sandbox-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. 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 to see the latest community posts about advocacy on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by following:
Also visit related pages on organizing, community science, and law and policy.
Sources: [1] @kgradow1’s presentation about the bucket air monitor.
Learn about different advocacy methods
- Do or add an activity
- Read research notes from Public Lab community members
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
- Relationship building (see section on audiences, below)
- Awareness raising & education
- Community organizing
- Mobilizing with those working on adjacent, interconnected issues
Increasing your reach
- Getting media coverage
- 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 to established regulatory processes such as permitting for land uses that are continuing, changing, or new.
- Documenting exceedances or violations to trigger agency investigation, administrative action, and/or enforcement action
- Identifying gaps in regulatory coverage 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
More on the types of audiences projects may seek to reach
- Others who are affected
- Neighbors who are also constituents
- Community leaders in churches, schools, civic associations, care businesses
- Landowners making private land use decisions
- Elected representatives
- Agency civil servants
- Industry employees, management, ownership, or board of directors
- Journalists
- Environmental lawyers
Additional methods published on Public Lab and tagged with advocacy will appear on the advocacy methods page
Activities
Activities on Public Lab that have been tagged with activity:advocacy will appear here
| Purpose | Category | Status | Author | Time | Difficulty | Replications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thinking about local level advocacy | - | - | @stevie | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| How to evaluate and choose an advocacy pathway | - | - | @stevie | - | - | 2 replications: Try it » |
| Making a power map at the start of your advocacy campaign | - | - | @julia_e_masters | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Host a Goal Setting Workshop | - | - | @stevie | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| How to Set Up a Bucket Brigade | - | - | @kgradow1 | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| How to Use Your Bucket Data | - | - | @A_SCH | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.
Research notes
Research notes on Public Lab that have been tagged with advocacy will appear here
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
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” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one.
Stories in community science advocacy
Further reading and resources
Wikis on advocacy
| Title | Updated | Version | Views | Likes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Law and Policy | over 2 years ago by bhamster | 7 | 391 | 1 | |
| Advocacy | about 3 years ago by bhamster | 2 | 540 | 0 | |
| Topics | about 3 years ago by bhamster | 22 | 19,107 | 3 | |
| Advocacy with Maps | over 3 years ago by bhamster | 5 | 497 | 1 | |
| Action-Oriented Resources | over 5 years ago by stevie | 40 | 426 | 0 | |
| Study design | over 5 years ago by warren | 3 | 538 | 0 | |
| Frac Sand Advocacy Leverage Points | about 6 years ago by stevie | 35 | 614 | 0 | |
| Blog Drafting | about 7 years ago by gilbert | 15 | 344 | 0 | |
| Creating a Media Campaign | over 7 years ago by xose | 23 | 1,031 | 3 | |
| Choosing advocacy pathways | over 7 years ago by stevie | 9 | 599 | 1 | |
| Enviro Guide Resources | about 8 years ago by eustatic | 9 | 377 | 0 | |
| wetlands-advocacy | over 9 years ago by gretchengehrke | 13 | 403 | 1 |