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Reflective Journal of consumption 3

Week three

November 3rd Monday to November 5th Tuesday

Stay at home

I want to consume vegetables and fruits I bought before.

November 6th Wednesday

I took tea in my bottle and made lunch with me. No consumption.

November 7th Thursday

Maxi: yogurt, mushroom, corn, chicken breast, orange and long beans.

Reflection

Through observation and recording in three weeks, I found that I have an awareness of controlling myself. When I see the items I consumed before, I connect with environmental sustainability nonconsciously. I read nutrition labels and ingredients of products to convince myself to put them back if they are what I want rather than what I need. 

When I went to Maxi this week, I take my reusable bag. 

I bought it two years ago, but sometimes I forgot to take it. 

I think many people’s shopping behaviours are similar to mine. This is the tip of the iceberg, but if an individual is aware of their consumption in their daily life, the whole iceberg would melt. 

We still have a long way to go on environmental sustainability. 

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Reflective Journal of Consumption 2

Week Two

October 28th Monday

David’s tea

Baking mould

Grocery: Yogurt, orange, Kiwi.

I have an awareness of checking my account balance when I want to buy something now. Thus, when I went to the mall, I try to control my shopping desires. I calculated the money I must spend on rent, the internet, phone bills, electricity and food. Also, I convinced myself that “those items are useless”, or “You may just use them for one time, then, you will never touch them anymore”. It sounds like brainwashing, but it works. And I do not regret it when I back home.

However, I noticed that I have to drink something when I am not at home. This time is tea.

I bought a baking mould last year, but it is so large. I had to use more butter, flour, eggs and sugar when I baked cakes. I bought a smaller one to save ingredients for the next baking. That reminds me to plan well and reduce impulsive consumption.

October 30th Wednesday & October 31st Thursday

Limocar, Greyhound and Uber

Lunch: Burger King

Dinner: Chinese BBQ

Handbag for Mom

I bought a coach handbag for my mom when I went to Ottawa Outlets. I considered a lot before I made the decision to buy it. There was a 50% discount and my mom would be happy to receive it. I did not buy something for myself except food, and my brainwashing still worked. Hooray!

I have no driving license because I cannot see the road clearly in the evening. Although I might be a driver in a few years, I have to talk about transport and the environment issue. More and more people own their private cars, no matter new or second-hand cars. We all know the negative influence of exhaust emission from vehicle engines, but we cannot bike in snowy or rainy days, and public transportation cannot depart as your requirement. If we want to take public transportation, we have to follow the time schedule.

I took limocar (from Sherbrooke to Montreal) and greyhound (from Montreal to Ottawa) because I had to go to Ottawa to have an interview for my American visa. Plus, I did not find a carpool. If I could drive and I had a car, I could drive to Ottawa in three and a half hours. However, I spent almost six hours on taking public transportation (limocar and greyhound).

Air Pollution 101 | National Geographic

Air pollution pops out in my mind and I would like to discuss a little bit to strengthen my no driving decision. We suffer from a terrible influence on the consumption of fossil fuels. Air pollution is the by-product of economic and industrial development. Air pollution leads to some acute and chronic diseases (Kampa & Castanas, 2008). Some children in Beijing are prone to respiratory diseases because of air pollutants. Franklin, Brook & Arden Pope (2015) also illustrate that some matters of air pollution have negative effect on humans’ cardiovascular system, and those matters increase the incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases. It is urgent to deal with air pollution and maintain environmental sustainability.

Why is China’s air quality improving?

Reference:

CGTN. (2019, June 5). Why is China’s air quality improving? Retrieved from https://youtu.be/17lhPNSSayA

Franklin, B. A., Brook, R., & Arden Pope, C. (2015). Air pollution and cardiovascular disease. Current Problems in Cardiology, 40(5), 207-238. doi:10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2015.01.003

Kampa, M., & Castanas, E. (2008). Human health effects of air pollution. Environmental Pollution, 151(2), 362-367. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2007.06.012

National geographic. (2017, October 16). Air Pollution 101 | National Geographic. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/e6rglsLy1Ys

November 1st Friday

Rent/Phone bill/Bus pass

Rent, phone bills and bus pass are three necessary expenditures each month.

