Advocating
For Change
What Does It Mean To
Be An Advocate?
There’s no definitive way to be an advocate, nor is there a definitive end goal to advocacy. However, the beauty of becoming an advocate is that you can decide these things for yourself.
​
In order to make waves and solve problems, it’s crucial that you are passionate and committed. Those things sound easy, and in some ways they are. All you have to do is show up, day after day, with a plan.
Even if no one else shows up to a cleanup, which happened a few times to our founder, Nathan, you still come out the next week. Keep showing up until more people hear your message.
If the City Councilmembers won’t put you on as a speaker in a meeting because they don’t think it’s important, you write a letter, get hundreds of people to sign it, and then submit it to them so that they know it’s important.
​
In some ways, it’s easy to be an activist. But sometimes, you ask yourself “Why?” more than anything else. Some days, it always feels impossible to make change, but then you look back at the community we’ve made, and can’t help but swell with pride. You realize that you’ve picked up 2,000 lbs of trash, and you become that cheesy, over-excited goofball. The only way forward is one step at a time, and I’m so glad you’re here to take it.
Foundations of
Good Advocacy
Intersectionality
Great advocates recognize that many movements intersect. It is crucial that you and your team educate yourselves on the various movements that intersect with your own cause so that you can better advocate for an improved world and foster a more inclusive environment along the way. Nobody is just an environmental activist. Environmental activism by definition is a tangle of historical injustice, science, business interests- all of humanity.
​
Some wonderful speakers about intersectionality and environmentalism:
​
Suggested episode:
Rooting Your Movement in History
It’s really important to do your research, to understand the community that you’re trying to change. We all stand where we are on the shoulders of activists and oppressed people, and ecosystems that have existed for millennia. It’s the job of a community leader to understand and pay respect to the people that came before us, to honor the legacy that we’re part of. This step will be largely personal, based on your local geographic region, but here are some questions to ask yourself:
​
How did your city start? What are some main economic drivers, and how did this affect the ecosystem? What other activists have existed in your region? How did larger movements (Civil Rights Movement, etc.) have ramifications in your own community? What are the native plants/species from your area, and how has the ecosystem changed in recent history?
​
Understand whose land you’re part of:
https://native-land.ca (map)
​
​
Look for indigenous dictionaries that map the place you live, and make an effort to learn about the history of colonization/slavery in your region (if you’re in the Uniter States) Contact local historians and biologists, and ask them questions.
Advocacy For The Ages
As an activist, it’s a little difficult to find out where you stand in regards to what you can do in your age. Try to figure out what others have done within your age range, and asses your strengths/weaknesses. Often times, not everyone is alike within an age range, so don’t try to take everything on by yourself. Split the work and assign jobs to the most qualified. You will see greater efficiency and passion in their work. Remember it’s never too late to be the change you want to see in the world, and there’s many ways you can make a difference!
As student or youth,
you have strong voices and an immense responsibility for the perseverance of
your generation.
As an adult,
you can help lead these new voices and inspire the new generation to do the things you couldn’t.
As a senior,
you can provide mentorship through past experiences and the knowledge accumulated through your lifetime.
Layers of Civil Engagement
When we think of activism, we tend to think of protests that block the highway, and people chaining themselves to trees. Maybe the only activist in your city walks out of school once a week to sit outside City Hall protesting climate change, maybe you signed up for a job over the summer knocking on doors to register people to vote, maybe there are dozens of organizers/lobbyists at every city council meeting presenting detailed legislation plans and messing with money behind the scenes.
In the end, a lot of us share common goals, like net-zero carbon emissions, or preservation of greenspace, but there are layers of influence. It’s important to understand how complex the game is, and where you’ll fit in. It’s also true that many of these overlap, and not to limit yourself to one sphere of influence.
​
Note- this is a brief overview, supported by our own experience in local politics. We won’t elaborate on state or national politics, and this all may change based on your location.
Community Awareness, Events, & Action
Direct, Long-Term Change in Small Strides
A few months before Terra Toolkit came along, our group began wondering how we could leave a legacy that would last beyond the cleanups, a way to permanently make our community a cleaner place.
Through utilizing our connections with local environmental organizations, members of city council, and consistent collaboration with one another, we started our ashcan program and our endorsement program, both designed to work with local businesses to reduce the amount of trash that they were putting on the streets.
​
This sort of work begins with a bedrock of understanding about an issue. For us, it was seeing where the trash was coming from and having data to support our claim. We wanted to solve the problem of cigarette pollution, and restaurant trash, so we collected our data and moved forward.
Same Goals, Different Activists
This is a huge category, but one that generally encompasses directly raising your voice in protest or trying to solve a problem on the ground in real time. This could be a protest, picking up trash, or starting a hashtag. These are wonderful experiences, and often accomplish really cool things.
We’ve had a clean-up every week for more than a year, and picked up more than 2,000 lbs. of trash- what?! Rad, right? These sorts of things raise community awareness and can temporarily solve big problems.
Being on the ground working, holding community discussions- These are often the spaces where you end up learning about the reality of the problem you’re trying to solve and how different people experience it. Just because these are short-term solutions doesn’t mean they don’t leave long-lasting impacts on people- we still watch MLK’s speeches, and the roar of the Stonewall protests (don’t start a riot) is still heard today.
