Researcher(s):
Evan Howell
ENVS course(s): 295 Initiated: January 2018 Completed: April 2018 Go to project site
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The key motivating question of this project, "What are the Portland public’s value-based perceptions and reactions to the scientific community’s understanding of chemical pollution in the Willamette River?" was investigated through a public survey extending scientific understanding of the issue gathered by interviews with hydrologists and by addressing degrees of intimacy and purity motivated by environmental scholarship. Public responses revealed a relatively low understanding of the issue coupled with relatively high degrees of interest and urgency in response to general scientific knowledge of the issue. Responses also revealed support for an intimate relationship between the Portland public and the Willamette River that is complicated by being dependent on the context of intimacy in addition to placing some value on having the river be untouched.