Day Eleven

Today was awesome. We had two lectures this morning, on natural hazards and emergency preparedness, and one on Ecological Economics.  The latter was taught by a woman who joked during her presentation about a student's comment: "if you blink you fail."  That's no word of a lie - she spoke soooo fast! But she did have heaps to say about how economics and politics often take environmental or natural capital for granted, and how there are limits which we've far exceeded. This seemed to round back to yesterday's point that we can't always grow. Growth isn't infinitely sustainable, and something will eventually give. There are wastes and bi-products of the economic/political/social/consumption systems that we have in place that go out into the environment but never get accounted for in life-cycle analysis. I know that there are regulations for the oil sands and for mines in Alberta to return the landscape to the image it once was post-processing, but that only talks about the landscape where the resources were removed. What about where the resources go after that? The refineries in Texas have waste, and the final products emit carbon, end up in landfills or end up in other systems, but how much material or energy actually gets recycled? I would also like to point out a comment that was made by someone else: Reduce Reuse Recycle. Which comes last? Why are we focusing on recycle when it is the third R? Reduce consumption, Reduce the materials used (as an engineer, I can say that the first R is being done to an extent - so many things are being over designed now to reduce the amount of material used to make a product. Why? because material costs money!), but I think the former, reducing consumption, is one that needs to emphasized. Do we really need as much space, clothes, electronics, cars, and other stuff as we have become accustomed to?  

After the collapse of the factory in Banledesh, Chatelaine ran a story which included the headline [Pay more, Buy less] (http://www.chatelaine.com/living/bangladesh-the-wake-up-call-we-needed/)  Which I think is and interesting concept because it covers the idea that local made products, or products made where the workers are safe and being paid fairly, are more expensive, yet more equitable. We shouldn't be adverse to spending more money to ensure the safety of the people who make our things. Though I do prefer the former option of having products made locally because it keeps the money in our economy, and reduces  the energy needed for transportation, Mountain Equipment Coop did a study where they tested to see if customers would hold true to their word and actually spend more money to buy a Canadian made product; however, what people say and actually do diverges when it comes to spending money. "The demand for lower prices by retailers and consumers makes production in low-cost countries attractive."(http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Sustainability/EthicalSourcing/SourcingAndGlobalIssues/SourceInCanada.jsp) Meaning production in Canada is not really a priority for consumers, price is.

The second part, "Buy less" addresses the excessive consumerism. The article talks about all the clothes that we've bought for cheap and left to rot at the bottoms of drawers or in the back of closets. Why do we buy so much stuff we don't use? Or use once then send it to contribute to overfilling landfills? Marketing, advertising, and capitalism can all be scapegoats.  I don't really have an answer to this question. All I can say is that I will monitoring my own spending much closer now.

Reuse is starting to become a fashionable thing with the "up-cycling movement" which I think is neat, and again contributes to the idea of a changing labour force as mentioned in Day 10.  People are becoming innovative by adding value to 'junk' and making it desirable.

On another note:

I've also come to feel as though we aren't destroying our environment, rather altering it in such a way that Mother Earth will just remove us from the equation. We won't destroy her, we'll just make her uninhabitable for us.

The second half of the day started after stocking up at Bonus, grabbing a swim suit and heading out towards the Blue Lagoon. First we stopped at a geothermal power plant for a tour. Then a facility which takes waste carbon and electricity from the plant, to make exportable substances. Then off for a swim and some bjor(s) in the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is actually a bi-product of the plant - we went swimming in waste water!!!

Oh, and did I mention? HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY!
Here are a few pictures!