Hello students, faculty, and classmates,
My name is Gillian McIver, but I respond to any name varying from Gill, Gilbert, Gilly, Gilly Bean, or Gillion. I am in my 3rd year at UBC and an English Literature Major.
My journey to UBC was a long one, but I do not regret a single detour that I took along the way. I grew up in a small rural town north of Toronto, Ontario. I was a competitive show jumper (horse back riding), and freestyle skier. Competing in these sports allowed me the opportunity to travel not only across Canada, but also throughout our southern neighbours, as well as parts of Europe and Japan.
After high school I moved to Breckenridge, Colorado to pursue my goal of skiing professionally. A wonderful year it was, but the sport was no longer what I wished to seek. I then enrolled at Quest University in Squamish (just north of us here at UBC), and began pursuing my university education. The year that I attended school at Quest was 2010, coinciding with the Vancouver Winer Olympics. Quest provided extracurricular learning opportunities for their students during the Olympics, so with 15 of my fellow students we packed out bags and headed off to Borneo, Indonesia. Here we embarked on two months of research and learning about the utter destruction that palm oil plantations are causing the rainforests. The dwindling state of the forests and many animal species being driven to extinction is depressing to say the least. I embarked on my first blogging experience while in Borneo – I have not updated it since but if you are interested in learning a little bit more about the adventure, here is the link: http://gillianmciver.blogspot.ca
After my year at Quest, I took yet another year off to travel, as I was not quite ready to settle into school. I spent time in Thailand volunteering at an elephant reserve (pictured below), and then to Europe for six months, stationing myself in the wonderful, magical Paris for four of those months. The next fall, I finally found myself at UBC. As I said, my journey to get here was a long but rewarding one.
Being at UBC has offered me many opportunities on and off campus. I am thrilled that I ended up at UBC, and look forward to finishing my degree here (eventually!). I am a member of an on campus sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, and within that organization I have found outlets for leadership opportunities, community and campus volunteering, and well as the proper tools and people to help me navigate through university. The UBC Panhellenic’s website is http://www.ubcsororities.com, with a link to Alpha Delta Pi’s page here: http://www.ubcadpi.com
I am really looking forward to English 470A taught by Erika Paterson. I am most looking forward to engaging in the literature surrounding the relationship between European and Indigenous traditions and cultures, and to discover what we consider to quantify a “true Canadian” story. One of the objectives of this course is to broaden our understanding and knowledge of the relationships between storytelling and literature – genres which at this point in my mind are two separate entities. I hope to engage more thoroughly in my understanding of these genres in both their similarities and differences, while remaining in the context of Canadian history. I must admit that I feel extremely undereducated on Canadian history and Canadian Literature despite growing up in this country. I feel it is important to engage and educate ourselves on the history of literature in this country, and the roots from which it has grown.
Cultivating knowledge and relationships through social media is an interesting and exciting way to approach this course, and I look forward to working with my fellow classmates and Professor Paterson as we navigate through “Our Home and Native Land?”
Hi Gillian, wow – you are a well purposed and traveled student – I took a look at your Gypsy Adventures Blog, I am nature lover and indeed, I have built a house in the jungle in Belize right in the Howler Monkey canopy over the Belize river. There is a family of Howlers that live with me while I am here — pretty much. I get to see the babies grow-up and meet their new mates and the family grows. You can see a video of the babies being born last February on my Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/62334301 .
I had no idea that the Alpha Delta Pi sorority was the first secret society for women in the world — really? Why was it a secret – what’s the story behind that?
I admire you energy Gillian and am looking forward to working together – thanks!
Wow, Gillian! What amazing experiences you have had. I too am an animal lover and I would love to get involved in some sort of volunteer capacity at a shelter/rescue organization. Did you need any related field experience to work at the reserve? Was Quest a starting off point for being able to work in that field? Thank you for sharing. That tiny elephant photo is killing me.
I can relate to your desire to travel before settling into more of a routine. I have traveled to Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, France and Germany. Most of my trips were only about a month long though so I have never really had the experience of living in another country. I haven’t been able to take a lot of time to travel lately but I cannot wait to see someplace new.
One of my absolute favourite places that I visited was Jericoacoara (http://www.jericoacoara.com/j1/) , in Brazil. It’s on the northeast coast of South America. It’s now an Environmental Protection Area so they are working to maintain its natural glory and not cave too much in the face of tourism. The town is built on sand dunes. They aren’t legally allowed to build buildings larger than two stories tall. It’s also forbidden to light the streets at night with electricity. The night skies are overwhelmingly beautiful and expansive. I highly recommend it as a place to visit!
Once again, thanks for sharing, your experiences are an inspiration to me.
