Public Communication for the Sake of Environment - Assignment Example

Communications Communications Q Modern consumer culture is the habit where social status, activities, and values are based on the consumption of goods and services. A larger part of our daily activities, lifestyles, and values all revolve around consumption. Environmentalism is a movement aimed at controlling and protecting animal and plant diversity. It is an advocacy for the preservation, improvement or restoration of the surrounding. In the modern consumer culture, people find the meaning and contentment in their consumption patterns, a cultural orientation that has a huge impact on the environmental setup. For instance, the US citizens’ daily consumption is more than their total mass. A culture that if everyone adopts, the world environment will only be able to sustain 1.4 billion people (Copeland, 2013). Consumerism is not the only driving factor of environmental degradation but a foundation for building other contributors to environmental degradation. The rising world’s unsustainable consumption habits since 1960 have led to the escalating resource consumption and unsustainable systems production and distribution of those resources. We are living under a heavy influence of cultural conventions that have totally contributed to our behavior change by making life easier in the context of fast foods, air conditioning, and suburban lifestyles. This feeling has become part of us and more difficult to live without, but it negatively impact on our environment. Policy alone will never be enough to curb increasing environmental degradation, but a dramatic change in every design of the human societies will be very essential. Proponents of consumer culture argue that people are happier and more productive when they can meet all their wants and needs, for instance, buying and owning things. On the other hand, consumerism is a very wasteful and an act of greediness that encourages consumption for ones sake. It is, however, a common viewpoint by the two antagonizing arguments that consumerism is a sign of economic freedom for the world’s population. Q 2 The public sphere is a social life that brings individuals together to identify and discuss freely their societal problems, and they normally influence political actions through such discussions. Individuals congregate in these discursive spaces to debate upon matters of mutual interest and reach a common judgment where possible. In modern societies, public spheres act as theaters in which enactment of political participation is done through talks. They are also the realms of a social platform that forms public opinions. Some of the examples include Britain’s coffee houses, and France’s salons among others. Actual functions of public spheres depend on the phase of development and current issues. The public sphere has the status of an organ in the political realms charged with the responsibility of self-articulation of the issues of civil society according to the current needs (Janson 2010). Through the vehicle of public opinion, they put the state in touch with the society needs. It is the site for generation and articulation of discourses that can, in principle, be critical to the state. Public participation seeks to facilitate the involvement of those potentially interested or affected by an issue in decision-making. Public participation process involves preparing a public participation plan that includes establishing objectives, developing strategy, preparing detailed plans, and adapt and evaluate the plan of environmental concerns. The second stage is to implement the discussed plan and finally evaluate the whole process based on results of the investigations. To improve these mechanisms, one has to create public awareness on the issue under consideration before involving them in the process. Q 3 The advocacy plan to oppose the US government Fish and Wildlife’s decision to remove wolves in some parts of the country has a main objective of reversing this situation and retaining wolves to full protection under the Endangered Species’ Act. The main objectives of the plan are to get representatives of wildlife protection agency to sign a congressional letter about the reversal of the government’s decision. The second objective is to get representatives of the wildlife protection activists groups to engage in a talk with the US Fish and Wildlife decision on the course of our action. The strategies that I will employ to meet my objectives include meeting with US Fish and Wildlife representatives that are directly involved in the plan for thorough consultations. I will then get to visit the game reserves where the endangered species roam to ascertain the level of threat they are facing. Afterward, I will consult with the animal protection experts and congressional committees on wildlife on the need to return wolves to full protection under the Endangered Species Act. In the course of my undertakings, the following activities will also help me to convince the US Fish and Wildlife Services to return the wolves. Find out the officer directly involved in the transfer of the wolves and seek a meeting with him or her. I will also invite the representatives of the wildlife protection activists, a member of the Congress committee in wildlife protection and the local administration at the same meeting for an elaborate discussion. I will also work with other partner agencies to sensitize the interested groups and other stakeholders on the course of actions. We will then push the Congress to introduce bills stopping such actions in future. I will champion a nationwide campaign and involve the media in resisting the move while sensitizing citizens on the importance to protect our wildlife especially the endangered species. Q 4 Environmental concerns have so far been on the rise and often come into the limelight, and thus, it requires immediate attention. Conventions and summits that bring leaders world over aims at addressing the same issue of environmental problems. As the just now elected president of the Society of Environmental Journalists, I will seek to promote and ensure that the community is aware of this significant organization. It will be prudent to lecture the public on the importance of environment journalism in the course of making the society known. Environmental journalism needs to be vibrate than before at this time when things seem headed the wrong way. The profound significance of environmental journalism is that it advocates for safety and health of the universe. Issues arising from this safety and health of the planet earth relate to energy conservation, population growth, pollution, global warming, and sustainability among other problems. With the right environmental journalists in place, the act of the contributors of such concerns may be exposed, which can make them shun their behaviors. In addition, environmental journalism will make the public aware and alert, as well as avert any attempt leading to environmental degradation. The outlined agenda will be key to improving environmental reporting under my leadership. First, I will ensure that the journalist have advanced technology for the purpose of quality coverage. Over the time, use of less advanced equipment has been a key cause of poor environmental reporting. Second, journalists found to report biased news will be accountable for such actions, which will also attract fine. This will ensure that aired information tells the truth of the exact happening. Finally, establishing award programs for best journalists will help improve environmental journalism. There is a need for the public to care much on what the environmental journalists report. Environmental problems often affect everyone. The public can suffer due to some problems attributed to neglect to take good care of the environment. The environmental journalist among other duties seeks to point serious environmental problems that can pose a threat to the public. There are challenges and obstacles that can make it impossible for high-quality reporting. Key among such challenges include corruption. In addition, some reporters may have vested interest and jeopardize quality reporting. To overcome such shortcomings, I will put strict measure for persons that engage in such acts. References Copeland, L. (2013). Conceptualizing Political Consumerism: How Citizenship Norms Differentiate Boycotting from Buycotting. Political Studies, 62, 172-186. doi:10.1111/1467-9248.12067 Dauvergne, P., & Lister, J. (2010). The Prospects and Limits of Eco-Consumerism: Shopping Our Way to Less Deforestation?. Organization & Environment, 23(2), 132-154. doi:10.1177/1086026610368370 Jansson-Boyd, C. (2010). Consumer psychology. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Read More