Toxic coal ash. The words alone do a great job of conjuring up images of the dirty substance that it is. On the eve of hearings that would address the regulation of this waste product left over from the generation of electricity from coal power plants, The Sierra Club embarked on a campaign to encourage the public to submit comments in support of increased regulation for the dangerous substance. They faced a challenge as mammoth as the issue itself – how to educate the public on an obscure topic of the dangers of toxic coal ash sites and empower them to facilitate policy change. Up against a quickly advancing deadline, The Sierra Club approached EchoDitto for help with their campaign.

With less than a month until the public comment period began, The Sierra Club and EchoDitto brainstormed a way to connect awareness with action. We designed a campaign that would alert individuals to the urgency of the issue via their Facebook accounts and allow them to quickly take action by submitting an official comment to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This strategy of leveraging people’s online social networks would compliment Sierra Club’s on-the-ground organizing.

How does it work?

When a Facebook user visits the app, he/she receives a message indicating how close they and their Facebook friends live to toxic coal ash sites. They can then post a message to their wall that says, for example, “At least 28 of my friends live near a toxic coal ash site. Are you one of them? Click ‘Search Now’ below to find out.” This message is pre-populated with the number of friends and the message making it very easy to post to their wall. Once they post this message to their wall, all of their friends see it in their news feeds allowing many more people to learn about the issue and take action.

Next, a user is encouraged to take action using an online form within the app to email the EPA an official comment asking for stricter regulation of toxic coal ash. A default message is there that a user can edit if they so choose. The app leverages social media and the power of networks to raise awareness and supports the ability to make an immediate impact.

Impact

In the few short weeks that the campaign has been live, over 13,000 users have used the app. The tremendous success of the app is an indication of how social media tools and outreach can work together with offline grassroots organizing efforts. Further, as they say, all politics is local. Through highlighting the connection the issue has to people’s personal networks, we’re hypothesizing that more people were motivated to learn more about the issue and take a political action than otherwise would have through a less personal or less targeted approach. We’re looking forward to the post-campaign debrief to see how the new approach we tried here compares -- in terms of impact -- to the less targeted advocacy campaigns that have become, for better or for worse, our industry standard.

Check out the app here: http://apps.facebook.com/coalashlocator