WHY DOES YOUR TOWN NEED LAND-USE ADVOCACY? In many urban areas today, just driving to the store for milk is a time-consuming hassle; communities nationwide are disfigured by nearly identical vistas of Taco Bells, McDonalds, Dollar Stores and Dairy Queens. This overdevelopment and sprawl has resulted in part from citizens not being involved in community […]
– HANDBOOK: HOW TO STOP BAD PROJECTS IN YOUR COMMUNITY Read More »
Every grassroots campaign needs a basic call-to-action that clearly and dramatically summarizes your issue. You cannot have a serious campaign without one. Your alert should be compelling, well-written, accurate, and persuasive; and must contain a wealth of information condensed into one page. Your alert should give a brief background explaining what you want people to
– EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGNS USE ONE-PAGE ALERTS & SIGN-ON LETTERS Read More »
When the laws regulating forest practices, endangered species, clean air, and water were put on the books, it was well before the 1990s when our society became enthralled with neoliberalism which elevated economic utility and job creation above all in matters of public policy. Public resource managers now face local political pressure to base every
– The Problem with Partnerships and Roundtables Read More »
All successful environmental campaigns resemble one another. All unsuccessful ones fail in their own unique way. From company personnel officers to politicians, those who attend to official “complaints” say that people who present grievances and complaints almost never state the exact relief they seek. But agencies, legislators, and the entire American political process are organized
– What is the relief you seek? Read More »
This guide will be useful to anyone who needs to stop a proposed timber sale; and interesting to those curious about the geological, silvicultural, biological and ecological problems that arise when you turn forests into 2x4s. These defects and issues are typical in timber sales on USFS and BLM land whenever the political process makes
– Illustrated Guide to Finding Defects in Timber Sales Read More »
Vol. 3 is the last volume in the series Organize To Win. It makes an argument that by any metric such as number of speeches given, letters written, groups mobilized, meetings held, press releases issued, etc., today’s wilderness campaigns are waged with perhaps 1% or less of the vigor and intensity of grassroots campaigns before
– Organize To Win Vol. 3 now available to download Read More »
Environmental activists must oppose bad environmental projects (like the Makah Indian tribe whale hunt approved by the U.S government) even when promoted by or designed to financially benefit minorities, or the oppressed and disenfranchised. Paradoxically, not opposing them can lead to worse ethical failings than racism, colonialism and the other “-isms.” What ethical issues arise
– Indigenous Logging, Whaling and Other Activist Dilemmas Read More »
Email is a powerful tool with unique advantages over speech and other forms of writing, but can cause problems not found in those other forms of communication. Many hints and suggestions for email’s predictable yet avoidable problems including “flaming”. Getting others to read and respond to your posts. Email differs from other written communications like
– PITFALLS 101: CAUTIONS FOR ACTIVISTS WHEN WRITING OR READING EMAIL Read More »
Many of the issues we face today have been issues for human organizations for thousands of years. About 4500 years ago, Egypt’s pharaohs set up formal training classes for children of high officials expected to become their future vizers and overseers. Lessons from these classes have survived on clay tablets1 and contain much good management
– 23 KEY HISTORICAL FIGURES & BOOKS (some banned) FOR ACTIVISTS Read More »