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 plastics, activism, and environmental assessments are all topics that I've managed to grow my knowledge in The mixed media that was associated with the class also added an extra dimension of interest. Thinking of these issues and really highlighting them as a part of a complicated complex system has changed my outlook and framework for thinking. I'm leaving this class with a better understanding of the issues at hand. I'm leaving this class with a graver concern for our ecosystems and how much trouble we are in. I'm leaving this class with the knowledge that fixing our problems will be a massive effort. But I'm also leaving this class with a lot of motivation to make changes and skills that will make it happen.

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 realities of death. We never really plan to die. Which leads to us dying lonely in boxes that stop us from reconnecting with the environment around us, effectively making us die lonely. Separated from the earth while being 6 feet under. I hope that in the future that we can shift collective beliefs to have natural burials that can serve the environment around us and lower the costs and resources needed to continue the ecologically damaging practices that aren't in our best interests. I think this can happen with better education and a shift from the institutional default of cremations and graveyards.

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 just a waste tossed somewhere else so we don't see the trash that we make. And even when it's being used to make new products it's rarely energy efficient and is just a way to make consumers less guilty of the choices they make. Plastic waste just accumulates as none of it is banned or controlled by an ever-ineffectual government while we are sold an assortment of colorful and useless packaging that will be the death of us. But we can't just stop using plastic. It's too ingrained in our lives for us to turn the other way. We need to ban single-use plastics. We need to kick start and accelerate the development of organic plastics that will stop us from killing ourselves under the growing plastic that we spew out as a society. We need to push for our governments to ban it so we can take a step out of the plastic ocean in which we are drowning in.

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 ecological solutions and the market is irreconcilable and needs to be instructed to the masses. Companies like Walmart, Volkswagen, and more will always take the route to more wealth. We need to act by boycotting and putting towards a collective movement that punishes and forces our governments and companies to take meaningful action to stop the ecological destruction of our planet. In addition to this, we need to also understand that this fight is a constant one that we need to remain vigilant on. Building a coalition for organizations can facilitate a range of activities as it supplies a community of like-minded individuals to come together so can use their voices to make a change. Corporations are scared of collective action, general strikes, and boycotts. It's something in our toolbox that we need to use now. And maybe then we can have an economy that actually puts the planet and its consumers first instead of profit.

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 pacific northwest but it remains a problem for both our environment and life. One vision I have for the future is the promotion of practices by the governments of the world for controlling wildfires. We need to make our governments AND citizens aware of this by educating them and communicating these ideals publicly through activism and education. This can be with the increased and measured use of controlled burns and mechanical fuel treatment. Offering and expanding upon these levels of protection can be very important for us to properly take care of our forests. These methods can stop the slow march to the destruction of our environment.

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 table for everyone. It's a multifaceted problem that has been running on an exploitative and environmentally disastrous engine for the past couple of years. My vision for the future is a holistic reassessment and alteration of how governments subsidize and incentivize agricultural practices to promote practices such as diverse perennial poly-cultures and more methodology that remains sustainable. We throw a lot of money toward livestock and plant agriculture practices and farms that decimate the environment while requiring a tremendous amount of resources to maintain. Monocultures remain the most popular way to grow these crops because of the volume and economical incentive. An unsustainable amount of water, energy, and other resources need to be consumed to keep these practices alive, and in the wake of the ongoing climate catastrophe, it's going to get worse. But what if we change those incentives? What if we flip the switch and fundamentally change the rules that we play by? At this point, it is not a matter of if, but a matter of how we should do it. Money needs to be diverted into polycultures, practices that use intricate adaptable complex systems to our advantage by creating farms that take advantage of diversity. Time needs to be given to cultivating and understanding these practices so that we can use them to their full potential. We need to understand that farming can allow these additions and that while they are tough and very costly to achieve, they will be worth it. We need to tell our governments that the planet needs this. That we need this. We need to shift the conversation to these practices. We need to generate a movement that shines a light on our agricultural practices. But we can't do this alone.

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 for these services In the future. I hope that as a society that properly values water and is not denied this invaluable resource instead as it is a fundamental human right. I hope that the ecosystems around water are protected due to their importance in maintaining water safety and quality through environmental services. Recalling back to cases like Vancouver, where even if there are issues such as water turbidity, problems are minimized due to careful planning and protection from the government. But it isn't perfect. Even Vancouver has water scarcity for Indigenous populations. This should happen through better governance and protection of this natural resource that enables us to maintain a steady supply without the risk of destroying the planet through misuse and a lack of collective action. Holding corporations responsible and requiring them to work with local governments to make sure that their practices are not severely inhibiting the life around them and forcing them to take action and help with solutions if that's the case. We shouldn't need reinsurance companies to step in, we need collective action to make sure these ecosystem services are maintained for future generations to come. It's important that governments and regulations are strict and demand accountability due to the number of parties that actively harm the water in our world for exploitation. So much of what we need for the future is at our doorsteps and we need to step up to protect it. We need to force local municipal governments to value the water services that our local ecosystems provide and in doing so also make sure that the groups that use it do not harm it and take care of it with the rest of our communities. Force governing bodies to have regulations and deals with the community that ensure that these sources last.

My vision for the future involves a reconstruction of the systems that we operate under to contain renewed relationships with the way we see value in the world. This could push resources from the environment to be properly distributed to people who interact and have a relationship with the environment. This could be achieved by governments minimizing the emphasis on large corporations' views and perspectives and such issues and focusing on the people living in those communities. I believe that it's fair to be unfair to corporations as they play a large role in the exploitation of these ecosystems.

My vision for a positive future is that we have a society that isn’t programmed for over-consumption and that it is no longer associated with happiness and self-fulfillment. An ideal future would be one where capitalism is not the dominating system that promises technological solutions that do nothing but increase efficiency without confronting how humans consume. The act of consumption should be de-emphasized. I value the labor and materials used to produce are sourced ethically and not designed to be the maximization for profit. I also value self-fulfillment as being less related to materialism. I think this vision that consists of these values would be achieved by rethinking and reconstructing our society's relationship with capitalism by limiting the amount of influence that corporations have on governments and people as a whole. There has been a widespread commitment to fostering overconsumption in our society and it needs to stop not only for the environment but for ourselves. I personally try to do this in my personal life by starting movements or creating art that reflects these values so that I can portray this ideology to a wider spectrum of people. A lot of what we put into the cultural space (particularly from major corporations) are calls to buy more, spend more, and think that it makes a difference.

This message is my introduction to my enrollment from ENVR430 at UBC. I am excited at this opportunity to learn how to foster real sustainable change. I am currently a 4th year biology student at UBC with a focus and specialization in Ecology and the environment. I hope to use the scientific concepts and theories that I've learned from my education and begin to understand how to enact changes socially through a more policy-orientated lens. I believe that this course will be a good bridge between activism and academia, by not only using what we understand about the environment, but the people and community around us. I hope #unleashvalues serves as a record and forum for this journey towards diagnosing sustainability problems, developing effective solutions, and designing systems that properly represent our values.