Scheduling Conflicts

For the past two weeks, it has been a little difficult trying to get in contact with Clean Water Action. I have been able to contact David Foster through e-mail, but finding a time where our schedules don't conflict has been a little troublesome. In the mean time, I want to think about the questions I want to ask him about the organization.

• What is the history/background behind Clean Water Action? (Founder, when and where it began, why - specific event?)
  
• What is your organization's main mission?
• How does your organization go about attaining your goals? (Actions, messages, ads, etc.)
  
• What methods of persuasion do you implement? Do you think intently about your rhetoric?
  
• How successful have you been in your endeavor? (Specific examples)
• What have been some of the challenges you've faced?
• Do you have actual meet times with members of your organization? If so, when and where do they occur? What is a typical meaning like? What are the demographics of your members?
• What are your plans for the future?
• Anything else you want people to know about your cause?
  

Why Clean Water Action?

The idea behind Clean Water Action is so simple. Water is an essential entity that we, humans, need to survive. When watching TV or reading the newspaper, I see how unsafe other countries' drinking waters are. People get sick, contract diseases, and even die. We have a right to have a clean and safe source of water.

Not only that, but America's bodies of water also deserve to be unpolluted. The myriad of aquatic life living there need a healthy environment for living. Also, these fish serve as food for us. If the water makes them unhealthy, that can transfer onto us as well.

Recreationally, we use water for swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, canoeing, jet skiing, etc. Pathogens and pollutants can have a dangerous effect on our bodies. Our health needs to be protected adequately.

For these reasons, I chose to follow Clean Water Action for the whole Spring semester. According to their mission statement, "Clean Water Action is an organization of 1.2 million members working to empower people to take action to protect America's waters, build healthy communities and to make democracy work for all of us. For 36 years Clean Water Action has succeeded in winning some of the nation's most important environmental protections through grassroots organizing, expert policy research and political advocacy focused on holding elected officials accountable to the public."

Their Texas office is located at:
715 West 23rd St. Suite R
Austin, TX 78705

I'm excited to learn more in depth about what actions they actually take towards their cause. I hope to discover their history, how successful they've been through the years, the demographics of their member base, how they spread their message, their means of persuasion, how they entice others to join in their effort, and all the positives and negatives.