Overview:
Learn about the current state of food, environmental, and relevant policies such as the FISCAL Act, the Farm Bill, and other local bills. Then, write a letter to the editor responding to a published article about one of these bills or an op-ed sharing your viewpoint more generally about these policy proposals. Attempt to get your piece published in a school newspaper, a local outlet, or even a regional or national one!
Learning objectives:
- Improve understanding of animal agriculture’s effects on the environment and public health.
- Improve reading comprehension skills for scientific papers and learn to clearly communicate findings with a non-scientific audience through writing.
- Learn about the role of the media in public civic discourse and how to project your voice in a democratic political system.
- Gain effective communication skills that enable you to critically engage with this topic with varying audiences, including your peers and the public
- Practice writing an evidence-based argument.
- Learn about skills and competencies required in political, legislative, and writing advocacy careers.
Stages:
Investigation
- Research and identify potential topics within the broader topic of food choices and environment that are relevant to current legislation or recent articles published in the local press. The timeline for submitting op-eds is looser than LTEs, which typically need to be submitted quite quickly after the piece to which the LTE is responding is printed.
- Survey your community to understand better what they care about in relation to this issue.
Preparation and Planning
- Research the specific issue, its consequences, and where it stands in the legislative process (if legislation) independently and with the support of Switch4Good materials and team.
- Organize research and develop a succinct argument that can be written in a few paragraphs.
- Research press outlets local to the district in which the legislation is being proposed, including student newspapers. Note their submission requirements and methods, including word count and whether they have an online form or accept email submissions.
Action
- Write! The most effective letters to the editor are typically short, only a couple of paragraphs long. Op-eds are usually a bit longer, but not by much. The length will be determined by the guidelines of each publication.
- Reach out to personal, professional, and academic connections for edits and revisions. Lucy from Switch4Good is also available for review at any point during these steps.
Demonstration
- Pitch the LTE or op-ed to the press outlets you found in your research! Repeat steps up to this point for each LTE or op-ed written.
Deliverables:
- Documentation of research and planning (notes, outline, etc.).
- Documentation of editing and revision (track changes, comments, edited and final drafts, etc.).
- Final drafts of at least five letters to the editor or op-edsDocumentation of pitching LTEs or op-eds to press outlets, including any publications.
