I think that young people can do some of the most persuasive writing that there is. Many times, adults will listen to a child when they won’t listen to another adult. And I came across this amazing statistic from my friend Cindy Thomashow, who’s an educator, and she told me that adults who have children learn something like, I think it’s in excess of 70% of their environmental news from their children. Kids are bringing the message home. So, kids who can write are going to get an enormous amount of attention, because people care about what kids think. And also, kids don’t have that hidden agenda that a lot of adults have, and that leaders suspect, so what I would advise kids who are trying to write a persuasive letter, is first of all, get past the whole writer’s block thing.
Pretend that you’re writing to your friend. Pretend that you’re writing to your parents. Write about what was most important or surprising to you when you found out about this issue. And I also think, respect, the person that you’re writing — respect your reader. Know that they are just as smart as you; they just aren’t as informed as you, otherwise you wouldn’t be writing.
So bring as if its a gift to your letter the information that you wanna share. And trust that your reader is gonna care. When you’re writing about saving animals, often the first thing I start with is how great that animal is. Tell something about the orangutan. You know, how intelligent they are. How, you know, the orangutans are always the best lock-pickers in the zoo, for example.
Tell about their emotions. Start with a little story. If you have had a friend who was an orangutan, or you know one at the zoo, or if you’ve read something about an orangutan, make that orangutan a character, who you care about. Make it personal. And then, in your letter, put the ball in the reader’s court. Tell them what they can do. Tell them what they should buy or not buy.
Tell them who they should vote for or not vote for. Tell them what they can do to help. Because it’s important to make people care, but then you’ve gotta give them that next step. What do I do next? So give them that next step. And remember the power that you have as a kid. You don’t have to be a voter. You don’t have to have a lot of money. But people are gonna listen to you, because you’re a kid.
And they’re our most powerful allies, I think, in the environmental movement.
