Stormwater Warriors
Hi, I am Alexander Langley. I am a college student at Eckerd College double majoring in Marine Biology and Environmental Studies. After traveling to Belize in January and seeing how much coral is dying, I started investigating causes and what I could do. One cause that I found most interesting was water pollution. Factory pollution is a factor, but it was more the impact from chemicals, fertilizers, and trash that are carried to our waterways. This made me realize that all of our individual actions build a mountain of problems for the longevity of our oceans. Through my project I focused on conveying to local community residents and businesses the impact that stormwater runoff has on local water sources, rivers, and oceans. Everybody can help fix the issue if they are willing to take small steps to address their immediate environment. My slogan is “Stormwater Warriors keep our water clean”
Before beginning this project, I mapped the stormwater runoff issue from a perspective within a framework similar to a tactic used in Baron N’s book, The Ivory Tower, called “Deliver a Clear Message” Here he talks about the “Message Box” view when presenting an issue (p.107). The Message Box tactic is broken up into 5 parts. The first part is “Issue”, and this refers to the issue or topic being addressed. In my case this is Stormwater Pollution. The second part is “Problem” that is being addressed. In my case the problem is that stormwater pollution harms the waterways, quality of water, and local marine life and wildlife. Part three is “So What?” and refers to why this should matter to the audience. The fourth part is “Solution” which looks at what possible solutions there are to fix the issue. Last but not least is part five, “Benefits”, and what are the beneficial aspects from fixing the problem. I completed this process with three audiences: individuals, businesses, and community groups.
The message box helped me to figure out how to lay out my ideas in regards to the project. I then started brainstorming ways to execute my project in an orderly fashion based on the guidance from Dan Xie’s videos on Designing and Running an Advocacy Campaign and Backwards Planning. I developed ideas on how to bring attention to stormwater drain runoff based on tactics from Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere (Pezzulo and Cox, 2018). I developed with my advocacy campaign (p.206) and decided to do some self-initiating (p.235). I used several different social media sources, also known as “digitally mediated social networks” (p,238) (Pezzulo and Cox, 2018) in order to draw attention to the problem at hand and get others engaged. I focused on individuals and on other similar groups with a passion for cleaning waterways. I created an account under the username of Stormwater Warriors on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I then linked each Stormwater Warriors social media account directly to the social media source I used the most, Instagram, in order to be able to simultaneously post on each social media source through posting on one main social media source. Every week, I post tips and ideas that people can easily implement, like making a natural fertilizer, using natural materials to stop weeds, and planting a rain garden. The post above reached over 1000 people with around 200 people clicking through the pictures and reading the instructions. The FaceBook page also gained 5 ongoing followers from this post. https://www.facebook.com/stormwaterwarriors/.To focus on businesses, I planned a presentation campaign. I contacted seven lawn companies to gain an understanding of how they use fertilizers and chemicals either in or not in an environmentally friendly way. This was the hardest part of the project as the majority of businesses did not return my numerous emails or calls. The two businesses I spoke with have outstanding practices. I am in the process of finishing a short post that I will be sharing on my site about their practices. I want to promote lawn companies that strive to be environmentally friendly and do so through proven methods. The more that people are aware of these companies and the benefit they bring to the environment then, hopefully, the more people will be willing to use an environmentally friendly company even if the cost is slightly more.
In an attempt at closing the “attitude-behavior gap” (p.221) (Pezzulo and Cox, 2019), I spoke with Latoya Harris, the person in charge of the “Adopt-a-Stream” organization here in North Carolina. I adopted one stream by my house. I am working on having two other groups adopt local streams around my neighboring communities. As of the moment the first stream clean-up is scheduled for Saturday, June 13, 2020 pending COVID-19 restrictions being lifted.In addition to the social media, I also delivered flyers in the local neighborhood. The flyer was a two-sided flyer with one side providing a brief description of myself and what I am trying to accomplish with this project and the other side providing a coloring picture of a Stormwater Warrior for kids to color and post. The Stormwater Warrior has been designed to be unisex so that anyone can customize their own Stormwater Warrior as they choose. This focused campaign garnered the most interest from the community. Being able to talk to people seemed to move them to action. They were excited about helping to clean the stream and work together as a community.
On social media, I have been contacted by other groups focused on the stormwater issue. I am now working with Stormwater Smart, a cooperative partnership between local NC counties and municipal governments to provide education and outreach regarding stormwater pollution, water quality issues, and water conservation. We have the same goal of communicating to the general public the importance of clean water for themselves and the surrounding environment. My weekly tips are being shared and retweeted by other groups. The Stormwater Association of Tennessee retweeted this week’s tip on “How to Plant a Rain Garden”.
The discussions with the individuals in my community and with businesses led me to a new method of communicating. I created a website. I again used the message box questions and built on my conversations with individuals, businesses, and other groups to design my basic website. I will continue to enhance the site and link to other educational stormwater sites.
Now that you have read about my journey, please take the time to check out my website and join the Stormwater Warriors page on FaceBook, Instagram, and Twitter. I will continue to share tips on how you can make small changes that have a big impact on our waterways. Remember “Stormwater Warriors keep our water clean!”
References:
Baron, N. (2014). Escape from the Ivory Tower: A Guide to Making Your Science Matter. Washington DC: Island Press.
Pezzullo, P. C., & Cox, R. (2018). Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere (5th ed.). SAGE.
Piedmont Triad Regional Council. (2015). Stormwater Smart. https://www.ptrc.org/services/regional-planning/stormwater-smart
Xie, D. (2020, April 7). Backward Planning. [Video]. Environmental Communications. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BHcM4gRodll6fPIzAcMFqEX00WGhduy8/view
Xie, D. (2020, April 7). Designing and Running an Advocacy Campaign [Video]. Environmental Communications. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yarm9K8IilbbRjf0If0KqaOMzib0874x/view
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