Assignment 1.5: Describe an environmental situation that you are working on

The first step towards increasing citizen involvement is to make sure that you understand and can describe an environmental situation in specific terms. You may wish to keep notes about your own project using the Behavior Change Planning Tool, referenced in Lesson 1.5, Using the Behavior Change Planning Tool and in Activity 1.5, Try out the Behavior Planning Tool.

Describing the environmental situation is Step 1 of the recommended seven-step planning process. In Step 1, you assess and describe the problem or opportunity in cooperation with stakeholders, key informants, and experts. You will use your situation statement to answer questions that ultimately enable you to choose an effective outreach activity. Investigating the environmental situation is one of many assessments that you can conduct to improve the likelihood that your work will make a difference.

Assignment directions:

1. Review Changing Public Behavior Step #1 Web site content
2. Describe an environmental management situation that you are working on – where behavior change could make a difference
3. Write a short paragraph that describes your environmental concern or opportunity
4. Provide evidence for the concern
5. Identify potential sources of advice: such as key informants (people who can provide formal or informal knowledge), experts, research, your experience
6. Submit your paragraph by clicking on the add submission box at the bottom of the page.