Most importantly, the concept of really thinking about your values is one that I like very much and haven't applied in my personal life to a great extent. Most of the time we talk about our ideas, opinions or feelings about certain things (which implicitly tell you something about our values), but we don't really take the time to actually listen to ourself and reflect what our values are and whether they might change over time. Thanks for channeling inner thought processes!
This course was brought to my attention by the list of "popular non RES courses" from the Master's of Resources, Environment and Sustainability from IRES. I can definitely understand why it is popular. When I got accepted for the semester abroad at UBC I was super excited about the variety of courses I could take, and after a little bit of research about Kai and his projects, this course was on top of the list. I knew UBC was a prestigious university and I was looking forward to the teaching methods in North America. Compared to other courses I took during my time here, this was by far the most engaging, well taught, and I learned something every week. I felt like it was a great balance between storytelling and educating us from Kai and learning something from peers. At the beginning I wasn't 100% sold on the idea of publicly posting something every week, but it was highly effective to properly think about the stuff that you write about, since you make yourself vulnerable to criticism.
It's tough to find something negative or constructive about the course, so my only wish for change would be a different time during the week. It's right at the gateway to the weekend and people might already be somewhere else - physically or in their minds. If this course is on a Tuesday or early Wednesday, it gives you a lot more power to start fresh into the week.
Totally agree! This was such an engaging course with so much that I can take away. This course really changed my perspective and empowered me, as well. Thanks for your thoughtful reflection!
Great post Chris! Every week felt like a seminar or like a TedTalk and I always took something meaningful away from the class. It was such a unique experience to be exposed to hard hitting topics and to constructively write about it not as a scientist or policy maker, but as a person.