Building Public Will and Rivers

In October I wrote about one of the better sessions at the National Trust conference, about fundraising and "building public will" to engender social change. One of the examples the presenter gave was about rivers, and how general concerns about stewardship and environmentalism don't really resonate, but that health messages do, especially because 70% of drinking water comes from local rivers.

A perfect example of this message is in the very long piece in this weekend's Washington Post Magazine about this very issue: "Silent Streams: Sprawl is threatening almost every stream in the country. But a rising citizens movement is trying to save one of our most important natural resources before it's too late." For a media person, this article is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Anacostia River. Source: Anacostia Watershed Society.

This paper, "Building Public Will: A communication approach to creating sustainable behavior change," explains the concept.