Team:Consort Alberta/Practices
Practices
We interviewed a farmer in the community who has had quite a bit of experience with oil wells on his land. He commented that he has cable in fields containing pumpjacks. Often the fences are quite skimpy and have little protection around them. The cows could literally eat and lick the oil. Another concern is of course the ground water/ponds that the cows are drinking. There are also old pipelines buried underneath his land by the water source. A concern is always that these pipelines are or will soon leak and contaminate the water source. He mentioned that the oilfield has been wonderful to him and to other farmers. At the same time though, he said, this Earth is the only one we've got and we have to protect it. All of the current testing is down through the oil companies themselves. It would simply be comforting to know for sure that there is no contamination in a manner that is cheap and effective.
We also had a phone conversation with farmer. We discussed shooting a section of the video but the timing didn't work out. His main comment was that ECOS would be best used in water and as a check after a spill/clean-up to ensure it was done properly. Normally you know about oil spills because someone either rolled a truck or it's spewing from the ground, but what we don't know is if it's cleaned up entirely. ECOS would be a good method for testing water source and for peace of mind after the fact. He mentioned oil companies have pretty strict policies about oil spill clean ups and reclamation. He was thoroughly impressed with our project and the innovation behind it.
As well, we conducted multiple interviews with other key community members to receive their input on our project. We received many helpful ideas, pleas, and praise for what we are trying to do. When conducting these interviews, we found that our community stands behind us in all support. Many people expressed initial concern about the use of E. coli, but when reassured that the E. coli we use is essentially harmless, their unease was put to rest. The main thing that many of the farmers, oil workers, and townsfolk agreed on was that we needed a working prototype as soon as possible, as they thought of oil contamination as a very serious issue.
Outreach
This year, we have been fortunate enough to have the entire support of our community, and this fact has been proven multiple times. We have attended the Consort Gun Show, the largest event in our area, and this year three thousand people attended it from all over the province and beyond. We set up a booth and proceeded for the rest of the weekend to explain to people about synthetic biology and our project. We talked to many people and received over $2,000 in donations, as well as countless statements of support.
Our team made presentations to local companies and boards, most noticeably BRAED (Battle River Alliance for Economic Development) and the Consort Oilmen's Association. Furthermore, we hosted a bottle drive, and proceeded to collect donated bottles from contributors across the town. From this fundraiser, we received a total of $1,100. Plus, our team did a Facebook auction, where people could donate and bid on items that had been put up for auction. We received a huge amount of support, from people donating special items to people bidding on these items. This fundraiser provided us with a total revenue of $2,200. Our team has also been involved in school assemblies and talking to our classes about our project. In total, we have managed to raise a total of approximately $9,000 from our community of 750 people. We have received tremendous support and encouragement from our community!