Help rate my project... Take a quick quiz!

Hey anyone,

For my project, I made a pamphlet trying to convince people to support organic food production. If anyone would like to view the pamphlet and then take a quick survey evaluating its effectiveness, I would really appreciate it!

Here's the link to the pamphlet on flickr- http://www.flickr.com/photos/50242054@N06/

Here's the link to the web survey- http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CCXH5XT

Please let me know if either of the two links isn't working for some reason. Thanks!

-Mollie

Working Against The Machine

After what I thought was a successful interview, my contact has not yet emailed me back. This has become a trend with the person I am working with in HFS. My idea seems so simple and easy to implement, and she herself also admitted that it was not that hard to implement, yet it is still not being done. As a student I am noticing that if we want change and we have ambition enough to go out and seek it, why then can it not happen? It seems like all these people who want the next generation to take over the world, don’t want to give up the power they have. If someone came up to me with a good idea that was simple and had basically no up front costs to my self, why would I not adopt it? This post is not just a rant but more of a question. How do I get the people up top to seriously take the time to notice my idea and enact it? Do I just keep bugging them or do I have to talk to some one else? Or do I even go commando on them and just steal the cups without there authority?
-Blaise

Interesting Interview

After my interview with a guy from Re-Store, I was able to learn about another aspect of green building that I will be able to talk about in my research. It was cool how things worked out. Originally, I was supposed to interview another guy who specializes in solar energy, but since he cancelled, I needed to meet with some else. The guys from Re-Store are the ones I had initially talked to about setting up an interview. Anyhow, after talking with Tim (works for Re-Store), I came to the conclusion that green building is not just about the technology of it, but rather the idea and purpose. Re-Store is a non-profit organization that prevents pounds and pounds of materials from going into landfills. Re-Store takes the materials and sells them back for re-use. The “green” concept becomes involved when people build different things with used or recycled materials. This saves trees, landfills and the rest of the environment. Overall, it was really interesting learning about what this organization stands for. I encourage everyone to take a look at the website (Re-store.org)!

-Danica

Oil Oil Oil Oil

In lieu of the oil spill coverage, I saw the newest article (posted 10 minutes ago, so 12:10am) and it was saying how there is no end in sight for this oil spill. Even though we are spilling (pun INtended)into the third week of coverage, it is getting closer and closer to deciding that this is the biggest disaster and has surpassed the Exxon Valdez. Which is so unfortunate with the way the seas and oceans have been behaving lately. Climate change is already affecting so much, then to have the biggest oil spill in the history to hit, its just another blow to the precious balance of the oceans.

The article mentions how the "dome" pumping station didn't help and wasn't a success, stating "The failed containment efforts and an unfavorable turn in the weather suggest the three-week-old crisis could be dialed up a few notches". This situation isn't getting any better and there appears to be no end in sight. The spill is dumping around 5,000 barrels of oil a day. "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects that, with brisk onshore winds expected from the southeast, the points of potential contact of the spill with the mainland will multiply between now and Wednesday." This is such a tragic event that I hope gets better and they find a solution that works. It's so fascinating to read about this and see what is going on, but at the same time it's heartbreaking to see all the plant and wildlife in jeopardy and dying. Hopefully there will be an end in sight...but for now, just putting our best efforts forward.

article can be found at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1016775020100510?type=marketsNews


-Mary Jane-

Projection for me Project

The interview that I finally got was very successful and gave me lots of information. This provided me with the background knowledge that I needed for my project and writing my paper. I want to do an advocacy/research paper. We'll see how that turns out, but right now that's kind of what I want to do. As for the effects of climate change on salmon I have come across some interesting diagrams and figures.

I want to include those in the signs I hope to put up for my advocacy part. I'm thinking I want to post signs in local parks, someone gave me an idea of putting signs up at Ballard Locks, I was also thinking about around the Duwamish River parks and whatnot (that's where I did my public event), and various areas around Seattle and parks. I think these informational fliers will discuss and show how climate change is affecting salmon runs and how salmon are important to this area.

I also want to continue to look at tribes in the area and what they're doing to help salmon runs and their predictions for the year. The interview I had was very helpful in figuring out what tribes and cities are doing, how this is effecting everyone in the long run and how its effecting other species and plants, entire ecosystems. As I dig into this I want it to get the word out and show what is happening to our prized salmon.


-Mary Jane-

Addition to my project

I have adjusted my project just a little bit. Instead of just talking about effectively communicating to the public about environmental issues, I am also going to talk about water contamination problems in our community as well. Since water contamination is a problem and since everyone uses water I think it will be a good addition to my project. As we have seen in other articles, people mostly care about what is directly or in some way affecting them. Also, I want to talk about the effects, hazards, causes, and solutions to help out with our community. Trying to write a 10-15 page paper on effective communication and various ways to communicate, wouldn’t get me the results I am looking for. So now I am challenging myself to go deeper. I think that this is a great issue to bring up because many people are not aware of these issues and after my interview and research there is a lot that should be discussed and I would love to help bring awareness to this issue. If there are any suggestions please let me know since I just added this I really want to cover any questions or suggestions for my presentation and for my paper.
-Tiara

Paper Time!

This week we got more in depth about expectations for our papers. There are three people in my group and we have decided to go our separate ways when writing our final project papers. We were too nervous about combining our writing styles and having the final paper be apparent that it was written by three separate people. We thought that since our final paper would be over 25 pages, a combined paper might end up getting repetitive as well. I personally think that our papers could be done better separately. We have all come to the final decision that this is what we are doing. I have started to do a bit of research on the background of teaching environment in elementary school. I plan on getting the bulk of the research out of the way this week and beginning my paper. I'm also meeting with the communications writing center this week to work an a communications question.

-Atusa Rezaee

Help!

I know this is really terrible, but I haven’t quite yet been able to clearly define what I want my “communication question” for my advocacy project to be. I have this broad idea of what I what it is floating around in my head, but I seem to be unable to put it nicely into just a sentence or two. Plus I’ve never done an advocacy project or formed a “communication question” before, so I’m not entirely sure I’m on the right track. I could really use some feedback!

Broad Ideas for my “communication question”:
-What is the most effective way to get my message across to people? Will my efforts be most fruitful if I focus directly on one group of people who are already inclined to take your advice, given the project’s time constraints? Or is it better to try to get the message across to as many different types of people as possible, especially those who are not quite as likely to be interested in my issue, but might be most greatly affected?

-Mollie

Pamphlet Outline

As I’ve begun really working on my pamphlet, I have discovered a need to outline my main objectives of what I want to include on a structural level. Any feedback would be much appreciated!

Pamphlet Structural Outline:

1. Personal value questions to take the accusatory pressure off/relate my ideas to the lives of the readers- why does it matter to them?

2. Values- Mention why my issue is important for upholding the 3 core values- family, community and legacy.

3. Framing- Who is my audience? How do I frame my writing in such a way that appeals to this group of people?

4. How do I make it easy to read, informative, and succinct at the same time? What is the proper trade off between quality of information and total length?

5. How do I make it visually appealing?

-Mollie