**Advocacy means taking action to effect change in an issue that personally matters to you**. Advocacy makes up a large portion of activity undertaken in community science [projects](/projects). These projects often produce much-needed data about an environmental issue, and that data needs someone to speak for it [1] to different audiences: 

* Your neighbors
* Elected representatives
* The press
* Regulatory agencies
* In court

This page is a place to collect and organize resources on advocacy. Visit the [advocacy tag page](https://publiclab.org/tag/advocacy) to see the latest community posts about advocacy on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by following:

<a class="btn btn-primary btn-lg" href="https://publiclab.org/subscribe/tag/advocacy">Follow Advocacy</a>

Also visit related pages on **[organizing](https://publiclab.org/wiki/organizing)**, **community science**, and **[law and policy](https://publiclab.org/wiki/law-and-policy)**. 

Sources: [1] @kgradow1’s [presentation about the bucket air monitor](https://publiclab.org/notes/amocorro/05-12-2021/talk-recording-mobilizing-people-to-act-on-air-pollution-with-the-bucket-air-monitor-a-community-science-tool). 

_Lead image: [Peter Blanchard](https://www.flickr.com/photos/32800629@N07/4040606485), [CC BY](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)_

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<b>On this page you can:</b>
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Learn about different <b><a href="https://publiclab.org/wiki/advocacy#Advocacy+methods">advocacy methods</a></b> and do or add an <b><a href="https://publiclab.org/wiki/advocacy#Activities">activity</a></b>
</p>
Join the conversation
<ul>
<li>Ask a <b><a href="https://publiclab.org/wiki/advocacy#Questions+from+the+community">question</a></b>, answer a question, or follow future questions on advocacy</li>
<li>Post an <b><a href="https://publiclab.org/wiki/advocacy#Post+an+Issue+Brief">issue brief</a></b> that describes your advocacy work</li>
</ul>
<p>
Read <b><a href="https://publiclab.org/wiki/advocacy#Stories+in+community+science+advocacy">stories</a></b> on community science advocacy
</p>
<p>
Find <b><a href="https://publiclab.org/wiki/advocacy#Further+reading+and+resources">further reading and resources</a></b> on advocacy 
</p>
</div>

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## Advocacy methods

**Within the five main types of advocacy efforts** (communicating with your neighbors, the press, elected representatives, regulators at government agencies, and through litigation in court), **here are some particular processes that projects may seek to generate or contribute to:**
 
### Connecting with peers

* [Telling your story](https://publiclab.org/notes/joyofsoy/08-07-2020/tips-for-environmental-storytelling)
* Relationship building (see section on audiences, below)
* [Awareness raising](https://publiclab.org/questions/bhamster/05-18-2021/what-methods-have-you-used-to-raise-initial-public-awareness-of-a-local-issue) & education
* [Community organizing](https://publiclab.org/wiki/organizing)
* Mobilizing with those working on adjacent, interconnected issues

### Increasing your reach

* [Getting media coverage](https://publiclab.org/wiki/creating-a-media-campaign)
* Nonviolent direct action

### Bumping it up a level

* Power mapping to know where to focus your efforts
* Pressuring elected officials to act on an issue
* Making an issue a focus of an upcoming electoral campaign season

### Engaging with environmental governance processes and political realities

* [Providing public input](https://publiclab.org/wiki/public-comment) to established regulatory processes such as permitting for land uses that are continuing, changing, or new.
* [Documenting exceedances](https://publiclab.org/notes/Holden/03-11-2014/estimating-volume-and-weight-of-petroleum-waste-piles-in-southeast-chicago) or violations to trigger agency investigation, administrative action, and/or enforcement action
* Identifying gaps in [regulatory coverage](https://publiclab.org/tag/regulations) and designing new regulations
* Providing political cover to regulators so they can stand up to corrupt political/economic influence (Example: showing proof of valid grounds to sue the government agency for not acting)
* Litigation against government agencies for not meeting legal standards for environmental protection

### Interacting with more powerful corporate neighbors

  * Mediation with industry
  * [Litigation against industry](https://publiclab.org/notes/kgradow1/07-01-2020/remembering-tonawanda)

Additional methods published on Public Lab and tagged with `advocacy` will appear on the advocacy methods page: https://publiclab.org/methods#advocacy 

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### More on the types of audiences projects may seek to reach 

<img style="width: 80%; height: 80%" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/production-public-files/public/system/images/photos/000/022/411/original/20171103_091249.jpg" alt="2017 barnraising">

_<small>Image: from [this post](https://publiclab.org/notes/a1ahna/11-13-2017/local-perspectives-at-barnraising-2017) by @a1ahna</small>_

* Others who are affected
* [Neighbors](https://publiclab.org/wiki/host-an-event#1.+Community+organizing+events) who are also constituents
* Community leaders in churches, schools, civic associations, care businesses
* Landowners making private land use decisions
* [Elected representatives](https://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/03-20-2017/thinking-about-local-level-advocacy)
* Agency civil servants
* Industry employees, management, ownership, or board of directors
* Journalists
* Environmental lawyers

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## Activities 

Activities on Public Lab that have been tagged with `activity:advocacy` will appear here

[notes:grid:activity:advocacy]

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## Research notes 

You can find all research notes on Public Lab that have been tagged with `advocacy` here: https://publiclab.org/tag/advocacy

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## Join the conversation

### Questions from the community

+ See if other community members are asking questions like yours
+ Ask a question so other community members can offer support
+ Sign up below to be notified when someone asks an advocacy-related question

Questions tagged with `question:advocacy` will appear here

[questions:advocacy]

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### Post an Issue Brief

Share information about a local environmental health concern and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “[Write an Issue Brief](https://publiclab.org/wiki/issue-brief)” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. 


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## Stories in community science advocacy

<img style="width: 80%; height: 80%" src="https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/002/429/original/juakali.png" alt="Kampala">

_<small>Image: by @mlamadrid, from [this story](https://publiclab.org/wiki/stories#Use+of+Balloon+Mapping+to+Temporarily+Stall+Eviction+Proceedings) about using balloon mapping to temporarily stall eviction proceedings in Kampala, Uganda</small>_

+ [Environmental & Public Health Advocacy Success Stories](https://publiclab.org/notes/gilbert/11-15-2017/environmental-public-health-advocacy-success-stories)
+ [Stories from the Public Lab community](https://publiclab.org/wiki/stories)
+ [Air monitoring bucket successes](https://publiclab.org/notes/A_SCH/11-08-2020/mobilizing-action-through-community-science-draft) in South Durban and Sasolburg, South Africa, and in Tonawanda, New York

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## Further reading and resources

+ [Beautiful Trouble](https://www.beautifultrouble.org/)

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### Wikis on advocacy

[wikis:advocacy]