Ashley Acord Tactic #4 Chalking S.A.F.F.E.

Ashley Acord

Social Movements M/W 3:30pm-4:45pm

Dr. Kubal

Tactic #4 Chalking S.A.F.F.E.

                Social Movements take tricky tactics to maneuver a true change in direction. Sometimes less conventional ways can catch the eye of your viewers. Our group S.A.F.F.E. (Students Against Fossil Fuel Extraction) are dedicated to raising the awareness of the issue of mass extraction of fossil fuels. For one of our tactics geared towards doing this we chose to use "chalking". This was the tactic I wanted to do the most out of any on the list Dr. Kubal gave us because I love to draw and enjoy art very much. I was excited to be able to be creative and let my passion of the two come together.

Location is important with any social movement event, so we tried to decide where the chalkings would be noticed the most and stand out to everyone. We decided to do it on the sidewalk located to the North of the library because there is a lot of traffic on the ground. We also chose this destination because the North side of the second floor of the Henry Madden library is where there is a wall of windows that many students enjoy studying alongside at the tables lined against it. I think this area is popular because we as students can see the beautiful view of our campus outside. It is such a serene area in my opinion, and I feel it evokes contemplation of many things because of its openness. 

 We chose to start the mural of chalkings with a large green and blue earth.  We included statistics about fossil fuel extraction, as well as the effects it has on our climate and geography. We had moments where we got a little too excited and at times distracted by passersby and messed up our spelling or skipped a word so we had water readily available to erase and fix any typos we accumulated during the process.  

We chose to use all of the colors that came in the package of chalk we had purchased. The more colors, the more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, the more attention our drawings would receive. During the progression of the drawings I was shocked with the number of students passing us that stopped to chit chat with us about the cause and our group. We were happy to answer questions such as; "How do I get involved with an environmental activist group on campus?", "Does it cost any most to be a part of this?", and other various questions about when we started, why, and through what advisory.

 We felt pretty special when a student even started taking pictures and told us she was uploading them to Instagram because they were beautiful. Another girl took pictures for her facebook. This made me really proud because I knew people would see that we as students on Fresno State campus, do actually care about the environment, and are not afraid to show our passion for our movement. It was a great experience and I had such a fun time doing it with Liz, and laughing about all of our occasional typos. It was a feel good time.