Comparative analysis of theories and models of practice in advocacy and social change: Case studies on climate change (Research Paper Sample)

Comparative analysis of theories and models of practice in advocacy and social change: Case studies on climate change
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Introduction
In the history of the world, the 20th century has been characterized by massive changes and developments in all aspects of life. This unprecedented development was triggered by innovation and researches that played a significant role in shaping a new way of life. This created a situation whereby mankind became more reliant on machines and robots unlike in the past where manpower was key factors in almost every aspect of work. With this increasing use of machines came an increasing demand of energy. This means that because the use of machine was integrated in every aspect of life, it automatically increased the consumption of energy. For example, during world war two, countries involved in the war needed energy to fuel their tanks and to use in other activities such as communication, manufacture among others. However, despite the energy being at the center of economy, people did not really know at what extent the over consumption of energy can be harmful to climate (Abrahamse & Shwom, 2018). Another key issue would be that, a great portion of the energy that has been in use over the past century was produced from oil reserves. Today, it is undisputed that the overconsumption of energy presents a significant global threat and in this regard, countries and different social activists, started calling policy makers from across the world for actions. To understand how climate change is a social issue one can take example of the rapidly increasing global warming which in return results into floods that devastate different cities across the planet and killing thousands of people and causing massive economic losses. Apart from global warming, climate change is said to be reason behind the increasing pollution that affects the air and the ecosystem at large. As a result, many diseases including different types of cancers and the deaths caused by lack of pure drinking water are likely to make life on earth impossible in the next few decades to come (Abrahamse & Shwom, 2018). In order to tackle this issue, different non-profit organizations social groups and the government initiatives have been initiated. However, it is still unclear as to what extent do those advocacy groups and social activism approach this issue and the effectiveness of the advocacy and social work models used. This paper therefore is a comparative analysis of theories and models of practices in advocacy and social change. Using different case studies to discus and to shade light on this subject matter, this paper will cover different advocacy models such as cause advocacy, peer advocacy. The paper will see how the above mentioned models have been implemented in different contexts and comparatively discuss the effectiveness of each. On the other hand the models of social action that will be discussed in this paper include the non-violent and violent social actions.
Models of advocacy
Case study one 1: Cause advocacy
This case study will talk about the Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM). This is a non-profit organization which is specifically dedicated to enhance a well being of the people in Massachusetts through advocacy and education on environment. This NGO has been in operation for several decades and its mission is to use its power and influence in protecting water and land as well the well being of all (Environmental League of Massachusetts, 2019). In addition, this organization is set to achieve this through combating climate change.