Hello,
I am working on a proposal that will include a number of options for a watershed council to consider implementing that will help make the community more aware of the watershed in which they reside and to take a sense of ownership or pride in the watershed.
The focus of the proposal will be visual cues that can be placed throughout the watershed such as on trash cans or at bus stops that will promote the watershed and the connection to the creek. I have seen examples of creek/watershed signage that is done near creeks, but I think it is important to also have displays or what I am calling "visual cues" at places in the watershed that are further from the creek- which indicates the connection between these places and the creek. I also hope for these cues to direct the onlooker to the website of the watershed council so that they can learn more and possible be inspired to get involved in some degree.
I realize that information alone will unlikely lead to behavioral change but I figure that the foundational understanding of what a watershed is and becoming aware of the name of the watershed that community members are in are important to promote as well. These will help aid efforts in further, more involved campaigns to foster sustainable behavior.
I was wondering two things:
1) are you aware of any campaigns similar to this and if so, what "visual cues" were determined to be particularly successful.
2) what are some messages that can be placed on these cues that would make an impact to the onlooker- both in remembering the name of the watershed and possibly being more aware of how their actions can effect the health of the watershed. I have looked at the website that has been mentioned in the FSCB blogs- Water Words that Work- which has some very useful material.
I was wondering if there was any personal feedback or am also looking for guidance to other research related to this.
Thank you for your time and any feedback would be appreciated.
-Marc Sugars
Marc Sugars
United States
Promoting Community Watershed Awareness
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Hi Marc. Brisbane City Council does this quite well. We have the usual stencils on drains, a Mountains to Mangroves programme, many signs around the suburbs that announce you are now entering the xxx catchment. The creeks also have very active community groups that revegetate & care for them. The link to the council website is below:
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environment-waste/bushland-waterways/catchments-and-waterways/index.htm
Lisa Stockwell
Manager - People & Culture
Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers
Australia
You might find this campaign in Christchurch of interest:
http://ecan.govt.nz/news-and-notices/news/Pages/change-our-ways-change-our-waterways-christchurch.aspx
I understand a series of billboards were used, the images from these are the images you see on the banner on the project website:
http://www.cleanwaterways.org.nz/
Karyn Owen
Project Co-ordinator
Venture Southland
New Zealand
Angie, I appreciate your post and the way you breakdown the time and what you want people to do. We are involved in a campaign to reduce ozone in our city and you provide a good reminder to focus on a few behaviors and keep it simple. I would also really like to help people have the connection with their evironment, though. I'm wondering about a cartoon air guy or animal to help people make the connection. We would promote Ollie Ozone as bad or Gary Goodair as good or something along those lines. Then we could show behaviors we want from Gary and hopefully make the connection to air quality. Obviously this would take quite a bit of marketing. Have you considered anything like this?
Jean Waters
Energy and Environmental Engineer
Nebraska Business Development Center
United States
www.nbdc.unomaha.edu/energy
The Christchurch programme was reviewed via survey late last year to monitor retention and identification in public minds. The people responsible for this project are probably currently tied up with other matters as you may be aware there has been a significant and fatal earthquake in New Zealand in recent days. If someone wants to see the results of the survey I think I have them and can find out if the Christchurch bods are happy to share.
Jodi Thompson
Pollution Prevention Officer
Environment Southland
New Zealand
Hi Jodi,
I would definitely like to see the results of the survey for Christchurch program, if you get the chance.
And Thank you everyone for your responses, they are quite helpful
Marc Sugars
Gallinas Watershed Council
United States
Alrighty - there is a report on the campaign here: http://www.cleanwaterways.org.nz/community-education-and-engagement.html
On a side note and hopefully the moderators are OK with this - some of the people who have been working on this programme are currently experiencing inexpressible hardships as they try to rebuild their lives after the 22 February earthquake. Raw sewage is unfortunately having to be pumped into waterways as part of the disaster response and there has been a huge impact on infrastructure which may take years to reinstate. There are several international appeals running if anyone feels they can help.
Jodi Thompson
Pollution Prevention Officer
Environment Southland
New Zealand
Marc,
There are several ways to go about influencing peoples behaviour but by far the most successful is too replicate to the masses the most strongest views of those "conforming" to your target activity. Or, the "good reasons" people see as being the strongest reason for their actions/beliefs.
I'm not sure where in the USA you are but I'm listing Prof. Sam Ham's details below. He is an outstanding commucator and developer of such 'programs' as you are looking to create and travels the world doing it. He has just finished another work shop here in Townsville, Qld, Australia and I'd strongly urge you to at least make contact. I've also advised him of your 'task' so you wouldn't be going in 'cold'
Good luck
Sam H. Ham, Ph.D.
Professor and Director
Center for International Training & Outreach (CITO)
Department of Conservation Social Sciences
College of Natural Resources
University of Idaho
Moscow, ID 83844-1139 USA
[email protected]
Stewart Hubber
Hi Marc -
We've been debating that same question here in Minnesota. There are many people who believe it is necessary for people to understand the concept of a watershed and to know which watershed they live in, in order to become invested in protecting their waters. However, we have also heard from many media and marketing consultants - Dick Brooks is one - who are telling us that it is more important for us to teach people the right behaviors. We have had a lot of success in the past few years getting people to build raingardens, and most of the people are building them primarily because they want a pretty garden in their yard and they know that it somehow helps to keep water clean. (www.BlueThumb.org if you want more info on that). When I have people's attention for a presentation or workshop, I spend ten minutes or so familiarizing them with their watershed and talking about where the water goes and the local streams, lakes and rivers they connect to. When I only have a few minutes of people's time, such as at a table at an event, I focus directly on what I want people to do (ie. plant trees, pull buckthorn, build a raingarden) and what resources are available to help them do it. When there is even less time - perhaps seconds that a person glances at a sign while walking past a bus stop - it is even more important to quickly tell them exactly what they should do. This is why the storm sewer stencils usually say something like "dump no waste, drains to lake." If you are going to print a message further from the actual creek or river, know that people might not really even care about the resource, because they don't see it every day or use it in any way, so they will not likely be motivated to visit a website to learn more about protecting the creek they aren't lucky enough to live by. My recommendation would be to decide on one or two key behaviors you want people to do and to make that your message. If they are behaviors that also benefit the people, they will be that much more likely to succeed. Examples: "Pick up your trash to keep our bus stop looking nice and keep the water clean too." "plant a tree to reduce your energy bills and help keep local lakes clean."
Angie Hong
Water Resource Educator
Washington Conservation District
United States