Case Study: Greenpeace
Greenpeace is perhaps the largest eco-friendly non-prift organizations that is privately owned and operated. They operate extensively throughout America, employing thousands of people and even paying them for full time service. Greenpeace does not support an “occupation” of thought or writing the way that Occupy Wall street does, organizing large gatherings and connecting and spreading news through and interconnected network of similar topics and writing. Greenpeace has it’s own established network that exists in the form of it’s website, and it’s blog, The Environmentalist. While not promoting this occupy style, Greenpeace does use a variety of tactics to boost engagement, spread knowledge, and achieve goals.
Greenpeace has professors, researchers, field workers, and other experts of their fields writing for their website. These posts fall into specific categories in their blogs (Green living, forests, oceans), and often times make it to the front page of their website. On the front page of their website, the first thing you see are these links: Donate, Take Action, Volunteer, What We Do, Blogs/Media, Photos/Video, and Students. These are all ways for people to get involved for their environment, and Greenpeace does a tremendous job of making this accessible to the average person. It helps by having the money and infrastructure that Greenpeace has, being a tremendously large non-profit organization, for they simply have the resources and expertise to help the process for people getting involved. Of course, the bread and butter of Greenpeace is donations, but they also offer many other ways to get involve. I clicked on the “volunteer” link and was taken to a page with different events in different locations in the U.S that required man-power. You can even search for volunteer options in your local area, and undoubtedly there will be a situation for you to participate. This process is incredibly simple and boosts participation by making it as easy as possible for people to engage. All the events are previously set up, so all it takes is a couple clicks and you can get involved, or at least have all the information about how to get involved.
Greenpeace often takes the genre of an online environmental newspaper. They do not use GIF’s or memes to boost circulation. It is a professional organization that relies on expertise and knowledge as their operating tools. Just like any newspaper, most of their articles are geared towards the masses of America. While a newspaper will have a business section that is solely for people in a specific trade, Greenpeace does not use this. While their posts vary a great deal in subject matter, they can still be understood by everyone (for example, the posts on palm oil farming is not written specifically for farmers, or those living in the Amazon). This is the public pedagogy approach of teaching through the public sphere on the internet. Articles are written by people who report directly from the field, or by scholars who study these topics extensively. Therefore this information is correct and insightful, teaching people about the environment and the processes that are affecting and alternating it.
In an online world, it is impossible to say that articles AREN’T written with the purpose of redistribution. All it takes is a copy and past of a link and then the post is circulated. I have often seen Greenpeace articles on Facebook, google searches, and other locations on the web. Their content is being redistributed, and I think it is because of the professionalism and great amount of knowledge in each article. Just like an interesting New York Times article can make it’s way into Twitter and Facebook (and they often do, their website has a tally everyday of the article most circulated on social media), Greenpeace also has circulated articles, spreading it’s influence and viewers.
I used Greenpeace as an example for many of my posts during this project. One of the sub-sections of Greenpeace’s blog is called “Green Living,” where they provide everyday ways to make eco-friendly choices, targeting the average person. Posts include: Fun and earth friendly pumpkin ideas, green tips for going back to school, which of you household products are genetically engineered, and even, a guide to eco-friendly sex. These style posts were my main goal during the project. These posts not only include specific and easy ways to be greener, but they also include knowledge of the problem and why these actions actually make a difference. Greenpeace is great because they often don’t deal with cliche subject matter, they find original topics that haven’t been discussed. This boosts interest and engagement because people aren’t just reading the same story line over and over again. I tried to use this strategy in my posts as well, finding original ways to be green so that my viewers weren’t bored and then uninspired to participate.
EmerAgency and the Oil Spill 