November 2nd Saturday

Brunch in Coco Frutti

Starbucks

In order to find a bright and nice place to study, Shaowei and I went to Starbucks, and I found the words to label ingredients on the cup, sleeve and napkin. The cup, sleeve, and napkin are made with 10%, 85% and 60% of post-consumer recycled fibre, respectively. I found a picture I took for Tim Horton's sleeve. It shows that it includes 85% of post-consumer recycled fibre.  

Starbucks cup, sleeve and napkin

Tim Horton’s sleeve

I observed in Starbucks, Tim Hortons and the bus stop café in Nicolls. Most students did not take their cups to buy coffee, and they use takeaway coffee cups. Do you think the paper coffee cup is recyclable? Actually, the answer is NO. The paper coffee cup, so-called poly-coated cup, includes plastic.

The truth about recycling coffee cups - Hugh's War on Waste: Episode 3 Preview - BBC One  

Consumers think their disposal coffee cups will be recycled because they throw them into recycling bins. However, those cups end up in landfills.

On October 30th, the CBC marketplace did a test to track the used coffee cups in Toronto. They found that by the end of the day, those coffee cups were found in the garbage only bins, both Starbucks and Tim Horton’s did that. These two coffee giants in Canada claimed that they recycled the used coffee cups, but they lied to citizens and fooled the public. After this news was exposed, Starbucks said they regret and would make progress. Three months later, the CBC marketplace did the same test. Nothing changed in Tim Horton’s. Starbucks set a new category of bins----Mixed recycling. However, the results were the same as three months ago.

Coffee cups: Starbucks and Tim Hortons recycling ends up in garbage (CBC Marketplace)

Coffee Cups UPDATE: Are Starbucks and Tim Horton's recycling? (CBC Marketplace)

Poortinga and Whitaker (2018) illustrate that because of technical, economic and social reasons, disposal coffee cups are hardly recycled. Moreover, people use disposal cups outside of the shops. In other words, those cups hardly back to the shops. The contamination of organic materials may make those cups unrecyclable (Poortinga & Whitaker, 2018).

From my perspective, reducing the utilization of disposal cups can restrict production. Besides the plant consumption in the cup-making process, “disposable coffee cups generate about one-and-a-half times their weight in carbon dioxide emission” (Poortinga & Whitaker, 2018, p. 873).

We cannot ignore individuals’ influence. Mulligan (2014) says that “sustainability needs to be a daily preoccupation for all of us because our capacity to live sustainably begins with our existing environmental impacts and our modes of interacting with other people and society at large” (p. 5). Therefore, to improve environmental sustainability, I will bring my reusable cup.

Reference:

BBC. (2016, July 28). The truth about recycling coffee cups - Hugh's War on Waste: Episode 3 Preview - BBC One. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/LGcd5aNBr4c

CBC News. (2015, October 30). Coffee cups: Starbucks and Tim Hortons recycling ends up in garbage (CBC Marketplace). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Y39-IZEuNDA

CBC News. (2016, January 29). Coffee Cups UPDATE: Are Starbucks and Tim Hortons recycling? (CBC Marketplace). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/cZuRmq6fy20

Mulligan, M.(2014). An introduction to sustainability: Environmental, social and personal experience. London, England: Routledge.

Poortinga, W., & Whitaker, L. (2018). Promoting the use of reusable coffee cups through environmental messaging, the provision of alternatives and financial incentives. Sustainability, 10(3), 873. doi:10.3390/su10030873

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Reflective Journal of Consumption 1

Week One

October 20th Sunday

Brunch & Cafe in Les Vraies Richesses

Dinner Chicking

Green tea extract

For me, Sunday is a no-class day, but I decided to go to my favourite cafe in Sherbrooke. I bought a turkey sandwich and a cup of coffee. As for dinner, I ate Chicking with Katrina because she said she ate Chicking several months ago, that was one of her great eating experiences. However, after I ate my combo, I thought it tasted fine. The last item I bought was a bottle of Green tea extract. The introduction of this item says it helps in weight management.

I noticed that the container of Chicking is plastic. That reminds me that I use plastic products every day. If you buy coffee from Tim Hortons, Starbucks, or a bus stop, do you notice lids? Most of them are made of plastics. I just used a recycled paper lid once in China. Indeed, plastic products bring convenient in our life. There are seven kinds of plastic products we usually use, and I find a picture to introduce them. Although plastic products are divided into different levels, it does not mean that they are safe. On the contrary, they threaten animals’ and humans’ health and lives. From the picture, we can see that plastic products will be out of shape when they suffer from high temperatures. Then, the toxic materials will come out. In addition, some animals die because of plastic products. For example, birds get caught in plastic bags and suffocated. Marine animals think plastic products are food, and they eat and be choked to death.

