Water Words Volunteer Monitoring

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“Fertilizer is good for the grass on my lawn, how can it be bad for the grass in

the river?”

Water Words That Work

Make a Splash With Your Communications

Eric Eckl4/29/2007

It is hard for experts to successfully communicate

to non-experts

Today’s Presentation

• Americans care a lot about clean water• Confusion• Diffusion• The Water Words That Work Method• Exercises• Q&A

Water is a high priority for Americans

Gallup Poll, 2004

Water is a high priority for Kentuckians

Water is a high priority for Virginians

Water Still Tops Global Warming!

Confusion

“Biodiversity”

TMDLImpervious surface

HydrographNonpoint source pollution

And so forth…And so on…

“Watershed”

Photo: Flickr, Fernando Dall D’aqua

“Watershed” by Education

“Watershed” by Race

“Watershed” by Gender

Who They Trust

Where they get their information

Confusion

Diffusion

Goodbye: Mass MediaHello:“Nonpoint Source Information”

Media Choices are Exploding

Source: Advertising Age, February, 2008

Two Trendwatchers

Recent Trends in News Consumption

Pew Research Center: Trends 2005

“Watched TV news yesterday”

“Read newspaper yesterday”

“Listened to radio news yesterday”

“Read a news magazine yesterday”

At the same news consumption falls…

Roper Starch: Americans' Low "Energy IQ:" A Risk to Our Energy Future, 2002

“Water pollution laws do not go far enough”

“Environmental laws do not go far enough”

“Endangered species laws do not go far enough”

“Wetlands laws do not go far enough”

If you YouTube script says:

• “If VDOT doesn’t stop sprawl, all that new impervious surface will cause so much non-point source pollution that it will jeopardize our biodiversity.”

They’ll hear:

• “If VDOT doesn’t stop sprawl, all that new impervious surface will cause so much non-point source pollution that it will jeopardize our biodiversity.”

The Water Words

That Work

Method

The Water Words “Method”

1. Identify your shop talk2. Answer five questions before they ask

them3. Insert the words that work4. Avoid the five pitfalls

Step One: Identify Your Shop Talk

A: Polluted Runoff

B: Stormwater

A: Open Space

B: Natural Area

A: Recreation

B: Family activities

A: Watershed management

B: Land and water conservation

A: Family vacations

B: Tourism

A: Runaway Development

B: Sprawl

A: Riparian

B: Riverbank

A: Clean water

B: Water Quality

A: Endangered species

B: Wildlife

A: Environmentalist

B: Conservationist ?

Step Two: Answer Five Questions(Before they ask them)

The Five Questions

• Who is this message for?• What can I do?• When must I act?• Where is everybody else?• Why should I try to fix this instead of

something else?

Step Three: Insert the

Water Words that Work

When describing issues

• Nature protection• Pollution control• Enough clean water• Wildlife conservation

Benefits and Consequences• Future Generations• Healthy• Family & Children• Safe• Trends

Don’t Just Agree With Me, Do Something!

• You Can Make a Difference

• It affects you

• What you can do

• Working together

• Save Money

Take My Side, Not Theirs

Step Four:Avoid the Five Pitfalls

The Five Pitfalls

• Baffling them with shop talk• Rebutting opponents’ claims• Letting the facts speak for themselves• Trying to scare people into action• Using others’ arguments against them

Takeaways

• Public attitudes are supportive and changing very slowly

• But how we learn about the world around us is changing very quickly

• Broad social trends are putting enormous pressure on us to communicate in a clear and compelling manner.

Takeaways

The Water Words That Work method is a four step process for translating scientific

and legal documentation into action language for everyday citizens.

http://waterwordsthatwork.com