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Sara Roh
Dec 01, 2022
In #UnleashValues
This week, I had the opportunity to reflect on the course. I was anticipating another typical class with lectures full of information to memorise but I would soon forget. However, I am feeling completely different about the class now. After every single week focused on a different aspect of the environment, I gained a deeper sense of understanding and appreciation. The lectures felt like stories rather than text on a slide and every time we had a class discussion, it was inspiring to see so many like-minded students. This course exceeded my expectations, I was expecting to feel discouraged learning of how inevitable the end of our planet is and learn of all the negatives surrounding this topic. But instead, I was educated on feasible solutions. I was previously hung up on the idea that I personally could not make a difference by myself but am glad to know that change is possible through real specific solutions and collaboration. The values and skills I am leaving the class with revolve around my newfound appreciation for the environment and the skills I picked up from the hard conversations we had in class. I am motivated to have more conversations about sustainability with my community, starting with my friends and hopefully expanding to even strangers in the near future. The hard conversations have made me realise that not all conversations have to have a clear goal. Rather, the act of discussing an important topic actually contributes to making a change as it helps people to start thinking of the possibilities and bring light to environmental topics that are so often overlooked. Leaving this course I want to take what I learned and move forward to making a change in my planet, unleashing my values for many years to come. #UnleashValues
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Sara Roh
Nov 19, 2022
In #UnleashValues
I believe in the human responsibility for us to stay environmentally conscious even after our deaths. I believe that we must choose the most sustainable option for death care when possible (ie. religion is not applicable) and that we should consciously make an effort to simultaneously provide the best death care for our loved ones while also making an effort to provide the best care for our environment. I envision a world where the traditional funeral processes such as burying embalmed bodies in caskets or cremation are slowly phased out of being the norm and alkaline hydrolysis becomes legal all across Canada. I envision a world where alkaline hydrolysis is the new norm and more awareness is brought to its benefits against cremation as it uses ⅛ the energy, leaves ¼ carbon footprint, and involves no mercury emissions. I want to support the BC aquamation petition which advocates making aquamation legal in B.C. as this death care process is currently only legal in four Canadian provinces and one territory, and aim to do so by signing the petition. Furthermore, I want to advocate for the topic of death to be discussed more in general. Like the topic of sex, death is considered a taboo topic and many people shy away from discussing it. Therefore, more exposure and discussion need to be raised, as well as the environmental consequences the subsequent burial methods pose, in the educational system. I want to push for death to be incorporated alongside the family planning unit in high school to allow more people to be comfortable and aware of the options, which would also allow people to become more aware and advocate more strongly for the aquamation process in our provincial government. #UnleashValues
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Sara Roh
Nov 04, 2022
In #UnleashValues
I believe in the human responsibility to reduce non-compostable plastics and make conscious efforts towards reducing garbage contribution. In particular, I believe in the necessary reduction of disposable plastics and greater awareness of this topic. I envision a world where single-use plastics are completely banned, in particular the use of plastic straws as I noticed that although plastic straws are banned in Vancouver and are in the process of being phased out, there are many individuals purposefully buying their own private stash of straws or hoarding those currently available to use instead. I want to start a movement where awareness regarding the ecological impacts plastic straws have on our planet. In particular, educate those who are noticing the current ban on plastic straws in Vancouver to know the real reasons why they are being banned - their ability to absorb toxic endocrine-disrupting chemicals and introduce them back into the food chain. Furthermore, I wish to advocate for bills to be put into place that funds more research into alternatives for straws as I realize that they cannot be completely removed as it provides accessibility for those with disabilities. There are some alternatives already well known such as paper straws and metal straws however they come with their respective downfalls of melting too quickly or being inconvenient to carry around. I hope there will be more research done into newer alternatives such as hay straws that are made out of wheat stalks and do not pose the issue of getting soggy yet are fully biodegradable. #UnleashValues
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Sara Roh
Oct 28, 2022
In #UnleashValues
