Swimming for the Rivers Dissertation Example

Free Swimming for the Rivers Dissertation Example

Swimming for the Rivers Name Institution Swimming for the Rivers Development of Christopher’s Vision of cleaning up the Columbia River Christopher’s vision to clean up the Columbian river was inspired by his desire to have waters that are swimmable and drinkable. Swain was in love with water since he was a kid, back then rivers and oceans were cleaner than they are today. As such, he wanted his daughters and the present generation to enjoy clean oceans and rivers as he did. Christopher mission to clean up started in 2000, where he took time to study the river before beginning to swim, he literary read everything he came across about the river Columbia (Babin, 2009). To support this mission, he participated in marathons, fund drivers and even called on students to volunteer in cleaning up the river. In this light, he developed a personal relationship with the river and realized that the only way to know the extent of the pollution was by swimming. He then swam the river, which runs for about 1243 miles, from the source to its mouth. In his escapade, he discovered that the river was polluted with plastic wastes, sewage, nuclear wastes among other types of pollutants (Babin, 2009). As a result, he contracted various diseases including respiratory problems, skin rashes, and inflamed lymph nodes among others. Despite all the issues that he encountered he made it to the end and was able to understand the environmental problems that the river faced. The hardest Stage of Creating a Vision The hardest part of creating a vision is resistance to change or the opposition that one receives while trying to communicate it. For instance, when Christopher told people what he was working on, they were cynical about it and instead of encouraging him to continue they told him of the dangers that he was exposing himself to. People told Swain that he was going to swim through nuclear plants, sewage, and dangerous marine life among other risks. As such, people who are not abl...