That elephant photo is phenomenal. I am eternally jealous, and although I have been fortunate enough to travel, volunteer, and work abroad I have not come close to the life goal of meeting elephants. It sounds like you have had an illustrious journey thus far and I’m sure you have a story of two from along the way. Other than ramble on about how great travel is, I am also quite interested in something mentioned in your post.
I was ignorant of the fact that palm oil plantations are resulting in serious deforestation or habitat loss – do you know why this is? I am curious because of months spent in West Africa living in the country surrounded by an abandoned overgrown dwarf palm plantation. Honestly, I never gave it much thought other than all I ate was palm oil and rice for weeks on end. The fruit is not particularly appealing (it tastes sort of like oily bacon residue paired with the unappealing texture of chewing floss) and in terms of nutrition palm oil is generally considered in a negative light as it is primarily saturated fat. That of course does little to stop people from consuming it, but is the palm permaculture primarily for industry or food production?
In any case, I look forward to reading up more on travel experiences, stories, and so forth!
Thank you Professor Paterson, Lauren, and Duncan for your replies! I think I’m liking this whole blogging thing.
Professor Paterson, the video of the Howler monkeys is amazing! How often do you go to Belize? And how long do you usually spend when you go?
Lauren, I want to book a trip to Jericoacoara right away! What a beautiful city. Is it a very touristy place, or have they been able to maintain their integrity and culture? Building on sand dunes sounds a little “sketchy” but it certainly is stunning! I can only imagine what the night sky looks like without streetlight and sky scrapers clouding the view. Here is the link for the Elephant Nature Park that I volunteered at in Northern Thailand: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org The park is under constant turmoil from the government because in Thailand, elephant riding is a HUGE tourist destination and trap – the elephants that are ridden have gone through horrendous “training” to be that way and fondled by tourists day in and day out. The Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary for elephants – no riding, no “training”, just food, care, and safe ground to live on. The park was raided in 2012 by the Department of National Parks in an attempt to remove the elephants from the park. It’s difficult to explain but the system is very backwards and the preservation of elephants is not a priority in the country. They are used not only for tourism, but also for circus’ and foresting. I struggle to put how sad the situation is into words, but volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park was eye opening and rewarding, as it felt as were standing up against what majority think should be the norm in terms of elephant treatment. Attending Quest was not a starting off point for this per say, but I definitely gained valuable education while I was there. A friend of mine from Ontario is the niece of the man who runs Elephant Nature Park with his wife, Lek, so that is how I began the journey there. I would love to go back one day, and I encourage you to look into it as well! I tried attaching more baby elephant pictures but I don’t think I can here – will add some to the blog.
Duncan, thank you for your questions regarding palm oil plantations – another subject which I am passionate about. I went to Borneo with Sheryl and Brent Gruber who run “Integrated Conservation”. Palm oil plantations are very, very destructive because rain forest and peat forests are burnt down in order to grow palm. Palm oil is cheap to make, quick to make, and allows income and employment for many people in those areas. It’s a double edged sword – without it, people lack income and cannot support their families. With it, habitats and precious rain forest are burnt and destroyed. I remember driving one a Dayak village while in Borneo, and one route we passed the contraction of a new palm plantation. I am not exaggerating when I say that for 12 minutes straight, we drove past burning rain forest. It was just ashes upon ashes with hardly a tree left in sight, when just the day or two before it would have been home to an unfathomable number of animal and plant species. I try and avoid palm oil consumption in my diet – I realize that one little person in Vancouver is probably not sending a HUGE message to palm oil manufacturers, but it is at least something I can do from here.
The Indonesian government is responding to the high demands of palm oil consumption around the world (there is a big market for it in packaged foods in North America), and is planning to increase manufacturing from 20 tonnes in 2009 to 40 tonnes in 2020 (WWF). Borneo would be cleared for palm oil plantations, and it would not only affect the forest and animals, but also the water catchment system and have a serious, and most likely irreversible impact on the area’s biodiversity.
Some good news though, last Thursday a palm oil company was fined $30 million for destroying protected orangutan forest. There are not many cases like this, but it might be a start to the realization of what is happening: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0109-aceh-tripa-court-decision.html
Duncan, if you can’t tell from my rant there, what I saw in Borneo was an eye opening experience. I cannot help but feel hopeless while sitting here on my computer in Vancouver, but I hope that spreading knowledge and awareness about the subject is helpful.
Works Cited:
Butler, Rhett A. “Mondabay.com”. 2014. http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0109-aceh-tripa-court-decision.html
WWF. “Threat to Borneo Forests”. http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/borneo_forests/borneo_deforestation/