I believe in wealth equality where those who are privileged to be wealthy contribute appropriately to those who are not. I also believe that the donations that are being made by the wealthy should be appropriately used and spent towards the greater goal of helping our ecosystem. I envision a world where everyone wealthy does not have access to loopholes that allow them to evade taxes. There will be a significant reduction in the ultra-wealthy taking advantage of tax loopholes and I wish to see real changes being made with the donation that they do make. I am supporting this pre-existing campaign called “Tax the Rich” by BroadBen Institute to instigate a tax reform, with 2 of their main focuses which consist of creating a wealth tax, specifically for the wealthiest top 1% of Canadians and closing tax loopholes to prevent the rich from participating from more big philanthropy as discussed in our class pre-class material. I was surprised to learn that so many of the wealthy were participating in tax loopholes and wish that in addition more media attention is raised to expose those involved. By bringing more attention, this would also discourage others from also partaking in unjust activity. Additionally, with the donations currently being made by the rich, I hope to see a more transparent and public breakdown of the allocation of the funds, also through media exposure so more are aware of how big and prevalent this issue is. To contribute to this intervention, I am signing their petition that is directed at the Federal Government by sending an email to my MP by bringing up those two above-mentioned points. #UnleashValues
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Sara Roh
Oct 21, 2022
In #UnleashValues
I believe in a human right for people to have clean air to breathe in as well as the protection and maintenance of wildlife and the ecosystem. I envision a world where forest fire occurrences are kept at an all-time low as well as a society where everyone is well educated on the negative health consequences of Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) as well as its negative environmental consequences. I want to start a movement that advocates for awareness of PM2.5. PM2.5 refers to fine particulate matter that is less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, which often is a result of forest fires. Even with the recent forest fire smoke, I noticed that many people were not wearing masks despite the extremely unsafe levels. I came to realize that not many people were educated on the long-term health effects it possesses as well as the environmental and ecological impacts: namely how PM2.5 can deposit and affect plants, and water quality, as well as contribute to climate change. Furthermore, I wish that the government creates a bill that allocates a separate fund for these environmental educational campaigns, which should not just be limited to PM2.5. For example, I personally did not know that controlled/prescribed burns existed and how they actually can contribute to reducing larger detrimental forest fires. By bringing more awareness, more people can be actively educated on what is going on, which will allow them to take action to protect their health as well as their planet. #UnleashValues
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Sara Roh
Oct 14, 2022
In #UnleashValues
I believe in the responsibility we hold as those who live on planet earth to actively look for methods to reduce our carbon dioxide accumulation. Namely, I believe that the reduction of meat consumption is the right step towards contributing towards more sustainability in the environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. I envision a world where everyone (including those who do it for ethical reasons) choose to reduce their meat consumption in response to learning about the negative consequences meat consumption has on the environment. I envision a world where our carbon dioxide emission levels are significantly reduced due to the efforts of people reducing their meat consumption. I want to start an educational movement to raise more awareness of the environmental consequences of meat consumption. As the ethical reasoning is already well established and known, more light needs to be brought towards the alternative reasons, and possibly the more important reason why we should do so, from an environmental perspective. There is already so much attention brought to reduce carbon dioxide by reducing the usage of vehicles however many do not know that methane gas emitted from livestock is actually more destructive than the carbon dioxide from vehicles. Namely, I want more exposure on how there is a lack of awareness of this knowledge due to the government fearing the loss of their supporters as mentioned in the Cowspiracy documentary. I wish to do so by bringing more media attention by contacting media sites and sharing related posts on my instagram to educate others, as well as have more people recognize what is going on at the governmental level. This would hopefully inspire others to reduce their meat consumption and in turn help the environment as a whole. #UnleashValues
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Sara Roh
Oct 07, 2022
In #UnleashValues
I believe that water, which is such a crucial resource for survival, will not be abused in its use. I also believe that as people who live on planet Earth, we will respect the limited amount of drinkable water we have by being smart with our usage. I believe we will one day no longer have these "water woes" of potentially approaching Day Zeros and have a lack of water. I envision a world where everyone has the same amount of urgency of ensuring everyone has clean, drinkable water. I wish for a world where it is not just the people who are in dire need of water, such as the citizens of Cape Town that took action in reducing their water consumption as they approached Day Zero, but that everyone takes the same amount of urgency in reducing their consumption. I also envision a world where people are being smart about their resources of water by reusing it to reduce their overall water use. For my intervention, I want to advocate for law changes to occur to help citizens implement changes in their daily lives to