General Discussions

This is a space for CoSphere’s community to connect, learn, and take action for sustainability. Here’s how you can participate: 1. Ask and Answer Questions Confused or wondering about something science- and sustainability-related? Pose your questions and tag them with themes (e.g., climate change

I had the pleasure to visit a large waste treatment plant before, unlike the dirty, dark place people may imagine, the waste treatment plant is almost clean unless the place is stacked the garbage. I remember one thing that the expert who leads our team emphasized, which is that make sure the purity

I have sincerely enjoyed my time in ENVR430 so much. I found the format of the course to be low-risk which made me feel comfortable answering and asking questions (general participation). I also felt that it fostered curiosity and community by having us regularly engage in conversation about topics

This post is a little different and longer than my others, because I'd like to take the perspective of someone else for once: my sister's. My sister has an autoimmune disease called Systemic Scleroderma, one in which your organs start to harden. It affects almost all aspects of the body, and for my

I was nervous about this class because it tackled environmental issues through a lens that I had previously not operated under. There was a lot of discussion on human ecology and our behavior and why we act in ways that harm the environment that I didn't encounter before. Subjects such as single-use

This course was very eye-opening and will be one of the courses I'll remember for the rest of my life. Every topic was so interesting to learn about and the content always included something I'd never learned before. I honestly feel like ENVR 430 is a very important class that all UBC students shoul

We were taught about consumerism and how landfill builds up. I realized that we should focus on our needs and forget about our wants

Due to the inability to select the hashtag for a post theme, I’ll title this #UnleashValues I’m currently in a consumerism workshop hosted by Harrison, Celeste and Sara. I was aware of the company Apple being sued for having iPhones slow down over time due to updates. I thought this was only due t

I envision a future where we can live in harmony with the natural world. I envision a future where all living beings are treated with respect and dignity. In sleepless cities, I see lots of animals move to cities. Some are derived from sufficient food, some have no choice cause their original places

We've spent our lifetimes filling our lives, shelves, and even our bodies with plastic due to the price and nature of how we are allowed to manipulate this material. This haphazard choice and reliance have fundamentally altered our future and the course of the planet. Recycling doesn't work. It's j

There is a fundamental incompatibility between how wider capitalism works in regard to conservation and our planet. Companies will never put the right thing above financial issues and the companies that try to be good actors are usually the prime target of NGOs. This idealistic marriage of ecologica

Based on the greenhouse emission, the rising temperature is making countless effects. On the coast of BC, mussels are stuck to rot, so mussels are cooked in the heat. In addition, the less cold temperature causes the less skating days in winter. I evasion a future that kids in Canada can enjoy skat

Agricultural practices remain unsustainable within the outlook of the environment. It's a difficult problem within itself. Providing food to a large population that already suffers from food insecurity is a difficult issue that doesn't just include the practices that we use to bring food to the tabl

I believe that water is sacred and that communities and governing bodies have the responsibility to protect these services as they provide an immeasurable value. Protecting these services by protecting and maintaining the ecosystems around them is the most important thing in my opinion. A price tag

I believe in the vision of environmental justice for the indigenous community. This topic is not often spoken about, as we live in a city where we have access to clean water and fresh air. But what about those who do not have access to these essential elements? We, as human beings, often take things

The grip death has on us as a species is so influential in all aspects of our lives whether we know it or not. We like to rehearse it but ultimately we hate actually confronting it. We spend a lot of time allowing the threat of death to color our emotions. This leads us to be ill-prepared for the r

One person’s concepts are formed by the surrounding society, including advertisements. Our consumption view is often manipulated by advertisements. Whether the example of Volkswagen's cheating test or the false guidance of sugar, they confirm the power of business. Even if you don't watch any advert

I went to the David Suzuki x Brandi Morin talk moderated by Naomi Klein earlier this term at the Chan Centre. One thing that stayed with me was Suzuki saying that he was able to "stay in the fight" his whole life by constantly taking action and surrounding himself with others interested in doing the

I had an unforgettable time in ENVR 430 class. I saw many documentaries and videos about the environment that I hadn't seen before, such as biofilms that filter sewage and succulent farms with complete biological chains, which are sustainable ways to solve environmental problems. Vision. In the fut

Sales Comp is a SAAS Agency who is providing top free sales commission software that helps you track, manage and forecast your sales commissions. It's simple to use and can be integrated with your existing accounting software. It's a great tool for small businesses and startups to keep track of thei

It was interesting to learn that apple sends updates to slow down the iphones so we can buy new ones. A thing that I can do in the future is either not accepting the new updates or buying other phone brand than iphone!

Does forgetting to cut your lawn for weeks on end count as rewilding? What about *not* hazing the coyotes that I regularly see biking home from school? In thinking about how to support more ecological integrity in urban spaces, I feel like there’s a whole bunch of everyday things that we can not int

Removing plastics is the first and most necessary step in improving environmental and personal health–I envision a world in which we don’t live under the threat of continuously escalating concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals in our food and water. It’s not about a sepia-toned bike messen

Kai said in class that "the worst actors are invulnerable to almost every [non-legal] mechanism that we have". Well, where do we go from here? Legal restructuring of the finance system, I'd say. Within the economic structure that we live in, I really want to see corporations acting for public good,

Wildfires are a part of how the environment works. Fire is intrinsically part of how the world works. But our actions as humans consequently have put stress on this cycle through the propagation of climate change and unhealthy forest management. Wildfires are not unfamiliar to many of us on the pac

As mentioned before, I'm a strong believer that farms do not function without animals from tiny microorganisms to insect to pigs and cows. I also strongly believe that these animals work in harmony and to the benefit of crop yields (meaning that monocultures that fail to incorporate animals into the

It's astonishing how much freshwater we have in Canada. I lived in Western Cape, South Africa, during the Cape Town water crisis, and I was amazed how that scarcity mindset resulted in small lifestyle changes that radically reduced how much water I used. I wish we valued clean water more here, and r

I put my post on Instagram this week, but wanted to expand on it here because of the interesting responses I had. Following our in class discussion about the idea of reciprocity of nature being a form of justice, I posted the following on my Instagram with #UnleashValues. PLEASE DROP A COMMENT: I w

The vision I have for the future for justice and reconciliation is centered on the topic of human responsibility. Kai mentioned that many people are in very strong agreement that humans are responsible for protection of the planet FOR other humans. That was important to me and nice to hear however,