Month: October 2020

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

I feel like I’m starting to get a better understanding of environmental education I have been making time to go to my special place as much as I can to just sit and observe, and over time I’m watching as things change the trees are starting to lose leaves, the grass is starting to become a browner colour instead of its light green. My favourite “story” that I have been watching unfold is with the local prairie chickens for the past couple weeks I have only been seeing one or two at a time but the last time I was there there were more than 20 all waddling around looking for bugs to eat and sleeping in bushes. I enjoy watching them go from a small number to a whole group who made a home in the bushes and land there. the spirit I feel in the place is a very calming one, nothing bad seems to happen there as if its almost protected.

for this week I read citizenship in maple nation and am to answer these questions

what does it mean to declare citizenship in maple nation?
I believe this means that a person allegiance is with nature. he describes that a person often has to choose where they want to become a citizen because it is very difficult to become a dual-citizen. meaning that you can be on the side of nature or simply help world governments destroy it. while of course there are people that care deeply for the environment while they reside in a government but will do what they can to help the environment and protect it.

In what ways have the maple trees been contributing to the well-being of the community?

the trees provide clean air, maple, warmth and shelter to the people. it is also linked to there way of life, as he describes maple is in their blood and in their bones. they use it for baking in almost all aspects of their life but it also helps the community of animals. The trees supply seeds and food for the animals to eat, As-well as homes for birds and small animals to build and make their nests. Animals such as deer graze through the grass under the trees protection. almost everything in the community relies on the maple trees.     

I didn’t want to damage any part of my special place since there were so many different animals around so instead, I tried to get a good picture of a couple of squirrels who were enjoying a snack