The overall message from the four videos is that our society's focus on constant economic growth and consumerism is unsustainable for both the environment and our well-being. They advocate for degrowth, which promotes a shift away from excessive consumption towards a more meaningful, balanced way of living that prioritizes sustainability, well-being, and community over material wealth.

How Degrowth Could Improve My Life:

Degrowth could simplify my life by reducing the pressure to constantly acquire more, allowing me to focus on experiences, relationships, and personal growth. It would lead to less stress and more fulfillment, fostering a deeper connection to nature and community, while also benefiting the environment.

Looking more closely at degrowth, how could it theoretically improve human life? By prioritizing well-being over material consumption, degrowth aims to alleviate the pressures of overwork and reduce stress. It would especially improve upon our state of mind, as we would not be as obsessed with making and retaining money. In other words, with less emphasis on economic growth, societies may focus more on health, education, and environmental care, leading to a higher quality of life for all people.

In terms of things that I am thankful for that do not negatively impact the environment, I would personally say my grandmother’s garden. It provides me with fresh vegetables whose quality is unmatched in comparison to the greenhouse grown produce that you purchase at grocery stores. From a more general standpoint, I would say Quebec’s hydroelectric dams. While they do harm the environment in some capacity, it is still considerably more eco friendly than the burning of fossil fuels which release all manner of greenhouse gasses into the environment. For a more practical reason, we pay significantly less money on energy here in Quebec because of our abundant hydroelectric resources. As a matter of fact, the money that we spend on electricity in Quebec makes us one of if not the cheapest place in North America when it comes to expenses on electricity.

Making your home more energy efficient with better insulation is about keeping the heat in during winter and out in the summer. Adding stuff like weather strips around doors and windows helps stop drafts, and using thicker insulation in walls and the attic traps more heat. It’s an easy way to save on bills and keep the house comfy all year round.

Sustainable aquaculture is basically about farming fish and seafood in a way that doesn’t hurt the environment. It's all about finding ways to keep the water clean, use less feed, and make sure different species can live together. A cool method they're trying is growing different kinds of fish and plants together so that one’s waste helps the other grow.

Clearly indicated in all 4 videos, our carbon footprint is way too high than it should be. Our Global Footprint Network (land and water) need to produce the resources we use and absorb the waste we generate, our biological productive area being our provider. We have nearly enough space to handle the amount of waste we use, and not enough space to reproduce our resources. The higher income countries consume way more (higher carbon footprint) than those of poorer nations. Humanity uses way too much resources, unable to recover. Our carbon footprint helps us realize which side of the coin we are taking, either being safe, reproducing what we use, or using way more than we can recover.

The following paragraph is what I retained from the 4 videos you requested us to watch:
Most common part of our footprint is using fossil fuels. electrical cars power isn't any better than fossil fuel cars because most of our electrical power involves burning fossil fuels. Its better if electric vehicle is hydro produced. The Ecosphere that was once balanced is now corrupted due to our technology that surpassed balance. We are hogging all the resources, not sharing as much with species around us. Climate change, carbon dioxide being the biggest cause that ruins the temperature of our planet. Our cycle is ruined by our fuel based machines that we use to live. All our products are often produced by carbon machines. We are the only species that can plan ahead, with high intelligence. As quoted in one of the videos, "We are consuming our resources 50% faster than it can regenerate". In the past, we were much more balanced because we were unable to control certain flaws or tragedies like sickness, injuries, machines used as weapons, etc. Statistics went up and down, keeping our society balanced. Over the years. we have counteracted so many of those problems that we are thriving too much. Another quote found in the same video as the last, "We use 12.0 billion hectares". The speaker mentions that our society is unconscious of what we are doing to our environment, too used to being dependent to our high end technology. We are heading to a 4 Celsius degree increase on Earth. Because we are obsessed with high technology cost so much, it's hard to afford any of these things to save our planet, business is more important than the future of our planet's health. We are losing approx. 4% a year. What ruins our environment is that our power requires to burn fossil fuel, to keep society going. Thanks to business, our survival is too important, unable to focus on the long-term picture. Another speaker, using information from the UN bank of Human Societies, states that our society has problems with trust due to our inequal societies. This inequality is about the same throughout most countries. Social mobility has a big role in our balance of society, When in the middle-class, its quite balanced. When there are too much people of the high and low classes in an area, its often a strict country with harsh lifestyles and consequences to those less fortunate. Causality is also a big issue of our balance, many of those higher up like celebrities use the resources that multiple families would use all on their own.

My house has a lot of wildlife and greenery, with plenty of ways to have fun activities without worsening my carbon footprint. For example, playing with my cats. Its simple fun, yet, no technology required to rub their tummies and make them chase their toys and sometimes sticks. Other examples like walking around, trying to learn how to ride a bike at my old elementary school, and going to Oka Park are examples of being environmental. When going somewhere with less advanced technology like going on vacation to a cottage surrounded by trees and wildlife, it makes you not only appreciate what you have, but we have been surrounded by the real way to live this whole time, and instead, we turn to a computer screen. Our Gen Z generation is so dependent on technology to live that we forget how to have a fun time without increasing our carbon footprint. You can tell when you go on walks or long field trips away from technology, you can easily feel how much more open minded and joyful you are than sitting in front of a bright screen damaging your eyes and sanity. Your are more relaxed, and down to Earth. It explains why people in the past were so much more productive, living a real life alongside nature. With this, less is more and better.

Carbon Footprint: Amount of co2 that is put into the atmosphere. Big part of the ecological footprint. Using carbon produces greenhouse gasses that make earth warmer. These emissions must be reduced. We should address root causes for Co2 emissions instead of investing in carbon offset.

Ecological Footprint: humanity uses more resources than the earth produces, global consumption is unevenly distributed, some countries use more than others.

The Global Picture: “Degrowth is a controlled/planned reduction of human economic activity to form a foratable, equitable, steady state” (Rees, 0:21). Every activity uses resources, throughput, and energy transformation. Resources are being drained and waste management is a problem because of overconsumption of humans. Economic growth should be reversed until it becomes a sustainable system. Fossil fuels are a large part of the problem.

Ted: Inequality between countries found in life expectancy, personal incomes, national income, social mobility, crime rates, etc. Countries with less equal personal incomes face more problems, like stress, etc. Inequality can be reduced by reducing personal income inequality.

Thankful: I am thankful for fall, because it makes the trees change into a beautiful assortment of colors. I am also grateful that I live near mountains, so that I may enjoy the changing colors. Lastly, I am grateful to live beside a lake, so that I may swim in the cold water until it freezes over.

Degrowth: Degrowth could improve my life by making the air more pure and the earth more healthy, so that I would no longer constantly have to worry about the warming of my planet. Less economy leads to less stress for the younger and future generations.