reuse and ultimately reduce their water consumption. In particular, I want to advocate for a bill that would ensure the government allocates some of their funding towards systems that can reuse water. As the ultimate goal would be to reduce water altogether, I recognize that this is difficult to implement for people in first-world countries, such as Canada, where their current daily routines revolve around a high use of water. However, I believe we can ultimately reach this goal by first encouraging the reuse of the copious amounts of water we use. I can imagine incentives similar to the one in Canada that currently offers a rebate for those purchasing zero-emission vehicles can also be provided for those who wish to purchase technologies that can be installed in homes to reuse shower water for toilet water. Furthermore, I wish that my advocation towards a law/bill change can include a momentary reward to citizens that use water that is under a certain amount in their household to encourage the reduction of water use in their homes. After this new program takes off, I can envision another law/bill being put into place that advocates government-funded campaigns that encourage the reduction of water use altogether. This could potentially be done by advertising the potential Day Zeros of each area so citizens can be aware of a tangible date and how urgent and dire the water crisis issue is actually. #UnleashValues
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Sara Roh
Sep 23, 2022
In #UnleashValues
I believe that communities that will directly reap the effects of any ecological changes actively done deserve the right to be a part of the consultation, conversation, and decision in the change being made. I envision a world where Indigenous communities are able to have all three dimensions of justice, distributional, procedural and recognition be satisfied. In particular the Indigenous communities will have no net negative impact on their community, food sources, etc. due to the change. The Indigenous communities will be consulted before changes are implemented and their values and cultural aspects are taken into consideration and will be preserved with any ecological change. I want to start a movement to bring more awareness of the lack of autonomy and involvement the Indigenous peoples are given in decisions regarding their ecological communities. In particular, I want to advocate for a policy/law to be implemented in every province in BC first, and then slowly expand to countries where for every new project/change, a committee of Indigenous peoples or any other group affected in the change are created and are directly part of the conversation. This committee must give permission and agree before any changes can actually be passed. This would not only benefit the Indigenous communities by allowing Indigenous leadership to direct the change that is proposed, but also allow further consideration of environmental, cultural, and health-related consequences that may arise from the proposed change. Also if changes that were allowed that impact the environment, the responsibility of those implementing those changes hold the responsibility of still maintaining the environment and making efforts to preserve or even compensate communities affected. #UnleashValues
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Sara Roh
Sep 16, 2022
In #UnleashValues
For the question “What positive future do you envision?” The first thing that came to mind for me more sustainable shopping, in particular with clothing. Recently, the common norm for women’s fashion consists of articles of clothing that have relatively less materials than they would have 10 years ago (as most are cropped now), poorer quality, as well as higher prices. I did think that this trend would pass however it is now the new norm and people are expected to buy such things. My vision for this would be that there would be changes in production of these clothing that although they may be newly produced, that they are made of different materials to last longer, especially enough that if people wish to get rid of these clothes (after the trends pass), that they are still durable enough to be sent to vintage/thrift stores to be repurposed. This would align also with the current world interest in thrifting. My values around this topic center around that fashion has always been established to be of trends and this fact that clothing is worn and then not will never be changed. However, by adjusting the clothing material itself, to allow it to last longer so that they can be donated and worn by someone else will contribute towards a more positive future that will allow for less environmental burden through the production of even more clothes that would arise from more people wanting to purchase new trends rather than just thrifting it at a lower price. What I am committing to do is partake in more thrifting rather than purchasing directly to take my first step in reducing consuming as it is difficult to start immediately cutting off shopping habits.
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Sara Roh
Sep 16, 2022
In #UnleashValues
Hi everyone! My name is Sara and I am enrolled in ENVR430 at UBC as a fifth year Biology student. To be completely honest, I've always held a pessimistic outlook regarding our environment's future but after our first class I am now confident that a real difference can be made and am excited to dive deeper into this topic. I will be using #UnleashValues and #sustainability throughout my journey this semester of gaining a more insightful understanding of sustainability through ecological and social perspectives. As well, I hope to record here my contributions towards environmental change and initiatives. I am super excited for the rest of the course!
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