#UnleashValues

I envision a world where an anti-ecological burial would be a thing of a past. This would allow our bodies to return to nature in a sense through microbes. This would prevent our bodies from remaining in a limbo of chemicals and sealed away. Through traditional anti-ecological burials we are just pr

I envision a world in which people embrace and live in harmony with nature in a way that coincides with with their values in an informed way. Values associated with this vision would be the willingness to be vulnerable and open to talking about difficult topics like death-care that is significant t

A collation of the visions, values and interventions shared by the students of Ms. Rempel's grade 11 Environmental Science class at Windermere Secondary following our workshop on overconsumption! Vision for the future: Reducing overconsumption by reducing perceived and planned obsolescence. Value:

This course has been amazing! I really appreciate that most of the pre-class work is to watch documentaries. They are definitely much more fun compared to the pre-class assignments in my other courses, and yet the videos were all very informative and had a lot to learn. As for the course content, I

After the first ENVR 430 lecture we had, I was a little nervous about how the rest of the term would go because the course seemed so different from the typical science courses I was used to but at the same time, there was some excitement in me to experience something different. Now that the class is

This week's topic is a challenging one. How do we deal with death? Is it right to try to sway opinion about what people should do with their bodies? Shouldn't that be their choice? But is an uninformed choice a choice at all? My values this week are open-mindedness and awareness . Many of the de

For me, getting old is really scary. Because getting old often means death. It is very common to grow old and die. But only very few of the elders can die in peace. For other elders who are suffering from illnesses, dying in peace is a great luxury. Because of the emotional connection between the el

Nobody likes to think about death. I think this stems from the uncertainty and controversy that surrounds what follows it - do we simply cease to exist? Or is there something else out there for us? I know that the first thing we must do is to talk about it. We fear what we do not know, and we do no

I see a future where the general public is aware of the truth behind plastic recycling and strive towards using less plastic in general rather than relying on recycling. A value that people could keep in mind is using less in the first place will save us from the consequences in the long run. Only a

I believe we need to move away from single-use plastics and find alternatives to these types of products. Single-use plastic items break down into microparticles and smaller plastic products called microplastics that further pollute the environment. Even if plastics are recyclable, only a small port

Vision: I envision a world in which businesses embody social and environmental responsibility in a way that would help benefit the health of the planet. Value: I value the health of our planet, and the production of goods in a way that is not detrimental to the environment. Stated Intervention:

I envision a close future where we applaud sustainability efforts by large businesses, rather than crucify imperfection. It is important for us to value efforts and improvements, even if the company is still far from ideal goals. The way for us to value them is to do our research when companies are

Unfortunately, I do believe that we live in a capitalistic driven society where ethics often fall to the wayside and businesses take the course of maximum profit. It won't be until something drastic, disastrous, and blatantly unavoidable occurs (like the entire planet being threatened) will these bu

I want you to remember what the sky looked like the last few days here on the lower mainland. How hot was it in October? How dry were the grounds? How different was last October? British Columbia should have had tons of rain by now. And yet all we keep getting is smokey skies and a hot, dry day. Cli

Climate change is causing snow to melt earlier causing crops and forests to dry out that easily act as wildfire fuel with the lack of moisture. Greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to these warmer temperatures, further positively reinforcing wildfires. Climate change has also led to differences

When is death appropriate to talk about? I envision a world where action is taken so that death care is more widely discussed. Death is a taboo subject that causes people to be unprepared. However, due to the cost and environmental effects of death care, it is a subject that requires discussion and

I envision a future where a wider range of death options are made available by death care companies. The funeral industry needs to become more open to offering sustainable options, such as aquamation. I think many people would like the idea of environmentally friendly death care, but sometimes that

When I first started this course, I honestly wasn't sure what to expect, as the course was completely structured differently than I was used to. I found that having no exams was really helpful as I didn't feel pressured to remember everything, which actually helped me remember more as I was more eng

As this course comes to an end, I have a lot to reflect on. This course has been very informative in teaching me global issues impacting our environment that I often had misconceptions about (e.g. all fires are bad when in fact, controlled/prescribed fires are quite helpful in wildfire prevention)

In our first class, when Kai asked us if any of us had ever felt that hopelessness when it comes to climate action, and thought "What can I do to make lasting change?" I realized I finally felt both seen and heard and that I had to take this class... and I'm so glad that I did. This class has been s

TW: Depression, Death I was having a really hard time coming up with something to write about this week. I have a lot of thoughts about death philosophically as a human. It is hard to decipher what is valid coherent thought and what is more emotionally rooted. This makes it hard to write about acade

People have a right to have their corpses treated with dignity, and the bereaved should be able to remember their loved ones long after their passing. However, the harm the funeral industry does to the environment cannot be ignored. In conjunction with a shift towards less polluting methods of dispo

I envision a future where the world is free of plastic and everyone is educated about the production and recycling of plastic. I value education and people being educated about the things they consume. People are too naive and unaware of their surroundings for their own good. We need to educate ours

It may be a hard pill to swallow but a lot of plastics aren't actually recycled. Plastic recycling isn't working and I believe corporations that create plastic-packaging for their products need to redevelop the way they're created. They should be held responsible so consumers can easily reduce their

Whenever I'm on campus, I make sure to sort out my recycling into the proper bins. Generally, campus is quite clean and I feel good about myself for doing so. But can you believe that only 10% of our plastics are actually recycled or down cycled? I have family in the Philippines who are very poor an

Businesses are always after the biggest profit possible whether it's through misleading advertising convincing us to buy products we don't need or crazy price markups businesses are only after a profit. This kind of corporate greed has become the norm leading to a quickly growing list of billionaire

I envision a future where transparency amongst the business world is mandatory. This vision is obstructed by the power billionaires have to shape society without public consent. This power is both dangerous and concerning, and it is important to realize that the "Big Philanthropists" aren't the sol

It's crazy to think about how many forest fires happen around the world each year. I remember last year when I had to drive passed the town of Lytton in the summer shortly after the fires. It was absolutely devastating to see the destruction the fire had... We are in a losing game! We are in an endl

The effects from unplanned forest fires are one of the most prominent things for me during this time of year. I still remember around this time 2 years ago when Vancouver was ranked as having the worst air quality in the world according to the World Quality Index. The smoke from the fires were unhea

The effects of climate change can be seen in many aspects of life, and these components are adding up. An example is the prevalence of forest fires. The modern landscape allows for more heat and as a result, more fires. And while forest fires are a natural thing that happens on Earth, human activity