Will you take the challenge to live without or reduce your plastic use for one month in July?

Plastic Free July is an annual, month-long challenge to protect the oceans and change our habits. For more details on the challenge, visit www.plasticfreejuly.org.

You can challenge yourself (and your friends) to give up on specific plastic items and keep it going all month. You can avoid the most common single use plastic items — to-go coffee cups, straws, plastic bags, and water bottles — or challenge yourself to give it all you’ve got and eliminate as much plastic as you can.

Don’t forget to pledge to take the challenge.

If you’re not sure where your plastic comes from, you can do this quiz. You’ll get some results and the outcomes are used for research.

We’ve all heard the three ‘R’s’ — reduce, reuse, and recycle — but there are two more to consider when you’re trying to prevent using plastic:

     •   Refuse things you don’t need,
     •   Reduce the things you do need,
     •   Reuse what you’ve got,
     •   Recycle what you can,
     •   Rot (compost) what you can’t.

If you are curious about this idea of the five Rs, read on.

A few of my favourite ways to reduce waste during the summer are:

     •   Enjoy an ice cream cone instead of a cup
     •   Host friends for a potluck instead of getting take out
     •   Get your beer and cider in a refillable growler instead of cans
     •   Sit at the cafe, enjoy a few minutes of relaxation, and enjoy your coffee or tea
     •   Carry reusable cutlery, a napkin, and water bottle when you’re out and about

Do your best and don’t panic if you don’t get through the month perfectly. Look at where you ended up with plastic and see if you can take a different approach next time. Good luck on your challenge and let us know your tips and tricks!

— Mairi & Tia (Sustainable KSA)

Five Exercises to Study

Over the next few months, Active KSA will start to bring our readers tips and ideas to help them strive for a healthier and more active lifestyle.

Physical health is one of multiple things students tend to avoid with their hectic study and work schedules. You might think going to the gym once a week is enough, but when it comes to your body, take care of it — it’s the only one you’ve got.

Here are some ways to #getactive without leaving your study area:

1.  Pushups. 10 a day will increase the strength of your arms and chest, and help with the upper back too! Those long hours of studying will not tire you out so quickly with better posture. You can modify the pushups if the traditional way is tiresome, then build up to it.

2.  Shoulder raises. Raise them periodically from time to time, bringing them right up to your ears for about 10 seconds at a time, and it will drastically relax your body during the study session.

3.  Planking. Try to do it for 30 seconds, 3 times a day. This exercise tones stomach muscles and you will find that your balance has significantly improved over the first few weeks.

4.  Head Rotation. Try doing this when your brain is too full and starts pulling your head toward your notes. Sit up straight in your chair. Then look at the ceiling for 10 seconds. Then the ground for 10 seconds. Repeat for left and right sides. Rock your head back and forth shoulder to shoulder while looking at the ground. But never do a full rotation.

5.  Squats. Aim for 15 a day! Not only do squats tone your legs and glutes, but you’ll find that running and jumping will improve as well. Also, by strengthening your legs, your circulation will get better and you may find yourself more awake and alert.

Without regular exercise, a body becomes stagnant, depressed, and slow. The negative side effects are evident within a month of not exercising. But by adding in small workouts to your everyday routine, you can conquer the low-energy blues and #getactive!

— Piper & Nate (Active KSA)

Farewell + A Corgi

Hello!

This post will just be a quick one from me, Kendell Kitt, the KSA's Clubs & Outreach Coordinator for the last 3 years. I'm the one who has been scheduling, planning and occasionally breaking the KSA blog since the beginning. If you ever saw our intro post, I'm the one who loves smoothies, waking up early and photos of corgis.

This post is to let everyone know that I am moving on from the KSA (to pursue a dream of living in a small town). As a result, this blog may be not be updated as frequently and you may notice a change in the 'voice' of the blog.

Me (Bottom) with my Street Team Volunteers! 

The past 3 years I've worked on a variety of student life and engagement projects that all aim at increasing the community and campus life here at KPU. It's been an absolute blast and I've met so many passionate students that are working hard to grow the sense of community here at KPU. My famous last words: Don't just go home after class! Get involved (volunteer, join a club, join a committee, enter a school contest, study on campus), go to events and make memories on campus that are unrelated to class!

Cheers (+ thank you for a great 3 years),

Kendell Kitt

ps. Here's a corgi.

KSA Spotlight: Alicia Poon

There are some pretty amazing people that work to support students at the KSA. Every month we'll feature a staff member (and occasionally Council member) so you can actually put a face to the name/event/project. This month, I invite you to meet Alicia, the Student Service Coordinator for the KSA Benefit Plan!

Here are a few things about Alicia... 

1. How did you come to work for the KSA?
I was a student at kpu back in the fall 2005 and ended up spending time in the Grassroots (formerly The Fishbowl or The Oasis lol) and got a job in the KSA run café for and a year later got the job as a part timer helper in the KSA Extended Health and Dental Office.

