My Immodest Proposal:
Project Description:
Read: "Justice"
"In his acclaimed book―based on his legendary Harvard course―Sandel offers a rare education in thinking through the complicated issues and controversies we face in public life today. It has emerged as a most lucid and engaging guide for those who yearn for a more robust and thoughtful public discourse. 'In terms we can all understand," wrote Jonathan Rauch in The New York Times, Justice "confronts us with the concepts that lurk . . . beneath our conflicts.'"
SOURCE: Amazon |
Read: "Windfall"
"McKenzie Funk has spent the last six years reporting around the world on how we are preparing for a warmer planet. Funk shows us that the best way to understand the catastrophe of global warming is to see it through the eyes of those who see it most clearly—as a market opportunity. Global warming’s physical impacts can be separated into three broad categories: melt, drought, and deluge. Funk travels to two dozen countries to profile entrepreneurial people who see in each of these forces a potential windfall. The melt is a boon for newly arable, mineral-rich regions of the Arctic, such as Greenland—and for the surprising kings of the manmade snow trade, the Israelis. The process of desalination, vital to Israel’s survival, can produce a snowlike by-product that alpine countries use to prolong their ski season. Drought creates opportunities for private firefighters working for insurance companies in California as well as for fund managers backing south Sudanese warlords who control local farmland. As droughts raise food prices globally, there is no more precious asset. [...]"
SOURCE: Amazon |
Field Trip: Chaco Canyon
|
"Chaco Canyon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, National Historical Park, and Dark Sky Park in the heart of the San Juan Basin. From 850 to 1250 A.D. the Chacoan people constructed many great houses in Chaco Canyon. The center core of the Canyon receives the most attention, but “Greater Chaco” encompasses a vast treasure of over 230 outlier settlements. The massive structures, connected by a web of ancient roads, are internationally recognized architectural and engineering wonders, the purpose and use of which remain a mystery. In addition to vast cultural resources, Chaco Canyon is home to many living native communities. Over two dozen tribes still hold the region sacred and many people use the cultural sites for ceremonies and celebrations."
https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/chaco |
MY IMMODEST PROPOSAL:
PART 0: Throughline Outline
Summary from the Throughline Website
"50 years ago the world watched as man first landed on the moon, an incredible accomplishment by the engineers and scientists of NASA. But what if some of those same engineers and scientists had a secret history that the U.S. government tried to hide? This week, the story of how the U.S. space program was made possible by former Nazis."
Essential Question of the Podcast
Did the U.S. government, as well as the scientists and engineers responsible for the successful U.S. moon landing, use secret resources in order to win the "space race" against the Soviet Union?
Timeline Outline
- March 23, 1925 - Wernher Von Braun discovered his passion for space.
- Around 1925 - Articles began to be published concerning space travel.
- 1933 - Von Braun graduated from high school, enrolled in college, and began working with rocket scientists. The army, at this point, started getting interested in space travel, as well. Von Braun began working with the army.
- 1919 to 1933 - The Weimar Republic was the government of Germany.
- January 1933 - Hitler came to power.
- Throughout 1930s - The Nazis began to take control over Germany and Von Braun became one of the leaders of their rocket program.
- 1939 - World War II began.
- 1942 - The U.S. joined the war, and Germany was taking on the role as the enemy. In this time, Von Braun and his team also successfully launched the rocket called V2. This was a technological revolution.
- September 1944 - These V2 rockets were used to attack London and Paris.
- Towards the end of the war - The U.S. became interested in this rocket technology and worked with the soviets to gain info. They began searching for scientists that could help them. At this point, Von Braun and his team hid the blueprints and all info regarding the rocket. Eventually, they turned themselves over to the Americans, promising the documents in exchange for their freedom. They began recruiting additional German scientists, totaling nearly 1,600. Using these German scientists to benefit our U.S. programs was kept as a secret from the public.
- Early 1947 - U.S. citizens found out a bit about this program and protested.
- Early 1950s - Anti-communist hysteria and fear grows. We were prepared with our new technology, thanks to the new scientists, and the U.S. citizens forgave their arguments and discomfort with the program.
- August 1949 - Soviet Union exploded their first atomic bomb. The German scientists got to work attempting to create something that could cross continents. After spending time in these programs, Von Braun decided to push for a space program. He spoke about it and educated the public on space travel.
- 1957 - The military was planning on launching a satellite into space when news broke that the Soviet Union had successfully launched their satellite, Sputnik, into space.
- 1958 - The U.S. began a civilian space program, called NASA. Their main objective became to put a man on the moon and bring him home alive.
- July 20, 1969 - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans on the moon. We beat the soviets to the moon and won the space race.
- 1972 - Von Braun left NASA to work with a private company. He died a few years later.
- Mid-1980s - U.S. Army was forced into revealing the truth about the German scientists, forever tainting Von Braun's contributions to U.S. achievements with his Nazi past.
PART 1: Issue Research |
Research Questions
- What does the argument against animal exploitation & animal-based attractions involve?
