Marketing Successful Attitudinal Change Programs

Zanna,

The subject you are talking about is something that i am really keen to learn more about. I work as an outdoor education teacher in a remote minning town of north queensland, Australia. here we have many ladies & gentlemen who enjoy their hunting of feral pigs. some would argue the virtues of this past time, however that is not what my question is about. What these ladies & gentlemen do is light bushfires so that the long grass is burnt down and this allows their dogs to run longer. As you could imagine the effect on the local flora and fauna is huge. I too would be very interested on how to begin a social marketing campaign to change some attitudes around this practice. I look forward to hearing peoples experience and responses

regards
Paul

I'm in Gladstone, Qld, and have been running a 'Toadbuster' campaign, which appears to be changing attitudes in my region in the following ways: 1) letting people know about humane disposal of cane toads 2) letting people know that they CAN do something about these widespead pests 3) letting people know what the eggs and juveniles look like 4) letting people know about their local frog species and how to protect them. The most interesting (and unplanned) part of the program is that it is championed by the kids, not the parents. I believe this is the key to its success (an average of 23 volunteers per session last year). PS: for those from other countries the Cane Toad (Bufo Marinus) is an introduced pest which has severe impact on native wildlife in Australia and very few natural enemies here. It is highly toxic and regularly kills domestic dogs. There have also been some blindings in humans from the venom.

Anna Hitchcock
Port Curtis Waterwatch Coordinator
(07) 4970 7293 0412 502 798
[email protected]
www.pcwaterwatch.blogspot.com
 

Paul:

Do you have any data on the extent to which lighting these fires is seen as normative? In Canada and the US there are significant problems with what we call barrel burning, in which barrels are used as a vessel for burning trash and yard waste. This burning is a significant source of dioxins and furans. My sense is that both the burning you describe, as well as barrel burning, are viewed as normative or accepted activities by those who engage in them. If that is true, it would interesting to see what impact a campaign would have that indicated that these behavior are not viewed favourably by others? It would be interesting to discuss further what such an initiative would like like and how it could be piloted.

Best,
Doug Doug McKenzie-Mohr, Ph.D.

McKenzie-Mohr Associates
(506) 455 5061 voice/pager
(506) 455 0550 fax
[email protected]
http://www.cbsm.com
 

Doug,

I was searching through google earth doing some research on my program areas. where I found massive burn scars across the land scape around my proposed program areas. I was amazed at the extent of the scars and thought it must have been a heavy lightening season. I then began to travel through the country by road and foot, I stopped in at various cattle station owners properties and discussed these burn scars and this is the only anecdotal data I have. The cattle station owners light some fires, traditional owners, national park rangers, natural process (lightening) and pig hunters light the rest. Cattle station owners light fires to aid the regrowth of the grass to feed their cattle. The cattle station owners told me they are always having trouble with the pig hunters lighting the fires. There is a difficult situation with the pig hunters in that they believe they are doing the environment a huge favour by removing the feral pig. I can understand this to a certain degree, especially if you were to see the damage that the pig does to tropical north Queensland wetlands you would be amazed. It is a contradiction by the pig hunters when they say this after they have torched the bush to do this. I agree Doug it would be great to see what effect a campaign would have. To some degree these people love nature, I think if they were to see in picture form the toll in wildlife that they have destroyed by lighting fires this may have a positive effect. Surveying the students at school would allow the numbers of families who engage in hunting for pigs with dogs. It would be difficult to determine how many light fires to assist this because it is obviously illegal. I think there is a generational campaign needed. Any ideas, suggestions or previous campaign examples that involve students would be great.

cheers
Paul
 

Here in Melbourne, Barrel Burning is referred to as backyard burning or incinerator burning ( or, surprisingly, backyard incenerator burning) and until quite recently was very common. Quite often you could see the haze from weekend burning drifting across suburbs along with the sound of lawnmowers and other sundry gardening power tools. There was an unspoken rule that you didn't burn off anything really smokey when your neighbours washing was on the line (or more importantly, your Mother's!) or anything known to be toxic but generally, it was anything goes! There was a campaiagn to ban it for health and environmental reasons. Slowly, despite the protests, restrictions were placed on it and then it was banned outright! No burnoffs in the backyard, no questions, no excuses! There are still a few (mostly older) people who complain about the bans but now most people can't beleive that we used to do it.

Cheers
MOC

There is a report on the Fostering Sustainable Behavior website related to Barrel Burning that was produced by Environment Canada. The study looked at some of the predictors of barrel burning in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Here is the link to the report: http://www.cbsm.com/ReportsDatabase/Detail.lasso?-KeyValue=92&-KeyField=ID If the link doesn't take you to the report you can reach it via this path reports/activities/pollution.

Best,
Doug

Paul:

I am wondering if satellite, or at least high aerial photographs, might allow those who are engaged in burning to gain a different perspective on the scale of the damage? NASA has satellite photographs taken at night of the continental US and they provide a perspective on urban sprawl that is hard to dismiss. Similarly, I wonder if aerial photographs might provide an understanding of the cumulative impact that might otherwise be difficult for these hunters to obtain?

Best,
Doug

Doug,

the other environmentally friendly neigbour we have is Rio Tinto and their bauxite mining operation. They have plenty of aerial photographys. Good thoughts, I will chase them up to see if they have any recent photos that could be used for some sort of ad campaign. Does anyone know how often Google earth takes their photos?

regards
Paul
 

A more recent survey of Minnesota residents in rural communities is available at http://www.moea.state.mn.us/reduce/burnbarrel.cfm#survey2005

Mark Snyder

Pollution Prevention Specialist
Clean Production and Product Assistance
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
 

Mike,

How long of a time period are you talking about for phasing out the backyard burning in Melbourne? We are located in rural Vermont where many people still burn because their parents and grandparents burned and they don't always have convenient and affordable access to proper disposal. Most people don't even realize its illegal when you mention it to them (although sometimes I wonder about that). I'd be curious to find out if the education or regulation was what made the most difference.

Thanks,
Paul T.

It was over a relatively short period of time (5-10 years?) but I would have to do some more research to get betters figures. In urban areas there was a lot of peer pressure from neighbours (who did not like backyard burning) which was causing tension and various local councils began to enact local by-laws to restrict or ban backyard burning. This has become a blanket ban throughout the urban areas but I'm not sure if it is state based legislation. In rural areas burning off is still permitted with restrictions (usually limited to timber or plant waste(!!) related to farming or bushfire control) but for almost half of the year there is a ban in rural areas to prevent bushfires. During our bushfire season (Late spring to early autumn) it is common to have a complete fire ban (any open fire, even camp fires) on many days across the state. There are fines and prison terms associated with these total fire-ban laws.

Cheers
MOC