When I envisioned this class, ENVR 430, this was not what I had in mind at all. I had envisioned a class that was more content-focused, rather than the collaborative and free-flowing classes we have had. It was honestly really refreshing to be in a class that had such in-depth discussions and addressed taboo topics such as climate change and all of the related elements with such ease. It feels that we all know that climate change is an issue, but no one really knows how they can help, and through this class, I have been highly inspired. I value collaboration and not being pressured to recall all of the information on the command, and rather understand the concepts as I have in this class. Focusing on a different topic each week made it easy to not get confused. Still, even if I did, Kai and Dana were absolutely fantastic in helping me understand difficult topics. In terms of interventions, going forward I would like to start campaigns to garner awareness on topics that speak out to me, such that everyone else gets educated too. #UnleashValues

I envision a future where we are able to plan death care, in a way where our death does not impact the lives of others. One thing I value is being considerate: thinking about others, and not doing something that negatively impacts someone else’s life. We can be/are selfish for our entire lives, the one time when we can step back and think about other people can be towards the end of our lives. Of course, we do not know when death will come, but once we are between the ages of 40-50, we should start planning our death care to make our end-of-life wishes known. Cremation and anti-ecological burials are the two most chosen methods of death care, and they both come with impacts on the environment and other individuals. As mentioned in class there are other solutions that people do not even know of, as death is such a taboo problem, and people are hesitant to talk about it. Without properly planned death care, the decisions are left to your loved ones who are going through an extremely vulnerable time and can be easily manipulated by funeral homes who are only looking for their profit. As for interventions, it will be impossible to implement a law that forces certain death care on you, as people’s beliefs and religion heavily way in on how people live their lives from life to death, however, maybe we can implement a law which requires you to have a death care plant by a certain age, that could possibly reduce the number of cremations and anti-ecological burials. What we can do is open up and talk about death and death care, perhaps hold meetings/workshops that give death care education. We need to educate others about options other than cremation and anti-ecological burials, like natural burials and donating to science. The more we talk about it, and the more knowledge we have about more eco-friendly options, the more likely we are to choose them. #UnleashValues

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 ourselves about where what we use comes from and the impacts it has on the environment. Plastic is not something we go and seek out rather it comes as a by-product of what we buy. We don’t even think about the plastic packaging, we throw it to the side, as long as we get the product inside we are good, We don’t stop to think about where the plastic we are throwing away is going and what will happen with it. As we learned today, plastic recycling does not work, at least not in a timely manner. The time it takes for plastic to dispose of is extremely long, for example, it takes a plastic bag around 1000 years to break down in a landfill, where it reaches when we throw it away and do not recycle properly. In terms of interventions, banning single-use plastics will go a long way, and is actually going a long way in Canada currently. Single-use plastic will be prohibited completely as of December 20, 2022, but it is already implemented in many places today including Vancouver. Strict laws should also be introduced that hold the producers of these plastics accountable for their actions. #UnleashValues

I envision a future where businesses hold responsibility for their actions and have transparency that allows us to see how/where the products they sell are made, and the production conditions. I value businesses being open and honest, as well as, people taking responsibility for their consumption. Disclosing where they get materials and the processes used to create products would be the ideal situation, but I just don’t see it happening. A lot of companies would rather shut down than be transparent as it would expose their true faces. Using limited resources, underpaying employees, and unsafe/risky working conditions are just some of the things that some large corporations are hiding. If they were open about and had to disclose all this information, we would see a sizeable shift in the pay given to their workers and the work conditions they are subjected to. Businesses and companies are not all to blame, we carry a part of the blame too. We as an individual are not forced to buy something, we choose to consume particular products, and the responsibility of choosing what to consume lies on our shoulders, but everything surrounding the product from the production to the marketing is controlled by the businesses. These corporations are shrew sharks and it can be hard for people to gauge the difference between real and fake as multiple companies act as eco-friendly and green-forward, while the truth is the total opposite and they are only looking out for their benefit. We need to own up to what we consume and take the initiative to be better. Philanthropy will not save us. Throwing money at the climate crisis will not seize it from existing, as long as people keep adding to the problem by consuming without education, the problem really will never get solved. In terms of interventions, laws should be implanted that force companies to be open about their products and the entire process from production to the sale of the product. Failure to comply with the laws should be met with strict penalties and punishments. People will not change their ways/stop looking for loopholes until there are laws in place that will stop them from doing so. It is not fair that the average person suffers the consequences of the rich’s actions. #UnleashValues

I envision a future where we can step out to breathe in a breath of fresh air and can enjoy time outdoors, without having to worry about the impact the air quality will have on us. Everyone should have access to clean breathable air. I value clean air, and I am sure many others do too. Have you ever stepped outside when there was a live forest fire somewhere nearby, not only is it hard to breathe, it impacts your vision and other capacities. The fires that exist today are not the same as those in the past, super fires exist now and in comparison to the past, the risk to life and property has increased. Fires not only ruin the air quality, but they also ruin lives: people die, and lose homes and valuables. Our contributions to fires are not just direct, with human-set fires, but we also contribute indirectly as well. We add to climate change through many actions (such as burning fossil fuels and wasting/over-consuming resources) and this leads to global temperatures rising, which further results in creating more fuel sources by drying grasslands and trees. There are a few interventions: planting trees further away from each other and planting different tree species with varying fire-catching properties. Implementing and carrying out severe penalties for human-lit forest fires, especially for nonsensical reasons such as gender reveal parties. Just stopping someone from setting a fire does not do much, setting planned-out fires that burn some of the fuel now, so that when one gets set naturally, there is less fuel to burn, and less damage to be done. People believe that by setting these fires, their economic livelihoods are in jeopardy, and they are concerned that a controlled fire will get out of hand, but these judgments are based on misunderstandings about larger scaled forest fires getting out of hand. #UnleashValues

