Analyzing Environmental Literacy

Commercial, social, & ecological reforms.

Creating a Message and talking points...

"This gives us the basic principle of framing, for when you are arguing against the other side: do not use their language."

George Lakoff, Nixon Story, p, 3.

Using your interest in reform, create an issue and begin to research a position paper to focus our attention on the matter.

The art of good writing.

1) Be sure to explain to the class the frame:

Then examine and clarify for us the following:

A: What is the importance of the topic you have selected?

 

B: How is it related to public policy issues that exist?

 

C: Do these matters become manifest or need to be a focus in legislation?

 

D: Now write a message statement that embodies the importance your position on this matter.

2) Then restate the problem in terms that an average person can understand in a short, clear, but convincing sentence.

use of evidence

Here is an example of what I mean.

A.
The wildlife of the United States can be owned by no one person, as it is the public property of all the citizens held in trust by states through which the wildlife or fish migrate. To protect the places where these animals live the Endangered Species Act adopted in 1973 (ESA) “was a revolutionary document” because “It was the first major piece of legislation in any legal system to put teeth into the protection of endangered species domestically and internationally.”

The act ended the market in the US for trade in endangered species from developing and underdeveloped countries, it made provisions to prohibit the “taking” of species, and required federal agencies in cooperation with the Secretary of Interior to review their programs which should not “jeopardize the continued existence of such endangered species and threatened species,” or “result in the destruction or modification of habitat of such species....”

Plater, Abrams & Goldfarb, Environmental Law and Policy: Nature, Law & Society. (St. Paul Minnesota: West Publishing Company 1992), pp. 656-658.

99 words

B.
As part of God’s creation, the wildlife, fisheries and vegetation on which these creatures depend are part of the common property of all Americans.

B. Explanation:

Thirty million Americans spend billions of dollars annually just to watch wildlife or catch (some catch & release) fish. Our nation’s defining natural heritage places where endangered species thrive are worth protecting because they provide commercial value to communities or adjacent property owners, they possess scientific importance for medicinal or agricultural products, and all wildlife are clues to water and air quality where we live.

C. The endangered Species Act renewal and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

D. Our health depends on thriving fisheries and wildlife because we share the same water.

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