. Eventually it becomes a new reef. This promotes the growth of organisms that grow on reefs and restores the ecological balance of the planet.
With so many options, it is now much easier to plan a funeral service and burial that will not harm the environment.
Environmental funerals need to be considered to protect the planet. Get more funeral information at:
funerals
Learn About Outdoor Creatures In Wildlife
What Is Environmental Tech and How Does it Impact Our World
By ArticleWriting Guy
As the fight against negative impact on our environment continues, it is even more important now than ever before to understand the importance of environmental technology and understand what it is. Find more green news and environmental technology news at the Tech News Source - Techbloq.com Always New - Always Tech
Sample Technologies
* Energy Saving Modules
* Brushless Wound-Rotor Doubly-Fed Electric Machine
* Composting toilet
* Bioremediation
* Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
* Solar power
* Hydrogen fuel cell
* Desalination Removing salt from ocean water so it’s usable as tap water
* Thermal depolymerization
The technologies include, nevertheless are not limited to, the following areas:
Recycling
Is a Global Singularity, which is a basic application towards the idea of Green Technology. It shows and encourages people to reuse things whichcan turn out to turn out to be reusable. Items for time saving Cans of food or drinks, Paper etc have been encouraged by the governing bodies around America as well as rest of the world, to be recycled so that it can turn out to turn out to be used during the upcoming for several other purposes. It can thus help protect the environment as well as cause less waste/pollution.
Water Purification
The whole theory of having dirt/germ/pollution free water flowing throughout the environment. Lots of other phenomenons lead from this theory of Purification of water. Water Pollution is the foremost enemy of this idea, as well as certain campaigns as well as activists offer been planned around the world toward service purify Water. Considering the amount of water usage that is under current consumptions, this Concept is of utter Importance.
Air Purification
With IIT, TERI, as well as learnings from NASA, it was revealed whichthere are 3 basic as well as ordinary green plants, with which we can grow every single one the fresh air needed indoors toward keep us healthy. We’ve also discovered whichyou can reduce the fresh air requirements into the building, while maintaining industry indoor air quality standards.
The three plants are:
Areca palm
Areca palm is a plant that removes CO2 and converts it into oxygen. We need 4 shoulder-high plants per human being, and in terms of plant care, we need to wipe the leaves each and every day in Delhi, as well as perhaps after a week in cleaner-air cities. We had to produce them in vermi manure, that is sterile, or hydroponics, as well as take them outside every three to four months.
Mother-in-Law’s Tongue
Mother-in-law’s Tongue, that is again a ordinary plant, and we label it a bedroom plant, because it converts CO2 into oxygen at nighttime. And we need 6 toward 8 waist-high plants per person.
Money Plant.
This is again a very common plant; preferably grows in hydroponics. As well as this particular plant removes formaldehyde as well as other volatile chemicals.
With these three plants, you can grow almost every single one the new air you need. Actually, you could turn out to be in a bottle with a cap on top, as well as you would not die at every single one, and you would not need any fresh air.
Sewage Treatment
Sewage Treatment is a theory whichis truly close to Water Purification. Sewage Treatments are very important as it purifies water in levels of its pollution. The more the water is polluted, its not used for anything, the least polluted water is supplied to places where Water is used affluently. It may lead toward vaious other concepts of environmental protection, sustainability etc.
Environmental remediation
Environmental remediation is the removal of pollutants or contaminants for the general protection of the environment. This is accomplished by several chemical, biological, and bulk movement strategies, in conjunction with environmental monitoring. (encyclopedia of medical concepts)
Solid Waste Management
The refinement, Consumption, Reuse, Disposal and Treatment of solid waste whichis looked once by the government or the ruling bodies of a city/town as well as its proper care is basically known as Solid Waste management.
Renewable Energy
Energy that can be replenished easily is the easiest way to explain renewable energy. For years we offer been using sources for example wood, sun, water etc for means for producing energy. Energy that can turn out to be produced by natural objects for instance wood, sun, wind etc is considered toward turn out toward be renewable.
Egain Forecasting
A method using forecasting technology to predict the future weather’s impact on a building. By adjusting the heat based during the weather forecast, the system eliminates redundant use of heat, thus reducing the energy consumption as well as the emission of greenhouse gases.
Find more green news and environmental technology news at the Tech News Source - Techbloq.com Always New - Always Tech
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