Ryan Konanz E-Portfolio

I feel like I did pretty well in this class, I showed up on time for every class, I did most of the readings and other activities that I was asked to partake in, I believe I only missed about 3 readings and these were during the weeks that I had the most assignments due so I had to focus on them more than anything. I tried to engage in the class as much as I could, but sadly with it all being over zoom, it was challenging to try and get a word in since I didn’t want to interrupt the professor or any other students. During the class, I was always respectful of what others had to say and gave them my full attention when presenting. overall I would give myself an 8/10, I say this because of the couple of readings I missed and not being able to participate in class discussions to the full amount that I wanted; I also tried my best to do the most I could outside of class and bring the teachings to my everyday life.

today was our last class! while I did enjoy this class I am happy to have a bit of a break from all this school work!

It’s been hard trying to find time to go to my special place but I did manage to get a couple of minutes there and drink my hot chocolate. I sat and reflected over all the past weeks and how much the environment has changed. It’s surprising when you get so busy you don’t really realize how much time has passed. So it’s nice to look back and reflect on the time that has passed

Today we broke out and talked about People of the Seventh Fire. This was an interesting read and to me, it resembled the people of maple town reading we did awhile back. it’s about realizing the mark that you’re living on the land, it can be destructive or one who wants to preserve the land. I of course want to try my best and preserve the land, we only have one planet and its slowly dying. that being said I truly don’t think we will be able to save it, massive corporations have sunk their roots deep and will be near impossible to topple over. We would need systemic reform and I just don’t see that happing in my life without some kind of revolt. It was interesting to see the different ways that they view fire, for example, a fire for a ceremony would be different than one used to roast marshmallows

I believe I will be a lifelong environmental advocate; I will always try my best, and do what I can to help the environment.

To start off my week I went to visit my special place, however, they seemed to have had a pipeline break so I instead walked around the neighbourhood again, it was very quiet and peaceful with a fresh layer of snow covering everything, I always enjoy the crunching of the snow as I walk to it was very soothing

This week I have been very busy trying to make sure everything is handed in with all my classes, I have 4 final assignments which were all papers one after the other so I didn’t have much time to read all the readings, however, I did listen to the ted talk and want to talk about what I think the “One bowl, one spoon,” I believe what he’s getting at is that we should really limit ourselves to the things we actually need. in his example we don’t need to have multiple bowls all the time, we only need our bowl and once we use it we wash it and put it away. But we don’t do this, I myself have more than 10 bowls and when I use one I put it in the dishwasher. If I were to just clean the bowl when I’m done I would have no need for multiple, this would, in turn, reduce waste. using this idea on other things such as clothes, TVs, computers, laptops, etc could really reduce the amount of harm that one person has on the environment. but sadly like myself, I don’t want to give up what I have since I feel like I earned and deserve to have this stuff. I feel like this idea is good on paper but would not work for many different people and households

Once my assignments have been finished I will go on reading People of the Seventh Fire. I’m also looking for other ways that I can reduce my global footprint, I have started walking to nearby restaurants and stores instead of driving, it is very difficult in the winter since I don’t have the proper attire, but I feel its worth it to help do my part

“The story of stuff”

This was a fun little animated video that explained the life span of different products, it follows their creation, their transportation, the use and then their disposal, its interesting because it also talks about how people think something is obsolete when there is a new version or colour introduced. This definitely makes me think of phones. every two years I get a new phone because I am told by my contract that my phone is outdated and its time for an upgrade, when in actuality my phone works fine and I don’t really need the new minimum features 

I think this video is good for all ages and really should be something that everyone has watched. it would also be fun to do a little assignment about a product that we have, look into the process behind its manufacturing, and see why we may dispose of it even if it’s in working condition

It’s a resource that make someone more aware of their habits and their impact on the planet, many people will throw something out and then it will be gone from their mind, but after watching this I always think about where my garbage is going.

“Citizenship in maple nation”

It’s a short story that talks about a small community of first nations people and their strong connection to the maple trees that surround them, they talk about the importance of preserving the forests as well as how much the trees give to the world and how important they are to protect them and care for them.

I feel like it does a good job of making students understand the importance of nature and how much they help us survive. so for younger grades, it would be good to focus on that. for older grades, you could look at the more political side of trying to preserve this land and how big corporations are often to blame for these places being cut and destroyed.

Depending on the class I would like to make this a more personal activity. I would have the student pick out someplace that is important to them and talk about all the ways it can supply themself with food, air clothing etc. and how it supplies other creatures such as birds, bugs, small mammals, etc. this will help my students understand more about how nature connects to different aspects of our life and the lives or other living creatures.

I was unable to do both readings this week since I have many finals coming up but I did read some of the people of the seventh fire, its interesting to see their connection to fire, its a sort of tradition and cultural activity, its more than just making fire and has deep spiritual connection to them and the land

As school is coming to a end for this semester I feel more and more anxious about everything. I went to my special place to try and boost my spirits but everything was covered in snow so I was unable to walk around and sit on the bench, perhaps they will clear the walkways soon so I can keep enjoying my area and reliving some stress.