2. What is your position and can you provide a brief summary of what you do?
I am the Student Service Coordinator for the KSA Benefit Plan. I facilitate the plan for students. Help them understand what their plan is and how to best use it. I also do a lot of other jobs to help students utilize their plan.

3. What is your favourite thing about working here?
The environment. The people. I have been here for 13 years, 12 of which are in the health and dental office and I have always enjoyed it.

4. Best activity to do on the weekend?
Go to Whistler.

5. What is something that makes you unique?
I am fairly gutsy. I like to take on challenges, dares and am ruthless in competition. I once shoved a stranger is a glacier fed lake because he deserved it lol (if you find me on campus you can ask me the story-I swear I'm not mean)

6. What is your favourite food?
I love Asian food, most types.

7. What is one of your best memories at the KSA?
A few years ago at a staff retreat we got to go to a place I hadn't been since I was in grade 4 and I jumped in ice cold water with colleagues and we shared our life stories and it was a great time I wont soon forget.

Also every time Start Coordinator Steph Chee got pranked with a banana, that bit is classic.

Want to do more with the KSA? Volunteer with our START Program, Peer Support or the KSA Street Team. Looking to do more as a student? Consider attending a committee meeting or running in election next Spring. Want to work for us? Check out our job postings here.

What does water have to do with Indigenous rights?

The war on Earth is a lot of things: it’s fracking, deforestation, mining, pipelines, and the ever-increasing cost of space itself in British Columbia, specifically Metro Vancouver. I could go on to talk about the raging wildfires that decimated roughly 4,260 square kilometres of British Columbia forest in the summer of 2017 or the ever-increasing list of endangered species. Violence against the Earth is not conventional, immediate, or overt but systemic and socialized, as well as government-sanctioned. All of this is immense and crucial not just to our survival on Earth but our ability to thrive. 

Photo via The National Observer

It’s easy to separate social injustice from environmental injustice. After all, what does water have to do with Indigenous rights? A lot, it turns out. Studies show that 400 out of 618 First Nations in Canada had water problems between 2004 and 2014. The 1876 Indian Act severely restricted Indigenous agency over their land, especially for women, and the effects have carried on until the present.

It is the impact of environmental injustice on Indigenous women that is so often left out of the conversation. In fact, violence against Indigenous women is often not even considered an environmental issue. In their latest update, the RCMP estimates the current number of missing and murdered Indigenous women to be 1,181 since 1980, making Indigenous women six times more likely to be victims of homicide than non-Indigenous women. Indigenous rights activists, however, dispute the RCMP’s claim. It is difficult to know the real number as the RCMP does not systematically track data

Photo via CBC

Why are Indigenous women at an increased risk of violence? The short but storied answer is Canada’s legacy of colonialism. Statistics Canada estimates that 80 percent of Indigenous reserves have median incomes below the low-income measure, with women falling at the lowest pay grade. Poverty makes women more vulnerable to the consequences of natural and human-created disasters like earthquakes and oil spills because they do not have the means to relocate or seek medical care. Given that women are often the sole caretakers of children, and responsible for the collection of both food and water, the aftermath is almost impossible to recover from for some. Often, women are forced into homelessness or occupations that put them at a higher risk of violence. A Globe and Mail study found that at least 18 Indigenous women were victims of convicted serial killers since 1980, most notably pig farmer Robert Pickton. Some of his victims have yet to be identified or located. In addition, Amnesty International notes that, with increased presence of non-Indigenous workers on Indigenous land, there is increased violence against women and girls. Where the land is exploited, women are exploited.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo, a female Indigenous activist.
Photo via Yes Magazine

Despite Canada touting its position as equal and fair for all, there is little to no incentive or space for female climate leaders, especially Indigenous. Among the honourees of Canada’s Clean 50 award in 2017, 43 were men and 7 were women (it is also notable that Clean 50’s slogan is “Outstanding Contributors to Clean Capitalism”). Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, the net worth of which is currently estimated at $143.9 billion, was awarded the United Nation’s highest environmental accolade, “Champion of the Earth,” in 2015. From Al Gore to Elon Musk, the face of sustainability is primarily male, white, and rich. Capitalism rewards production, not conservation.

It will no longer serve to avoid the truth, which is that human wellbeing must be included in the definition of a sustainable planet. Right now, it is limited to LED lights and solar panels. We have forgotten how to sustain human life. The climate crisis we face now is a reverberation of hundreds of years of stealing land, exploiting people, and taking more resources than can regenerate, borne from profiting from the Earth over respecting those who live here. Placing the fate of the planet in the hands of the rich, white, and male determines what the future of sustainability will look like: $100, 000 cars and the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women growing every year.

It is impossible to have justice for the planet until there is justice for women, who currently make up just over half of the worldwide population. If we cannot treat the women who create and define our society as sacred, how will we treat the Earth as such?

-- Tia (KSA Sustainability Specialist)