News Release

Matthew Goodwin Presents for Casa Grande Ruins Speaker Series January 4, 2023

Date: December 29, 2022
Contact: Dave Carney, 520-723-3172 x118

COOLIDGE, AZ – The Casa Grande Ruins Speaker Series takes place weekly through January 18, 2023. On January 4, 2023, Casa Grande Ruins will host Matthew Goodwin at 1:00 pm. Mr. Goodwin will present "Dams, Mines, and Hotels: Media and Misinformation Affecting the Grand Canyon". The speaker series will continue every Wednesday at 1:00 pm through January 18. 
 
Matthew has a Ph.D. in Philosophy and has taught environmental ethics, media ethics, and technology and human values at Northern Arizona University, Coconino Community College, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Matthew recently participated in a National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar on extending Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic.” He is co-founder of Sedona Philosophy, which offers guided hikes and retreats in Sedona and northern Arizona. 

In 1961 a newspaper article discussed a proposal to build an 18-story, 600-room hotel inside the Grand Canyon descending from the south rim to the canyon floor. A letter-writing campaign ensued that succeeded in blocking the hotel. But lawmakers instead passed a bill that allowed the company to mine uranium there—they never had any intention of building the hotel. In 1967 a newspaper ad asked, “Should we also flood the Sistine chapel, so tourists can get nearer the ceiling?” This ad is famously attributed with successfully mobilizing people to oppose construction of two dams in the Grand Canyon. This also resulted in the construction of the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station. This presentation will cover these and other historical and contemporary examples of propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation campaigns in which public opinion has been shaped to respond, or not respond, to environmental concerns. 

The Speaker Series is made possible by the Friends of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (http://friendsofcasagranderuins.org/) with additional support from Arizona Humanities (https://azhumanities.org/). The program begins at 1:00 pm in the Casa Grande Ruins visitor center theater at 1100 W Ruins Drive, Coolidge AZ, 85128. There is no fee for the program, and entrance is free at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.  

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument protects the multi-story Great House (Casa Grande) and the remnants of other ancient structures built by the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People over 800 years ago. Established as the nation’s first preshistoric and cultural reserve in 1892, the Ruins sparked the beginning of the archeological preservation movement in America. The monument is open daily from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Independence Day holidays. Directions and additional information are available on the monument’s website, http://www.nps.gov/cagr. You may call [phone], or follow us on Facebook by searching for Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. 
 

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