Advocacy

question:advocacy

**Advocacy means taking action to effect change in an issue that personally matters to you**. Advocacy makes up a large portion of activity undertaken in community science [projects](/projects). These projects often produce much-needed data about an environmental issue, and that data needs someone to speak for it [1] to different audiences: * Your neighbors * Elected representatives * The press * Regulatory agencies * In court This page is a place to collect and organize resources on advocacy. Visit the [advocacy tag page](https://publiclab.org/tag/advocacy) to see the latest community posts about advocacy on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by following: Follow Advocacy Also visit related pages on **[organizing](https://publiclab.org/wiki/organizing)**, **community science**, and **[law and policy](https://publiclab.org/wiki/law-and-policy)**. Sources: [1] @kgradow1’s [presentation about the bucket air monitor](https://publiclab.org/notes/amocorro/05-12-2021/talk-recording-mobilizing-people-to-act-on-air-pollution-with-the-bucket-air-monitor-a-community-science-tool). _Lead image: [Peter Blanchard](https://www.flickr.com/photos/32800629@N07/4040606485), [CC BY](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)_ On this page you can: Learn about different advocacy methods and do or add an activity Join the conversation Ask a question, answer a question, or follow future questions on advocacy Post an issue brief that describes your advocacy work Read stories on community science advocacy Find further reading and resources on advocacy ## Advocacy methods **Within the five main types of advocacy efforts** (communicating with your neighbors, the press, elected representatives, regulators at government agencies, and through litigation in court), **here are some particular processes that projects may seek to generate or contribute to:** ### Connecting with peers * [Telling your story](https://publiclab.org/notes/joyofsoy/08-07-2020/tips-for-environmental-storytelling) * Relationship building (see section on audiences, below) * [Awareness raising](https://publiclab.org/questions/bhamster/05-18-2021/what-methods-have-you-used-to-raise-initial-public-awareness-of-a-local-issue) & education * [Community organizing](https://publiclab.org/wiki/organizing) * Mobilizing with those working on adjacent, interconnected issues ### Increasing your reach * [Getting media coverage](https://publiclab.org/wiki/creating-a-media-campaign) * Nonviolent direct action ### Bumping it up a level * Power mapping to know where to focus your efforts * Pressuring elected officials to act on an issue * Making an issue a focus of an upcoming electoral campaign season ### Engaging with environmental governance processes and political realities * [Providing public input](https://publiclab.org/wiki/public-comment) to established regulatory processes such as permitting for land uses that are continuing, changing, or new. * [Documenting exceedances](https://publiclab.org/notes/Holden/03-11-2014/estimating-volume-and-weight-of-petroleum-waste-piles-in-southeast-chicago) or violations to trigger agency investigation, administrative action, and/or enforcement action * Identifying gaps in [regulatory coverage](https://publiclab.org/tag/regulations) and designing new regulations * Providing political cover to regulators so they can stand up to corrupt political/economic influence (Example: showing proof of valid grounds to sue the government agency for not acting) * Litigation against government agencies for not meeting legal standards for environmental protection ### Interacting with more powerful corporate neighbors * Mediation with industry * [Litigation against industry](https://publiclab.org/notes/kgradow1/07-01-2020/remembering-tonawanda) Additional methods published on Public Lab and tagged with `advocacy` will appear on the advocacy methods page: https://publiclab.org/methods#advocacy ### More on the types of audiences projects may seek to reach _Image: from [this post](https://publiclab.org/notes/a1ahna/11-13-2017/local-perspectives-at-barnraising-2017) by @a1ahna_ * Others who are affected * [Neighbors](https://publiclab.org/wiki/host-an-event#1.+Community+organizing+events) who are also constituents * Community leaders in churches, schools, civic associations, care businesses * Landowners making private land use decisions * [Elected representatives](https://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/03-20-2017/thinking-about-local-level-advocacy) * Agency civil servants * Industry employees, management, ownership, or board of directors * Journalists * Environmental lawyers ## Activities Activities on Public Lab that have been tagged with `activity:advocacy` will appear here [notes:grid:activity:advocacy] ## Research notes You can find all research notes on Public Lab that have been tagged with `advocacy` here: https://publiclab.org/tag/advocacy ## Join the conversation ### Questions from the community + See if other community members are asking questions like yours + Ask a question so other community members can offer support + Sign up below to be notified when someone asks an advocacy-related question Questions tagged with `question:advocacy` will appear here [questions:advocacy] ### Post an Issue Brief Share information about a local environmental health concern and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “[Write an Issue Brief](https://publiclab.org/wiki/issue-brief)” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. ## Stories in community science advocacy _Image: by @mlamadrid, from [this story](https://publiclab.org/wiki/stories#Use+of+Balloon+Mapping+to+Temporarily+Stall+Eviction+Proceedings) about using balloon mapping to temporarily stall eviction proceedings in Kampala, Uganda_ + [Environmental & Public Health Advocacy Success Stories](https://publiclab.org/notes/gilbert/11-15-2017/environmental-public-health-advocacy-success-stories) + [Stories from the Public Lab community](https://publiclab.org/wiki/stories) + [Air monitoring bucket successes](https://publiclab.org/notes/A_SCH/11-08-2020/mobilizing-action-through-community-science-draft) in South Durban and Sasolburg, South Africa, and in Tonawanda, New York ## Further reading and resources + [Beautiful Trouble](https://www.beautifultrouble.org/) ### Wikis on advocacy [wikis:advocacy] ...