ECOSPIRED

  During my first year as an Environmental Engineering student, I took a course called "Earth Engineering." It was mainly about soil mechanics, yet the first lesson discussed the natural resources left on this earth, and how humans use them everyday. The most surprising fact was the amount of freshwater on our planet, which is barely anything!! As the years go by, experts keep warning us about the arising water scarcity problem. We have already heard many horror stories like the Flint water crisis, and there are many more to come. To learn more about our current situation, I wrote about the present water issues and their unknown future. As the planet continues to warm and the world population endlessly grows, the need for water is increasing at a dangerous pace. Majority of the planet is water, however fresh water is the main source of drinking water for humans, and it only constitutes about 1/10,000th of one percent of the total water; of this minute amount, 68.7% is loc

The new year is the time to start good habits to change for the better! Every year I make goals regarding fitness, education, and general lifestyle. For today’s post, I wanted to share some of my sustainability goals for 2021 and inspire you to make some as well. 1. Reducing my Cow Milk Intake When I turned 18 years old, I decided to become vegetarian as it was a significant way to aid the environment. In the past years, the plant-based movement has picked up immensely in this generation, which is great to see. A lot of young adults are vegans, vegetarians or at least avoid consuming meat and dairy. Having a vegetarian diet means 2.5 times fewer carbon emissions than a meat diet – that’s a huge amount!  After learning about how dairy cattle are treated and, the horrifying facts about the dairy industry, one of my main goals for 2021 is to reduce my cow milk intake gravely. When comparing carbon emissions released by species , diary cattle are the second highest emission producer

  The year 2020 has brought many unexpected turns, the most dramatic being COVID-19. There’s no doubt that it had a pivotal effect on the economy and society as a whole, but I wanted to talk about its impact on the environment. As I was researching, I came upon hundreds of articles, some which argued that C OVID -19 had a positive impact on the environment, others which said it created more problems. As the end of the year is upon us, I wanted to write about the influence C OVID -19 had on the earth. There are several topics to discuss, but I chose to focus on the more common environmental factors.   “We have therefore made the assessment COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic”, this news was announced on March 11th by Dr Tedros from the World Health Organization (WHO). From this point onwards, the world shut down. Businesses had to close, schools transferred to remote learning and above all, everyone went into isolation. It was a vital adjustment for everyone, there were chang

  It’s December, Christmas time! This year Christmas will look different everywhere, so why not try some sustainable ways to enjoy Christmas. During this season we buy ten times more things, we excessively decorate every inch of our house, and we jam out to Christmas bops. In this blog, I hope to give you some sustainable alternatives to your Christmas traditions.   1. Consider alternative Christmas trees The number one Christmas tradition is the tall pine tree that lights up our home. Nowadays, there are several options when it comes to Christmas trees, which all have their pros and cons for the environment. A real cut Christmas Tree : This is the traditional tree everyone loves; the smell of the pine and its unique shape is cherished. When buying a cut Christmas tree look for local and sustainably grown trees. Consider going to a tree farm instead of a department store! Most importantly, once the Christmas season is over, avoid throwing it in the garbage as it will rot in the

When working on redundant projects I like to listen to podcasts, it allows the time to go by and inspires me to write. This past month I’ve been listening to “ Overheard at National Geographic ” , an episode about the Towers of Ladakh got me interested in how often humans have to create solutions due to nature’s cycle. It got me thinking that though nature can be unexpectedly hindering, it also has provided us with many answers. In this post, I compare two situations where nature has been an inconvenience and where it has assisted.  The first story takes place in Ladakh , a region located in northern and eastern Kashmir and is one of the highest regions in the world. It is filled with beautiful high plains, deep valleys, brackish lakes and glaciers. The climate is very dry and cold due to its high altitude and has only about 80mm of precipitation every year. Ladakh sits on a mountain range that neighbours the Himalayas, these mountains block most of the rain clouds leaving Ladakh to b

Unfortunately, the wildfires have become a norm for California residents which do not only affect the forests of the state but also the quality of living. I became more aware of the fires when my brother recently moved to California. As I listened to him recount his day of finding ways to avoid going outside into the smog and the several precautions he had to take to simply go out on a grocery run, I realized how it wasn’t only an environmental issue, but a societal one as well. As I did research on the Californian fires, I found an article about why we should stop blaming Climate Change for them. This captivated my interest as climate change has become a non-debatable issue in the world of science. I wrote this article to understand both sides of the argument and was pleased to find experts debating each side. In the end, I was able to have a well-rounded perception of the topic, and I hope you as the reader do too. The year of 2020 has brought a lot of environmental and societal dam