Our Interviews

Chris' interview:

Andrew, my brother.

Me: For one of my class I’m studying Sustainability. Is this a problem you think is important?  Why or Why not?

Andrew: Yeah, I definitely do. I’ll be honest a few years ago I don’t think I had ever heard that word before, but from what I know about sustainability and the environment its something that needs to be talked about. The biggest thing that strikes me about the issue is the fact that we can do things, simple things, and every day to help make our houses or communities or whatever more sustainable. First thing I think of is something as small as recycling or composting. Obviously there are larger scale examples of sustainability, but these are ones we can all do.

Me: Do you think others in our community this is an important problem? Why/ why not?

Andrew: I don’t know, to be honest. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on the importance of recycling in Grafton, but outside of that I don’t know enough about sustainability to know whether or not there is a lot being done about it.

Me: What policy, if any, does government now have to deal with this problem?

Andrew: Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve heard of any laws, recently, that have been passed specifically confronting sustainability. I know there have been some policies about reducing greenhouse gases or carbon emissions, but nothing that I know of related to what you’re studying.

Me: Where can I get more information about this problem and the different positions people take on this problem?

Andrew: Well one of the places that I look to for most of my news is either the CNN app on my phone or Google news. Obviously CNN has tons of other news stories, but at least with Google news you are given the opportunity to search whatever topic you like and it will scan through hundreds of different news outlets. You get a lot of great articles that you normally wouldn’t be able to find. If you’re searching for something on sustainability only through the newspapers you know, like the New York Times or Washington Post then you probably won’t find much. But Google news can bring up an article, written on the exact topic you want from some obscure newspaper in Minnesota or something. It’s awesome.

Reflection: My brother knew a lot more than I thought. I was worried that I’d be asking him these questions and he’d just keep saying, “I don’t know” over and over again. However, just even in the small comments he made that I didn’t record he proved he had some idea about sustainability. I truly believe that in today’s day in age that there are going to be a majority of people who understand some aspect of sustainability. They may not know it by name, but they know ways that they could be more sustainable or environmentally conscious.

Alana's Interview: 
I chose to interview my fiancé, Chris about our topic.

Me: For my social studies class I am studying sustainability. Is this a problem you think is important?  Why/ Why not?

Chris: I think it is highly important because our natural resources are finite and the longer we can use the same resources we have, the longer our planet will last. If we can keep using and reusing our resources then we can prolong the life of our planet. So it’s very important for our well being as a people but also for our world. Because it’s a worldwide thing.

Me: What does sustainability mean to you?

Chris: Recycling, turning off the tap and conserving water, turning off the lights when you leave a room. I think of composting also but I’ve never really done that. 

Me: Do you think others in our community this is an important problem? why/ why not?

Chris: Umm, well in Lynn I see trash in the recycling and vice versa all the time. I see trash on the streets and not a lot of people recycling to begin with. My job doesn’t recycle at all which is really bad because we use so many plastic bottles that just get thrown away and I can’t do anything about it. But in Salem and at school I see a lot of recycle bins and people making an effort to live sustainably. I think that the people in Lynn are probably not educated on the ramifications of these issues and do not see direct correlation from their actions to the effects their actions have. There seems to be this feeling that our resources have always been here, so they will continue to always be there, which is ignorant.

Me: What policy, if any, does government now have to deal with this problem?

Chris: I don’t think so. Not that I can think of.

Reflection: I think that Chris knew a good amount about sustainability, and this reflected what I would expect most people to know about the topic. There are so many different subtopics that surround sustainability, and he was obviously thinking of this from the agricultural/energy standpoint. Many people don’t think about sustainable development or economic sustainability when they hear the word sustainability… they mostly just think of the green movement. I think that because there are so many different facets to this issue, more education is required.