6 Surprising Ways You Can Raise Awareness About Environmental Issues

There’s no way around it. We can only protect our planet through action. This effort can’t happen without educating the masses and raising awareness about environmental issues — and that includes everyone from parents to neighbors to strangers. How do we effectively and efficiently get the word out surrounding the environment? Here are six ways to raise awareness about environmental issues.

1. Attend a Rally or March

A strike can be an effective way to draw attention. Consider movements like 2017’s People’s Climate March in Washington, D.C. The same thing happened in 2019 when millions of people worldwide gathered in their respective countries before the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit. These events received significant news coverage.

If you can’t find a rally or march to attend, you should talk to like-minded individuals to organize your own. There are climate change activists everywhere, so you won’t have to do much work to find people who want to help. Be sure to promote your event early and often so that you can achieve a high turnout.

Rallies and marches can be especially effective when you have a local issues related to climate that you could rally around. If you want to learn more about creating a successful rally or march, look no further than learning from many young climate activists, who have both organized and attended rallies or marches to help our planet.

2. Use Social Media

We all know that social media has power. These platforms can work as tools to help you educate more people. It might not seem like much to like, comment and share posts, but you’d be surprised at how much influence those steps have. You only need to see one tweet to change your perspective.

Try using your online presence to the planet’s advantage. An easily-digestible post with accurate information can do wonders. If you don’t have time to create that content, you should look for social media accounts that promote sustainable living and discuss environmental topics. From there, you can follow these accounts and share their content.

Be careful in what you share on social media as well, as some have promoted sustainability while also taking tourist trips that are anything but sustainable and end up sending mixed messages to their followers. Spreading public awareness can also sometimes backfire, as in the case of slow lorises having an increasing demand for them as pets, which as put this creature in danger of extinction.

3. Contact Elected Officials

Our elected officials have more authority than anyone else. After all, they write and sign legislation that becomes law. It’s vital to ensure we put people in office who want to protect our planet. By contacting them, you can do your best as a constituent to raise awareness about environmental issues.

If you have an issue you want to address, you should contact local and state legislators via email or phone. They might already have a solution, but you need to hold them accountable either way. It’s also smart to learn about their backgrounds so that you know whether to vote for them during the next election.

4. Recommend Books and Movies

It’s not always easy to conceptualize climate change. This phenomenon doesn’t affect us in ways we can immediately see, hear or feel. The world might be getting warmer — but that’s not necessarily remarkable to the average person. As a result, you should try recommending media that helps your friends and family learn about climate change more tangibly.

Watch something like “Our Planet” or “Before the Flood” for your next movie night. You can also lend reads such as “The Uninhabitable Earth” to your loved ones. These resources offer a more accessible and intriguing way for people to learn about climate change.

Reading is also a great way to help people of all ages challenge their thinking and learn from other opinions. Whether it’s encouraging your children to read about nature and wildlife or starting a book club in which you tackle the latest non-fiction books on climate and the environment, reading more will help us all understand more about our place in the world.

5. Be More Accommodating

There are times when activists can seem unapproachable. If you’re using buzzwords like “net-zero” without explaining them, you can’t expect everyone to listen to what you have to say. Your message won’t seem relatable. A person who adjusts their message accordingly will reach more people.

This method isn’t “dumbing down” specific concepts. It’s simply speaking to people in a language they understand. Try to incorporate more straightforward phrases into your vocabulary. You can even share stories and anecdotes as a way to make things personal. These tactics will make a difference.

6. Write Articles and Create Videos

Are you creative? If so, you should consider putting out content to raise awareness about environmental issues. This trick will be especially useful when you want to shine a light on unknown topics. There’s always room for articles and videos about how people can make a difference.

Pick issues you think more people need to know. You can use online platforms like blogs and YouTube to publish your content. Eventually, you should have a repertoire that helps raise awareness. We can never have too much information surrounding climate change.

Be sure to use your social media presence to promote your content. There’s a higher chance that people will see everything that way. You can also reach out to publications to see whether you can be featured.

The Importance of Action

Even though we all know the importance of taking action for the environment, how many of us do? Knowing how to take action is just the first step. Even though these are great ways to start raising awareness for the environment, we need to take that knowledge and turn it into action.

According to Yale’s 2018 climate opinions map, 70% of Americans believe that global warming is happening. Yet how many Americans are taking steps based on these beliefs? We conducted a survey of the American public to find out how many are taking actions to raise awareness for the environment. Here are the results.

According to our survey, nearly 50% of Americans have taken zero action to raise environmental awareness. This indicates that even though many might recognize in theory the importance of protecting the environment, far fewer are going out of their way to support it. But if we want real change to happen, we need to start living out our beliefs today.

Ways to Raise Awareness About Environmental Issues

It’s essential for people who care for the planet to raise awareness about climate change. If we want to protect the Earth, we need everyone’s participation. Consider exploring these ideas to help you speak up and educate others. Your efforts can not only help inspire others to act but also change the future of our world and everyone in it.