My Earth Month Action Plan utilizes many strategies stemming from the knowledge I gained through my research to address and resolve my selected issue. The focus of my issue is on increasing awareness for the preventable destruction of the oceans and decreasing human impact on the oceans and the life found in them. Through my plan, I have assigned a goal to each of the four weeks involved – both cumulative and short term goals. My first week will be focused on collecting thorough data on human impact on every aspect of the oceans. I will organize my research into groups (example: effects on animals, plants, the ecosystems, humans, and tourism). I will aim to collect as much information on each individualized group as possible during the first week, but if I discover more throughout the month, I will add my new discoveries to my organized data. For week two, I will be focused on reaching out to OSU faculty and experts in order to gain input from people passionate about these topics who live close to home. My third week will be spent spreading the word. I will transform my social media accounts into places where I can share information about the ocean’s current crisis. I am choosing social media because in the world today, that it the quickest way to spread ideas and knowledge. I will also make flyers and place them in strategic areas that would bring about the most impact and use this as another way to spread the news. The fourth week will be focused on reaching out to marine life based non-profits that I recently discovered in order to get their input on the issues, which is valuable because they work on the issues first hand. I will try to get involved with some of these organizations and hopefully make connections with involved members of the non-profits.
I cannot see any issues coming up during my mission to complete my week one tasks. They seem doable, especially since they involve me collecting information. Week two should also bring up zero issues because it just requires me to contact OSU affiliated people who share a passion for ocean protection. Week three should also be fairly simple since it involves spreading news through my own social media, which I control, and through flyers. The flyers can bring up an issue if certain places which I consider to be ideal do not support the sharing of my information. If this becomes an issue, I can resolve it by first asking if my information can be shared before pinning it anywhere and by having multiple places lined up as options. The last week’s tasks do have the potential of becoming a challenge due to the distance between my location and the location of these organizations. One way I can tackle it is by contacting the groups in multiple ways and asking how I can get involved, even from where I am right now. Although some of these tasks seem difficult or like unnecessary work, I believe that every effort is essential to help save our seas and promote ocean-friendly mindsets. Despite the aspects of this issue that seem difficult, I have learned that with passion anything is possible. Therefore, I am going to eagerly dive into this project and am excited to witness the results.