As you can see from this example, there are often several good issues for a group to choose, and which one it picks depends upon what members of the organization want to focus on. In this case, while the recycling program falls short in some of the criteria, a small or new group might want to take it on to get an easy win early on to build the organization before moving on to tougher fights.
Keep in mind that you should aim for structural change. For instance, instead of creating a volunteer recycling program that you will have to spend all your time to staff, you should get your school to institutionalize one. Then your group will have the energy to tackle the next issue. Bandaids are good (Ex. cleanups), but stopping the person who is causing the bleeding is best (corporations who pollute).
There is a tradeoff between tackling big issues and standing a chance at winning. Sure you’d love to get Congress to pass a bill banning all old-growth logging, but you would probably stand a better chance saving the nearest forest in your state. For an active group, it’s probably best to mix local issues (where you can clearly see your impact) with regional / national / international ones where you’ll learn a lot by networking with other people and have a chance of being the difference between a large failure and a large success!
