When it comes to protecting South Carolina\u2019s water resources, Chandler Jackson \u201915 believes in the power of social media.<\/p>\n
Using the hashtag #droughtshaming, Californians in the midst of a fourth year of drought have posted pictures of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West\u2019s lush lawn and shared pictures of their neighbors using sprinkler systems.<\/p>\n
To discourage excessive water usage in South Carolina, she\u2019d like to follow California\u2019s lead, but take a regional approach with hashtag #BlesstheirheartsH2O. \u201cIf we want to avoid being the next California, we need to embrace social media,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jackson\u2019s proposed advocacy campaign is part of a new May Experience course at Furman taught by Associate Professor of Communication Studies Brandon Inabinet \u201904. The course is designed to bring attention to corporate, non-profit, and governmental sustainability messaging.<\/p>\n
Much of Inabinet\u2019s work at Furman has been linked to environmental sustainability, and he researches the ethics and effectiveness of advocacy that speaks to intergenerational audiences.<\/p>\n
During the May X course, Inabinet brought field experts to class to talk about current climate and social issues. Experts included scholars who needed their research translated into everyday language to reach wider audiences, as well as farmers and local activists of differing views. Students grappled with the challenges of staying viable in today\u2019s economy while also conscious of social and environmental consequences. Then they had to communicate those views in print and digital sources.<\/p>\n
To be entirely embedded writers, the nine students also visited farms and community gardens, untamed wilderness and recreational parks, Lake Jocassee and the World of Energy, and stores selling local foods and merchandise. Their field trips were funded with support from the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) and The Duke Endowment.<\/p>\n
Students\u2019 ideas on a wide range of topics from cultural heritage to trash pollution took the form of infographics, videos, and editorial pieces that could be published in Upstate and students\u2019 hometown newspapers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis class opened up me up to so many experiences that I hadn\u2019t had before,\u201d said Gar Tate \u201817, who prepared a presentation centered around maintaining Upstate populations of bees and small birds. \u201cMany people don\u2019t give much thought to such topics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Topics also included some that the broader public wouldn\u2019t typically think of as \u201csustainability\u201d related. For Victoria Ferrer \u201915, the May X course gave her an opportunity to pursue her passion for cultural awareness and international travel. Her editorial project centered on secular France and traditions for Muslim women.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope this will help people open their minds a little more\u2026 It\u2019s so important to embrace people of other cultures and other religions,\u201d said Ferrer, a native of Venezuela. \u201cEmbracing differences preserves heritage, makes belief sustainable over generations and allows for the full range of the human experience to be protected justly and fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inabinet hopes to make the course an annual May X offering.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want each student to find their own voice amidst the research and the rhetoric, some of which tries to even deny the work of experts right here in the local community,\u201d said Inabinet. \u201cMost importantly, I want students to get in the habit of engaging broad public audiences and putting their liberal arts training to the best possible use.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Learn more about Furman’s role in educating for sustainability<\/a> and explore other May X courses<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When it comes to protecting South Carolina\u2019s water resources, Chandler Jackson \u201915 believes in the power of social media. Using the hashtag #droughtshaming, Californians in the midst of a fourth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":3949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17,51,54,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-centers-and-institutes","category-communication-studies","category-may-experience","category-shi-institute-for-sustainable-communities"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}