Felipe Paiva
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Felipe's actions
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SiA Homework for Sept 4 - PRACTICE POST
On Sept 4, we will have 3 guests come talk to us about sustainability initiatives at Vanier. In preparation, please read over VANIER'S 5-YEAR SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLAN 2018-2023 and then write an EcoChallenge post that includes the following: - What do you think about the plan? Is it ambitious enough? Is there anything missing or superfluous? From your own observation and experience, how well is Vanier doing? List some questions that you would like to ask our speakers regarding Sustainability at Vanier? - Identify at least 3 initiatives that you are potentially interested in contributing to this semester and explain why. (Note there is a column labelled student involvement.) For more detailed information, you can also consult the 2020 VANIER ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT in the links.
Transportation
SiA Homework for Sept 4 - PRACTICE POST
Write an Ecochallenge POST to our team, briefly stating how you currently commute to Vanier. In Quebec, because we have a lot of hydro electric power, one of the main source of carbon emissions is from transportation. What commuting options do you have that would be healthier for you and the planet? Will you be considering any changes for this semester? If so, select or create an EcoChallenge action. If not, explain what your particular challenges are and what you could do to help other people in your situation (e.g. organise car sharing, propose a bus shuttle, etc.)
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SiA Homework for Sept 11 - Intro Post
Please write a short post to introduce yourself to the class. Mention some of your interests and what program you are in. If you have some ideas for your sustainability project this semester, please share - you might find a collaborator! Inspire others with the EcoChallenge actions that you are interested in trying out. Include a photo of yourself if you like.
Land Sinks
Advocate for Forest Protection
Forest Protection
I will contact 2 congress people or representatives to advocate for public policy that protects forests and the enforcement of existing anti-logging laws, as well as the rights of local people to protect and restore the land in their communities.
Industry
Green My Job
Industry
Using Drawdown's Job Function Action Guide, I will learn about climate actions I can take at work.
Industry
Choose Recycled Paper
Recycled Paper
I will plan ahead to use paper products only made from post-consumer recycled paper for my home or office.
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates
Reduced Food Waste
I will spend at least 15 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.
Transportation
Share to Social Media: Transportation
Transportation
Through social media (LinkedIn or Instagram), I will share what I've learned about the Transportation sector and solutions and tag Ecochallenge.org.
Transportation
Explore Other Transportation Solutions
All Transportation Solutions
I will spend at least 20 minutes researching other Drawdown Transportation Solutions.
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
Composting
Composting, Reduced Food Waste
I will start a compost or worm bin where I live.
Land Sinks
Forest-Friendly Foods 1
Tropical Forest Restoration
I will spend at least 22 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.
Transportation
Go for a Daily Walk
Walkable Cities
I will take a walk for 10 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.
Participant Feed
Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.
To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?
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Felipe Paiva 11/13/2024 12:52 PMFinal Ecochallenge Post: reflection upon the overall Eco-Challenge experience
Bringing together a set of actions to complete on a weekly basis was very easy. However, the difficult part was actually carrying them out throughout the weeks.
I learned so much about sustainability. Some of the mindset about sustainability has been slowly instilled in me. For example, one of the weekly actions was taking a walk and noticing the infrastructure around it and reflect on whether they make walking more or less enjoyable, and I realized that in the walk from the metro to the main building, there is a massive concrete pole in the middle of the sidewalk completely blocking the passage which makes it less accessible.
One of the efforts in this class that made a great difference, at least from what I was left feeling from it, was planting trees. Having the physical action of planting a living thing, that is one day going to contribute to reduce the overall co2 contents of the atmosphere.
In this challenge, I did not include any family members or friends, because I was too focused on completing my own environmental goals. It would've been much better if everyone participated, because the sense of community is created and we could've motivate each other to complete tasks.
I will definitely continue my walks and observation of sustainability in the future, as well as prioritizing biking or taking public transportation to work/school for as long as I can.
Without the use of fossil fuels, we would see obvious consequences such as no air pollution, more diverse nature, and less erratic climate. The only negative impacts possible from this may be some economic negative impacts, such as the fact that much of our economy is heavily based on fossil fuels. -
Felipe Paiva 11/10/2024 7:40 AMWeek 11 reflection: climate change revelation
Today, a guest presenter from Vert Cite came to speak with us and make an activity. Our activity was simple, but long: we were given cards and placed them on the table, and our job was to connect them in a timeline and draw arrows to show their cause/effect connections.
By the end, this exercise had blown my mind. The reason why is that I had not imagined climate change to have so many different impacts in the world and humanity. It was as if I was studying an exponential cascading chain reaction of events that ultimately leads to catastrophe.
Seeing all the different causes, reactions, and areas that are affected by it makes me realize how important it is the work of scientists in studying this phenomenon. If left unchecked, and without a search for a solution, it could lead to a disruption of our entire ecosystem on earth.
It was an eye-opening activity, I really enjoyed it.
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Felipe Paiva 11/10/2024 7:35 AMReflection on my commute to school
I commute to school mainly by bike. It was a shock to learn that only 1-2% of students come to Vanier using this transportation method. But unfortunately many of them just life too far for it to be convenient. There are also other challenges, such as actually knowing how to ride a bike, having to purchase and own one, and not having enough fears of driving on the road.