- What is the history of animal-based attractions?
- Which animals suffer the most in animal-based attractions?
- What are the main differences between wildlife sanctuaries and wildlife zoos?
- What is the legal perspective of animal-based attractions and entertainment in zoos, aquariums, and circuses?
Research Notes
1. Arguments against animal-based attractions
“Zoos:
Circuses:
“Guiding Principles:
“Zoos:
- The animal rights answer: It is wrong if animals have rights because it treats the animal as a means to achieve some human end, it fails to treat animals with the respect they deserve, it violates the animal's right to live in freedom.
- The animal welfare answer: From the welfare point of view it is wrong to keep an animal in a zoo if the animal has a less pleasant life than it would have outside the zoo. Reasons why people think keeping animals in zoos is bad for their welfare.
- the animal is deprived of its natural habitat
- the animal may not have enough room
- the animal is deprived of its natural social structure and companionship
- the animal is forced into close proximity with other species and human beings which may be unnatural for it
- the animal may become bored, depressed and institutionalized
- animals bred in zoos may become imprinted on human beings rather than members of their own species - this prevents them fully experiencing their true identity
- although animals may live longer lives in zoos than in the wild, they may experience a lower quality of life
Circuses:
- The animal rights answer: The use of animals to entertain human beings is wrong because it treats the animal as a means to achieve some human end, it fails to treat animals with the respect they deserve, it violates the animal's right to live in freedom.
- The animal welfare answer: The use of animals to entertain human beings is wrong from the welfare point of view because it removes animals from their natural habitat and social structure, it involves the animal in performances that are foreign to their natural behaviour, it may involve cruelty during the show (e.g. bullfighting, rodeos), it may involve cruelty in training the animal, it may involve cruelty in the way the animal is kept and transported animals can be taught to perform provided their minimum needs for food and shelter are met; proper respect for animals requires better treatment than the minimum.” (“Ethics - Animal Ethics: Animals for Entertainment”)
“Guiding Principles:
- Animal Rights - ‘All animals are equal’ – animals should be liberated from all pain and suffering, regardless of human interests.
- Animal Welfare - It is acceptable to use animals for most human purposes, as long as there is a sincere attempt to maximize their welfare and minimize their suffering and pain.
- Environmental Ethics - It is acceptable to use animals for any purpose, as long as it does not threaten the survival of a species or harm the ecosystem, as a whole.” (Shani, Pizam, 680-681)
2. History of animal-based attractions
“It is not known when the earliest zoos were established, but it is possible that they were associated with the first attempts at animal domestication. Pigeons were kept in captivity as early as 4500 BCE in what is now Iraq, and 2,000 years later elephants were semi-domesticated in India. Antelopes, including the addax, ibex, oryx, and gazelle, are depicted wearing collars on Egyptian tomb pictures at Saqqara, dating from 2500 BCE. In China, the Empress Tanki, who probably lived about 1150 BCE, built a great marble “house of deer”; and Wen Wang, who apparently reigned just before 1000 BCE, established a zoo of 1,500 acres in extent, which he named the Ling-Yu, or Garden of Intelligence. [...] Collections of captive animals were in existence in Greece by the 7th century BCE, and by the 4th century BCE it is probable that such collections existed in most, if not all, of the Greek city-states. The earlier Egyptian and Asian zoos were kept mainly as public spectacles and only secondarily for study, but the Greeks of Aristotle’s time were more concerned with study and experiment. The Romans had two types of animal collections: those destined for the arena and those kept as private zoos and aviaries. With the end of the Roman Empire, zoos went into a decline, but animal collections were maintained by the emperor Charlemagne in the 8th century CE and by Henry I in the 12th century. In Europe Philip VI had a menagerie in the Louvre, Paris, in 1333, and many members of the House of Bourbon kept collections of animals at Versailles. In the New World Hernán Cortés discovered a magnificent zoo in Mexico in 1519. [...] Modern zookeeping may be said to have started in 1752 with the founding of the Imperial Menagerie at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. This menagerie, which still flourishes, was opened to the public in 1765. In 1775 a zoo was founded in a Royal Park in Madrid, and 18 years later the zoological collection of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, was begun. The Zoological Society of London established its collection in Regent’s Park in 1828, two years after the society itself was founded. By the mid-19th century zoos were being opened all over the world.” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- “During the 18th and 19th centuries, what were known as menageries, often royal collections, were turned into zoos, and ultimately opened to the public.
- Although zoos had already been established in Vienna, Paris and Madrid, the London Zoo, established in 1826, marked the first step in the evolution of the modern zoo, according to Dr Nigel Rothfels, the author of Savages and Beasts; The Birth of the Modern Zoo.
- 'By the mid-1830s, the zoo was becoming very much a public space in Regent's Park.
- By the 1840s there was a carnivore terrace, essentially a series of picture frame cages for the lions and large gardens and lawns for people to picnic upon.
