Here are student summaries of survey observations with visitors to the Tillamook Forest Center, adapted for the public Rain Festival event. Click on any title for details, then return to see all titles.
I Deepened My Understanding of What the Forest is and Very Thoroughly Expanded What It Means to Me
Event: Tillamook ForestInterviewer: Benjamin
Whom did you interview?
The main person that I interacted with would not give his name, but he was a father of six who came in from Idaho. He had a very interesting and unique relationship with the forest, because he had not necessarily seen it before and only was coming out to visit on a vacation. This was really interesting for me because mostly what I was expecting is individuals that were coming for the rain festival and otherwise coming to the Tillamook forests to appreciate the things that would otherwise be normally offered. This is unique and interesting, because it allows me to think in a way that otherwise I would not have been stimulated in. When I talked to him and listened to the conversation that was being led by the other students, I was very much struck with the fact that he had a very deep appreciation for the natural world and the fact that it needed to be preserved. When prompted with the questions that were posed by our other school members he was very enthusiastic about the changes that were being made by the Tillamook forest center.
How did your EcoTypes and SDG priorities compare?One of the more unique and interesting things that I came across, was when I built a profile around this person I filled out what I assumed would be an accurate MCJD form for them. This was interesting because my MCJD results were very very different. I had very different results on religion and spirituality compared to what they had. and this is very unique and important to me, because it shows that even though I can be appreciating something the same as somebody else I can have very good and different fundamental understandings of how these things interact and operate. I had very different results when it came to spirituality and how it came to interacting with the environment around me. Particularly my place and knowledge axes were very different compared to what my interviewed persons were.
What larger MCJD lessons did you learn?One of the biggest takeaways that I had from this activity was the fact that the MCJD are overlapped. Even though there is so much difference in nuance between all the different axes there is the overall fundamental ability for people to agree differently. This is important because it shows me that even though I did not inherently have all the same values and understandings of the environment around me as this person, I can still want and achieve the same goals that this person has. This is important because it shows me that I can work with other people even though they inherently have different values than me. When I have these abilities I have the ability to work with anybody I need to. and in addition to that I also have the ability to process and understand things in a way that otherwise would not be able to before this.