Eva Macey

Thanksgiving:

Explore my area: I have only lived in the city of Montreal for approximately a year and a half. I have not yet been able to see or connect with most parts of my area. The way I went about exploring my area was spending two hours slowly walking down every street within a one kilometre radius. I made sure to pay attention to what kind of people, businesses, institutions, parks, trails, and trees were around. This experience has given me a better sense of community and strengthened my connection to both the community and the nature around me. This new connection has already made me care a bit more about how my actions affect the community and nature around me.

Led Light Change

Mass Demonstration

Recycle Everything You Can: I am ashamed to admit that since I moved out on my own a year ago, I have not been recycling. Something about the simple task seems pointless to me, so I have not been doing it. So, this week I bought a blue bin to put in my apartment, and properly rinsed and sorted whatever waste I could. After doing this for a week, I don't think I will be stopping any time soon. It has been extremely easy to incorporate recycling into my household, and it is one of the easiest ways to lessen one's carbon footprint.

Test riding electric bikes: For this week's Eco-challenge, I took my mom and sister to test ride electric bikes. The first thing I noticed was how expensive it is. I went to the bike rental shop in Dunham Quebec and for three people, it cost over 200$ for four hours. I then researched the average price of electric bikes and the price ranges from 2000$-3000$. Electric biking was a lot of fun, it could be a fun way to get exercise, get from one place to another. However, because of the price it would not be possible for me, or most people, to use electric bikes as a mode of transportation.

September 11: The first action chosen was spending time learning the truth about expiration dates. I learned that approximately ⅓ of food is wasted which has a large negative impact on carbon emissions as well as waste of food, labour, and other resources. Throwing out “expired” food contributes to food waste, even though what the average person calls an expiration date is actually food product dating. In exception for baby formula, food dating is not required. It does not mean that after that date the food is no longer safe to consume, but that the product is at its best until that date. Food is safe to eat no matter what the date says, as long as there are no indications of spoiling. Knowing this truth about “expiration dates” can help reduce waste by giving people more time to sell and/or consume products before they get thrown away. Knowing this truth about "expiration dates" can also help every house hold save money by reducing the need for purchasing new food. So, spending thirty minutes learning the truth about "expiration dates" has many rewards.

Transportation: I currently take the metro from my apartment to school. If I lived closer, I would love to bike or walk to school, to benefit my health, as well as the environment. I do not believe I will be able to change my transportation method this semester, because it is too far and it would be too dangerous. If I were to bike or walk to school, I would have to go along many highways which I am not comfortable with because of the risks, therefore the metro is the best option for my situation.

Hello, my name is Eva and I am in the Law, Society and Government program. My interests are running, reading, and everything to do with law and politics. Some of the Eco-challenge actions I am most interested in trying out are biking to my destinations instead of driving, replacing all the light bulbs in my apartment to LED lights, and trying zero-waste cooking.

I believe this plan to be fitting for the academic environment. Given that this is a school, it makes sense that they are more education focused. That being said, I believe that the plan is ambitious enough, since their main goal is to teach youth what sustainability is and how to act accordingly. I don't think they need to do any more given that their sharing of knowledge will go on to make a lot of the students behave more environmentally conscious. They are also doing things to make sure they are following their own instructions and showing a good example, like using public transport, recycling and composting, etc. Vanier is doing well with their goals given that I, a student, have already used the information I have obtained here to reduce my environmental footprint. They have also made sorting waste responsibly easier by making compost and recycling bins more accessible. I would be interested in contributing to educating students about transport. I am interested in this one because some people do not know how harmful carbon emissions are. Carpooling, public transport, biking, walking are all easy ways to lessen one's carbon footprint, and I would like to help make sure everyone is aware of this. I would also be interested in contributing to educating students on purchasing and consumerism. Many students are already aware that waste is a problem and the majority of them believe that recycling and composting are the solutions. However, I would like to ensure that everyone is aware of the fact that we would not need to focus so much on recycling and composting if we got to the root of the problem, which is over-purchasing/consuming. Lastly, I would be interested in contributing to is water education. Since we all live in Quebec it is easy to take water for granted. I would like to remind students of the importance of reducing water consumption along with all the other natural resources we are trying to save.