- At the end of the 19th century, Carl Hagenbeck, perhaps one of the most unusual figures in the history of the modern zoo, had an idea that would revolutionise the way animals were displayed. As a teenager in the 1860s, he started an animal trading business in Hamburg, Germany. By the 1880s, he had become the figure in the international trade in animals, sourcing exotic animals for zoos around the world. Around the same time, Hagenbeck began to exhibit 'exotic' people in Europe. These were exhibitions of cultures—along with the animals would come a group of indigenous people from Australia or North America. They would be exhibited in Hamburg and then travel to the major zoological gardens of Europe.
- In 1907 he opened a zoo of his own in the suburbs of Hamburg—Hagenbeck's Tierpark. His zoo was the first to deploy bar-less exhibits, separating animals from the public with moats. [Overtime, there was a] reinvention of zoo design in the second half of the 20th century.
- 'You started to see the development in the 1990s of something called environmental enrichment. For instance, primates were fed by spreading seeds in the grass and they would pick through them, just as they would in nature, and it gave them something to do.” (Phillips)
“It is not known when the earliest zoos were established, but it is possible that they were associated with the first attempts at animal domestication. Pigeons were kept in captivity as early as 4500 BCE in what is now Iraq, and 2,000 years later elephants were semi-domesticated in India. Antelopes, including the addax, ibex, oryx, and gazelle, are depicted wearing collars on Egyptian tomb pictures at Saqqara, dating from 2500 BCE. In China, the Empress Tanki, who probably lived about 1150 BCE, built a great marble “house of deer”; and Wen Wang, who apparently reigned just before 1000 BCE, established a zoo of 1,500 acres in extent, which he named the Ling-Yu, or Garden of Intelligence. [...] Collections of captive animals were in existence in Greece by the 7th century BCE, and by the 4th century BCE it is probable that such collections existed in most, if not all, of the Greek city-states. The earlier Egyptian and Asian zoos were kept mainly as public spectacles and only secondarily for study, but the Greeks of Aristotle’s time were more concerned with study and experiment. The Romans had two types of animal collections: those destined for the arena and those kept as private zoos and aviaries. With the end of the Roman Empire, zoos went into a decline, but animal collections were maintained by the emperor Charlemagne in the 8th century CE and by Henry I in the 12th century. In Europe Philip VI had a menagerie in the Louvre, Paris, in 1333, and many members of the House of Bourbon kept collections of animals at Versailles. In the New World Hernán Cortés discovered a magnificent zoo in Mexico in 1519. [...] Modern zookeeping may be said to have started in 1752 with the founding of the Imperial Menagerie at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. This menagerie, which still flourishes, was opened to the public in 1765. In 1775 a zoo was founded in a Royal Park in Madrid, and 18 years later the zoological collection of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, was begun. The Zoological Society of London established its collection in Regent’s Park in 1828, two years after the society itself was founded. By the mid-19th century zoos were being opened all over the world.” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)
3. Animals that suffer the most
“Scientists have found a direct correlation between the level of stress an animal suffers in a typical zoo enclosure and the size of its territory in the wild. The biggest, most wide-ranging carnivores suffer the most. [...] They conclude that the animals most likely to suffer problems are also the ones with the biggest natural territories. ‘Our results show that a particular lifestyle in the wild confers vulnerability to welfare problems in captivity,’ they say. ‘Among the carnivores, naturally wide-ranging species show the most evidence of stress and/or psychological dysfunction in captivity.’” (Connor)
“Scientists have found a direct correlation between the level of stress an animal suffers in a typical zoo enclosure and the size of its territory in the wild. The biggest, most wide-ranging carnivores suffer the most. [...] They conclude that the animals most likely to suffer problems are also the ones with the biggest natural territories. ‘Our results show that a particular lifestyle in the wild confers vulnerability to welfare problems in captivity,’ they say. ‘Among the carnivores, naturally wide-ranging species show the most evidence of stress and/or psychological dysfunction in captivity.’” (Connor)
4. Difference between sanctuaries and zoos
“The main difference between zoos and sanctuaries is how they acquire their animals. A zoo might buy, sell, breed, or trade animals, or even capture animals from the wild. [...] A sanctuary does not breed, buy, sell or trade animals. A sanctuary also does not capture animals from the wild but acquires only animals who can no longer survive in the wild. These might include injured wildlife, confiscated illegal exotic pets, exotic pets who are surrendered by their owners, and animals from zoos, circuses, breeders, and laboratories that close down.” (Lin)
“The main difference between zoos and sanctuaries is how they acquire their animals. A zoo might buy, sell, breed, or trade animals, or even capture animals from the wild. [...] A sanctuary does not breed, buy, sell or trade animals. A sanctuary also does not capture animals from the wild but acquires only animals who can no longer survive in the wild. These might include injured wildlife, confiscated illegal exotic pets, exotic pets who are surrendered by their owners, and animals from zoos, circuses, breeders, and laboratories that close down.” (Lin)
5. The legal perspective of animal based attractions
“Few federal laws protect the millions of wild animals who live in captivity in aquariums, circuses, theme parks and zoos in the U.S.
