Personal Sustainability Definition (Pre-course)

The Sustainability Paradigm: By Ariel Kettle 2012

Sustainability is a new word that has developed to describe our potential as people to change our systems to ways that are sustainable. Being sustainable means balance: giving and taking from the Earth equally to create a closed, self-sufficient system. Sustainability means maintenance of the Earth; living on our planet without destructively impacting it. This seems like a simple concept - keep your home clean and your resources in continuous supply – yet currently we are exploiting our resources to the point where we are running out, and polluting our planet in turn. Saving our home and ultimately mankind starts with us. We need to inspire motivation to care about our planet, not only because we need what the Earth provides, but also because we respect the place where we came from. Sustainability is reconstruction of humanity, socially and economically, within our environment. We need to understand that everything is interconnected and equally important.

Environmental Autobiography

My environmental autobiography begins with my childhood experience and the values that influenced my views of the world. I grew up quite simply in a small farming town surrounded by the natural world. Consequently, nature became a fundamental part of how I define myself. I live in nature, came from nature, and my body will ultimately become nature when I die. My parents’ great respect of the natural environment was impressed upon me at an early age. They often took me exploring out into the natural world through camping, canoeing and hiking, teaching me about various plants and geological processes along the way. I was innately fascinated by the way these things worked together and impressed by the beauty of the complex system that the world is. This love for the natural earth was the inspiration for my future interests in all things connected to sustainability, although of course at that time I did not know the term itself.

         One of the most impacting forces of my youth was the state of the ecosystem where I lived. Growing up in the Okanagan I was exposed to the changing weather patterns and increasing number and severity of forest fires. It was evident to me that things were changing as a result of human activity, and in return negatively impacting humans. I experienced ash rain from a fire not five kilometers away and feared evacuation and the potential loss of my home, all because somebody dropped a cigarette butt out of a car window. Similarly, the devastating forest fire of Kelowna in 2003 gave me not only a fearful respect for the power of nature, but also a disappointment at the carelessness of humans. The pine beetle destruction of forests was also a great example of this, for it was human interference with nature that caused this problem. I felt a compelling need to change people’s perspectives and bring more awareness about our problematic impacts on the earth.

         During my early teen years I was often identified as what some termed a “tree-hugger”, a slang term for someone concerned with the conservation of the environment. Many of my peers disregarded or mocked my environmentalist interests, and in fact some still do today. My high school and teachers largely believed that the concept of global warming was all just a silly myth. I, however, was not dissuaded by their lack of concern. My brother, who also grew up with a sense of responsibility for the environment, showed me Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which largely opened my eyes to some of the current global environmental issues and spurred my further exploration of sustainability.

         One of my best friends during my adolescence was similarly interested in environmental issues. We would often discuss our views and why we believed them, as well as share new information we discovered. For most of these years this discussion was the extent of my action related to sustainability, yet it proved an excellent starting point. I was able to develop some general knowledge about environmental issues around the globe and create my own philosophy about why I should be concerned and take responsibility for my impact on the earth. Media was simultaneously an influence for it was one of the main sources of my learning, but the natural environment around me equally served as a visible testament to my understanding. My friend and I collaborated to film or photograph ecological damage that we observed in our own communities. Although we never completed a film montage as we intended, it got us out there investigating and thinking about the damaging processes and materials so often used in society.

         Last February I came to UBC for the first time to get a campus tour and contemplate whether I would want to enroll in this school. I was initially skeptical, and though I admired the beauty of the campus, I was intimidated by the size. My tour group then passed by the C. K. Choi Building and my group leader explained all the marvelous sustainable features that were integrated into the architecture. I was impressed and inspired by the possibilities I imagined. From that moment on I made the choice to study at UBC and pursue my desire to encompass my interests in art, architecture and sustainability.

         In more recent times, my knowledge about sustainability has increased with my university studies and the pro-environment culture that surrounds UBC and Vancouver. In my classes I have learned a bit more about current environmental issues and had the opportunity to explore them myself. Geography has been an integral area of study to gain more knowledge about earth processes in order to understand and apply concepts of sustainability. Discovering some of the sustainability initiatives around campus has inspired me even more to learn where I can go with my interests. I am currently interested in the environmental design program and possibly architecture after that. I am still dedicated to pursuing my interests and incorporating sustainable goals.

         This brings me to my enrollment in Sustainability 101. One of my current best friends at UBC has similar, if even more passionate interests in the natural world and sustainability. He first heard of this course and told me about it, urging me to consider taking the course. I couldn’t resist taking a course that explores the very issues I have been concerned with all my life. I feel very privileged to be a part of the launch of a new course and a leader in sustainability. I am most excited about the opportunity this provides me to obtain a fundamental understanding of sustainability that is unique to me, and I intend to use this education as a stepping stone to integrating sustainability in a real way into my daily life, future education and career.

        

What is Life?

“The condition that distinguishes animals, plants, and other organisms from inorganic or inanimate matter, characterized by continuous metabolic activity and the capacity for functions such as growth, development, reproduction, adaptation to the environment, and response to stimulation; (also) the activities and phenomena by which this is manifested.” 

I see life as more than a physical characteristic that distinguishes living organisms from dead or inorganic matter. To be living means to be flourishing, productive, useful or with the ability to impact other things, physical or non-physical. Even an inanimate rock can be considered alive because it is constantly changing and actively contributing to the surrounding environment. Water, too, is always moving and shaping the surfaces it encounters. The sun, as science shows, does have a life span and continuous activity in the form of radiated heat and light energy. By these characteristics, it is easy to see how not only the physically living is actually ‘alive’. This view of life entails that all things are essentially alive and an important part of the greater whole. If everything really is alive, this changes our view of the world. Personally, I am inclined to treat everything with more care and respect, considering how crucial each component is to its system.

Is Human Conciousness Alive?

We are living beings and are minds are always at work whether we know it or not, but I doubt this means that our consciousness is truly alive. To be alive means to be actively creating, changing or affecting the external. If we are living our lives on autopilot, as we are so prone to do, then our consciousness is dead. We are not trying to change anything, although we are affecting our environment. Instead, we are going about day-to-day activities, pursuing the things our society tells us we need to be happy such as money, possessions, and status. This can be good if we are accumulating these things with an unselfish motive, but in most cases we are not. To be truly alive as people, we need to create positive change for the planet, the future and ourselves.

Word World

We seem to express almost everything we know and learn through text. All of school is expressions of learning through written language. The first thing taught to children is how to read and write. University as well is hugely based on essay writing and research of textual sources. This makes sense because written language is the clearest way known to man to present information, but it is not necessarily the most powerful. Reading words is not nearly the same as a picture or real life experience. There are simply not enough words to convey every emotion, every thought, and even those we have do not do the job justice. This is because we don’t think in words. Someone who never heard spoken words would still be able to think, albeit in a bit different way. This does seem a bit backwards to me, not because writing is not a good method of communication, but because we shouldn’t just focus or depend on text to express ourselves. Other methods should be explored to see how effective they might be. Perhaps with enough effort we can create a new method of communication, something that taps right into our very thoughts and conveys them to others. Why would this be helpful? If used properly, it could be very influential and beneficial for convincing others to help sustain planet Earth.