Empowering People
Global warming and climate change have become serious issues that need to be addressed adequately and efficiently. These issues affect life on earth slowly but detrimentally and this is the reason why many people and organizations do not give them the importance they deserve because the effects are not fast (Ferrey, PennWell Books, 2010).
However, it is important that people and organizations understand the responsibility they have with regard to addressing and preventing global warming and climate change. My focus will be on two stakeholder groups including the youth and a company that produces plastic products, such as plastic bags and bottles. Research and scientific studies have shown that climate change and global warming are real. Moreover, they have also shown that these two issues are induced by humanity (Knight, 2009). It means that people need to be taught and empowered to prevent and reduce climate change and global warming. As one of my stakeholder groups, the youth is a very important group for the role they play in climate change and global warming issues.
The young people are the most energetic and they can immensely contribute to preventing and reducing climate change and global warming. In my plan, I intend to empower the youth to act on climate change and global warming by acquainting them with what it is the climate change and global warming, the causes of global warming and climate change, the strategies that can be used to prevent it, the advantages of preventing climate change and global warming and their responsibilities in this course. Next, they will be empowered to act, for instance, governmental and non-governmental organizations that are engaged in climate change and global warming control issues will help them so that they can voluntarily contribute to this course. Also there will be he task to teach and instruct young people how to be personally engaged in environmentally safe behavior. For example, ensure that they through litter and chemicals in designated bins and other disposable areas. Other strategies will be introduced in order to encourage them to plant trees and recycle things such as plastic bags and other plastic materials (Knight, 2009).
The second stakeholder group is plastic producing companies. These companies play a significant role in climate change and global warming issues because their products are among those that highly contribute to global warming and climate change issues. There are several strategies that are intended to use in empowering the companies to act on global warming and climate change issues. The first one is to sensitize the companies to plant bins and other collecting centers where people can drop the plastic materials after they use them. This will be extremely beneficial in the sense that people will find it easy to drop the plastic materials that the companies can recycle them.
The second strategy is to motivate them to roll out educational programs for the public to emphasize on the importance of engaging in environmental safe behavior. The companies may imply such actions through billboards, television messages, school textbooks or leaflets and collaboration with phone lines providers among other strategies. It will help to assure that the environment is kept clean and that every citizen realizes his or her accountability in eco issues. The third strategy in empowering the companies is to encourage them to follow the laid down rules and provide the laws of waste dumping. It will result into the desire to contribute to the prevention and reduction the ecological disasters especially those that are outcomes from chemical waste disposals (Scholarly Editions, 2012). There are certain issues that will be challenging in the way of proposed action.
The first challenge is to get cooperation from the stakeholder group and the youth. To gather the youth is not complicated process but to involve them into volunteering programs concerning global warming and climate change prevention practices could be difficult because the youth demand compensation for their time in addition to the fact that they may have their own priorities.. To get support from different interest groups could be ineffective especially when the environmental protection strategies require resources. For the second stakeholder group, which is plastic producing companies, such cooperation may have a negative influence on the company’s profit.
Secondly, these companies may refuse to collaborate in setting up bins and collection centers because they might consider it expensive solution. The same problem may arise when it comes to educating the public about safe environmental practices. Therefore, these strategies depend on the goodwill of the stakeholders. The youths as a stakeholder are important because their future depends on current environmental use. The plastic producing companies as a stakeholder are important because their future business prospects depend on the health of consumers that heavily depends on clean and unpolluted environment (Scholarly Editions, 2012).
The two stakeholder groups will require different communication forms. For the youths, there should be organized special meetings that will include games and other entertainment aspects that will unite the youths in groups. For the plastic producing companies seminars and formal meetings with company managers or representatives for environmental issues will be effective method to make them environmentally aware.