The Animal Welfare Act: The Animal Welfare Act, or AWA, is the primary piece of federal legislation regulating captive wild animals. Zoos and circuses are among those who fall under this act. [...] The law, adopted by Congress in 1966, protects so-called “warm-blooded” animals who are bred for commercial sale, used in research, transported commercially or publicly exhibited, like in a zoo or circus.
The Convention On International Trade In Endangered Species Of Wild Fauna And Flora (CITES): CITES is an international treaty that regulates the trade of wildlife for nations that are signatories to the treaty. Some 5,800 species of animals are covered by the treaty (along with 30,000 species of plants). CITES does not directly address living conditions for captive animals.
The Endangered Species Act: The Endangered Species Act, the ESA, is a federal law that protects fish, mammals, birds and plants listed as threatened or endangered in the U.S. and beyond. The ESA outlines procedures for federal agencies to follow regarding listed species, as well as criminal and civil penalties for violations.
There is considerable variation from state to state and among cities and counties, as to how much legal protection is offered to captive wild animals.
Some states ban the keeping of wild and exotic animals. Others allow private parties to keep animals like tigers or primates with a permit.” (“Captive Animals - Most States Have No Laws Governing Captive Wild Animals”)
“Few federal laws protect the millions of wild animals who live in captivity in aquariums, circuses, theme parks and zoos in the U.S.
The Animal Welfare Act: The Animal Welfare Act, or AWA, is the primary piece of federal legislation regulating captive wild animals. Zoos and circuses are among those who fall under this act. [...] The law, adopted by Congress in 1966, protects so-called “warm-blooded” animals who are bred for commercial sale, used in research, transported commercially or publicly exhibited, like in a zoo or circus.
The Convention On International Trade In Endangered Species Of Wild Fauna And Flora (CITES): CITES is an international treaty that regulates the trade of wildlife for nations that are signatories to the treaty. Some 5,800 species of animals are covered by the treaty (along with 30,000 species of plants). CITES does not directly address living conditions for captive animals.
The Endangered Species Act: The Endangered Species Act, the ESA, is a federal law that protects fish, mammals, birds and plants listed as threatened or endangered in the U.S. and beyond. The ESA outlines procedures for federal agencies to follow regarding listed species, as well as criminal and civil penalties for violations.
There is considerable variation from state to state and among cities and counties, as to how much legal protection is offered to captive wild animals.
Some states ban the keeping of wild and exotic animals. Others allow private parties to keep animals like tigers or primates with a permit.” (“Captive Animals - Most States Have No Laws Governing Captive Wild Animals”)
PART 3: Approach Analysis
STEP #1: My Chosen Approach
Generally: Rescue & conservational operations benefitting captive wildlife
Specific Approach/Organization: Born Free, operating worldwide, https://www.bornfree.org.uk/
STEP #2: Research
What is Born Free’s mission?
“We work tirelessly to ensure that all wild animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, are treated with compassion and respect and are able to live their lives according to their needs. As a leading wildlife charity, we oppose the exploitation of wild animals in captivity and campaign to keep them where they belong - in the wild. We promote Compassionate Conservation to enhance the survival of threatened species in the wild and protect natural habitats while respecting the needs and safeguarding the welfare of individual animals. We seek to have a positive impact on animals in the wild and protect their ecosystems in perpetuity, for their own intrinsic value and for the critical roles they play within the natural world.”
What are the priorities of Born Free?
What is the history of Born Free?
Born Free was founded by Virginia McKenna OBE and Bill Travers MBE in the 1980s after participating in the filming of multiple movies centered around wildlife. They became attached to an elephant starring in one of the films who was later transferred to a zoo in London and became clearly distressed and unhappy. They fought to give the elephant a better life through campaigns and became inspired to launch the Charity that transformed into Born Free.
What all does Born Free do surrounding animal captivity and conservation work?
What challenges has Born Free faced with their work?
One of their biggest challenges is opposition and civil conflict in some places, particularly Ethiopia.
Who does Born Free work with and how do they collaborate?
STEP #3: My Analysis
1. What are the strengths of this approach?
Generally: Rescue & conservational operations benefitting captive wildlife
Specific Approach/Organization: Born Free, operating worldwide, https://www.bornfree.org.uk/
STEP #2: Research
What is Born Free’s mission?
“We work tirelessly to ensure that all wild animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, are treated with compassion and respect and are able to live their lives according to their needs. As a leading wildlife charity, we oppose the exploitation of wild animals in captivity and campaign to keep them where they belong - in the wild. We promote Compassionate Conservation to enhance the survival of threatened species in the wild and protect natural habitats while respecting the needs and safeguarding the welfare of individual animals. We seek to have a positive impact on animals in the wild and protect their ecosystems in perpetuity, for their own intrinsic value and for the critical roles they play within the natural world.”
What are the priorities of Born Free?