I do want to discuss one of the readings I did this week “Schooling and environmental education: contradictions in purpose and practice” there was a specific part in it that I found very interesting and that was with the creation of schools. when they were first made the school’s goal was not to create independent thinkers and to develop their own personality. They were instead all about educating all for a single purpose and to continue the path that the world is on and not break free from the traditions. This was definitely interesting to think about since there are some parents who feel that school should be more about teaching basic knowledge for the students to join the workforce. while there are other parents who want the students to learn new skills and change how the workforce and the world operate. It’s an almost impossible challenge to please everyone.

I also added a little diagram to the jam board showing all the different student presentations and how they connect to myself and each other. I have also started writing my final for this class so I look forward to completing that and wrapping up this semester!

I wasn’t able to read everything that was assigned, I’m simply to overwhelmed with other work, I read as much as I could about Schooling and environmental education: contradictions in purpose and practice it was interesting to learn more about the history and use of environmental education, and never thought about the ideological conflicts that were raised, I look forward to reading more about this.

For this week we have been doing our presentations, I have not presented mine yet but hope to later next week. All my classmates have made very interesting presentations and topics. the one that I really enjoyed was Kevin’s topic about stormwater pollution. this was something I never even knew about before so I was happy to learn about new environmental issues. to put it simply, stormwater isn’t being treated for pollution. so the rain that goes into sewers and then evaporated again spreads the pollution and can even spread to farm fields and wild animals, even our own drinking water. it was such a unique issue that I never heard about and will likely learn more about it on my own time!

I was going to go to my special place today but sadly it was closed for some kind of construction/maintenance. So instead I went for a walk around my neighbourhood. It was a little depressing being so close to Halloween and not seeing any kind of decorations. it’s amazing how much covid has affected so many different aspects of our cultures and traditions.

I did the Eco-foot print calculator and it said we would need about one and a half earth if everyone was to live like me, definitely not an amazing feeling but I do think this could be worse, perhaps with me being more aware, I will make better decisions.

lately, I have been overwhelmed with school work, my job, and other things happening in my personal life so I apologize if this week’s reflection feels lacking.

As always I went to my special place. not much has changed since it’s gotten colder, however, on the day that I went, it was snowing so it was nice to sit for a bit and watch the snowfall and pile up on the ground. I wasn’t able to stay there for too long since I was not expecting such cold wind! while I was there I did notice a lot of garbage everywhere. I couldn’t see why but I believe it was litter from the nearby parking lot. often people pull in and eat their fast food and throw it out the window when they are done. this would probably be reduced if there was a garbage bin nearby. I felt that tied into what we have been discussing how there are issues and solutions but sadly no easy way for it to be done.

We also had a few readings this week but my favourite was “all about the birds” it talked about how songbirds are decreasing in numbers, it points out the human impacts such as deforestation. but what I was more surprised about was the natural elements of predators. since there are becoming more and more predators such as “cowbirds.” because of the effects that humans have caused, the chances of songbirds repopulating are getting slimmer.

Finally, for next week’s class, I’m making a little presentation about an environmental issue. I have chosen to do the coral reefs, as I talked about last week I feel they are very important and I look forward to making a small presentation to spread awareness about the growing issue.

I went back to my special place and it has completely changed and is ready for winter, all the leaves have fallen and all the plants have died and will re-grow next spring, I look forward to coming here in the winter and watching the snow fall.

we got into groups and discussed an environmental issue that we are interested in. One of the group members mentioned drinking water in first nation reserves and how it has become poisoned. because of this they are unable to drink or farm with this water. the other group member talked about deforestation. As for me, the death of the coral reefs has been an interest of mine for a while. recently I learned how important they are to human life. most people believe that trees and plants are what give people and animals air. However; the coral reefs only cover around 0.0025 of the earth’s ocean floor put produce close to HALF of the planet’s oxygen. there are many causes of their deaths but the biggest one is water pollution which is primarily done by large factors. I will discuss it further in my research paper but it is a very important environmental issue that does not get much attention.

I look forward to reading more about different environmental issues this week such as climate change. in the Saskatchewan environmental society they state “In order to stop climate change, fossil fuels worldwide must be phased out by no later than 2070” which is approaching very quickly.

I went back to my special place, the trees have almost lost all their leaves and all the little animals seem to have left, everything is slowly dying and starting their hibernation for the winter. I do feel a lot of myself in the area, perhaps it’s because I spent so much of my childhood running around and playing in this area with old friends. i would say a lot of who I am and life long memories were created in my special p[lace so I would say instead of the place mirroring me, I instead mirror this place.

This week I watched a short video called “The story of stuff” I do remember watching this video in high school but it was nice to see it again. the video goes through how we in the western world make and purchase products as well as our consuming habits. I won’t go over every section but I do want to talk about it. The video does a good job of making you realize how much of the planet we harm in order to make the things we want. an example would be my phone, first, the resources need to be extracted then refined, then it will further get processed in a large factory, those part are then distributed to companies such as Samsung, they then use those parts too creat my phone in another factory then they get delivered to a store. once they are there I drive my vehicle to pick it up and continually use energy to keep it charged. and once it becomes “obsolete” I discard it and get another.

This one purchase takes such a heavy toll on the environment and it is being done on an unimaginable scale. everything in my home has come from a factory and has needed to be delivered and transported to my home. you really realize how much damage you as an individual cause to the planet inadvertently.

now more than ever it’s important to think about what you need vs what you want and try to recycle as much as possible.

the readings were interesting, I particularly liked two hats, the different examples of how different people interreact in an environmental sense is interesting. I hope to one day be a environmental educator and will try my best to achieve this