By biking and commuting a lot using this method, I've acquired some knowledge about it that might be useful for those who are planning to do it or are just curious on what it is like: With my 2 years of riding, I have not been injured/crashed or been on an accident once. However, there were a few close calls, like a car going in the wrong direction right at a blind turn (I was coming towards the turn and he almost hit me) or attempting to ride in the icy snow that almost made me fall off my bike right when a bus was passing by on my left.
The chains came off about three times, and once my entire tire exploded and mixed with the chains, it was a mess.
So don't ride in the ice or snow, use your helmets, watch out carefully in traffic, and you should be good.
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Felipe Paiva 11/10/2024 7:19 AMWeek 12 Reflection: Hikes in nature and conservation of wildlife
I've recently been engaged a lot with the Vanier Student life's newest group called the Outdoors group, which focuses on getting outside in nature with its members at least once a month. I do believe that connecting with nature often leads to people caring about it more, and in order to protect it agains pollution and deforestation we need people that care about the environment.
Yesterday we went on a hike on St. Hippolyte, a nature reserve that was once private property. The trail goes through mostly maple, occasionally birch and pine, forests with some small lakes in the way. It is good to get some fresh air and just be under the shade of trees. -
Felipe Paiva 10/23/2024 7:16 PMIt deleted my post for some reason so I will try to remember what I wrote earlier:
Ecological footprint: 4 videos reflection
Our ecological footprint is extremely important. Getting to know it is crucial for all humans to know, because this way we can all be aware of how much exactly is our impact. it quantifies people's ecological actions that they take on a daily basis, and makes it easy to set goals to reduce it.
Nature is based on recyclable and reusable things for the environment. Humans have tipped off that ancient balance from nature and we need to find a way to reverse it back.
I took my own ecological footprint and realized that we would need 4 earths if everyone had the same lifestyle as me. That is a shocking revelation but makes me want to improve it to only 1 earth, or even less! -
Felipe Paiva 10/23/2024 7:11 PMEcological footprint and Carbon Footprint: Reflection on 4 videos watched.
Calculating our impact on our planet using the footprint method can be an illuminating experience, especially if you compare it with what your ideal footprint would look like. The environment has always worked on cyclical and recycled ways, but having a lifestyle where you're constantly generating waste will tip off that balance and create problems, such as rapid climate change. For most of our human history our ecological footprints were in balance with nature. The challenge is to go back to that balance with the immense population of humans that we have now.
Therefore, the steps we should all take is to calculate our own footprints so we are aware of our impact on the environment, and hopefully reduce our impact on the environment to the point where it is in balance with nature once again.
I took a test with the global footprint network and found out that if everyone lived like me, we would need 4.1 earths to sustain us. I'm sad by this but now willing to reduce my impact to just one earth, or less.
One thing it doesn't take into account, though, is how many trees you've planted!
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Felipe Paiva 10/02/2024 10:37 AM
Mass demonstrations, such as last Friday's climate march here in Montreal, play a crucial role in developing a sense of community into fighting an important issue. The gathering of a group of like-minded people creates a sense that we're in this fight together, and people will be able to mobilize and combine their powers. This is true for any cause and any kind of marches.
For climate marches in particular, I believe it's one of the most important factors in showing that society cares about climate action & sustainability. It shows to the government that there is still unrest and uneasiness on how things have been handled and the consequences of bad environmental decisions.
People should participate in event like these over the coming years, but also increasingly participate in actions that will have a direct impact on the environment.
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Felipe Paiva 9/11/2024 7:56 AMDaily walk - reflection on my action experience
I've started to take daily walks around my block and try to note things about sustainability, both good and bad. One bad thing that I noticed is that right outside of my building, there is a lot of trash scattered around in the bushes. I was always surprised and worried about this, and I went on to investigate why - I found out there are 2 culprits for this. One is the truck parking/industrial place that just tosses trash into the bushes around, so you see tires and trash in the field right next to their property. The other culprit is my own building, which sometimes leaves the giant garbage dumpsters with their lid open, so when the wind comes it blows off a bunch of the trash exposed at the top of the container, further increasing the pollution. There are plastic bags who get stuck on the bushes and tree trunks, plastic bottles all around, and more plastic garbage scattered throughout. When the leaves fall off in the winter before snow, it reveals just how polluted that area is, which is sad. My building probably leaves the dumpsters open because they are overfilled and cannot be closed, so one solution to that is to buy more dumpsters and close them so that the trash doesn't fly away in the wind.
One good thing that I noticed when taking these walks is that there are many trees in my neighbourhood, which is excellent. It is also good to see a good sidewalk infrastructure that allows me to comfortably walk anywhere I desire, compared to the infrastructure that I used to experience in Brazil.-
Richard Klopp 9/11/2024 10:35 AMSomething to think about. Is garbage worse for the environment when it is visible?
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Felipe Paiva 9/11/2024 7:28 AMHello class, I'm Felipe and I'm from Brazil. I've been here in Montreal for around 6 years. My interests include playing the piano, composing, working out in the gym, and videogames. I'm in the Micromedia program (now called Multimedia Integration). For the sustainability project, I have some general Ideas of what I want to do based on my skillset, which includes making a website for one of the sustainability projects here at Vanier, or designing some posters to help spread sustainability messages. I can also do infographics which could be put around the school.
