Contacts:
Eric Eckl, Water Words That Work, (703) 635-4380

Water Words That Work, LLC invites environmental and professionals to browse the web’s largest single collection of environmental polls, surveys, focus group reports, and related research materials — for free.

Log in to the collection at the URL below:

http://waterwordsthatwork.com/2010/04/06/environmental-poll-collection

“Conducting an environmental poll is often worthwhile, but it can be very expensive,” said Eric Eckl, the company’s founder and owner. “Our online environmental poll collection is the next best thing to doing your own original research.”

Water Words That Work, LLC, has been collecting and analyzing environmental polls, surveys, focus group reports, and related materials for many years. The company has used this collection as the foundation for developing its techniques and services, such as the environmental message method and the Due Diligence Test Panel.

The collection is now among the largest of its type in the world, and features more than 700 research reports dating back to 1994. The database is powered by the Delicious social bookmarking system. Users can search it by title, date, topic, location, research firm, and many other criteria.

Nature protection and pollution control organizations can use the materials in this database in any number of ways:
• Conducting literature reviews prior to launching your own environmental poll
• Conducting literature reviews as supplement to or in lieu of conducting your own environmental poll
• Comparing environmental attitudes and opinions in different locations, or at different times
• Comparing attitudes and opinions about various conservation topics
• Comparing attitudes and opinions among people from different walks of life
“The research in this database cost many millions of dollars, but the sponsors elected to make their findings available to all, for free,” Eckl said. “It’s only fair that this database of their work be available to all, for free, too.”

Contacts:
Eric Eckl, Water Words That Work, (703) 635-4380

About Water Words That Work, LLC
Water Words That Work, LLC is marketing firm that helps nature protection and pollution control organizations modernize and professionalize their communications. The company works with its clients to plan and execute fundraising, issue advocacy, and pollution prevention campaigns. Our clients include the National Park Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, the Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and many others.
Learn more at http://waterwordsthatwork.com

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Calling all natural resource managers, water utility executives, watershed organizations, waterkeepers, and land trusts! The National Wildlife Federation will host a hands-on environmental communication workshop designed just for you in Austin on May 5th, 2010.

The “Water Words That Work” workshop re-orients conservation professionals to the language that the public uses when they talk about nature protection and pollution control. Participants will learn to prepare written and spoken communications that connect with everyday citizens and motivate action on behalf of our rivers, forests, lakes, wetlands, and oceans.

Click the link below for details and to register:
Environmental Communication Workshop

http://www.austin-water-words.eventbrite.com/

“The Water Words That Work workshop has earned rave reviews from attendees all across the country,” said Lacey McCormick, Communications Manager with the National Wildlife Federation. “We’re pleased to be able to offer this workshop to our peers here in Texas.”

“Environmental scientists, engineers, attorneys, and other professionals often struggle to explain their work to the public in layman’s terms,” said Eric Eckl, owner of Water Words That Work, LLC, who will lead the workshop. “This workshop will help them overcome this challenge and make the case to the public for political and financial support for their work.”

Most environmental communications produce lip service to conservation, but only a few produce action. This workshop will explore what distinguishes the two — synthesizing the results of hundreds of opinion polls, focus groups, and social research studies that explore the question. Participants will learn a 4-step writing method for translating scientific background information into effective issue advocacy, fundraising, and pollution prevention materials.

By applying the Water Words That Work method, attendees will develop the communications skills to succeed:

• Environmental writing for citizens
• Planning social marketing campaigns
• Working with reporters
• Preparing websites and blogs
• Fundraising
• Speaking at public meetings and hearings
• Lobbying public officials

Contacts:
Eric Eckl, Water Words That Work, (703) 635-4380
Lacey McCormick, National Wildlife Federation, (512) 610-7765

About the National Wildlife Federation
Since 1936, The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has worked to protect wildlife for our children’s future. NWF’s South Central Regional Center, based in Austin, focuses on protecting and restoring healthy rivers and estuaries, conserving wetlands, springs and aquifers, protecting wildlife populations from global warming, promoting sustainable land and water use, and connecting both children and adults with the natural world.