​
Direct community action is valuable, powerful, and never to be dismissed. These sorts of events and movements are a fantastic place to start, and never one to fully leave behind. Even as we speak with legislators and the Chamber of Commerce, we still hold our clean-ups every week. Protests, community events- these are the bedrock of every movement that permanently changes our world.
Getting Started
Staging Your Goals
Outlining your goals and objectives as the very first step in your advocacy journey is quite crucial. Often, when one develops their program, they tend to lose sight of their main goal, causing all of their work and effort to go to waste. This is why it is so important to set the stage early.
It’s crucial to make a plan before you begin your advocacy work. Our club did this as a big group discussion when we first started, and it made sure that we were all passionate and focused on the work we planned to do. It sounds daunting, but it’ll ensure that your organization doesn’t drift aimlessly without an end goal in sight. This holds especially true for other high schoolers looking to make an environmental group, since your members have a limited number of years to do so.
​
​
There are two stages to identifying your goals:
​
1. Declaration of Principles
Now, the declaration of principles is a big picture sort of thing. This should include a mission statement as well as what your program is really all about. Elaborating one what sets you apart from other groups and how you plan to tackle obstacles is extremely crucial for your declaration of principles
​
2. Sequential goals list
Your sequential goals should be something realistic and possible within the next few months. Try not to plan too far ahead and make sure any actions you take contribute to the goal or at least correspond with it. Remember to update your sequential goals around every 8 weeks or so and plan for the whole 8 week period. Keep the declaration of principles always in the back of your mind and the achievements you have made thus far. Think to yourself, where do I want to be and what can I realistically do in 8 weeks?
Identifying Your Advocacy Niche
Terra Tip #9: If your goals are just the words “Green,” “Sustainable,” or “Eco-friendly,” you’re too broad (and a bit boring).
If you’ve worked with and researched some other local environmental groups, you probably have a pretty good idea of what they’re fighting for. Now it’s time to identify what you’re fighting for, and find your niche within the bigger picture.
For our group, we live in Southern California. A lot of the environmental and cleanup organizations that we shadowed, like Surfrider or SD Coastkeeper, were focused on the health of the marine ecosystem. We were a cleanup organization as well, but we didn’t do beach cleanups.
We walked on the streets and in the alleys picking up trash, so that became our niche. We were advocating specifically for a city with less trash on the streets, not necessarily just beaches (they’re all intertwined, but this is still important). Identifying this let us do advocacy work that wasn’t already done, and focused our plans. Identifying your niche lets you build a focused brand, and accomplish specific things.
Here are some things that can help you identify your niche:
​
-
Is your geographic location unique? There might be other cleanup groups around, but is there one in your specific city/school?
-
What’s your end goal? “Sustainability” is too broad. Pick something- whether that be less plastic use in your city, advocating for a local endangered species, or putting recycling cans at your school.
Start Small
Go to a small business, or maybe your principal. It’s important to understand that the people you’re talking to are invested in bettering the community as much as you are. If you start by trying to change Wal-Mart, you’re not going to succeed. Start small, and build a network of community leaders that want to work with you- then move up.
Showing Up
The power of showing up, consistently and prepared, is underrated. If you show up, you’ve already gone beyond most of the population. You’re already halfway there. Showing up is more important than being perfect every time, and is what will build your reputation, your expertise, and your power. Show up and get a chance to say your piece, whether that be at a protest or through an action. Stay home and no one will hear you.
Growing Your Name
Gaining Support
Having numbers is the best way to advocate for change. As students, we have a school full of kids that are passionate (or that need volunteer hours at the very least). If you too aspire to make a student-led movement, involve as many students as possible, and emphasize how many people you work with whenever you get the chance. A lot of students simply need some direction to focus their passion, so offering ways to take direct action will help you attract passionate and creative people. This will not only give you strength in numbers, but it will also make your advocacy work more multi-faceted, creative, and fun.
​
​
If your target audience isn't students, this same principle of offering incentives and benefits remains. Think of how you can get your neighbors, co-workers, friends, or anyone else to get involved!
Support Other Organizations
The good thing about environmental advocacy is that you’re never alone! There are hundreds (even thousands!) of environmental groups all over the country, and they often work together to gain numbers even if their goals aren’t exactly the same. As a student organization, you hold the potential to provide numbers and passion to groups that often spend most of their time trying to get people to care. For you, it’s a chance to learn what advocacy looks like and practice in a system that’s already been established. Look for local groups, and reach out to them!
Here are some easy places to start:
-
Check out their website
-
Attend their events.
-
Research their work, and email them to ask how they execute some of their actions, or if you could shadow a meeting of theirs.
-
Oftentimes, these groups are advocating for specific legislation. They speak at City Council meetings or put together massive letters of support. Ask if they’re speaking at any City Council meetings, and then attend those and watch. Alternatively, ask them if there’s a script that they use to make public comments, and if they would like some students to comment. This is great practice, and can show you what the process is like.
​
As your organization shows up for these groups, you show that you’re passionate and dedicated. In turn, you get to ask them questions, have them criticize and advise your work, and build a relationship.