However, before we find an alternative material to replace plastic, classifying and recycling them might be a sound choice.

Plastics 101 | National Geographic

Recycling plastics – Resource efficiency with an optimized sorting method

Reference:

National Geographic. (2018, May 18). Plastics 101 | National Geographic. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ggh0Ptk3VGE

Rochman, C., Browne, M., Halpern, B., Hentschel, B., Hoh, E., Karapanagioti, H., . . . Thompson, R. (2013). Classify plastic waste as hazardous. Nature, 494(7436), 169-171. doi:10.1038/494169a

VDI Zentrum Ressourceneffizienz. (2018, September 27). Recycling plastics – Resource efficiency with an optimized sorting method. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/I_fUpP-hq3A

October 22nd Tuesday

Grocery: milk, yogurt, egg, cocoa powder, vegetable, fruit and lotus biscuit

McDonald’s

The cocoa powder and lotus biscuit were used for baking lotus brownie. Local snacks or dessert are too sweet for me, so I’d like to bake in leisure time. Also, I believe that baking gives me time to think or stay with myself without any words. I am a person with performance goals, kind of. I care about my performance in other people’s eyes. Also, I enjoy the moment when some eat the food I made or when he or she like my baking food.

McDonald’s is the choice when I am too lazy to cook. However, if there are KFC, McDonald’s and Burger King around my home, I definitely choose Burger King. Because at the same price, the hamburgers and fries in Burger King are bigger than those in KFC and McDonald’s.

I remember that someone used McDonald’s hamburgers and fries to experiment.

The audience is shocked when they watch this video because the fries of McDonald’s changes little when they are put in a jar for several weeks. I have a similar experience. Once I bought a hamburger and put it in the refrigerator, then I forgot it. One week later, when I cleaned my fridge, I found it. It is still a complete burger. However, I cannot refuse the burgers’ invitation when I am hungry. I try reducing the times I eat those junk food, especially when I see the nutrition and calorie table.

The Decomposition of McDonald's Burgers and Fries

Add a BBC News on 1st November about a 10-year-old McDonald’s cheeseburger

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-50262547

The last McDonald’s restaurant in Iceland has been closed for ten years. The cheeseburger and the fries in this picture were bought ten years ago. I prefer to call them “Zombie Burger and Fries”, although McDonald’s says this phenomenon happens because the burger and fries live without moisture. 

Reference:

DebunkerSam. (2010, August 29). The decomposition of McDonald’s burgers and fries. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/8uHxRwQqWFo

October 23rd Wednesday

Nike air force 1

In one year, I usually buy one or two pairs of shoes. I like shoes, but I cannot afford them, so I only buy the one I love so much. When my friend recommended this pair of shoes to me, some words appeared in my brain: I need them. My parents cannot understand that because they are not interested in shoes. When my mom finds a bag she likes, I will see this bag at home the next day. We have a special ability with money to make our dreams come true. Money and desires allow us to be magicians. However, it may lead to spending addiction.

Sometimes I cannot refuse the recommendations from my friends. In Chinese, we call it “安利 (an li)”. When my friends describe one product, they introduce the benefits, wonderful appearance and proper cost-effective, which impede my critical thinking. In China, online living shopping is popular. One of the most popular hosts is Jiaqi Li. He sold five thousand products in three minutes. Most of the audience is female. He uses “Oh my god” and “all girls” as the hook to introduce the benefits of products. Coupons and discounts lure consumers. Before living shopping is over, you may buy something. Sometimes you buy something you will not use. Why? Why do we buy something useless?

There are three reasons: 1) improving self-esteem; 2) releasing pressure; 3) reducing anxiety and improving mood.

Some people prefer to compare with others when they buy luxury things, and they want to show off, which helps them to improve their self-esteem. Moreover, there is an Ebates survey shows that “63.9% of women and 39.8% of men shop to improve their mood”. Also, retail therapy is a consumers’ behaviour, they use is to control their emotions and improve their mood (Atalay & Meloy, 2011). Although Atalay and Meloy (2011) show that there is no significant negative response from retail therapy, I do not believe that retail therapy is an effective, long-term solution.

