If there is any one person who can be recognized by just about any individual it would be the King of Rock — Elvis Presley. Today he is one of the most popular celebrities to impersonate, but it would be false to assume that all Elvis impersonators are the same. In fact, a very different kind of Elvis impersonator recently paid a visit to Iowa State.

Abby Dubisar, assistant professor of English, is the instructor for the graduate level class English 611, “Seminar in Rhetorical Theory,” which she explains is “focused on rhetorics of activism, justice and social change.” In order to show her students a unique form of activism, she invited Matt Riggs — or Eco Elvis, an Elvis impersonator who writes lyrics about environmental issues to the tune of popular Elvis Presley songs — to perform for her class and talk about his rhetorical strategies.

“I think the visit was a dynamic opportunity for my students to see creative activism in action,“ Dubisar says. “Eco Elvis not only wowed the class with his musical stylings, his talent as a vocalist and guitar-player and his incredible ability to rewrite Elvis songs to offer environmental messages, but he also articulated how he crafts his message to appeal to particular audiences, attracts attention and holds the attention of audiences of all ages, balances addressing controversial topics like food politics and population control with a humorous/parody-heavy style, and more.”

Matt Riggs, from Kansas City, Mo., was inspired to create the persona of Eco Elvis by his “love of the environment, Elvis music, Weird Al Yankovic, Dread Zeppelin” and the desire for a career away from an office cubicle. He has been donning a green jumpsuit, embellished with pop tabs, and performing his sustainability themed songs, such as “I reduce, I reuse, I recycle” and “Burnin’ Globe,” for 15 years.

“I look for songs that have refrains that match the subject I’m interested in writing about, either through rhyme, phrasing or both,” Riggs explains. “I then thoroughly research the subject, outline all the topics I want to cover in the song, and convert the outline structure to the verse and bridge structure of song. From that point on, it is writing the lyrics, setting them to music and refining the lyrics.”

He hopes the lyrics of his songs will encourage people to start working actively to improve the conditions of the planet in order to preserve the health of humans, animal welfare and Earth’s resources.

“Everything that’s important to us as human beings — our health, our children, our economy, our national security, our survival as a species — depends on a healthy environment,” he says.

He also uses lyrics to raise awareness for what he describes as “the most important issue we all have to deal with to save our species-population stabilization.” He wrote the song “Population Bomb” to address this issue.

In his performance for Dubisar’s class, Riggs demonstrated that not activism looks that same by adding a unique twist to the five canons of rhetoric. Dubisar says “inventive individuals like Eco Elvis utilize their creative talents and ingenious approaches to make sustainability sustainable because they invite us to listen, participate and carry their message into new contexts.”