- Captive wild animal exploitation
- Trophy & canned hunting
- Wildlife trade
- Rescue, care, rehab, & release
- Humane/wildlife co-existence & conservation
- Integrated wildlife protection
- Transboundary programs
- UK wildlife protection
- Inform, inspire, engage
What is the history of Born Free?
Born Free was founded by Virginia McKenna OBE and Bill Travers MBE in the 1980s after participating in the filming of multiple movies centered around wildlife. They became attached to an elephant starring in one of the films who was later transferred to a zoo in London and became clearly distressed and unhappy. They fought to give the elephant a better life through campaigns and became inspired to launch the Charity that transformed into Born Free.
What all does Born Free do surrounding animal captivity and conservation work?
- Conservation
- “We are involved in a variety of field conservation projects which aim to protect the natural habitat of wild animals including: lions, Ethiopian wolves, elephants, chimpanzees, tigers, gorillas, giraffe, turtles, dugongs, and whale sharks.”
- “We promote a compassionate conservation approach to the work we do with local communities and implement feasible mitigation measures to reduce conflict. In addition, we conduct research, support enforcement and promote education and advocacy in order to fulfill our vision of a world where humans and wildlife can live alongside each other.
- Animal Captivity
- “We work to end any activities that negatively impact wild animals living in captivity.”
- “We encourage improvements to animal welfare legislation that affects the lives of wild animals in zoos, and support improved care, while encouraging an informed public to consider directing their support away from the keeping of wild animals in zoos and instead towards protecting them in their natural habitats.”
- “Where possible, Born Free rescues vulnerable animals from appalling conditions where they have been confined, exploited or abused. We rehabilitate them and, whenever possible, release them back into the wild.”
What challenges has Born Free faced with their work?
One of their biggest challenges is opposition and civil conflict in some places, particularly Ethiopia.
Who does Born Free work with and how do they collaborate?
- People already operating in this field of work (they call them “wildlife heroes”)
- Share resources
- Celebrities
- Utilize their influence and connection to the public
- Corporations
- Partnerships & promotions
- Organizations with similar missions
- Creating alliances & sharing resources
- Photographers
- Receive photographs to promote their work
- Youth ambassadors
- Campaigns, fundraising, & sharing resources
STEP #3: My Analysis
1. What are the strengths of this approach?
- They are very well-rounded in their operations. They do everything from educating the public and impacting legislation to the physical rescuing and rehabilitation of captive animals.
- They are able to operate worldwide, instead of one specific area.
- They have a large number of connections and partnerships with a wide variety of people. They are able to have world-wide resources and a large network of supporters.
- It sounds like they are having trouble or not doing enough to reach the citizens of the important areas that they are impacting. As they are experiencing civil conflict and opposition, they could do more to inform those who feel threatened by their work.
- They could engage the youth more. They have a few educational resources for teachers and four youth ambassadors, but not many ways to ensure that the new generation is seeing the importance of opposing animal captivity.
- I like the way that they’ve operated worldwide through partnering organizations.
- I like how they maintain multiple rehabilitation facilities and sanctuaries and facilitate rescues, along with their other work.
- I like that they are thinking about the animal’s habitat, as well as the animal, when going about their conservational work.
PART 4: Proposal
Proposal Summary:
I believe that the conservational efforts and rescue work being done by organizations, like Born Free, are the way in which we will seek justice for captive wildlife around the world. These services would lack the ability to maximize success without sufficient marketing efforts in order to extend their mission to as many communities as possible and create new partnerships. For this reason, I am proposing the creation of a brand new website for Born Free, using the StoryBrand framework, in order to support these justice-seeking services.
Audience Description:
My audience for this website proposal, initially, will be the executives of Born Free, among them, the founders, Virginia McKenna OBE and Bill Travers MBE. The updated, renovated website will need to impact this group enough for them to place importance upon its installation. However, the overall purpose of the website, once implemented, will be to reach citizens around the world, Born Free’s audience. It must reach captivity supporters, causing them to reconsider their positions, as well as current wildlife supporters, encouraging them to become more involved. It must reach corporations to promote collaboration, as well as youth to promote the importance of action. Overall, it must reach the everyday citizens of the world and create involvement.
Born Free StoryBrand Brand Script:
StoryBrand marketing appears to solve one of the most costing mistakes made by traditional marketing strategies: Messages that expend too much energy for the audience to understand. As Donald Miller puts it in his book Building a Story Brand, “Imagine every time we talk about our products to potential customers, they have to start running on a treadmill. [...] How long do you think they’ll pay attention? Not long.” Therefore, if the message of the organization isn’t clearly and quickly explained, people will tune out in order to conserve energy. StoryBrand offers a message to the audience through the easily understood and familiar realm of storytelling. It offers a map that the audience can smoothly follow, leading to more engagement with the organization.
