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Browse published articles attributed to Eric Eckl, with full-archive search.
Sure, we've all felt the temptation. Maybe you're tired. Maybe you're just not feeling great that day. Maybe the weather is bad and you just want to go home. Maybe you just don't think anyone is looking. But whatever the reason, you're out walking the dog -- and suddenly, you lose your resolve to scoop that poop.
You've heard the phrase "look before you leap." But what does that mean when it comes to environmental writing and communications? First, an urban legend about what can happen if you don't look before you leap. Enjoying healthy sales of its Nova automobile in the U.S., Chevrolet introduced it to Latin America -- where it bombed. As it turned out, "no va" -- means "no go" in Spanish, and the name was turning potential customers away. Environmental insiders make mistakes like this all the time, but you don't have to.
Nothing makes a hard core green thumb madder than weeds in the lawn or garden. They're ugly. They compete for light, water, and nutrients. Sometimes they make you itch or sneeze! It's no wonder that Home Expo Mart has aisles and aisles of chemicals that you can use to kill those weeds before they take over your favorite green spot.
Hey Mom! Have you ever looked at all those bottles of water at the supermarket that are competing for your hard earned dollar and wondered how they got there? It wasn't that long ago that we all drank tapwater without a second thought. What's changed?
Remember Charlie the Tuna? If you haven't seen him on the air in while, it's probably because he was caught and eaten long ago. Overfishing has decimated the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Populations are shrinking fast. Stricter international regulations to prevent overfishing are long overdue. At the urging of Oceans Conservancy and Oceana, and allied groups, the United States recently proposed stricter protections for the Atlantic Bluefin to the United Nations negotiators. Sadly, the U.S. didn't get enough votes from other nations to put its proposal into action. So what went wrong?
You probably don't know that February 3 is World Wetlands Day -- a day of proclamations, press releases, ceremonies, festivals, newsletter articles, and t-shirts all clamoring to raise awareness about the vital role of these vital habitats. World Wetlands Day is just one of many well-meaning efforts to create a commemorative occasion to call attention to some particular environmental topic.
In March, the federal district court in Statesboro, Georgia handed down a ruling that sent ripples through the forestry community. The court found that a timber company had built a road through a wetland in violation of federal clean water laws. The consequences for the company were severe, the court ordered the company to pay $78,000.00 in penalties and to restore the site and mitigate for the damage.
Pop quiz: What are the top two news outlets on the Internet today? Well, according to the web traffic monitoring service Comscore, they are Yahoo! News and Google News. Traditional news sites like CNN.com and various New York Times properties come in a distant third -- and lower. That's right -- the top two news sites on the Internet don't employ a single reporter. They simply collect stories and press releases from around the Internet and make it easy to scan or search them. That's a sign of how much the news media is changing.
When we are trying to make something happen, conservationists sometimes think like cowboys. We break out the rhetorical cattle prod and try to shock the public out of complacency and into action with a stiff jolt of bad news.
If you help run a nature center, land trust, hunting club, or local river protection group, you've probably wondered how to best keep in touch with your members. After all, they won't come to an event, donate to support your work, or write that elected official unless they hear about it from you first! A few times a year, I have the opportunity to survey the memberships of organizations like this and the answer is always the same: email.
Environmental experts often fall into the "if only they knew" trap -- "If only they knew they lived in a watershed," "if only they knew the stormdrain went to the creek." But TV commercials, brochures, and other materials that are educational produce disappointing results compared to those that try to encourage the desired behavior. "I can do small things every day that will make an impact on water pollution." It's such a simple statement, and it's true. So why is it so hard to send a message -- over the airwaves, online, or in print -- that actually evokes that reaction?
There's a small handful of things you absolutely don't want to flush down the drain, such as money or time – and also old cooking grease, unused medicines, and household chemicals. That's right. Modern American homes are full of things that CAN go down the drain but SHOULDN'T. This article will provide a few tips on what those are – and how to deal with them. Responsibly. Cooking Oil and Greaser
If you are a die hard green thumb, then the first sing of spring is when you find yourself gazing out the window at yard and thinking "that looks awful." You find yourself rummaging around the shed, inspecting your garden tools, and making excuses about why you need to get out to the Home Expo Mart and linger in the lawn and garden aisle. And if you are die hard green thumb, then the first sign of summer is when you find yourself thinking "it's been a while since it rained" -- and you unwind the hose to give your beloved plants a bath.
A fresh environmental issue survey from CNN/Opinion Research finds that a majority of Americans believe that the economy should take precedence over the environment. It wasn’t by a huge number – a little more than half (51%) picked “economy: and slightly less than half (45%) picked "environment." The margin of error was 3%. Pollsters love this question and they've been asking variations of it for decades.