Environmental Interview Paper

For this interview, which was conducted on September 28, I choose my former organic chemistry lab partner Jimmy Ogden. He is a 23-year-old senior biology major with a minor in Spanish and has attended the University of Oklahoma for the entirety of his collegiate academic career. Before this he attended High School in the small town of Oktaha, Oklahoma. To open up the conversation I started by asking when was the first time he had heard anything about conservation. He told me that it was late in his high school career when his dad mentioned it in regards to climate change. This answer was not surprising due to the amount of coverage climate change has over the past seven years. From here I asked how he felt about the relationship between himself
His response sounded very much like one a biologist would give in that he thought that while some organisms or talked about or used more, each and every organism holds the same value due to the complexity of food webs and ecosystems. I then wanted to know if he felt as if these organisms required more focus or the environmental process such clear air were more important. In his opinion, he felt as if the environmental processes needed more funding and efforts. While I can see why he said this, I still think a great amount of emphasis should be placed on organismal conservation efforts due to the relative lack of funding and legislation surround issues with a variety of species. While on the top of funding a decided to ask if current social and political issues take precedent over environmental issues for the time being. Ross responded with “Environmental issues are arguably more important in my point of view. If we don’t take the necessary steps and see what we are doing to the environment as an issue, then social, economic, and political problems will be the least of our concerns in the very near