I envision a future where there is affordable and sustainable food for all. Food needs to grow in ways that are not only sustainable but also allow agricultural land to replenish itself. We are always going to need food, no matter what changes, we cannot survive without it. Like water, we have taken food for granted. We have it extremely, when we are in the need of food, we go to a store and pick some up. If we were to grow our own food, it would only be then that we see what goes into goring food. Food, especially animal-based foods should be consumed in limited ways. Overconsumption of food (mostly animal-based) is a large contributor to carbon emissions and the climate crisis. Cattle are the number 1 source of greenhouse gases worldwide, with one single cow belch, releasing 220 pounds of methane, and the cattle population was at approximately 996 million in 2021. The more we consume, the more the demand increases, and the more damage is caused to the environment. An intervention could be to introduce a policy that limits the amount of animal-based foods that we consume yearly. Around 75% of agricultural land is devoted to raising livestock, leaving only 25% to grow food among other things. This is extremely concerning, as what would we do if that 25% turns barren and is no longer able to grow crops? I am not saying we go full-blown vegan, but that we only eat these foods to a certain extent, and not over-consume. #UnleashValues

I envision a future where everyone has access to clean and drinkable water while realizing the significance of water too. Water should be accessible to all, unfortunately, clean water has become a luxury, instead of a basic human right. Millions of people do not have access to safe, drinkable water and it breaks my heart to see when those with access don’t realize it. When we have constant access to something, we take it for granted, and this includes clean water. We tend to waste water whether that is taking long or multiple showers, or washing the dishes in the sink with the tap running. We will not realize what we have or appreciate it until we don’t have it anymore. If we lost access to water that is drinkable, then only would we be able to realize the importance that it holds. The value that water holds is extremely large as it contributes to so much more than just drinkable water. Water also represents agriculture and basic hygiene. Agriculture will not be possible if we do not have access to water, and neither will maintaining hygiene, including showering, using the toilet, and brushing your teeth. We take water for granted as we do not realize the impact it has on our daily lives. A possible intervention is that governments are forced to allocate a certain part of the budget strictly to providing drinkable water to all of their people. This is not going to be easy, as governments in countries where clean drinkable water is not accessible tend to prioritize the budget towards other things. However, if we all start taking a look at the policies of parties before we vote, these small changes can start making a big impact. #UnleashValues

I envision a positive future where we have procedural processes, that allow everyone to be considered equal and have a say in what happens, especially when it impacts them. Equality means a lot to me as a woman of colour, because I either personally have faced situations or heard from someone close, where they were treated unjustly, and to put it lightly, it is not a place anyone wants to be. One of the first things we learn as children are the saying “treat others the way you want to be treated”, put yourself in the shoes of the other person, and try to understand how they would feel. The otter reintroduction really got me thinking about how the First Nations people would have felt about the exclusivity. The reintroduction impacts them directly because a large number of First Nation communities live by the coast where the otters were reintroduced. They were never asked once about what they thought, in fact, they were not even told about them until they were already here, leaving nothing for discussion. They value their relationships and connecting with the land through many activities such as going out to fish, collecting shellfish, and eating sea urchins Due to the people who decided to reintroduce the otters, these relationships were all destroyed in a very small time period. They went from having a sacred relationship with their boats, and the fish that they captured to being limited, or not having one at all. Personally, I think it is very important to speak up when you see someone not being treated as you would want to be treated. This might not be in the favour of Indigenous people right now, but we need to start somewhere. We need to address inequality of all types, I believe that if you can’t stand up for the right thing during a smaller-scaled situation, how will you gather the courage to do so when the situation is quite graver? Perhaps some laws need to be made that ensure that all individuals that will be impacted by a large change need to be included in the discussion surrounding it. #UnleashValues

I personally believe that it is going to be extremely hard for people to move away from expensive and environmentally damaging materialistic things as long as they care about what society has to say. I envision a future where everyone has an understanding of how the things they consume affect the environment. I personally know that I do not want a diamond engagement ring, as not only are they extremely expensive and not feasible with the skyrocketing housing market, the impact they have on the Earth is just not worth it. However, I do know from experience that people especially family will look down upon getting an environment-friendly ring, as much of society views anything less than diamonds as a form of cheapness, rather than looking beyond that and seeing the small positive impact you are making towards a better future. Expensive items are not expressions of love, instead, they give you a false sense of luxury and belonging in society. I believe that one person or one initiative cannot change that devastating state our planet is in, it is going to take a little from everyone to achieve the positive future we envision. #UnleashValues