Wildlife Conservation

Can’t think of a birthday gift for your girlfriend or a Mother’s Day idea? A really cool thing that the World Wildlife Fund allows everyone to do is Adopt an Animal. The WWF allows people to adopt anything from a Great White Shark, to a Gray Wolf, to a Tree Frog. Depending on how much you donate to adopt the animal of your choosing, you get an adoption certificate and a few other gifts, even a stuffed version of the animal you have adopted. Not only would you be able to help out the animals in danger today but you would also be able to get someone something special in their name, an exotic animal.

One of the best things as concerned citizens that we can do to better understand the issue of wildlife conservation is to take a closer look at the facts that the World Wildlife Fund presents to us.  If you browse their website you can see how important it is to truly understand issuses such as biodiversity and conservation.  Click on the Endangered Species tab and get a closer look at the animals they are trying to save.  Browse the website more and you can really see what conservation is all about.

I am posting this on this particular week because in four days, Arbor Day will be upon us.  It is time that we all did something to help out the struggling wildlife.  When I was little, my parents would give me a baby pine tree each year during the week of Arbor Day to plant somewhere in the woods where we lived.  I hope that others will get involved in this tradition.  Planting trees not only helps carbon emissions, but it will provide a better environment for the local animals that roam your forests.  Think about wildlife conservation and think about bettering the planet!

In class, we recently had to look at Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”. This was a very interesting piece of risk communication that has been circulating throughout the nation.  The argument she makes is very interesting.  She is comparing human physical shock to the psychological shock that people have after a disaster occurs; such as war or a natural disaster.  She in turn is tying physical torture that was used in such things as shock therapy to the economic depression and the theory of the economic world.  While the argument is very interesting, one must wonder if one actually feels the same shock in both of these situations.  If these shocks are biologically and psychologically different, then one can definitely see a huge flaw in the argument.  One of the best representations of this argument can be seen in the video Klein had directed by Alfonso Cuaron.  The video is a preview for the book and leaves the audience in a twisted state with the disturbing images, flashing facts, and the mix of bold red colors with black and white images.  The preview itself, I think could both hinder people from reading the book and raise curiosity in others.  It will be interesting to see how the response from the world is. 

On a site about gorilla protection I found a really moving photograph.  The post under the March 19 blog shows an image of a slain gorilla surrounded by concerned citizens.  The image is in collaboration with a blog that says they have captured a man who wax leadign the killings of many silverback gorillas.  This image is a very useful piece of risk communication when fovusing on Wildlife Conservation.  It truly allows the reader to see that these animals are still being killed today for proof of pride and skill.  It would also imply that these may not be the only animals being killed like this.  On a broader sense, it would make known to readers the illegal poaching of many animals across the world and brings to the forefront that this is still a problem today. One of the main issues with this image is that the people surrounding the gorilla don’t look too concerned.  They seem to be indifferent to what they are witnessing.  This could be a good or a bad thing.  It could cause readers to think they are indifferent becuase they simply don’t care and it’s not that big of a deal or readers could think that this happens all the time, a very sad idea.   It would be important to show this image to all people interested in the illegal poaching and wildlife conservation of all animals.

This second image shows human help in wildlife conservation.  The image allows those viewing to see that there are people who are studying an endangered creature, from a very young age, to learn how to protect them in the wild.  It also is a very young animal, causing the viewer to feel more sympathy towards the cause. Some may think that this image could show that there is already a lot of help and effort going towards wildlife conservation and to the protection of endangered species so they therefore don’t need to help as much.  This would definitely be a negative apsect of risk communication.  On the other hand, this image could show what the cuase is helping and saving and could defintiely create a bigger interest.

The third image i viewed, was a very powerful, cute image.  This collage-like picture shows a variety of animals that currently need help.  These are animals that are well-known by most readers and may interest them because they may be unaware that these particular animals are endangered.  It also provides a visual to go with the list.  Sometimes, if one hears that an animal is endangered it is less powerful than to actually view a picture of that same animal.  The words “Help Us” give the animals a voice and are allowing them to speak to the viewer.  One of the dangers of this picture is the limited number of animals that are being shown to the reader.  A reader may not remember all the hundreds of others of animals in need and feel that if it is only this small amount then help is not urgent. 

I must admit that at first I was very hesitant to watch An Inconvenient Truth because of the bias that I was told clearly existed in the documentary.  After seeing the film I definitely still see the bias but still saw it as a piece of risk communication.

Al Gore definitely did a wonderful job in his presentation of the issue of global warming.  His facts seemed accurate and well researched and his clarity during the presentation created an attitude that wasn’t preachy or speaking above the listener.  He seemed to genuinely have a passion for this topic and wanted to relate it to the audience as effectively as possible.  One of the best parts, I felt, was that he tried to show how global warming can be prevented  by doing everyday things that any individual can try to do to help.  He was looking more at a step by step process of little things that related to the bigger issue.