StoryBrand marketing is a strategy based on the idea that every story is formulaic. It follows seven stages (A Character, With A Problem, Meets A Guide Who Understands Their Fear, And Gives Them A Plan, That Calls Them To Action, Success, Failure) similar to Joseph Cambell’s theory of “the Hero’s Journey,” however, it instead places the audience in the position of the hero and the company as the guide, and causes the audience to more willingly join the company’s “story.” Although, for non-profits, the central character becomes the ones benefitting from the organization’s service, while the hero (the audience) is being asked to help solve their problem. The first step to creating a StoryBrand website is to analyze the organization’s mission and create a brand script based on these seven stages, as I have done below with the organization, Born Free.
What They Want
In this first part of the story, we must identify the desires of the central characters and what the organization is ultimately trying to provide them with. In the case of Born Free, the captive animals around the world want:
- The freedom to act as wild animals
- To receive compassion and respect from human beings
External Problem
We then realize what issues the characters are facing externally. In the case of Born Free, captive animals are experiencing this problem:
Their needs are being neglected by exploiters and they are not being granted a right to freedom.
Internal Problem
We now recognize their internal problems, often emotions. In the case of Born Free, captive animals are experiencing these problems:
Frustration, Depression, Boredom, Stress
Philosophical Problem
The philosophical problem often reiterates the desires of the character in “you deserve” statements. In the case of Born Free:
- Captive animals deserve to have the freedom to act as wild animals should.
- Captive animals deserve to receive compassion and respect from human beings.
Guide - Empathy
We need to cause the hero (the audience) to feel empathy for the character (captive wildlife). In order to do this, we must place the hero in the position of the character. In this case of Born Free, this would be:
Imagine living your entire life in a run-down prison system without having a reason to be there. You pace day in and day out, while an entirely different species stares at you, takes pictures of you, and taunts you from outside of your enclosure. Your family has disappeared and your instincts have been rendered useless, resulting in stress, boredom, and confusion.
Guide - Authority
In this area, you explain the organization’s qualifications for solving this problem, but should not capture the audience’s attention for very long. It is simply meant to gain trust from the audience. For Born Free:
Born Free has been working to save captive wildlife since 1966 and has extensive experience and knowledge in the area of wildlife rescue and conservation.
Plan
Here, we line out the specific steps that the hero (the audience) can take in order to help and truly become the hero. For Born Free:
1. Share Born Free’s mission
2. Donate to Born Free
3. Become a partner
Call to Action
This is meant to specifically call the audience to contribute and become involved with the organization in a simple way, often a few words. For Born Free:
Donate today (the most common)
Success
This shows the audience what will happen once they get involved. For Born Free:
With your help, we change the lives of captive animals everywhere and give them the lives they deserve.
Failure
This shows the audience that, without their help, the problems will continue. For Born Free:
Without you, captive animals will continue to lack freedom and experience neglect from human exploiters.
I believe that the conservational efforts and rescue work being done by organizations, like Born Free, are the way in which we will seek justice for captive wildlife around the world. These services would lack the ability to maximize success without sufficient marketing efforts in order to extend their mission to as many communities as possible and create new partnerships. For this reason, I am proposing the creation of a brand new website for Born Free, using the StoryBrand framework, in order to support these justice-seeking services.
Audience Description:
My audience for this website proposal, initially, will be the executives of Born Free, among them, the founders, Virginia McKenna OBE and Bill Travers MBE. The updated, renovated website will need to impact this group enough for them to place importance upon its installation. However, the overall purpose of the website, once implemented, will be to reach citizens around the world, Born Free’s audience. It must reach captivity supporters, causing them to reconsider their positions, as well as current wildlife supporters, encouraging them to become more involved. It must reach corporations to promote collaboration, as well as youth to promote the importance of action. Overall, it must reach the everyday citizens of the world and create involvement.
Born Free StoryBrand Brand Script:
StoryBrand marketing appears to solve one of the most costing mistakes made by traditional marketing strategies: Messages that expend too much energy for the audience to understand. As Donald Miller puts it in his book Building a Story Brand, “Imagine every time we talk about our products to potential customers, they have to start running on a treadmill. [...] How long do you think they’ll pay attention? Not long.” Therefore, if the message of the organization isn’t clearly and quickly explained, people will tune out in order to conserve energy. StoryBrand offers a message to the audience through the easily understood and familiar realm of storytelling. It offers a map that the audience can smoothly follow, leading to more engagement with the organization.
StoryBrand marketing is a strategy based on the idea that every story is formulaic. It follows seven stages (A Character, With A Problem, Meets A Guide Who Understands Their Fear, And Gives Them A Plan, That Calls Them To Action, Success, Failure) similar to Joseph Cambell’s theory of “the Hero’s Journey,” however, it instead places the audience in the position of the hero and the company as the guide, and causes the audience to more willingly join the company’s “story.” Although, for non-profits, the central character becomes the ones benefitting from the organization’s service, while the hero (the audience) is being asked to help solve their problem. The first step to creating a StoryBrand website is to analyze the organization’s mission and create a brand script based on these seven stages, as I have done below with the organization, Born Free.
