A Guideline For Petitions: How They Can Be Reformed to be More Effective for Environmental Issues5/8/2016 Introduction: “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it” - Robert Swan Petitions are a communication tool directed to the public and used to mobilize supporters and participants. They are relatively user-friendly – all you need to do is offer a signature and perhaps a few other pieces of relevant contact information, and entire policies, laws, and other reforms can be pushed forward. Sometimes they are simply a technique to spread awareness and gain attention; they are used to show that there are a lot of people who agree on an issue. But petitions do not reach as wide of a user base as they could, especially when it comes to environmental issues. Petitions often stay within older audiences because the lack of communication modes and techniques for younger generations. When it comes to new and controversial issues such as environmental concerns, disconnect between the issue and audience is detrimental to the movement itself. Environmental organizations and petition-signing outlets such as “change.org” and “moveon.org” need to develop a way to tap this resource of potential supporters. Improving communication techniques for an audience that is more susceptible to changing values and increasing the appeal of petitions themselves could achieve this. This report will describe the role of petitions in the social, political, and environmental spheres and the current outlets through which they can be accessed. I will then discuss the factors that influence one’s attitude about the environment, including extrinsic and intrinsic values, personality, and social norms. We will examine the ways in which inherent values can be changed over time, and how this can be relevant to using a tool such as petition-signing, especially among younger audiences. I will use these findings to create sample petitions that would target different audiences, showing the ways in which communication techniques and modes can be utilized. Statement of the problem: We are at a pivotal time period on earth, regarding our approach to environmental issues. Many of these issues, although they present us with a level of uncertainty, are also a matter of urgent action. We are exposed to both best and worst-case scenario situations, many of which include varying levels of famine, disease, pollution, drought, and climate disaster. Although the problems seem straightforward to some, these issues are often widely contested on political, social, and economic levels. This occurs because of fundamental disparities in society’s values. Values are determined by our personalities, experiences, upbringings, and exposure to societal norms. These factors are often seen as inherent or fixed, therefore making a person’s values inherent. This can be problematic when approaching these important issues such as politics, social injustice, and environmental issues, as a person’s viewpoint is often established based on these factors. Values are developed as we grow and learn, and many of our decisions are rooted in what we consider fundamentally important. When it comes to concern over environmental issues, research shows that environmental values are associated with openness, extraversion, and compassion, and are more likely to be acknowledged by those with a higher education (Mooney, 2015). This description more commonly fits the younger generations that have been raised in a society that is less focused on conformity and tradition. These generations have been raised with a greater focus on increasing individuality in a constantly growing world of technology and education. Through technology, new forms of communication for current issues have arisen, such as social media. Old modes have transitioned to follow the electronic and Internet age, with easily accessible online news platforms. Petitions are a form of political action and movement. Petitions were initially spread by activists who approached people at events, and although this still may occur, it is much more popular to gain signature support through system-generated emails and online platforms. Through these pathways, most people have been exposed to petitions. However, as the younger generation moves away from communication forms such as email and even Facebook, they are not paying attention to the world of petition signing despite the fact that these petitions have the potential to affect them, and vice versa. Websites such as “change.org” and “moveon.org” are not effectively reaching out to these audiences. The audiences that these sites are targeting are often older generations, those who have a long-engrained set of values and beliefs, particularly in political and social contexts. Because environmental issues are related to these by nature, older audiences are unlikely to show support for these issues unless environmental values are already a part of their value system. This is a group of people who are unlikely to change, because values are strengthened over long periods of time through exposure by pattern (Crompton, 2011). Younger generations are more likely to be influenced because their preexisting set of beliefs and values have not yet been reinforced to them throughout a lifetime. While going through the education system, values are still being shaped and changed. When it comes to influencing a person’s environmental values, the student populations at universities are ideal candidates to target. In order to communicate about these issues successfully, we must employ techniques and frames that appeal to emotions and preexisting values (Feygina, 2010). These techniques can change the way these issues are perceived and reinforce environmental values in order to influence future actions. Framing messages is also important when appealing to people