J840 Communicating Social and Environmental Initiatives

Reading/Viewing: Environmental Messaging

1) Excerpt from Walden, Henry David Thoreau, Chapter 17 (http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden17.html)

2) “Introduction to Silent Spring,” Al Gore (http://www.uneco.org/ssalgoreintro.html)

3) Excerpt from Silent Spring, Rachel Carson (http://www.ccis.edu/Faculty/dskarr/carson_spring.pdf)

4) “Living Green,” Brian Lehrer Show (audio, entire show) (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/04/20)

5) “Barbie Bcause,” Press Release (http://www.shareholder.com/mattel/news/20080401-302399.cfm)

6) Stephen Colbert v. Low Impact Man (video) (http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/84653/april-09-2007/colin-beavan)

7) “That Buzz in Your Ear May Be Green Noise,” Alex Williams (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/fashion/15green.html?_r=2)

8 ) “The Field Trip Within,” Peter Trenouth (http://www.nwp.org/cs/pubic/print/resource/401)

Prepare call questions and participate in conference call on 6/24 or 6/27 from 1-2 p.m. CT.   The dial-in number is 1-877-278-8686 and PIN is 148874.  You are welcome to attend all calls but only required to participate in two of the four offered.  Attendance will be taken.  Contact Cheri if you encounter any technical difficulties.  Her phone number is at the top of the syllabus.  Our guests have been asked to lecture for 30 minutes and engage in a Q&A for 30 minutes. 

Guest Lecturers:

• 6/24: Chrystie Heimert is the Director of Communications for Seventh Generation (http://www.seventhgeneration.com/about), one of the largest dedicated natural cleaning and personal care product companies in the world.  Please review http://www.showwhatsinside.com/ and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simran-sethi/lifting-the-body-burden-h_b_141779.html prior to the call.
• 6/27: Kelly Cox is an integrated marketing specialist who works for socially conscious brands wishing to target younger, more mainstream audiences.  Her work with NRDC National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) (http://www.nrdc.org/about/) has reached millions of young eyeballs and expanded their activist circle by the thousands.  Please review www.myspace.com/itsyournature and www.itsyournature.org prior to the call.

Review blog rubric in syllabus.

Write a post about your perceptions about what is and is not green based on the readings and/or lectures by 5 p.m. on Friday 6/26.  Define your parameters of environmental action and hyperlink to any readings you reference.  Put your name at the end of your posts and comments.  Post under “Week 2” and in the appropriate category.  Contact Cheri LeBlond if you have any problems.

Respond to a colleague’s post and at least one comment to your post.  Blog post responses and comments are due by Sunday 6/28 at 5 p.m.

Write a 100 word overview of your environmental messaging project.  The submission format should be as follows for this and every electronic submission: Abbreviated document title-First nameLast Initial.  For this Environmental Messaging Update, the document title should read: EMU-First name Last initial (ex: EMU-SimranS.doc).  Make sure your name and the document title are listed within the document, as well.  If you don’t follow this format, you’ll be asked to resubmit your document and will be marked down at my discretion.  E-mail it to me, with the same title in the subject line, and cc: Cheri LeBlond, by 5 p.m. on Sunday 6/28.