This quarter I had a class assignment to study one area of downtown Olympia for the whole quarter. Focusing on climate change, sea level rise and developing my sense of place. Through out this experience I’ve become a lot more comfortable with East Bay Waterfront Park, it almost feels like another home to me now. And seeing as though this area will be a front runner for sea level rise and myself having a personal connection to East Bay, this gives climate change a more personal connotation to me. It makes me want to protect the place I love from becoming part of the ocean like it was historically and most likely will be again sometime in the near future.
Sense of place means that you take the time to really get to know and understand a place. For me this entailed just being present and noticing things happening and things changing over time. I feel like I can call East Bay a place of my own even though I have no ownership over it. I’ve noticed and learned about the natural processes occurring here like erosion of the bank, human interaction, and high/low tide. This place has taught me so much just by spending so much time there and attempting to notice things that I usually don’t.
The main issues with this area are as follows. If and when the sea level rises a few feet there is a waste treatment facility and a Shell gas station within less than a block of the area, also a children’s museum. And would these all be moved before it becomes too big of a risk, hopefully. But who really could tell with storms and floods becoming more common. Another factor I saw happening over these 10 weeks was erosion, the bank is wailing away and who knows how long it will be until they need to move the sidewalk a few feet away from the eroding bank, or until it falls into the water.
http://blogs.evergreen.edu/vcc-canchl06/olympia-map
Here you can take a look at all my field study locations!
A/V Essay
