PA Growing Greener Coalition Executive Director Andrew Heath passed along 10 rules for being an effective environmental advocate gleaned from remarks made by Kevin Abbey, ClearWater Conservancy; Oliver Bass, Natural Lands Trust; and Sean Robertson, Land Trust Alliance, during a panel discussion at the PA Land Trust Association annual conference recently. 

Those 10 rules are:

1. Cultivate relationships. Don’t be a stranger to elected officials and their staff;

2. Introduce yourself at every opportunity;

3. Always say “thank you” before you say “please;”

4. A well-written brief, thank you note is always appreciated;

5. Always be concise and to the point;

6. Engage the media when appropriate;

7. A face-to-face meeting is the most effective form of communication, followed by phone calls, emails, letters and letters to the editor;

8. Don’t burn long-term bridges over a short-term issue;

9. Provide materials such as fact sheets, media clips, endorser letters, petitions, other demonstrations of grassroots support; and

10. Be passionate, but rational. Avoid extremes.

Click Here for the entire monthly column by Andrew Heath.

5/26/2014