Category: Ignite Denver 21

SparkPlug: Bhopal Disaster by Mariah Master

Mariah Master gave her Spark at Ignite Denver 21 on Thursday, November 5, 2015. She asked us to share this information about the Union Carbide disaster in 1984, and what they are doing to help.

 
In 1984, the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India spewed a toxic cloud over the community, taking thousands of lives. Within 2 weeks the death toll grew to 8,000 people. While there are some whom have heard of the disaster, what most people don’t realize is that 30 years after the incident, people are still being affected.

In January 2016, the Integrative Health Care Program at Metro State University will be traveling to Bhopal to facilitate a service-learning project at the Sambhavna Clinic. The clinic is an integrated health center that provides free conventional and Ayurvedic medicine to the survivors of the Bhopal community who continue to suffer from severe health issues.

Often in life, there comes rebirth from destruction, beauty born from pain. So where is the beauty in this catastrophe? Our group of students think we may have found one answer. Since the tragedy, the people of Bhopal who may have never thought they would be empowered to use their voice have stood up to fight for what they deserve. Many have succeeded with the Sambhavna Clinic.

So how exactly are 14 Denver students making connection with such an immense situation on the other side of the world? Well, similar to the hard working passionate people of Bhopal, we too have been stepping into authoritative roles. We have taken full control of our education by making this trip happen. We have jumped through many hoops and pushed ourselves harder than we ever imagined possible. Only 2% of Metro students travel abroad. We have many faculty members talking by making this trip happen. The work we have done to make this happen – for ourselves by ourselves – has many people in awe, including each one of us.

We hope to build a long-lasting relationship with the Clinic. Our fundraising efforts will pay doctors salaries, update the facilities, and bring needed health education materials. We are reaching out to our greater community for their support in helping us raise funds in order to help see this vision flourish.

From the other side of the world, we are all linked in one way or another, and when we put our attention on that which is progressive and meaningful, huge things happen.

Donate to our crownfunding page at: https://advance.msudenver.edu/giving/bhopal

Tuesday Two! Two more reasons to attend Ignite Denver 21.

As if you needed two more reasons than 14 engaging speakers, right? (If you don’t have your tickets yet, get them here: https://ignitedenver.org/tickets/

Reason #1: Biker Jim’s Dogs is back to serve up pre-Ignite Denver food in front of the Oriental Theater! Gotta get you some. They even have a vegan dog in addition to the standard reindeer, elk, or beef. Tasty.

bikerjim

Dogs & caramelized onions
Dogs & caramelized onions

Reason #2: Afterparty music by Dandu! Pretty chill, will be perfect for a Thursday night.

Bonus reason #3! Our MC is the brilliant and funny Kat Atwell. (No pressure, Kat.)

Here’s her opening Spark from Ignite Denver #20 for a little preview of what you can expect on Thursday night!

The Votes Are In: Here are Your Ignite Denver 21 Presenters!

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Get ready for November 5th, everyone: here is our AMAZING lineup of speakers!

  1. Juan Diaz de Leon – The Online Dating Struggle Is Real
  2. Matt Holmes – Nightmares of Student Loans and Credit Cards
  3. Erin McElroy – A Call to Adventure – Geeking out on the Hero’s Journey
  4. Tom Groover – How Do Corporations Control Us?
  5. Elan BenAmi – Synchronicity and Self-Actualization
  6. Katie Mason – Velvet Covered Pringles: The Gift of Dreamtime Absurdity
  7. Amanda Yuill – Blow Up Your Life! (Figuratively Speaking)
  8. Jayson Gaddis – Shattering the Marriage Fantasy in 5 minutes
  9. Adrian DeBarros – Edgar Allen Poe and Dr. Seuss stuck in a photo booth.
  10. Kyle Shannon – The Renaissance of Storytelling
  11. Mariah Master – The Worlds Largest Industrial Disaster you don’t know of.
  12. Kurt Woock – We gave up our car! (but that’s not really the point)
  13. Doyle Hanks – I wanted to do something about gun violence.

Got your tickets for November 5th yet? Our early-bird rate of $5 tickets ends on October 29th, so hurry up and purchase tickets now!

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