Barrett and I are seeking out the most effective ways to spread the word about WiserEarth to student communities. If you are a student or have any suggestions about what you think would be most effective, please send us a message or post a response.

Thanks Ken!

Take a look at this page to help with outreach.

http://www.wiserearth.org/article/6f8e4a688fc5c5a4cafc63a629243c35

Music is the key to the young people's hearts.
The right music is the the key to the right people's hearts

I think.

It really is a tough question. Campuses are so inundated with information that students begin to ignore the fliers/posters/etc. they see everywhere. It's hard to post something that people will pay attention to. A couple thoughts:

1) Bus stops are great places to post information. People are often hanging around, looking for something to hold their interest while they wait for the bus. My campus has its own bus system, so the bus stops usually have a couple posters hanging around. They get cleaned up pretty fast, though. Anyway, bus stops generally have the kind of crowd that would be interested in WE. (and don't forget bus advertising - our campus buses sell slots of advertising inside the bus for people to look at)

2) Newspapers and other media. Campus newspapers, especially. However, there are two types of people: those who skip over the big articles, and those who skip over the little announcements. Outreach should probably focus on putting info. in both formats. Ideally, though, WE would be advertised in a popular newspaper comic! (yeah, right)

3) Coffeeshops are our friends, as are any other food places where students sit down for long periods of time. Also, any "green" stores, organic grocery stores, etc. Every campus has a few of those, and I'm sure they'd be glad to advertise. Don't forget to inform the store owners - they may be willing to pass the info on to customers, or give you a special slot up front for your poster.

4) Posters/fliers should actually give information. Personally, I'm turned off from something when it only says "GO HERE, IT IS AWESOME!" and doesn't explain what the website is. I want to know WHY I should be so interested in it. But, obviously, too much information may also turn people off.

I've had bad experiences trying to advertise stuff via tables on campus, so I won't even go there. But, anyway, those are my thoughts. I realize a lot of this requires the use of a lot of paper - I certainly won't advocate just handing out fliers, as I feel that's ineffective, anyway. A few strategically placed posters around campus are all that's needed, if they're fairly short but informative.

Hi Frank, glad to see the creation of the Coming Together group. I recommend speaking with Zoey, I'll let her know about you so that she could get in contact with you.

http://www.wiserearth.org/user/zburrows

I recently had some great conversations with a couple students who've been studying abroad and who have also been doing volunteer work in developing countries. They share a common passion to work with NGOs and share the same problem of learning about more NGOs in the areas they are traveling to, as it's often difficult to get a wide range of organizations to connect with. If we reach out more to Education Abroad Programs I'm sure we'll get similar responses from the student community.

Hey Guys, my gig is doing High School Environmental Summits and I just completed one in Buffalo NY USA and it went fabulous. 6 school teams attended and now we are in the 60 day coaching part where the kids implement their plans on an environmental challenge they are wanting to address. The kids develop a Plan of Action at the 2 day conference and get $200 of "seed money" at the end of the 60 day coaching period if they show they moved forward on implementing their plan. This whole gig works so well because we use a strategy called "creative problem solving" which is from a Masters degree program at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College in Buffalo NY.

I would love to get the kids to join the Wise Earth initiative when they attend the next Summit.

Check out the description of the conference at www.sustainableearthsolutions.com Please let me know if you or someone you know might want to run a Summit in their area. I've got testimonials to send along that might help if requested.

dave bauer

Hi Zoey,

Your words are skillful and helpful. I replied to your email and am waiting to here from you.

Hope all it well.

If others would like to know the advantages of using Creative Problem Solving to address environmental challenges, please let me know. I can provide more details and guess what???? I have witnessed amazing "change Leader" behavior from youth once they begin to use this stagy in their daily lives and with environmental issues.

Dave Bauer