We’re hollerin’ about environmental management

By |  August 15, 2013

What wacky festivals can teach us about environmental management: part 2 of a series

By Kevin A. Fletcher, Ph.D., President & CEO, e-par USA, Inc.

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Photo: Kevin A. Fletcher

Wacky Festival #2: National Hollerin’ Contest

In June each year, Spivey’s Corner (N.C.), population 49, hosts thousands of people for the National Hollerin’ Contest. The contest began in 1969 to celebrate the lost art of hollerin’. Contestants are judged according to how well they can deliver the Spivey’s Corner type of holler, and the winners have been featured on “The Tonight Show” and “The Late Show with David Letterman.” In addition to hollerin’, the festival features a watermelon roll, whistlin’ contests, lady callin’ contests (of course) and a square dancing jamboree. Learn more:

The Environmental Management Lesson: Whether you’re hollerin’, lady callin’, or just explaining plans for that naturalization project to club members, how you communicate is key. For instance, consider that Environmental Policy statement mentioned in yesterday’s post. By not having one, you may be inadvertently communicating to your staff, golfers, members and the community that environmental stewardship is not a priority. That’s not true (hopefully), but that’s what it might look like to others. Research has also shown that any kind of environmental hollerin’ (i.e., “hey, we’re doing good, look at us!”) has got to be based in fact, rooted in things that matter and are measured, and connected to your environmental plan in order to be credible. So, do well first and then get to hollerin’, but only in the right way. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission recently released some guidelines for appropriate “green hollerin’” that are worth knowing about:  http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/10/greenguides.shtm).

Part three comes tomorrow… maybe the strangest entry yet!

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About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 18-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


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