Biodiversity World Wide Views on Biodiversity World Wide Views

USA – Washington

WWViews on Biodiversity

On Saturday September 15th 2012, thousands of people around the world took part in a global event: “World Wide Views on Biodiversity”. The project engaged citizens in as many countries as possible in the process of policymaking and awareness raising to sustain a living and healthy planet. Eighty four citizens from the Washington, DC metro area attended a day-long meeting to learn about biodiversity issues, make up their minds about them, and express their views.

WWViews on Biodiversity in Washington, DC, was one of four venues within the United States of America.  For further information please visit the event page or send an email to worldwideviewsdc@gmail.com.

The Consortium for Science Policy Outcomes, DC Office; Science and Technology in Society Department, Virginia Tech; and the Koshland Science Museum are the organisers of the WWViews day in Washington, D.C.

  

Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes – DC

The Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) at Arizona State University is an intellectual network aimed at enhancing the contribution of science and technology to society’s pursuit of equality, justice, freedom, and overall quality of life. CSPO’s DC office expands its capacity to help decision makers and institutions grapple with the immense power and complexity of science, technology and society by: (a) Communicating knowledge and methods, (b) Educating students and decision makers, (c) Forming strategic partnerships, (d) Participating in science policy initiatives, and (e) Building community of intellectuals and practitioners.

Science and Technology in Society Department, Virginia Tech

As one of the nation’s first Science and Technology in Society (STS) programs, we locate STS at the intersection of scholarship, engagement, and action. Along with pioneering programs such as the Choices and Challenges Forum, recent innovations include the journal Engineering Studies; TWISTS (Theater Workshop in Science Technology and Society); and the Humanities, Science, and Environment major. Our specialties range from S&T Policy to social studies of medicine, with concentrations in political sociology, engineering studies, and the history and philosophy of technology.

Koshland Science Museum

The Koshland Science Museum invites teens and adults to interact with the issues in a thought-provoking setting. Whether exploring on your own or with friends, use science to solve problems and engage in stimulating conversations with others.

WWViews Washington, DC Venue

Participants gather from a group photo

Koshland Science Museum
The citizen consultation on international biodiversity politics in United States will take place on September 15th at the Koshland Science Museum in Washington, DC.

Koshland Science Museum
525 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
ADDITIONAL DIRECTIONS

Results of the WWViews in USA – Washington
Link to the results from the meeting in the USA – Washington
Photos from WWViews in USA – Washington

Recruitment Strategy of the WWViews meeting in USA – Washington

To get in contact with potential participants, the following strategies were used:

  • Emails with an invitation flyer for the September 15th WWViews meeting were sent to over 1000 science, technology, policy professionals, scholars, practitioners, educators and students in the greater Washington DC metro area asking them to forward and share the invitation with their respective internal and external networks.  The email list included participants in programs of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, the Koshland Science Museum, Ecology and Environment Departments and Agricultural Extension Service Programs at Universities, Career Services Programs at Community Colleges, Counseling Offices at High Schools, local university alumni groups, fellowship and internship programs, professors of relevant departments at local universities, several neighborhood list-serves, and managers of local farms, orchards and farmers’ markets in the States of Virginia and Maryland and the District of Columbia.
  • Direct invitation emails were sent to about 4500 residents in Washington DC metro region with a call to take part in the WWViews meeting on September 15. Addresses were provided by Future Tense, a joint initiative of the Arizona State University, the New America Foundation and the Slate magazine.
  • People were invited via Face-to-Face recruitment through non-profits and programs serving low income and homeless residents in Washington DC.  Information flyers were distributed and posted at restaurants, county recreation centers, local nature centers, community centers, libraries and farmers markets in Virginia and Washington DC.  This was also done in the Koshland Science Museum.
  • The citizen meeting was advertised in Craigslist, The Patch (a series of hyper local online newspapers), websites, press releases and newsletters of partner, affiliate and alumni organizations. Interested people were able to sign up via the internet by answering a brief survey questionnaire about personal details and their background.  For citizens without means for accessing the internet, paper copies of the survey questions were provided, which were entered manually in the application survey by the project staff.

In order to make the results comparable, the participating citizens of the WWViews meeting around the world were selected according to the same set of criteria.

  • The citizens were invited to join the meetings and out of those who signed up for the event, about 190 were selected according to certain parameters aiming to reflect the distribution of the general population in the region covering the states of Virginia and Maryland and the District of Columbia. The main parameters used for the selection were age, gender, ethnicity, residence, education level and occupation. In our region, the parameters household income and participation in the biodiversity profession and environmental organizations also had to be taken under consideration.
  • Out of the 190 citizens selected and invited to the meeting, 119 accepted and confirmed their participation.  The information booklet, agenda and related information were sent to them two weeks prior to the meeting.
  • On WWViews day 84 citizens from the greater Washington DC metro region participated in the citizen forum on biodiversity.

 

 
Information Material for Citizens

World Wide Views on Biodiversity – Information Material for Citizens – English (The Danish Board of Technology, June 2012)
 

 
 
World Wide Views on Biodiversity – Information Material for Citizens – Español

 
World Wide Views on Biodiversity – Information Videos for the Citizens – English
 

 
1. Introduction to biodiversity, 2. Biodiversity on land, 3. Biodiversity in the sea, 4. Burden and Benefit Sharing
 
 
World Wide Views on Biodiversity – Videos Informativos para los Ciudadanos – Español
 

 
1. Introducción a la biodiversidad, 2. Biodiversidad terrestre 3. Biodiversidad en el mar, 4. Responsabilidades y distribución de beneficios