What We Learned from this Project
REFLECTING ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN A MIDWEST GIRL AND AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS IN NIGERIA: By Maddie Little
Prior to beginning this project, the amount of knowledge I had in regards to the crisis of the Niger River Delta was essentially non existent. This lack of awareness stems from I believe a mindset of "if it's not happening in my backyard, how is it my problem?" It is this ignorance that sweeps throughout the undisturbed consciences of those not living in the affected area. When being presented the issues within the Niger River Delta, however, I knew immediately this was going to be something big. Stemming from the effects of post-colonialism, a micro-minority has been formed in the Ogoni people. The reaping of land and oppression of cultural freedoms represents a larger issue of a European based mindset demolishing smaller minority groups. Because of this project, I have stepped into a realm of eye-opening self-evaluation on how my role comes into play with this crisis. I cannot stress enough how much I have realized that even in the distant Midwest I have a part in the Niger River Delta destruction. Understanding where oil comes from and by what means it took to get it is how I am able to put a stake on the crisis. It is through awareness and removal of ignorance how a stance truly can be made in putting an end to unethical attainment of natural resources. Every small act every day when using some sort of natural resource product takes a huge toll on the origin of such resources. Being a leaser of planet earth calls for some responsibility- awareness being the most crucial and prevalent. I am very happy for the uneasiness this project brought me because it is how I know this is something big.
RAISING THE FLAG: By Taylor Elton
Coming into this project as a nineteen year old with little to no knowledge of other countries around me, I had no knowledge of the oil crisis that was happening in the Niger River Delta. There had been no major headlines, no news coverage and no books or resources around me that I could draw upon. Why? If these epidemic is so huge, if it is causing so many problems for so many people, why haven't we heard more about it in America, Britain, or Australia? I was shocked as we began learning more about the Niger River Delta and I was even disappointed in myself for not already knowing this information. The idea that this has been kept quiet from the rest of the world in today's society astounds me and I hope with forces such as this project that will quickly change. Citizens within Nigeria are doing everything they can to survive around the world that the oil has made for them and many of them are calling out in forms of books and letters. They are detailing everything that is happening around them and sending it out in hopes that others will catch it and read it. This is what we hoped to do with our author section by bringing to light these authors that were writing about this subject and bringing it to other countries. We have to listen to these people and become more responsible in responding to them. If this oil crisis was happening in America, Britain or Australia I can bet it would be all over the news. The people of Nigeria are raising the white flags all over the place in search of a better way to live; it's about time that we raise ours in acknowledgment, too.
