By applying relationship marketing theories and tactics to environmental marketing, this study will attempt to formulate an improved marketing structure to be utilized by Asheville GreenWorks in their “Love Your Trees” campaign. The objective of this research is to examine strategic communications tactics that can help promote long-term environmental activism. This study seeks to synthesize information, identify causes of the inadequacies in environmental marketing and formulate solutions. In addition to psychological and marketing theories, data collected from press releases as well as social media posts, comments and responses of successful environmental organizations will be utilized as analytic tools. Studies on conservation psychology will be fundamental as well. This study broadens the literature on environmental marketing theories by synthesizing relationship marketing and communication techniques to clearly illustrate the process of creating emotional connections between individuals, organizations and the environment.
This paper represents a two-part strategic communications project designed for a local environmental non-profit organization, Asheville GreenWorks. First, a situational analysis and strategic communications plan were written in fall 2017 as part of a service-learning course. Next, the creation of a media toolkit for interns to implement the strategic communications plan began in spring 2018. Because non-profit organizations typically have minimal budgets, these organizations depend on volunteers and interns to carry out their various activities, events, and media plans. Internships not only provide an important service for non-profit organizations, but also allow students to implement strategic communication plans in real-time to better understand how tactics can further an organization’s mission and public relations objectives.
This paper represents a two-part strategic communications project designed for Asheville GreenWorks, a regional nonprofit in Buncombe County. In part one, a situational analysis and strategic communications plan for social media were written as part of a fall 2017 service-learning course. In part two, implementation of the social media plan began in spring 2018. This two-step approach allows for the examination of the planning and implementation of a full-scale strategic communications project focusing on three major social media platforms – Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. To assist in the implementation of the plan, data were collected using social media analytic tools to understand best practices for the various social media platforms. The implementation of this strategic communications plan broadens the understanding of the benefits of social media for nonprofit organizations.
This study is an exploration of the current perception of upcycling among college students at a small liberal arts university. Upcycling is a modern twist to reusing items that occurs when creative consumers repurpose waste, giving it a new role and higher value. Upcycling has become a popular trend in fashion, home and garden, art and science. Its popularity has grown in part because of both local and national media attention, and has been highlighted on popular television shows and in national publications such as The Telegraph. For this pilot study, mass communication students participated in a survey about upcycling to establish a baseline on knowledge and perceptions of the trend. This study broadens the literature on upcycling and its implications on younger generations.
This study explores the notion of green-washing in the advertisements of five Fortune 500 companies and whether these advertisements are truthfully transparent of the companies’ environmental impact. Corporations and energy industries throughout the years have often utilized ""greenwashing"", or the use of marketing to portray an organization's products, activities or policies as environmentally friendly (in-text citation needed). To gain insight into the topic, this paper analyzes ""greenwashing"" marketing strategies used in 2017 advertising campaigns from five of the top ten Fortune 500 companies – Walmart, Apple, Exxon Mobil, General Motors and AT&T. This study then examines the companies’ environmental impact reports to better understand the transparency between the advertisements and the reported environmental data of these companies.
This study analyzes the research on the repercussions of inadequate tree ordinances in three metropolitan areas of North Carolina: Asheville, Charlotte and Raleigh. Along with the analysis of specific tree ordinances from each city, this paper utilizes the research on the sustainability and management of urban forestry in Asheville, North Carolina. Data have also been compiled from articles in the Asheville Citizen-Times, the Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News & Observer. Urban forestry has a significant impact on the overall health of the planet as well as its citizens. This paper seeks to determine the most effective communication tactic for inciting action in residents within these urban communities, conceivably resulting in the creation of additional, more productive tree ordinances to preserve the urban environment
This study explores the origins of the terms environmental justice and environmental racism in newspaper coverage in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal from the years 1980 and 2017 as defined by Dr. Robert J. Bullard in his books Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots, Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color, and Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. By exploring the origins of the terms in newspaper coverage, this study will also provide understanding on related issues such as employment, housing, healthcare, food, and education. Through contrast and comparison of articles, the study seeks to provide a deeper understanding on environmental justice and environmental racism and how coverage has changed. In addition to a review of the literature, qualitative research was collected through interviews with local activists who directly work with the issues.
This project examines the impact that social media has on an environmental nonprofit. Social media can help nonprofits to garner volunteers, donations, and awareness for the organization’s mission. Data was collected through using social media analytic tools including Meltwater, Facebook analytics, Instagram analytics, and Hootsuite. The data was then examined to determine how big of an impact, if any, social media have on the organization. Growth in volunteer base and donations were examined from August of 2017 to April 2018. Rise in awareness for the organization and its movement were examined through growth in followers and interaction on social media. Although many research articles show that social media is a growing method for marketing, it is important to determine how impactful it can be to environmental nonprofits with a minimal public relations and marketing budget.
