Hello!
My name is William Jesse Martinez, and I aim to raise funding for an immersive exhibit focusing on the imminent deforestation within the Tongass National Forest due to clear-cut logging. We are a team of three XR designers from Arizona State University, who have worked together on many projects, and we're very excited to share this experience with you!
The removal of the 2001 Roadless Rule protections is a massive step in the wrong direction, ecologically, economically, and culturally.
This action was proposed last summer in the Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, colloquially known as Project 2025. Unfortunately, this was also one of the first executive orders to be passed under the new administration. Timber logging is no longer economically viable in and of itself in Alaska, and makes up less than 1% of their state's revenue, while the majority comes from federal jobs, tourism, and the fishing industry, all of which are dependent on the health of the Tongass. Furthermore, this forest encompasses 78% of federal land, which entails 94% of all land ownership in Southeast Alaska. If half of this forest is open to maximum timber harvest, the scarring and desecration that will occur will be catastrophic to the local region as well as to the global climate.
I wanted to make this project to share the story of the Tongass, the contentious debates surrounding its protections, as well as the people who have nurtured this forest since before it was standing. The reason I am choosing virtual reality as the primary medium is that I believe we can suspend our empathy to places we would otherwise have no access to and increase our ability to help prevent tragedies that will impact not only current communities, but future generations to come.
Our budget includes two flights and lodging from Arizona to Juneau, Alaska and the travel necessary to reach Ketchikan in the National Forest. Additionally with the funds, we hope to cover the costs of the equipment and software we will be using to capture and recreate the rainforest, for audiences here in Mesa. We then hope to share this modular exhibit across the country to raise more funding for non-profits that are doing the legwork in SEAK. This is a personally funded project, so your support genuinely makes a great impact for us.
Thank you for your time, I wish you well.
Below is a link to a preview of our project concept:
“Future generations will forgive us our horrible genocidal wars, because it’ll pass too far in history. They will forgive us all of the earlier generations’ follies and harm. But they will not forgive us for having so carelessly thrown away a large part of the rest of life on our watch.”
-E.O. Wilson, The Last Word: December 27, 2021
Organizer
