The Animas River spill was an environmental catastrophe and affected every single person near the river. The situation naturally garnered disagreement and controversy, as differing perspectives argued over who’s fault the spill was, and how we should best fix the situation. The Voices from the Animas project collected the voices and opinions of residents in the area and shared them among the community to persuade and comfort the victims of this horrible tragedy. Each student interviewed a person or group and recorded the discussion on an audio device. These people could be small children or experts in environmental protection. The recordings were stored of a cache of memories and perspectives to forever be listened to by human civilization.
During this project, my eyes were opened to a chaotic world of blaming. Almost everybody involved in the situation was pointing the finger at someone else. The EPA caused the mine blowout. The mining industry allowed all this water to be contaminated in minerals. Sunnyside placed a bulkhead that diverted water to the Gold King. During the entire time of this blame game, people could have banded together and attempted to fix the issue. This realization allowed me to develop a strong opinion that people should stop blaming each other for problems, and instead figure out solutions to these problems and fix the situation. Any time I face a problem in the future, I will spend less time blaming the people around me and more time accessing the situation and formulating the best possible answer to the negative predicament.
My interview Lisa-Marie Jacobs regarding the Animas River spill flowed quite well. We connected the river spill to the Exxon Valdez spill that she witnessed, allowing us to compare this environmental catastrophe to another one quite similar. However, I guided the discussion a little too much. I asked a few questions that seemed to provoke short, close-ended answer, such as “Do we think we should stop mining?” If I had to go do the interview again, I would not ask these questions again, and replace them with more that developed the conversation better. Through this mistake, I learned that my role as an interviewer is to simply guide the story. I am not the main focus; I am simply the narrator of a great hero’s inspiring tale of magnificence. My ability to ask great questions dictates the ability of the discussion to go to great lengths of interesting dialogue.
At exhibition, I learned a great deal about human society that shaped my views on the world. I learned that people care. Today, we live in a civilization where the majority of people do not care about world or national politics. They don’t care who’s running for president. They don’t care about events happening that don’t affect them. This much is true; a lot of people couldn’t care less. However, I learned that some people do. At the exhibition, I was able to listen to a gigantic plethora of voices speaking their hearts out about this horrible blow to the Animas River. There are people that care deeply about the environment and the people in the community. These people resonate with the world around them and can emphasize with the land and creatures surrounding them. My biggest take-away from this exhibition was the realization that there are people in this world that care about this world. Those people truly matter.
As an individual, I have always been a steadfast argumenter. I always come into a seminar with a full opinion, and arguments ready to back it up. Any time a discussion or conversation ends without a resolution of all parties in agreement, it leaves me bitter. This project exemplified that, as every individual involved in the situation held a differing perspective, over a broad category of issues. Nobody could agree who’s fault it was, and nobody could agree on how to best erect a solution to the problem. However, listening to all the voices of the Animas and understanding everybody’s perspective allowed me to just let it go. Sure, there was a lot of disagreement about this issue, and nobody really ever got a resolution, but all these people cared about the river. I was able to understand that it’s not important that we all agree on one absolute solution to the problem. It’s important that we all care about this river we rely on, and that we’re all in the same boat. A band of differing perspectives trumps no band at all.
During this project, my eyes were opened to a chaotic world of blaming. Almost everybody involved in the situation was pointing the finger at someone else. The EPA caused the mine blowout. The mining industry allowed all this water to be contaminated in minerals. Sunnyside placed a bulkhead that diverted water to the Gold King. During the entire time of this blame game, people could have banded together and attempted to fix the issue. This realization allowed me to develop a strong opinion that people should stop blaming each other for problems, and instead figure out solutions to these problems and fix the situation. Any time I face a problem in the future, I will spend less time blaming the people around me and more time accessing the situation and formulating the best possible answer to the negative predicament.
My interview Lisa-Marie Jacobs regarding the Animas River spill flowed quite well. We connected the river spill to the Exxon Valdez spill that she witnessed, allowing us to compare this environmental catastrophe to another one quite similar. However, I guided the discussion a little too much. I asked a few questions that seemed to provoke short, close-ended answer, such as “Do we think we should stop mining?” If I had to go do the interview again, I would not ask these questions again, and replace them with more that developed the conversation better. Through this mistake, I learned that my role as an interviewer is to simply guide the story. I am not the main focus; I am simply the narrator of a great hero’s inspiring tale of magnificence. My ability to ask great questions dictates the ability of the discussion to go to great lengths of interesting dialogue.
At exhibition, I learned a great deal about human society that shaped my views on the world. I learned that people care. Today, we live in a civilization where the majority of people do not care about world or national politics. They don’t care who’s running for president. They don’t care about events happening that don’t affect them. This much is true; a lot of people couldn’t care less. However, I learned that some people do. At the exhibition, I was able to listen to a gigantic plethora of voices speaking their hearts out about this horrible blow to the Animas River. There are people that care deeply about the environment and the people in the community. These people resonate with the world around them and can emphasize with the land and creatures surrounding them. My biggest take-away from this exhibition was the realization that there are people in this world that care about this world. Those people truly matter.
As an individual, I have always been a steadfast argumenter. I always come into a seminar with a full opinion, and arguments ready to back it up. Any time a discussion or conversation ends without a resolution of all parties in agreement, it leaves me bitter. This project exemplified that, as every individual involved in the situation held a differing perspective, over a broad category of issues. Nobody could agree who’s fault it was, and nobody could agree on how to best erect a solution to the problem. However, listening to all the voices of the Animas and understanding everybody’s perspective allowed me to just let it go. Sure, there was a lot of disagreement about this issue, and nobody really ever got a resolution, but all these people cared about the river. I was able to understand that it’s not important that we all agree on one absolute solution to the problem. It’s important that we all care about this river we rely on, and that we’re all in the same boat. A band of differing perspectives trumps no band at all.