I had two main problems, however, with this film.  The first was the amount of the movie that seemed to stray from the central topic of global warming.  There were too many scenes that cut out to focus on Gore’s presidential election and politics that didn’t relate to the issue at hand.  It almost seemed like he was trying to promote himself through the documentary which made him much less likable and less credible as a risk communicator.  It seemed that he was trying too hard to plug his own political agenda within the film.  The other main issue I had with the film was the lack of presenting both sides of an issue.  While Gore briefly mentioned the other side of the global warming issue and stated that the earth doesn’t just go through phases of warming and cooling but that we are contributing to it, I felt that he passed over this too briefly.  This seemed to make his argument much more focused to the people who already agree with global warming and would be unsuccessful in converting nonbelievers to believers.

I am extremely glad that I decided to watch this film.  Gore, in general did do a very effective presentation of the facts and issues of global warming and did an excellent job relating his topic to the lives of people today and ways in which they, as individuals, can help.  There were also some things that Gore did that I definitely felt I would improve upon as a risk communicator.  This is an excellent piece of risk communication and when viewed as such, is extremely helpful.

There are a few great visual media representations that Gore uses in An Inconvenient Truth.  By far, I feel that the most memorable, therefore most effective piece of visual media was the chart that he used and then had to go up on a scissor lift to finish showing the height of it.  Now this chart could easily have been shrunk down to size to fit the screen but the effect of actually having to be raised up to view the top of the chart really stood out as a dramatic effect.  This visual was memorable.  One of the other great things about Gore’s presentation was his use of white space.  White space can be very effective.  None of his presentation felt cluttered or distracting but it formed well together on the individual screen.  It made the audience focus exactly on what the intended message was.  A third visual media that was very prevalent in Gore’s presentation was the cartoon that was shown focusing on Global Warming.  In this cartoon, a “dumbed down” version of Gore’s presentation was completely developed.  Basically, the cartoon explained what exactly global warming is.  This cartoon had very mixed reviews in the class discussion and for me personally, it was very unneeded.  I felt that Gore’s serious presentation of the issue gave the audience a full understanding of the issue.  While the cartoon may have been a nice distraction from the longer presentation aspect, it seemed very redundant and silly in a topic that Gore is asking us to take very seriously.  I feel that this was not the best choice to represent the issue in a “funny” way. 

We recently read an article on press releases by Judith Welsh. This essay gave ten reasons for sending out a press release.  In relationship to my topic of wildlife conservation.  There with three situations that definitely stood out.  When considering my topic, I thought that it would be best to address the public with a fun interactive display in a natural history museum, a zoo, or a science center.  This would make for a very interesting risk communication outlet.  It would then be mostly doing three things for reasons I would send out a press release:

1.  To inform the public- this would address not only my main audience but the general public as well about my risk communication efforts.

2.  To attract an audience- this would hopefully bring attention to the risk communication effort I am putting forth and would make families, children, and schools interested in attending the exhibit.

3. To educate a specific group- hopefully the press release would make those people who would want to attend such an exhibit of risk communication aware of what is going on in hopes of bringing them to the risk communication piece and further educating them on the subject of risk communication.

While there are other reasons in my risk communication topic that would cause me to need to send a press release, these three seem the most relevant.

In the book Having Your Say ”A but B” statements are discussed.  It is a very useful statement when dealing with any problems, specifically risk communication.  They are put together by using two statements; A and B.  Statement A describes describes the goal to a problem or what the intended result of something would be while Statement B tells what is preventing that goal.  These statments are then linked together with the word but to make a simple statement of the general problem.  The example for my wildlife conservation project would be as follows:

Over 7,000 species could be populated enough to be removed from the list of endangered and threatened species, but, most humans are uneducated about the reprucussions losing these animals would cause so are unable to help. 

The West Nile Virus Reading was an extremely interesting piece that really focused on the concepts of an Issue Analysis and how to put together a well thought out form of risk communication.  The most important thing to remember about this piece is that it is intended for an audience very knowledgable on the subject.  I sometimes felt bogged down in the language being used and in the lack of description of the virus itself.  What this piece really helped me to understand was the meaning of an Issue Analysis and what it’s intended purpose is.  I found that to really make a great analysis of your risk communication project, you have to make sure to gain the audience’s trust and how credible they feel you are.  It is extremely important to make sure that you have built up a list of credible sources that will make you seem more knowledgable on a subject.  It is also important to give information on ways to convey that information that you have to a less knowledgable audience, like will be done in the final piece of risk communication.  How your form of communication and what you are going to do is important to remember as well.  You have to do the research for the project to show that you know what is best in the situation. 

Just wanted to give a website to go to if you would want a full in-depth look at the red list of 2007.  This site gives the full list of endangered and threatened animals and shows the statistical information of the research.  It is really interesting so check it out!  http://www.iucnredlist.org

The risk communication topic I have chosen is Wildlife Conservation.  I have always been interested in studying endangered animals and learning about ways to help in everyday life.  The research I have conducted so far is interesting as well as shocking.  To me, this blog is important to get the word out about the dangerous things that are happening to so many species in our world.  I hope that this blog will provide information and images that others will be able to use.  I want people to come to my blog to learn about what is threatening the hundreds of creatures that are in danger today.  Hopefully, reading my blog will cause them to want to educate others as well.