Good news — new resources to help you defend public lands
Staying proactive in the fight for public lands
Ever since an executive order was signed on January 20th reverting the official name of Denali back to Mt. McKinley, the attacks on our land, water, and history have moved at a blistering pace. Week after week, some fresh new sludge has been dug up to smear across America’s great public lands tradition.
We know there is a lot of garbage coming down the pipe — and as I’ve explained before, the mission of National Park History is to use the past of our public land to understand the current crisis. There is no attack we are facing — from the slashing of budgets to the reduction of monuments — that doesn’t have an analog in the past.
Because of that, I have produced a free eBook that addresses the history, current crisis, major talking points, and common counterarguments surrounding four of the biggest public land issues. It’s called Speak for the Trees: How to Spark Conversations and Convince People to Join the Fight for Public Lands. You can access it for free by clicking the hyperlink.
Now, knowledge is important (thats why I spent the first part of my summer break putting together this eBook for you) but it needs to be followed by action. We need a strategy to deploy our understanding of the issues in meaningful ways that convert new people to our cause—and I’ve got you covered there too.
I’ve designed a handful of items—mainly stickers, but also some hats and apparel—centered around the major issues outlined in the eBook. These are intended to be conversation starters. They’ll stand out, prompting your friends and family to ask about them. That’ll be your opportunity to deploy your knowledge and convert new people to our cause.
How do I know this strategy is effective? Because we just saw it play out in real time.
When Mike Lee proposed his amendments to sell off public lands, the initial pushback was centered in environmental groups and conservation-minded individuals. As those groups conducted analysis of the bill that made its impacts more broadly salient—such as the amount and type of land that would be sold—people outside of conservation circles began to voice their objections. When people fully understood the danger of the land sale, they quickly converted into opposition.
Clear messaging led to conversations, which in turn led the creation of a massive coalition stretching from The Wilderness Society to Joe Rogan—all with the intent of defeating Mike Lee’s bill.
That’s a coalition that we can continue to build around a broader range of issues. 71% of American support the protection of public lands. There is ample fertile ground for your conversations to convert new people to the cause.
To sum it all up, here is the Speak for the Trees strategy:
Understand the issues (read the eBook)
Spark conversations (stickers are a tool to help this happen naturally)
Convert someone new to the public land defender coalition
It feels simple, but we have seen it work. Diving into the issues now is an opportunity to be proactive, ready to respond as soon as the Trump Administration cuts down a national monument or throws open a sacred landscape to drilling.
The eBook is 100% free. The small profit to be made off the stickers goes to support my work. Read, share, and keep defending our public lands.
Will