Exploration 1: Snake River Alliance

Strangely, when I began my first observation, I was overwhelmed with shock and surprise. Nothing about the place, the people, or the type of meeting was what I had expected. Snake River Alliance is located downtown in the Jefferson Place on the lower level. The first think I saw when I walked into the building was a fancy hair salon. How can Snake River Alliance, a professional organization, be located near a hair salon? I was very confused. I walked down to the lower level where Snake River Alliance was located and there was a large, empty room with a long table placed in the center. I thought to myself, this is where the meeting is? Sure enough, Andrea Shipley, the director of Snake River Alliance, greeted me and offered me a seat at the table. The first thing that I realized was that there was a young child sitting at the table and cookies, peanuts, and oranges were available to snack on. Apparently this meeting was informal. I also noticed that the man at the table had a beard and one long earring. Then I was wondering whether the members were all more unique than your average person. I had been expecting business-like members in a fancy meeting room. Therefore, I was surprised that although this organization is portrayed as profession, and they participate in governmental and legislative issues, they are normal, casual, and very informal.

After being introduced to the group, I realized that there is a difference between being a member of Snake River Alliance and being a staff member of Snake River Alliance. So the staff is the leaders of the group and the members are the people that participate. This meeting was actually a membership meeting, open to anyone who was interested in learning more about the organization and what they stand for. It was actually a little uncomfortable because they wanted me to participate in the discussions and activities. Since it was a membership meeting, Andrea stressed the significance of members in the organization. She said that membership is vital and it drives the alliance; the members are heard and they are considered advocates for clean energy. She said that the membership committee focuses on expanding the community. Since only eight people were at the meeting, she also noted that they needed to work on advertising better. Honestly, it sounded a little desperate to me. Now I am curious about how many members there are, how they found them, and how educated they are. I wonder if Snake River Alliance is desperate for more members. What extent do they go to to get members? Do they select easily persuadable people? I never thought of these things before this meeting.

Jen ran the meeting, and she prepared an activity where she would read a statement concerning the group, and then we would place an item on the agree paper or the disagree paper and then give our opinions why. The opinions from the members were fascinating. The biggest thing that stood out when people gave their opinions was where the ideas and information were coming from. Although these people had opinions, all of their ideas and suggestions were sourced from somewhere else. Members were explaining a documentary they had watched, shows they had seen on PBS, something they had watched on the internet, something they had read in a book or heard on the news. It was interesting! None of them had thought up an idea or solution on their own, they were considering other people’s solutions to our world’s problems. This isn’t necessarily a shock, but I didn’t realize it before. However, they deeply consider alternatives and renewable energy sources. They think about how it works, what it’s affecting, and if it’s truly a renewable source that doesn’t have negative effects on the environment.

It’s fascinating to me that these people truly want to help the world and make change, even though they are just normal people. I wonder how educated all these people are since they feed off of other people’s innovations. Perhaps that doesn’t matter though. These members have drive and passion for making the world a better place and creating the best solutions for our problems. I am curious to find out where these motivations arise from when I do my interviews and other observations.