ENVR 3850 - Sustainable Manitoba Journal Questions

1.     How do you define sustainability?

People often associate frugality with the word cheap; I, however, often associate frugality with sustainability. What does it mean to be sustainable and what is sustainability?

For me it means not buying what you want but buying what you need. It means finding out what is important to you, specifically, because what I find important other people do not. It, however, does not mean being excessively frugal or living an ascetic lifestyle with nothing but the bare essentials; it means living within your means and ridding yourself of a lifestyle that produces excessive waste. It means cherishing what you have and not what you don’t. It means being a steward of the world and leaving it a better place than when you found it.

I do not hold any contempt for people who choose to live differently. What irks me the most is not acknowledging that there is a problem. There is a very serious issue with the amount of carbon we are putting into the air, the urban sprawl of giant suburban homes, and even the food we eat. People need to realize that there are consequences to these actions. People need to understand that not all resources are renewable and that conservation is the key. When we finally understand that, when we realize we are one and in this together, only then can we begin to live in a sustainable world. If only more people thought like Carl Sagan . . .

2.     Reflect on your time in nature as a child.

In the 90’s, I remember riding my bike with my brother and cousins down to Omands Creek and fishing for tadpoles. Sometimes I would go by myself and I would sit there listening to the wildlife around me.

     

We used to take those same tadpoles and place them in our aquarium at home. It was fun watching them grow into tiny little frogs. Throughout my life, I’ve housed a variety of different animals as pets: from frogs, fish, turtles, snakes, hamsters, and dogs, I have always had a creepy, crawly, or cuddly companion to call my own. My pets were always my connection to nature.

The love for the outdoors was instilled in me from an early age, from all those times going fishing with my father to our family vacation camping out in Badlands National Park. Being outdoors always gave me time to reflect, and hearing the sound of nature—the rushing currents, the chirping of the birds—always gave me a sense of connection to the world. Interspersed throughout my childhood were the times stayed inside playing video games and watching TV, but the moments where I was outside are inexpressibly the fondest.

3.     How do you feel about your possessions? What are the possible social problems with disparity between rich and poor as resources diminish?

I live on the bare essentials. The last two years I have made many changes to my lifestyle in order to live more sustainably; that means downsizing to a smaller apartment, taking alternative means of transportation, and selling a lot of my possessions that I no longer needed nor enjoyed.

           

I do not define my life by possessions—and of course everybody is proud of that one thing they have, but the best of something for me is not one I can directly flaunt or people see. I drive a beater of car, not because I have to but because it made no sense for me buying something when the older vehicle ran perfectly fine as it did. I don’t make impulsive and expensive purchases without thinking long and hard whether I need it (it’s amazing how much you realize you don’t need something when you’ve had a chance to think about it for a couple weeks).

           

My recent trip to San Francisco shed a lot of light to the wage gap that is becoming prevalent in the world. Apparently nowhere else in the world is the disparity between rich and poor more evident than in San Francisco. The standard of living in San Francisco has essentially driven out the poor as the cost of homes command an exorbitant price. People place value on material possessions, and the diminishing natural resources can play a huge role in social issues. Can there be a war one day for water? Will the rich have the right to it first? These issues are beyond me, but it isn’t difficult to arrive at an answer when it becomes an issue of morality. As fewer and fewer resources are available, it is possible that there would be a major reform of some kind—but only time will tell.

4.     Sustainable Happiness Chart – Name a Time and Activity that Contributed to Happiness

On a Sunday morning in early fall, I place the key in the ignition of my Yamaha and ride down River Road towards Lockport. During the brief fifteen minutes it takes to get from the start of River Road to the end in Lockport, I am lost in the surroundings of the environment as the road meanders along river giving me the odd sensation of being truly free.

Some people may not understand it. Motorcycles are death traps, remember? I have never had more fun and felt connected with man, machine, and nature then when I take those two wheels and careen down the side of the highway. All along the journey, the environment surrounds me as I concentrate on the road in front of me. I usually stop at Lockport to see the dam cascading with water and to hear the thunderous sounds of the waves. I take the time to enjoy the weather, to see people do the same, and it gives me happiness that knows no bounds.

Although the 689cc engine is powered by fossil fuels, I try to make allowances to curb my effect on the world in order to enjoy days like these. There is something compelling that I cannot explain until you try it yourself, and see the world and the beauty it has to offer when you are on two wheels.

5.     Find or write poetry about our spiritual connection to the earth?             

"i thank You God for most this amazing" by e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing

day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth

day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any—lifted from the no

of all nothing—human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

I am not a religious person, but this poem by e.e. cummings has always stuck with me since my freshman year of university. It makes me appreciate the beauty of nature—something that is greater than ourselves. It is a poem of joy, of happiness, of celebration of love and everything that is alive. Enjoy!