*A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Speak Up for the Ocean advocacy event hosted by the Coastal Conservation League in partnership with Alliance for Planet Earth. The focus of the event was advocacy– specifically what college students can do to get involved. The speakers especially encouraged the involvement of College of Charleston students because of their ambition and close relationship to the coastal plains from living in the Charleston area.
They encouraged CofC students to get involved in five different ways.
- Join the college chapter at CofC.
- Not only is the college chapter free to join, but it meets monthly and provides many opportunities to volunteer and reach out to local government officials to make a difference.
- Visit their website at https://coastalconservationleague.org/
- The Coastal Conservation League website is full of information about their history, work, events, news, and ways to get involved.
- Volunteer.
- Volunteering is truly the best way to get hands-on involvement with advocacy– whether it be making phone calls to local leaders, traveling to Columbia to speak with senators, or organize administrative work.
- Follow them on social media.
- Keep up-to-date through their Facebook (Coastal Conservation League) & Twitter (@scccl)
- Speak with local representatives.
- A few tips shared by the Coastal Conservation League included making phone calls over writing emails, introduce yourself, be clear, and be personal. Phone calls including these elements are more likely to be remembered and listened to than indifferent emails.
The event concluded with an interactive exercise on calling local representatives with volunteers from the audience to oppose the proposed Senate Bill 394– or the ban against bans. This bill would hinder local municipalities’ ability to pass and enforce bans on single-use items like plastic bags, and this exercise incorporated skills learned during the event while also showing the ability to make a difference with a minute-long phone call.
Advocacy for the Coastal Conservation League is very political because it includes calling and speaking with local representatives to ensure that the government is listening to what we, as constituents and concerned citizens, want from our government and laws. This event incorporated political sustainability while also encouraging ways for students to be more sustainable both personally and on-campus. Working with the Coastal Conservation League or with other advocacy groups provides a chance to get involved with student chapters and learn more about sustainability in relation to politics and environmental issues in a more hands-on approach.
The event was also helpful because, as a student without any prior knowledge of or experience with advocacy, I feel that I now have the basic tools for becoming an advocate. Learning skills for advocacy and then seeing those skills used by fellow students in an exercise was very helpful and stress-relieving. I personally would like to work with the Coastal Conservation League–or with advocacy groups in general–in the future because it expands my impact on the world. While individual actions are very important and necessary to enact change, they are smaller steps leading to larger actions like advocacy.
Although I am not a resident of South Carolina, I still have the ability to become involved with the Coastal Conservation League through volunteering instead of speaking with local representatives. The League’s willingness and enthusiasm to work with students from different backgrounds displays the need for more advocates today–whether they participate in a local college chapter or speak with representatives to create change.
*I forgot that the photo at the event had to be a selfie, so I accidentally only took a photo of my notes!