Climate Change Communication Spring 2021

 The following project and blog post are by Fairl Thomas: I have created a Climate Change Action Initiative for the purpose of my Climate Change Communication course at Eckerd College. For the purpose of this initiative, I created a petition using Change.org. My petition was targeted at the City of Safety Harbor City Commission with a goal of persuading them to adopt a new shade tree initiative. The City of Miami Beach has adopted a similar initiative, promising to have more shade trees than palms in the next 30 years (Luscombe, R. 2021). Shade trees can make for significantly more comfortable atmospheric temperature. In fact, the presence of shade can reduce the temperature of a surface from 20 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit (United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d.). In addition to temperature reduction, shade trees absorb significantly more carbon dioxide than ornamental trees such as palms, which is a big win for the climate change movement! Convincing the local government...

 Communicating to Conservatives about Climate Change through Twitter https://twitter.com/CC_cleanfuture                    Conservation Conversation is a Twitter account I created to spread awareness about the fiscal, economic and personal benefits of addressing climate change for citizens of the United States. I intended for the account to help create a space on Twitter where conservatives are more inclined to hold a productive discussion on climate change. The issue of climate change is arguably one of the most polarized topics within the United States. Due to the polarization, conversations about climate change can easily become hostile and unproductive. To avoid this from happening while attempting to grow the Twitter account I utilized several framing  strategies.                 For the majority of my posts I used framing strategies from Stoknes' b...

  The problem we wanted to tackle was the use of fossil fuels at Eckerd. We only have one building with solar panels at Eckerd, despite the fact that Eckerd boasts its ambition to be a more sustainable campus. As we began our project and spoke to community members who have been working for the same cause, we learned that there is administrative support for more solar, the money just needs to be allocated for it. We found our place in this project as the fuel to reignite a fire that has been dwindling for too long. Given the insight from some knowledgeable and involved faculty, we decided that we want to try to raise awareness amongst the student body to show that more solar energy should be at the forefront of the strategic planning for the school.      To gain as much traction as possible, we took to Instagram in an attempt to gain a social media following for our campaign to bring more solar panels to our campus. We decided to use social media as our primary medium...

"When You Give The World A Garden" A Children's Book Written by Emily Herbut & Jake Rider Illustrated by Dakota Rider             The topic of climate change is nothing new, people around the world are discussing it; it’s being taught in schools, and now it is finally getting the attention it deserves. However, climate change still lacks the adequate amount of attention that it needs to evoke change. This conversation is just starting and we are here to continue it.      Emily and I (Jake) wanted to focus our project on the next generation that is to come to take on the fight against climate change. Children are often overlooked when it comes to discussing plans for climate change responses. Society sees climate change as an adult issue; something only big-brained, blue-collared adults can figure out. But that is not true . Not even close to being true.      Climate change calls for intersectional action and requires a...

 The following blog post and project were created by Will Shedden: The City Council of St. Petersburg is currently in intense conversation over whether or not to apply a CBA (Community Benefits Agreement Policy) to new developments in the city that receive city funding. Part of this Community Benefits Agreement would require developers to take steps that mitigate climate change, as well as prepare for sea level rise. Unfortunately, those requirements are currently lax. For the last few months, I’ve been working with the Suncoast Sierra Club and partner organizations to convince the council to pass a plan that creates a more equitable and sustainable St. Pete.     At first glance, the CBA does not directly connect to climate change as a whole. Mostly, the document deals with labor requirements and contractor hiring requirements. There are a few loose, weak environmental regulations tied to future developments to be sure. But nothing stringent. However, the space exist...

  THE ART OF SUPPORTING LOCAL  St. Petersburg, FL Edition Link to local, sustainable St. Pete Buyer's Guide:   https://www.canva.com/design/DAEeQ4qXIo4/QxCzc604IoX30IZoyv51Og/view?utm_content=DAEeQ4qXIo4&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

            For our final project, we decided to create a climate change activity book. The activity book includes important information about what is causing climate change, the environmental impacts, and ways individuals can work to reduce their carbon footprint. The book is aimed towards elementary and middle school children, but all children can engage with the activities. The goal of this project is to make scientific information about climate change easily understandable and accessible for children, but also positively framed. We chose to make an activity book for children because it is vital to have young generations involved and because there is little information and activities catered to children when discussing climate change. The activity book was designed to be distributed at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve within the education center, as well as the internet. After the completion of the activity book, 50 initial copies were printed out and disp...

"Starting off as a compost work-study student at Eckerd, I had no idea I would appreciate the process of composting the way I do. In fact, I held the common misconception that a lot of folks have about composting: that it is a smelly and difficult job. Composting, when done correctly, is not too complicated nor too smelly, but don’t get me wrong, it is definitely a demanding task." -Kylie Litaker  According to RTS,  Americans waste nearly 40 million tons — or 30-40 percent of the entire US food supply a year.  This is a substantial amount of food waste and it would take systems changing to curb that large number.   RTS also states that “wasting food has irreversible environmental consequences: it wastes the water and energy it took to produce it and generates greenhouse gases — 11 percent of the world’s emissions— 12 like methane, carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons, which contribute to global warming”.    Composting is a great option for...

 Climate change is a big and touchy subject that is interpreted differently within every group. Finding the right method of communication and connection to environmental issues has no tried and true way forward as each must be tailored or framed to best represent the target group, their interests, and their fears. If a group is poorly communicated with, the results can be devastating and push them further away. The group targeted is the Horse community, consisting of professional riders, veterinarians, and owners, people who work with and around horses and dedicate significant time to them. This group has personal significance to me as I grew up around the culture. I decided they would be an interesting group to look into because I believed they would be highly receptive to information about climate change and its dangers. Simply put, I believed they would have a larger connection to the natural world, a bigger stake in climate change, and would be an effective force for change and...

  @EC_Carbonfootprint Bailey Antman, Sami Brown, Esteban Lorenzo A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by our actions; the average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world (The Nature Conservancy, n.d.). Lowering our carbon footprint can have a strong impact on mitigating the effects of climate change, which can lead to big differences. To deliver this message at Eckerd College we decided to create an Instagram account that focuses on educating and spreading awareness of the reduction of carbon emissions on campus. @EC_Carbonfootprint’s mission is to address various climate injustices related to carbon emissions and bring light to the types of solutions students can commit to on our college campus. Our target for this project was Eckerd College students because of their existing knowledge of climate change and the ways in which carbon has an impact on their environment. Not only are ...