from different age ranges or backgrounds. When seeking support from a younger audience, this is an important consideration. Petition writers can employ these techniques as a way to gather more support. The effectiveness of these techniques can be examined by looking at the successes of petitions. We can examine how petitions and their writers capitalize on both intrinsic and extrinsic values and how these are translated into the movement process. We will see the ways in which petitions are successful at mobilizing supporters and participants on environmental issues. This will then show how successful they are at inciting change. This project seeks to underpin the issue of modern petition signing within the environmental realm: the lack of mobilization of a relevant and concerned audience of young adults. Although petition signatures are not the most important source for environmental activism, they certainly play a role in gaining support for issues and lobbying to government officials. To get young people involved in this form of activism could not only increase political involvement but also inspire further action from this age group. Objectives: This project will review current techniques and successes of petition signing, the development of environmental values, and the ability to change a person’s inherent values to encourage support for a cause. Then I will examine how these variables differ considering the age group involved. The goal of this project is to produce three documents:
Plan of Action: The project will be carried out through three phases. These phases include research, compilation, and production of documents. The first phase will involve a combination of researching articles, studies, and literature. I will be looking for further information on changing values and how to inspire environmental values where they do not already exist. I will research topics that have been petitioned for in the environmental field and examine successfulness and unsuccessfulness. I will also research more in depth the various communication styles and techniques that can be used and how framing messages and storytelling can be effective. The research and interviews will help me to gather information on the effectiveness of petitions, how to change environmental values, and environmental science topics. Apart from these forms of research, I will also explore both the past usefulness of petitions in creating policies and other reforms. Additionally, I will examine various current petitions. I hope that this examination will give me a sense of how to make a petition successful. Doing so will give me a broad range of information to draw from in order to produce these documents. The second phase will involve compiling my findings from the research into a detailed report. The report will provide background information on the petition formats and guidelines, describing not only why petitions have the potential to be more effective for environmental issues but also the ways in which this can be achieved. The third phase will allow me to use the research to produce the aforementioned documents, using techniques borrowed from existing petitions and employing a range of targeted communication strategies. The end products will act as a recommendation to petition platforms such as “change.org” and “moveon.org”, showing these organizations the ways in which this form of gaining support can be reformed. Management Plan: This schedule of this project will follow strict personal deadlines in order to ensure that each component is completed in time for the peer review deadline of June 2nd. The research will be completed no later than May 25th. The documents will be produced by May 29th. These deadlines allow for ample amounts of time for review and compilation of the information, which will be completed no later than June 1st. These personal deadlines will allow extra time for each portion so that there is limited stress related to this project. Other considerations, such as cost and personnel, will be unnecessary. My major and my previous coursework have given me the necessary qualifications for this project. Being an Environmental Studies major, BA, I am aware of the significance of environmental issues as well as their involvement with social, economic, and political issues. I have taken a broad range of courses that have increased my knowledge in these topics. I am also pursuing minor in Professional Writing; these courses as well as a course on Environmental Communication have given me experience with a broad range of writing styles and communication techniques, as well as the chance to perform informational interviews. This variety of coursework has given me the skillset necessary to carry out a research project such as this one, and successfully compile and report on my findings, and produce effective recommendation documents. References: Crompton, T., & McMahon, S. (2011, November 30). Balancing intrinsic and extrinsic values. Retrieved May 19, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable- business/social-psychologists-environmental-values Feygina, I., Jost, J. T., & Goldsmith, R. E. (2010). System justification, the denial of global warming, and the possibility of "system-sanctioned change". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(3), 326-338. Markman, A. (2012, November 20). Creating Attitude Change By Influencing Values. Retrieved May 19, 2015, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior- motives/201211/creating-attitude-change-influencing-values Mooney, C. (2015, January 27). Can your personality explain how you feel about the Keystone XL pipeline? Retrieved May 19, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/27/can- your-personality-explain-how-you-feel-about-the-keystone-xl-pipeline/
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