About Water Words That Work, LLC
Water Words That Work, LLC is marketing firm that helps nature protection and pollution control organizations modernize and professionalize their communications. The company works with its clients to plan and execute fundraising, issue advocacy, and pollution prevention efforts. Our clients include the National Park Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, the Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and many others. Learn more at http://waterwordsthatwork.com

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NEXT-GENERATION BIOFUELS COULD CREATE OVER 18,000 JOBS, DISPLACE NEARLY 15% OF GASOLINE CONSUMED IN DC METRO AREA, AND REDUCE MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF NUTRIENT RUNOFF TO THE BAY

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND — Homegrown energy could power a robust local economy and improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay by significantly reducing pollution runoff to the Bay’s local waterways. That’s the top finding in a report released today by the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The authors, a multidisciplinary team of economists, scientists, and other experts conclude:

* Farms, forests, and landfills in the Chesapeake Bay area could realistically produce about 500 million gallons of fuel — equivalent to a six week supply of gasoline for the DC metro area.
* Raising the crops, refining the fuel, and getting it to market would support about 18,559 jobs
* Raising switchgrass, willows, and poplars for fuel on suitable land would reduce water pollution from fertilizers by millions of pounds.

“This report clearly highlights the real and quantifiable benefits a next-generation biofuels industry presents to the Bay region, and outlines very near-term policy decisions each state could – and should – take to enhance an already growing economic opportunity for the region and get it right so that the industry can grow in a way that is environmentally sustainable,” Maryland Delegate Jim Hubbard said, Chair of the project’s Advisory Panel for the third year in a row.

“Biofuels” is a broad term that covers several forms of energy derived from plant materials. One process is growing and processing switchgrass and fast-growing poplar and willow trees into ethanol. By 2020, the authors forecast a sustainable production of 500 Million gallons of next-generation biofuels per year, using only land resources and practices that improve water quality throughout the region. This estimate assumes no use that limits farmland currently in food or livestock production or forests currently used for wood products.

Hitting this level of production would support more than 18,500 jobs across the economy – from construction jobs needed to build biorefineries to on-farm production jobs needed to grow and harvest the cellulosic feedstocks that produce the fuel. About half of the farmland and private forests in the Chesapeake Bay are currently idle. The report does not call for reducing production of food, livestock, or wood products on working farms or forests.

“A next-generation biofuels industry can create major advances for the Bay region in economic growth, renewable energy produced sustainably right here at home, and improve water quality by reducing runoff to the Chesapeake Bay,” said Maryland Senator Thomas “Mac” Middleton, Chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the only full-time farmer in the Maryland General Assembly. “Over 18,000 green collar jobs created from a renewable energy industry while improving the health of the Bay – now that’s something we can’t ignore.”

“Pennsylvania appreciates the opportunity to co-champion this initiative with the Chesapeake Bay Commission to grow the biofuels industry in the Bay watershed,” said Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding. “Building a regional biofuels industry is good for the environment, national security and our agricultural economy.”

Over the past two years, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Chesapeake Bay Commission have taken the necessary steps to position the Chesapeake region as a national leader in the evolution to sustainable advanced biofuels. The report released today, Chesapeake Biofuel Policies: Balancing Energy, Economy and Environment, presents the responses and accomplishments of the Bay state Governors and legislatures from the past year, as well as the results of ongoing analysis by a select Biofuels Advisory Panel.

The Biofuels Advisory Panel recommends that regional leaders focus on the following near-term opportunities:

1. Officially adopt a regional production target and set supporting state-specific production goals.
2. Implement policy on the following near-term opportunities:
a. Develop biomass harvest guidelines.
b. Encourage winter crops as biofuel feedstocks.
c. Avoid the introduction of invasive species.
3. Create an interstate, interagency Regional Council for Bioenergy Development that will promote collaboration among jurisdictions and integrate the issues of biofuels and environmental improvement with other regional priorities such as agricultural and forest sustainability.

The Chesapeake Bay Commission is a policy leader in the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. As a tri-state legislative body that advises the legislative branch of state government, its mission is to identify critical environmental needs, evaluate public concerns, and ensure state and Federal actions to sustain the living resources of the Chesapeake Bay. The commission works directly with the state General Assemblies and the U.S. Congress and serves as the legislative branch of the Chesapeake Bay Program.

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Environmental communication and media support for this announcement provided by Water Words That Work, LLC.