This case study will analyze the benefits of social media as part of a strategic communications plan for Clean Water for North Carolina (CWFNC), a non-profit organization serving all 100 counties within the state. Through the implementation of social media tactics, this case study seeks to identify whether CWFNC can maximize its reach and exposure to target audiences through social media platforms. Data were collected using social media analytic tools, including HootSuite Pro, Meltwater and those provided by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In conjunction with the utilization of social media, news coverage for CWFNC was also examined. This case study explores the benefits of implementing a strategic social media plan and the analysis of social media tactics and subsequent earned media through news coverage, comments, likes and reposts.
This qualitative research paper will focus on the techniques by which environmental justice organizers determine issues of concern and in what ways they communicate about them. Environmental justice is typically done through claims making, or providing evidence of injustice and proposing how things ought to be. This study seeks to analyze the way environmental justice campaigns frame the issue by making these claims and how they communicate with the community, especially through various forms of social media. In particular, the study seeks to understand how claims making applies to media frames, agenda setting and risk management. Research on past and present environmental justice campaigns, in-depth interviews with environmental communicators and social media from the Beyond Coal campaign will be analyzed to determine the most common methods of communicating environmental justice and what is the most effective. The study will look at the tweets and other social media posts surrounding the Beyond Coal campaign for the past month. The goal of this research is to better understand how issues of environmental justice are communicated about and therefore how they might be understood by the public
Biodiversity loss can be just as detrimental to humans and the environment as climate change, but this topic appears to attract less media attention. Research has shown that humans benefit greatly from biodiversity in the form of ecosystem services, which can include pollination from bees and other insects and forests preventing erosion. This study examines media coverage of biodiversity loss among two U.S. newspapers with the largest circulation, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Through contrast and comparison of newspaper coverage from the past 5 years, this study seeks to better understand how biodiversity loss is framed in the media.
The built environment consists of all man-made constructs outside of earth’s natural environment. This study is an analysis of the methods used by the North Carolina Department of Transportation in comparison with community based non-profit organizations when communicating the impact Asheville’s built environment and increasing construction has on local communities. This study will seek to find what information local Asheville communities are being given, if this information is beneficial or harmful to the overall livability of the community and if there is any middle ground or balance that can be reached. Methods used are interviews with members of the Burton Street Community, those participating in the I-26 ConnectUs Project at Mountain True and the Executive Director of the Asheville Design Center. These interviews were analyzed for the best practices and outcomes within the city of Asheville and its local environment. This study allows an in depth look at Asheville’s local communities, their environments and how certain organizations communicate change.
This paper analyzes the framing of Kudzu, a quick growing Asian climbing plant, by national and local newspapers. This invasive species has tormented the southeastern United States for decades but was once hailed as a hero for prevention of soil erosion. This study will examine articles from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Asheville Citizen-Times from 1950 and 2017 in order to better understand the historical framing of Kudzu and any recent changes in framing. This paper seeks to better understand how media have played a role in communicating the environmental benefits and consequences of an invasive species.
The United States is continuously one of the world’s leaders in greenhouse gas emissions per capita (Spinellis, 2013), however, Americans remain divided when considering climate change. This research paper scrutinizes the coverage of climate change in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, two of the United States’ most popular newspapers based upon circulation. The public’s views on climate change are becoming increasingly polarized and Americans appear more politically divided on the topic now than in the past. Using techniques of comparative analysis, this study will provide insights on agenda-building with respect to each newspaper’s climate coverage in June 2017, a peak month for climate coverage.
This research seeks to identify instances of green-washing within the mission statements of leading fossil fuel companies and how green-washing is operationalized through news releases, campaigns, and social media platforms. The three leading U.S. oil and gas companies, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, are examined within these parameters. This study aims to expand the literature on green-washing, and the connections between company mission statements, and the outcomes of strategic communication efforts made towards consumers.
This study examines the tactics of non-profit environmental campaigns in an effort to determine best practices for direct-action campaigns. Information was gathered through in depth interviews of employees of several environmental non-profits in Asheville, North Carolina. When possible, the interviewee held an official communications position. However, because not all non-profits have a communications position, the employee with the most campaign planning experience was interviewed. The interviews were analyzed and compared to determine successful and unsuccessful campaign tactics. A review of current literature about behavioral psychology is used in an attempt to explain why tactics succeed. The theory of human psychology impeding a large-scale acceptance of environmental campaigns’ messages is discussed with examples of successful and unsuccessful environmental campaign tactics, although the two are rarely found in the same research. This study connects existing literature between non-profit environmental campaigns and behavioral psychology.
This study is a case study focusing on environmental communications within the curriculum for elementary students. Kindergarten and first grade students participate in hands on education about healthy food habits as well as developing awareness of composting and recycling. The study seeks to understand how elementary students communicate what they have learned in school about local and fresh foods, composting and recycling with their families. This case study is made possible through service learning with the Feast program at Vance Elementary School, which promotes the importance of growing local food, eating fresh, recycling and composting. Interviews with the participating students and their parents were conducted. This study broadens the literature on environment education and communication in elementary school.
