How You Can Help the Environment From Your Laptop
Taking environmental issues and turning them into social media posts.
When I started this semester, I didn’t know what to expect. I had never written to an audience other than my professors, and especially not for social media. It was daunting and I honestly never thought that I would be using what I was learning in my future career.
I was very wrong. I am ending this semester now looking into a new career direction. I have always wanted to help educate people about the environment, but I thought the only way to really do that was something like community outreach with a company or nonprofit. I even wrote an atomic essay on how I didn’t really have a specific job I could say I was looking for. All I knew is that I wanted to help conserve the ocean, and that I loved talking about the environmental issues I cared about.
After this semester, I now know how to write for social media, and turn research into a digestible reading for anyone, not just environmental scientists.
Learning this has opened up a world of opportunities for me. I realized that I could do so much more to help the environment just by sharing the issues that I care about on social media. Educating is one of the biggest ways to help create change, because people can’t help if they don’t even know what the problems are. By producing content that informs not only others in the field, but also people who are just interested in the environment, you are creating a community of people who are coming together for one goal.
This does not make you any less of an environmentalist. I feel like everyone has this idea that the people that are helping are the ones that are out in the field, doing research and writing the scientific papers. They are, but that’s not the only way. I learned the importance of sharing the information I know about the issues that I care about, and the power of social media.
In my studies, and in just learning about the different issues our environment faces, I have gotten overwhelmed by the gravity of it all. I think this is something that a lot of people can relate to. It seems like there’s so much work to be done, and I am constantly hit with the negativity of it all. Especially when thinking about myself and how I want to help, I get discouraged because I always thought there was not much that I, as an individual, could do. That’s where this semester proved me wrong.
Sharing information is one of the biggest ways to help.
We, as environmentalists, are a community. Spreading our knowledge about the topics we are researching is such a beneficial way to raise awareness, get people involved, and create change. There is no way for one person to know everything that there is to know about the environment, so we have to rely on each other to piece together the best strategies to fix the problems we are facing.
Academic and research papers are obviously an important part to learning more about our environment. Scientists report their research findings, with no bias or emotion, just facts. It’s how we learn. Unfortunately, they are also not the easiest to read, especially if you are not in the science field. I know plenty of people who care about the environment, and want to do something to help it, but the formality and complexity of those papers seemingly have no incentive to create change. That’s not a criticism of them, it’s not their purpose of writing. This is why other forms of environmental writing are so crucial.
Taking the research and breaking it into smaller essays and infographics that are digestible to social media users is how we bridge the gap between scientists and the public. We need emotion, calls to action, and passion to incite change from the people that aren’t thinking about the state of the environment everyday. Us environmentalists obviously know that there’s something that needs to be done, but it can’t just be us. We need the help of people in other fields and with different interests because there is power in numbers.
There are many different ways that environmental writing can take form
My work this semester is just one example of that. I used Twitter and Medium to write short atomic essays about all the different issues I cared about. My main focus was ocean conservation, but this spanned from why we need to stop killing sharks to how beachfront property is affecting coastal erosion.
Every week I was writing about different topics, seeing what topics gained the most interactions, what layouts people were liking, and my ratio of formal, scientific writing to informal, emotional writing in my posts. It was a learning experience with each one, and I had a specific audience in mind for all of it. Each of my classmates did the same thing. Looking at the class as a whole, we wrote about such a wide variety of environmental issues, because we all have different points of interest.
You can also take to Instagram, posting slides of information. Or TikTok, making videos about different issues. Or literally any other social media site, the opportunities are endless. Your content can be anything from a breakdown of a research paper or article, to a personal story about your experience with the environment. The point is that any form of sharing information is going to be beneficial.
I started this semester having no clue what writing for social media was like. I now am looking to pursue a job in it. Combining my passion for ocean conservation with the ability to educate others on these issues sounds like the perfect storm for finding my way to help. I think everyone can agree that they want to make a difference in the environment, and realizing that I can do it from anywhere leads to a lot more optimism for change.
Environmental writing on social media can be used in so many other jobs, because we need more people spreading information. You don’t need to be out in the field to be the cause of action, you can help right from your home. Expanding the way the world receives news about the environment is how we create a bigger audience paying attention to our issues.
