Last week I wrote about preparing to leave on my alt break trip to the Navajo Nation and how excited I was to "unplug" and travel to new places. Well I've reluctantly plugged back in but the trip was incredible and I learned so much and got to meet alot of amazing people.

While we learned a great deal about Navajo culture and of course saw the incredible landscapes of the southwest, the main focus of the trip was to study the effects of uranium mining on the Navajo people and their land. Hundreds of large and small uranium mines were in operation on the Navajo Reservation from the early part of the 1900s through the 1970s. The uranium was largely used to fuel nuclear reactors, for nuclear power generating plants or nuclear weapons. Little was known about the environmental and health effects of uranium mining initially and even less was told to the mine workers, even after mining companies became aware of the issues.

Despite the research we did before the trip and the informational meetings we had, nothing could compare to standing on the sites and having victims tell their stories. We met with two leaders of a grassroots organization called ENDAUM- the Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining (Dine means people in Navajo so it's sort of the Navajo word for Navajo, if that makes sense). The two men were ex-miners who know first hand the medical effects that uranium exposure causes. As we stood in the strong wind that blows uranium dust all over the valley at the site of an old uranium mine, the men pointed were able to point out to us just where the thousands of gallons of contaminated water rushed down when the dam that held back the water used to clean and process uranium ore broke. This was the site of the Church Rock incident of 1979, the third worst environmental disaster to ever happen in the U.S. and least well-known. First is a recent and similar incident that occurred in West Virginia when a coal slurry broke open and released tons of toxic sludge down onto the town, and second is the infamous Exxon Valdeez oil spill. Then Church Rock. The contaminated water poured into major river systems and poisoned the water and livestock that the locals relied on for survival. If you're interested in reading more, here's the wikipedia site on the incident. I know it's wikipedia but they do a good job of summarizing the issue, and the actual event didn't get much mainstream press coverage, since the Navajo Nation is often pushed to the fringes: Church Rock Uranium Mill Spill

Anyways, this is the kind of stuff I got to learn firsthand on the trip, but on a lighter note, here are some photos from the busy week.



This is some of the structures left from the mine at Church Rock.



This is a fairly typical view out of the car while driving through the reservation, when not in the more town-like areas.



And this is me at the Grand Canyon!