What They Want
In this first part of the story, we must identify the desires of the central characters and what the organization is ultimately trying to provide them with. In the case of Born Free, the captive animals around the world want:
- The freedom to act as wild animals
- To receive compassion and respect from human beings
External Problem
We then realize what issues the characters are facing externally. In the case of Born Free, captive animals are experiencing this problem:
Their needs are being neglected by exploiters and they are not being granted a right to freedom.
Internal Problem
We now recognize their internal problems, often emotions. In the case of Born Free, captive animals are experiencing these problems:
Frustration, Depression, Boredom, Stress
Philosophical Problem
The philosophical problem often reiterates the desires of the character in “you deserve” statements. In the case of Born Free:
- Captive animals deserve to have the freedom to act as wild animals should.
- Captive animals deserve to receive compassion and respect from human beings.
Guide - Empathy
We need to cause the hero (the audience) to feel empathy for the character (captive wildlife). In order to do this, we must place the hero in the position of the character. In this case of Born Free, this would be:
Imagine living your entire life in a run-down prison system without having a reason to be there. You pace day in and day out, while an entirely different species stares at you, takes pictures of you, and taunts you from outside of your enclosure. Your family has disappeared and your instincts have been rendered useless, resulting in stress, boredom, and confusion.
Guide - Authority
In this area, you explain the organization’s qualifications for solving this problem, but should not capture the audience’s attention for very long. It is simply meant to gain trust from the audience. For Born Free:
Born Free has been working to save captive wildlife since 1966 and has extensive experience and knowledge in the area of wildlife rescue and conservation.
Plan
Here, we line out the specific steps that the hero (the audience) can take in order to help and truly become the hero. For Born Free:
1. Share Born Free’s mission
2. Donate to Born Free
3. Become a partner
Call to Action
This is meant to specifically call the audience to contribute and become involved with the organization in a simple way, often a few words. For Born Free:
Donate today (the most common)
Success
This shows the audience what will happen once they get involved. For Born Free:
With your help, we change the lives of captive animals everywhere and give them the lives they deserve.
Failure
This shows the audience that, without their help, the problems will continue. For Born Free:
Without you, captive animals will continue to lack freedom and experience neglect from human exploiters.
PART 5: Reflection
1. To what extent did I choose an issue that I genuinely care about?
When it comes to animal rights, passion overtakes me. I have been dedicated to animal rescue and care since I was 11 years old and I truly believe that it is my life’s purpose. I have worked with multiple organizations centered around animal rights and rescue. When it comes to zoos and wild animal captivity, however, I have been learning more and more about this issue as I grow up. And the more that I learn, the more importance I put on the topic, as my heart gravitates towards he needs and desires of other species. I have been familiarizing myself more and more with, not only the amazing aspects and abilities of wild animals, but what happens when they’re deprived of their natural environments. I think its something that needs to be addressed and I was very excited to learn more and bring more awareness to the topic. Overall, animals have given my life purpose and making sure they have exactly what they need, whether wild or domestic, is what I live for.
2. How does my proposal align with my own strengths, interests, especially in light of what I’m thinking about doing for my action project for Senior Project?
My proposal for this project was to create a new StoryBrand website for Born Free, an organization centered around the rescue and conservation of captive wildlife. I have been interested in and learning about marketing for the past four years through multiple internships and work opportunities. I have discovered how much I gravitate towards marketing and graphic design, so I have been using every opportunity (like school projects) to become more familiar with it. I have, personally, been learning about the StoryBrand marketing framework for the past six months through academic papers, online research, and the book Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. I have been interested in its effectiveness as compared to other marketing strategies, and that is exactly what I am planning on tackling for my senior project question. For my action project, I am planning on creating StoryBrand websites for a few local non-profits. So, the Justice Project allowed me to play with the concept and expand my knowledge of it even more, and specifically attempt a brand script for a non-profit organization.
3. What did I learn from this process that will help me with my senior project?
The most useful thing that I learned during this project was how to complete a specific brand script for a non-profit, which I didn’t have any experience with prior to the Justice project. During my internships and research out of school, I have focused on brand scripts for businesses that have products and services to offer, but I had not become familiar with the StoryBrand process for non-profits that are not directly benefitting the donors/the audience. This was an entirely new area of knowledge for me and I was able to use a lot of online resources to help prepare myself for it. This will come in very handy for my senior project, as I will be creating StoryBrand websites for two to three non-profits here in Durango, and I will need to know how to begin each of their brand scripts before the creation of their websites. Provided I will need to do additional research on this topic during senior project work time, I was able to get a base understanding and now know where I should pick back up in the future.
4. What was the most valuable/informative/interesting part of this assignment?
The most interesting part of this assignment, for me, was analyzing the approach of an organization. It is something that I have never done, nor thought about doing, before, but it appears to be very important now that I have turned my attention towards it. I think it is valuable for people to familiarize themselves with the specific methods and approaches used by organizations in solving an issue that the audience cares about, as it allows them to evaluate if they are parallel to their own goals and solution to solving that same issue. In today’s world, with an abundance of organizations doing what they can to solve the same issues, our communities and citizens should have the skills and mindsets to know which organizations will use our resources and dollars most effectively, and I think that this can be done easily through the analyzation of the organization’s approach.
