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.
Environmental Action at the Tillamook Forest
Event: Tillamook ForestInterviewer: Ainsley
Whom did you interview?
At the Tillamook Forest Center my group and I interacted with a variety of people from a variety of different demographics. My partner and I individually surveyed a teenage boy who was there with his family and a woman in her 30s who was there with her partner. I was very intrigued by the people I talked to because it’s not the typical demographic I interact with while in class.
How did your EcoTypes and SDG priorities compare?With the 2 people I interacted with, I found a lot of similarities with my change and nature axes. Both of the people I surveyed said they like to get outside as much as they can and take small steps, like picking up trash, to help preserve the environment. This is very similar to how I view environmental action; small steps lead to big changes over time. While talking with the teenage boy, he mentioned that he believes that environmental destruction, like deforestation, is bad but it is inevitable. This was a very interesting concept to me because it differs so much from other people I have talked to. Most people I have talked about the environment with agree that deforestation is bad but most people also believe that something can be done to prevent it. As a whole group, the people we surveyed generally valued environmental preservation a lot. This makes sense that everyone we talked to valued the environment because they were all at a forest center for a rain festival. That being said, I would be interested to survey a broader variety of people in the future to get a real feel of how much the typical person values the environment.
What larger MCJD lessons did you learn?Throughout this experience, I learned that there are a lot of people who value the environment and want to do what they can to make a change for the better. It was really interesting to hear about the different ways that people go about making changes. We talked to people who value small steps, like picking up trash whenever they go hiking, as well as people who value bigger action, like slash and burn and indigenous practices. I feel as though the discussions I had exemplified the values of “Many Care, Just Differently” because everyone wants to do the right thing, they just go about it in different ways.