6 • The Southwest Portland Post
FEATURES
February 2017
Dear EarthTalk: What are some
ways environmentalists are using
social media to further their
causes?
– Sam Baskin, Tullahoma, TN
Environmental advocates and
organizations have embraced the
revolution in online networking
in no small way to raise awareness
about climate change and the need
for conservation of wild lands and
animals—and to generate support
for specific campaigns and the
green movement in general.
Perhaps the most immediate way
social media help the cause is via
the mountain-top selfie.
For many of us, a trip into the
wilderness isn’t complete without
a public post to announce our
whereabouts.
At the University of Vermont,
researchers are using geo-tagged
photos on social media to study
the use and relative popularity of
different parks and even specific
trails.
New tracking capabilities of
personal technology also record
real time statistics that can be used
as a crucial defense of public parks.
Social media has also been
repurposed for environmental
activism in several ways.
A d v o c a c y o rg a n i z a t i o n s a re
able to widely disseminate their
messages through different social
media platforms.
By delivering their messages
in a short, dynamic format, these
groups are able to reach a wide
consumer base. However, it’s
difficult to assess the long-term
engagement resulting from these
messages.
Nevertheless, larger
environmental groups have
hundreds of thousands of online
One way people are using social media to further the environmental cause is by
sharing their mountain-top selfies, engendering public support for the conservation
of wild lands. (Photo by Daniel Patman, FlickrCC)
fans that drink up every post and
call-to-action.
For instance, the Sierra Club has
some 625,000 “likes” on Facebook
and more than 200,000 “followers”
on Twitter.
A n u m be r o f e n v i ro n m e n t a l
campaigns have used social media
to apply key pressure on polluters,
including the Greenpeace anti-
Arctic drilling campaign.
Groups have used disturbing
videos and touching images alike to
garner large-scale public support.
And social media isn’t just for
the large, well-heeled groups.
Individuals are using social media
to similar ends, telling their stories
and drumming up sympathy and
support.
Communities that are suffering
particular environmental damages
are able to tell their stories on
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
other social media platforms,
helping to humanize the issues.
F or e x a m p l e , v i c t i m s o f t h e
2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
posted about the environmental
effects of the accident on Facebook
and Twitter.
Social media platforms also
effectively connect these stories
to larger issues through the use of
hashtags.
This includes a recent movement
nationwide to reach President
D o n a l d Tr u m p t h r o u g h h i s
d a u g h t e r, I v a n k a , w h o m t h e
president stated he leans on for
advice.
The #DearIvanka campaign on
Twitter allows individuals to raise
their concerns about a number of
FROM THE EDTOR’S DESK
(Continued from Page 2)
No one could move. We had
progressed about 150 feet so that
we were directly underneath the
Morrison Bridge. Soaking wet, we
watched as many people simply
gave up and made their way
laterally out of the crowd.
T h e i d e a w a s t h a t w e w e re
supposed to march south on Naito
Parkway to Jefferson Street, then
turn west and then north along 4th
Avenue and then back to Waterfront
Park and then home.
I bailed long before we reached
Jefferson Street. I did have a chance
to take more than a dozen photos
before I quit.
After some two-and-a-half hours
I was soaking wet and really needed
to find a warm, dry space and a cup
of hot coffee. I found it at a local
coffee shop. After standing in line
proposed policy changes, including
environmental deregulation and
nominated officials.
One such tweet read “Ivanka
Trump: Please work with your
father to respect the environment.
Our children’s future is at stake.
#dearivanka #greenpeace.”
“Social media has become an
important tool for providing a
space and means for the public
to participate in influencing
or disallowing environmental
decisions historically made by
governments and corporations
that affect us all,” said Public Lab
co-founder Shannon Dosemagen.
“It has created a way for people
to connect local environmental
challenges and solutions to larger-
scale narratives that will affect us
as a global community.”
Contacts: “What’s Nature Worth:
Count the Selfies,” http://bit.
ly/2hxxqUa; #DearIvanka on
Twitter, twitter.com/hashtag/
dearivanka; Public Lab, www.
publiclab.org.
EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy
Scheer & Doug Moss and is a
registered trademark of the nonprofit
Earth Action Network. Send questions
to question@earthtalk.org.
for 15 minutes, I asked the cashier
and barista if this was the busiest
day of the year. Surpise, the answer
was yes!
Just before I had a chance to order,
I found out that a “good Samaritan”
had left a hundred dollar bill to
“pay it forward” for coffee and
espresso drinks for all of us soaking
wet marchers waiting in line! So not
only was the coffee good and hot,
it was free.
Be sure and read Post reporter Jack
Rubinger’s story about the Women’s
March on Portland on Page 8.
Spring is coming, we promise!
Be sure to advertise in the
March edition of The Post.
Call Don at 503-244-6933
or visit our website
www.SWPortlandPost.com.
Deadline is Feb. 20.
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Excellent SW Portland references