5. What is one thing that I could have done to improve this project the most?
I think that I could’ve benefitted from additional research on the topic of captive animals. While I think I found a good amount of resources and used them to the best of their ability, I found difficulty searching for the answers to some questions. For example, when researching the legal perspective of animal captivity, I could only find one good source providing me with a glimpse of what I was looking for. It proved to be a bit difficult finding reputable and informative sources, which is why I wish I would’ve dedicated more time and energy to this researching phase. Additionally, had I found more information, it would’ve been easier to address topics in my cover letter. I found myself frequently having to go to and from writing my cover letter and research because I didn’t have enough answers to the questions that peer feedback was providing me. For instance, how many threatened species actually exist in captivity, the exact mental illnesses that captive animals experience, and more. Altogether, I think that, had I given myself the opportunity to conduct more research, I would’ve found less difficulty in the following project phases.
When it comes to animal rights, passion overtakes me. I have been dedicated to animal rescue and care since I was 11 years old and I truly believe that it is my life’s purpose. I have worked with multiple organizations centered around animal rights and rescue. When it comes to zoos and wild animal captivity, however, I have been learning more and more about this issue as I grow up. And the more that I learn, the more importance I put on the topic, as my heart gravitates towards he needs and desires of other species. I have been familiarizing myself more and more with, not only the amazing aspects and abilities of wild animals, but what happens when they’re deprived of their natural environments. I think its something that needs to be addressed and I was very excited to learn more and bring more awareness to the topic. Overall, animals have given my life purpose and making sure they have exactly what they need, whether wild or domestic, is what I live for.
2. How does my proposal align with my own strengths, interests, especially in light of what I’m thinking about doing for my action project for Senior Project?
My proposal for this project was to create a new StoryBrand website for Born Free, an organization centered around the rescue and conservation of captive wildlife. I have been interested in and learning about marketing for the past four years through multiple internships and work opportunities. I have discovered how much I gravitate towards marketing and graphic design, so I have been using every opportunity (like school projects) to become more familiar with it. I have, personally, been learning about the StoryBrand marketing framework for the past six months through academic papers, online research, and the book Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. I have been interested in its effectiveness as compared to other marketing strategies, and that is exactly what I am planning on tackling for my senior project question. For my action project, I am planning on creating StoryBrand websites for a few local non-profits. So, the Justice Project allowed me to play with the concept and expand my knowledge of it even more, and specifically attempt a brand script for a non-profit organization.
3. What did I learn from this process that will help me with my senior project?
The most useful thing that I learned during this project was how to complete a specific brand script for a non-profit, which I didn’t have any experience with prior to the Justice project. During my internships and research out of school, I have focused on brand scripts for businesses that have products and services to offer, but I had not become familiar with the StoryBrand process for non-profits that are not directly benefitting the donors/the audience. This was an entirely new area of knowledge for me and I was able to use a lot of online resources to help prepare myself for it. This will come in very handy for my senior project, as I will be creating StoryBrand websites for two to three non-profits here in Durango, and I will need to know how to begin each of their brand scripts before the creation of their websites. Provided I will need to do additional research on this topic during senior project work time, I was able to get a base understanding and now know where I should pick back up in the future.
4. What was the most valuable/informative/interesting part of this assignment?
The most interesting part of this assignment, for me, was analyzing the approach of an organization. It is something that I have never done, nor thought about doing, before, but it appears to be very important now that I have turned my attention towards it. I think it is valuable for people to familiarize themselves with the specific methods and approaches used by organizations in solving an issue that the audience cares about, as it allows them to evaluate if they are parallel to their own goals and solution to solving that same issue. In today’s world, with an abundance of organizations doing what they can to solve the same issues, our communities and citizens should have the skills and mindsets to know which organizations will use our resources and dollars most effectively, and I think that this can be done easily through the analyzation of the organization’s approach.
5. What is one thing that I could have done to improve this project the most?
I think that I could’ve benefitted from additional research on the topic of captive animals. While I think I found a good amount of resources and used them to the best of their ability, I found difficulty searching for the answers to some questions. For example, when researching the legal perspective of animal captivity, I could only find one good source providing me with a glimpse of what I was looking for. It proved to be a bit difficult finding reputable and informative sources, which is why I wish I would’ve dedicated more time and energy to this researching phase. Additionally, had I found more information, it would’ve been easier to address topics in my cover letter. I found myself frequently having to go to and from writing my cover letter and research because I didn’t have enough answers to the questions that peer feedback was providing me. For instance, how many threatened species actually exist in captivity, the exact mental illnesses that captive animals experience, and more. Altogether, I think that, had I given myself the opportunity to conduct more research, I would’ve found less difficulty in the following project phases.
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