Siena, Toki, Dannin
During design thinking, the Project Cobalt team has been working to spread awareness about cobalt and the risks cobalt mining causes to the environment. At the beginning of this design thinking challenge, the team had a hard time staying motivated and focused, causing a lack of progress on the project. Later on, they began to notice the repercussions of not working on our project and began to work on the project more consistently. While hard, they began to see the difference. After significant amounts of research on our topic they sent out multiple emails to companies including the mining company itself and conducted 15 empathy interviews in the process. Then, during Peeps on the Street they had one of the community members suggest additional organizations to reach out to, one of which was Idaho Rivers United. This fostered a connection with Tess at Idaho Rivers United, and with her support as a community partner they created a plan to spread awareness and take action against the proposed cobalt mine in Idaho. Their plan is to be posted on the IRU social media platforms, as well as have a blog and petition on their website and to be featured in their June monthly newsletter. They have created an amazing connection with Tess that they hope to keep through work in the summer as well. Through extensive research, they have found out so much about the risks of the mine, the damage it will cause, as well as the positive impacts that proponents of the mine hope it will create. Even with their hardships the team had ended with a project they are proud of.
