Umwelt und Natur schützen : Umweltinstitut München
Climate Change . Health . Media30th November 2023 – Group Interview at Umweltinstitut München
In a recent interview with the PR team of the Umweltinstitut München, Sandra Enoch and Jurek Vengels informed us about their work as head of online marketing and campaign planner. They shed light on their communication strategy with the aim to spread awareness on environmental issues and initiate political changes.
The Umweltinstitut’s Background
The Umweltinstitut is not only a non-profit, but also a well scientifically backed up political organization, as it is equipped with skilled scientists which work together to carry out experiments that are necessary to sustain environmental causes such as researching and reducing environmental pollution. The Umweltinstitut is committed to opposing nuclear power, the energy transition, organic farming and consumer protection.
The Umwelt Institut, established in 1986 following the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, emerged due to concerns sparked by the westward movement of a radioactive cloud from the Chernobyl explosion towards southern Germany. The fallout contaminated soil and food supplies, instigating fear and mistrust among the public toward the government’s information on safety measures. Consequently, a collective of Munich residents, including scientists, took the initiative to create an independent laboratory for radioactivity monitoring, founding the Umwelt Institute, tells Jurek.
Their early efforts involved procuring a gamma spectrometer through donations and conducting extensive radioactivity measurements on food samples, primarily from Bavaria but also from across Germany. Initially planning to establish a nationwide network of laboratories, the focus gradually shifted, although they continued monitoring radioactivity, broadening their scope to address diverse environmental concerns. Genetic engineering, food and agriculture, and the transition from nuclear and fossil fuels to renewable energy became pivotal topics.
While radioactivity remains a pertinent issue, states Jurek, it no longer commands the sole attention it once did. Recent years have seen the institute’s involvement in trade issues such as TTIP, CETA, and the EU-Mercosur trade agreements. Sandra declares that the closure of Germany’s last nuclear plant earlier this year marked a significant milestone for the environmental movement, although efforts persist to transform the remaining research facility’s use of plutonium, a material dual-purpose for energy and weaponry, prompting discussions on nuclear proliferation regulations in Germany. The country does not possess nuclear weapons but houses materials that theoretically could facilitate their construction.
Regarding work organization, Jurek and Sandra explain that in the communication department, individuals handle various topics simultaneously. However, for experts, the focus is narrowed down to one or two specific issues at a given time. This specialization ensures concentrated efforts, such as an agricultural expert solely working on agricultural matters without involvement in the climate campaign. In contrast, communicators like Jurek and Sandra must possess the versatility to engage with a broad spectrum of subjects.
Strategy and insights of the PR team
Our two interviewees have the same background, both have been studying political sciences. For Jurek, the decision to work here was influenced by his personal values : “Because I’ve been engaged in environmental campaigning as an activist before, I was very interested to go into that field”.
As for Sandra, she was first a travel journalist before working in the NGOs field. “I came here to do online communication and marketing, which is a very new field to non-profits, because most of them are underfunded and understaffed.”
When we went around the offices, we realized that they were pretty small. “In the PR office we are now seven people. Two graphic designers, Jurek at the campaigning, one person doing social media, one person doing the flyers and brochures, a press officer and me” says Sandra. This small group allows them to be very organized, but being a non-profit restrains them from exploring other means of communication : “As a nonprofit you’re always understaffed. So you always have to choose what to do. In a big company you can try out, you can have a budget”.
The PR team works according to the other departments of the institut composed of experts in various ecological issues, to enable them clarifying the most relevant topics to address : “Basically most of our work is getting information from people who are very deep into the topic and translating their language to a language that everybody speaks”.
Right now, their main channel for communication is their website. “From there we post blog articles, all our petitions and of course our newsletter. A lot of our funding comes from this newsletter because we reach about 230.000 people with it, which is a lot for non-profit”. However, Jurek explains that the impact of petitions is in decline : “There are now so many petition platforms that people are not interested anymore”.
“Of course we also use social media”, says Sandra. Their use is not left to chance, since each of them has their own target and goal. Facebook for example allows them to target the 50/60 years old population group. Not only are they most interested in the Umweltinstitut’s work, but they also participate more in its funding. “People over that age can afford to give more money to non-profits”.
Instagram works also well, but is more used for branding. As for Twitter/X, it targets a completely different population : “We reach journalists and politicians, so the message that we spread there is different from the other platforms”. They also communicate their stands to journalists by directly getting in touch with them or through press releases.
Being a small institution, they do not hesitate to collaborate with other organizations to increase the impact of their campaigns, and keep in touch via email lists and conferences. Jurek ads : “We also publish reports together for instance. When we have to plan a mass demonstration, of course this is not the work of one organization alone”.
Great work and potential obstacles
Launching an environmental campaign may also be subject to legal risks.
Jurek recounted a campaign that was prosecuted. It was about pesticides and apple orchards in South Tyrol where there was a famous film “Das Wunder von Malz” based on it.
Concerns have been raised about the large amount of pesticides used in local orchards, which have been sprayed to contaminate not only the orchards themselves, but also the gardens of local residents. A small village called Malz launched a citizens’ initiative to ban the use of all pesticides in the vicinity of their village, which was successful. The local government then decided to ban the use of all pesticides within their township. However, a number of farmers filed lawsuits because they did not agree with this. In the end, the government had to withdraw the ban.
The Umweltinstitut München wanted to support the people in the village and started an online petition. Many Germans signed the petition, saying that the regional government should not allow the village to continue using insecticides partly because they, especially Bavarians, travel to South Tyrol. The organization had lots of news articles in the regional press there, and then they were sued.
“We also did this adbusting.” Jurek said. They did one big poster in the style of tourist marketing for South Tyrol. The original images were very beautiful and it said either “South Tyrol is looking for people who are adventurous” or “people who enjoy good food”. And they changed that to “South Tyrol is looking for clean air”.
It’s not the only thing the organization has been accused of, and it requires constant self-regulation in risky endeavors to come up with solutions.“An activist in France had a lawsuit from vineyards farmers who have tried to sabotage her work. But as a political organization, there are always risks.”
Sandra graciously demonstrated PR team’s shortcomings in social media use. “As a non-profit organization, we are too old and understaffed.” She said it is a resource issue. The organization can’t take into account the social media use of all age groups, just as it can’t take into account all issues of the political environment. While it also has three young interns, they too have been assigned enough work.
“We do need the attention of young people too, even if they don’t donate for a while.”
For now, the PR team of the Umweltinstitut München is not planning to drastically change its communication strategy, as the way they work now allows them to achieve their goals and stay in line with their values.
Riccardo Nestore; Xinyan He; Julie Launay