An opportunity to learn may be under your feet

A recent phenomenon, called "chalking" by some, though that term can have other, less-innocent connotations, has taken hold on university campuses and may even be found in parks and on sidewalks along a street you use. Someone comes along and writes a message in chalk on a walkway or bike path where people are sure to be in the multitudes.

Some of these messages are random.







Others have positive or negative messages.













Some of them are oriented toward environmentalism.










Photos above are from Flickr.com and while they are free to use from that site, they are not for commercial use. Photos below are by Jennifer Tramm, excepting the YouTube.com video.


I occasionally find chalk messages around the University of Arizona campus. Many of them are announcements for events, like today's, which advertises a free showing Friday of "An Inconvenient Truth," in the Alumni Plaza on campus.

This method of getting the message out is cheap and easy to do and will yield results. People look at them. Some stop to read them. Others, like me, stop to take pictures and then blog about them. Flickr.com has dozens of pages of chalk messages.

One word of caution, however: If you get caught, police will likely tell you it's graffiti and if it doesn't come off, you'll be responsible for fixing it. In a recent Police Beat in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the UA's campus newspaper, a group of chalkers were made to wash the messages off by the officers who caught them. Fortunately for them, it came off without damaging anything. Unfortunately for their message, nobody got to see it.

So, it's an interesting medium for your message, but beware the consequences.

In my opinion, chalk messages are very environmental: Chalk is a substance found in nature, kills no trees (as would paper fliers) and washes off in the next rain. The only drawback might be the dyes used to give the chalk its color. Other than that, it's got some pluses.

P.S. For anyone who may be on the UA campus Friday night at 7 p.m. here's some information about the movie "An Inconvenient Truth," and/or check out the movie's trailer below.