I am a fourth year Geography student at UBC specializing in Environment and Sustainability. I transferred here from Langara College where I received my Associate of Arts Degree in Environmental Studies to further my education. I hope to complete my BA at UBC, and move on to graduate school. Perhaps law or urban planning.

My interest in the environmental field began in elementary school when we were forced to watch Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” . I was 12 or 13 years old at the time, which is probably too young of an age to completely understand the magnitude of the movie, but I loved it regardless. Although I thought the world was ending upon watching the doc, I soon discovered that humanity was not doomed, and there ARE means of mitigation. This gave me hope and direction in life.

Almost ten years later, I still credit Al Gore for sparking my interest in global climate change. Throughout elementary school, high school, college, and now university, my passion has only grown as I learn more about the importance of sustainability. It may seem ridiculous, but I owe Gore for giving my life such great meaning and value on that rainy grade 6 day.

In my conquest for knowledge, my interest has always laid in waste, and waste management. Considering the daunting effects of globalization, I figured this field would need plenty of help in the future. I had the opportunity to conduct research on waste collection in public parks last year, which was subsequently adopted by the City of Vancouver’s park management notice upon the presentation my team and I presented at City Hall. That had to be my proudest moment thus far in my pursuit of saving the world.

If you are interested, here is a brief summary of the report my team and I completed:

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2016/03/10/vancouver-parks-lack-recycling-bins-study

Any who, that felt like a lifetime ago, so I know there will be a plethora of new problems arising in upcoming years as Vancouver closes in on the 2020 goal.

I chose to join the faculty of arts, and not science because I believe real change lays in policy and law. I hope to see improvements in global waste management in the upcoming years but if not, then I guess that is where my expertise comes in.