Here are student summaries of fall 2024 MCJD dialogical surveys with members of the First A.M.E. Zion congregation. Click on any title for details, then return to see all titles.
First AME Zion’s Take on Environment
Event: First AME ZionInterviewer: Alex
Whom did you interview?
Debbie Payne works for the Vancouver Washington Tourist Office and is the First Lady of the First AME Zion Church. She spent her early childhood in Northeast Portland as that was where many Black Americans were forced to move after Vanport flooded in part because of racial segregation post flooding. Debbie grew up in Santa Monica for her middle school and high school, in which, unlike in Portland, the number of Black kids in the whole school was only in the single digits as the school was predominately White.
How did your EcoTypes and SDG priorities compare?Debbie’s SDG goals were 1, 2, 3, and 4 because she saw them as prerequisites to many of the other goals. The first two of “No Poverty” and “Zero Hunger” were especially important to her likely due to the impoverished situation of many Black communities due to systemic racism. My SDG priorities mainly focused on the economy (e.g. 8 and 9) because I saw those as a prerequisite to the others.
Regarding Ecotypes, although Debbie and I agreed on a lot of things, our Ecotypes were polar opposites. My ecotype was “Social Justice (N)” which had a human place and tended towards large action. However, Debbie’s Ecotype was “Small Green Steps (N)” which focused on a non-human place and smaller action. Although we both value new knowledge, Debbie leaned heavily towards spirituality as an important factor of knowledge whereas I, an atheist, leaned the opposite direction.
What larger MCJD lessons did you learn?One lesson I learned was that even though Debbie and I had different Ecotypes, we were still able to count beyond 2 and understand each other’s perspectives and at times even count to 1 by coming to an agreement. For example, despite the difference in religious background, we both still heavily value the role of science and new knowledge, with Debbie even claiming that science is “the driving force” to tackling environmental issues. She cites the fact that at a conference, a speaker said that those not using AI would be left behind to where it has now become a “runaway train” and the only option is to keep progressing into the future or be left behind.