For this project, I had to research an environmental and societal issue of my own choice. I chose to look into the Gold King Mine Spill that occurred in 2015. This spill not only released millions of pounds of toxic metals into the San Juan river system, but it had lasting effects on the Navajo tribes in the area. Below is the poster I made to show my research and conclusions that I presented during class.
This project was incredibly fun to research but also incredibly sad. I learned a lot about how the Navajo Nation has been exploited and used to clean up after the messes we cause here in the U.S. For example during the Church Rock mining incident, many of the workers in the mines and on the clean up crew were indigenous people from the Navajo Region. We were exposing them to uranium everyday and drastically increasing their chances of cancer. The Gold King Mine spill was a reminder to the world that it is important to tie in social and cultural impacts when making environmental regulations.
This was the first project I decided to tackle as a sociologist rather than a scientist. It was an enlightening experience learning all about the priorities of the Navajo Region and how they view water as a being of life. This project helped shaped my mindset and strengthen my research and presenting skills. This was also my first academic poster outside of High School, so learning how to carefully pick and choose what info graphics or information I wanted to fill in was integral.
