Michigan State University will host Krista Schlyer, an award-winning writer and photographer, during Geography Awareness Week, sponsored by the College of Social Science’s Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences. She will discuss the effects that a U.S.-Mexico border wall would have on the environment.
The proposed border wall has caused a lot of debate, mostly about the potential effect on undocumented immigration, internal politics and the drug war, but not many people have expressed concern for the ecosystems within the borderlands.
The borderlands stretch from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and host a number of rare ecosystems. They are home to animals such as Mexican gray wolves, jaguars, ocelots and bighorn sheep.
While creating her eight-year documentary, “Continental Divide: Wildlife, People and the Border Wall,” Schlyer realized that the impacts of immigration policy on wildlife, landowners and border towns were not fully understood by policymakers or the public.
Schlyer will discuss her documentary project at 7 p.m. on Nov. 8. Her presentation will discuss the natural and human history of the borderlands, the history of border policy, the consequences of border militarization and the current immigration debate.
The event is free and will be held in room N130 at the Business College Complex.