Experience Gained

Previously I mentioned elaborating on legislation…

H.R. 1526 – Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act is what our team at The Wilderness Society (TWS) has recently been working on.  This legislation will allow logging in America’s national forests and be devastating to the purpose and hard work of TWS.

Review legislation http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th/house-bill/1526

My duties changed immediately and this is what my week was like.

I came into the office expecting to finish some letters to the editor (LTE). Nope, not today!  Emily my direct supervisor came to me and said “Drop whatever you’re working on and listen up!” She passionately informed me of the hazards this legislation was embarking on our organization and what I needed to start working on.

The first plan of action was to inform our TWS members. The channel we use to communicate with members is often through “Wild Alerts” – A Wild Alert is a summary of vital information with a “call to action” which tells our members what they can do to help.

Review Wild Alert http://wilderness.org/blog/breaking-house-vote-bill-would-seriously-undermine-forest-protections

Next, we worked to release a statement. The statement is used to announce our position on legislation, events, etc. In this situation, to emphasize importance we used TWS president Jamie Williams as the author and tone of our statement.

Review statement produced http://wilderness.org/press-release/wilderness-society-condemns-bill-would-permit-lawless-logging

I helped put together media contact lists through a source called Vocus. Vocus is an information database with thousands of journalists and media outlets. With refined searching you can find the perfect communication channel and writer for ANY task desired. Through Vocus, I found news outlets in specific places in America that would be most affected and whose representatives may be in favor of H.R. 1526. A press release was sent to these outlets to build more constituents against the bill.

Unfortunately, H.R. 1526 passed in the House. The Senate is next. We are working to prevent the possible devastation this bill will have on America’s forest.

Tell Congress not to destroy America’s forests!

Find your representatives http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm\

New to the Office

I’ve finally made it!

I am working with an environmental organization in our nation’s capital.

As a soon-to-be college graduate who studied communications and environmental science, my dream job is to work on educating and changing our society to become more environmentally aware and conscious.  My internship with The Wilderness Society is the experience I have been waiting for.

I started August 26th and over the last few weeks, I have learned more than imaginable. Going into this internship, I felt confident and prepared… Oh, was I wrong.

The work in the communications department is truly diverse. I have learned about technology, office etiquette, policy, proofing/editing, campaigns, internal communication and several different writing materials.

For my first post, I am going to inform you of a weekly duty I perform: clips. This duty involves me researching articles and information in news-papers and blogs that are relevant to our current campaigns. Once I have found the daily “clips” I copy essential information from them and email it to our staff nationwide.

Right now my direct supervisor is working on about 12 different conservation campaigns. Most are efforts in designating land(s) to become National Monuments. There has been far more political and policy knowledge needed than what I was expecting.  The four years I spent in student government have finally paid off.

Currently we are working on an important piece of legislation that I will update you on next week.

Until then, check out our website http://wilderness.org