Reference:

Ebates survey: More than half (51.8%) of Americans engage in retail therapy-- 63.9% of women and 39.8% of men shop to improve their mood. (2013, ). Benzinga.Com.

Atalay, A. S., & Meloy, M. G. (2011). Retail therapy: A strategic effort to improve mood. Psychology & Marketing, 28(6), 638-659. doi:10.1002/mar.20404

October 24th Thursday

American visa fee

Soft drink: Canada Dry

Last Christmas, my uncle’s family went to San Francisco for vacation. I did not have an America visa, so I stayed at home and had Christmas alone. After they came back, they told me their incredible experience in the Yosemite national park that makes me jealous, so I apply for an American visa.

I love sparkling water, and sometimes I drink soft drinks. Through checking my statement, I found that each week, I spend about eight dollars on sparkling waters or soft drinks. Only this year, I want to abandon the habit of drinking soft drinks three times. The longest one is forty-two days. There are so many videos on YouTube to demonstrate how harmful to bodies when people drink coke. When I watch those videos, I changed soft drinks to sparkling water because there is no calorie in sparkling water. I hope that I could abandon soft drinks and sparkling water in two months.

October 25th Friday and October 27th Sunday

Tim Hortons: Coffee

For me, coffee is not a necessity, but if I have classes or I have to complete assignments, coffee is a sound choice for me to concentrate on tasks. When I was in China, there is a Starbucks on my way to work. I spent lots of money on coffee and other products (such as membership cards, mugs, and food). I had almost sixteen Starbucks membership card, and one card costs ninety-eight RMB (about 19 CAD). Each card involves five coupons (one free breakfast coffee, one free coffee, and three coupons for second cup free). Also, each card has a unique theme, and its fascinating appearance attracted me. Now, I regret that I spent money on those cards because they forced and engaged me to spend more on coffee and other products in Starbucks.

Then, when I came to Canada, I found Tim Hortons. One cup of coffee in Tim Hortons cost 2.26 CAD (after tax), while it costs 6.26 CAD in Starbucks. However, Starbucks has more types of coffee than Tim Hortons.

In Sherbrooke, there are only two Starbucks. It takes me forty minutes to arrive at the nearest one by bus. Fortunately, the distance helps me to save money.

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My fishing village, please slow down.

The reading of Netukulimk and Mi' kmaq reminds me of the history of my hometown—Qingdao (Tsingtao,青岛). Germany and Japan colonized Qingdao from 1897 to 1945, and this period changed the relationship between nature and citizens.

The influence of colonization

Qingdao (QD), which original name was Jiao'ao (胶澳), was a fishing village before German anchored on QD. Citizens, especially males, were fishers and farmers. They were satisfied with their life, and they fed their families with products they obtained from nature. However, German wanted to build a German town in China, and they selected QD. On September 14th, 1897, they burst in QD with industrial machines and used a steam pile machine to break the peace. QD had shifted from a fishing village to a construction site (Kunzmann, 2019). Moreover, German explored local resources for 1) industrial construction and 2) ensure German and European’s life quality. Tsingtao beer was the product German brought to QD at that time. Local residences suffered from racial segregation and hierarchy. 

What is worse, the ambition and invasion of Japan deprived local citizens’ property and life. Japanese army surrounded QD and kicked German out. However, a larger number of Japanese landed on QD from September 14th, 1914; they replaced local workers in fishing, farming, industrial and other areas. Japanese invaders forced local citizens to learn and speak Japanese by cultural assimilation. In addition, local coal resource was exploded and utilized heavily. Although Japanese evacuated from 1922, they still occupied primary resources and never stopped their invasive ambition till the end of World War II. The period of colonization has been the darkest time of QD. A lot of labour force died in war or impoverished living conditions.

From my perspective, before colonization, local citizens had a balanced relationship with nature and resources. They wasted little and explored appropriately without productive or developmental pressure. Unfortunately, the war interrupted the steady progress and forced this fishing village to develop into an industrial city. After humiliation time, people were aware that their community would not be invaded if China was strong enough. Therefore, the government and citizens focused on metal-making and industry. They neglected to prevent pollution or other environmental problems happen. When people lived in poor conditions, they were busy to figure out how to improve their living quality. They ignore the effects of their decisions and behaviours until people suffered from negative consequences.

Current situation

As a port city, lots of enterprises invest in QD. Meanwhile, there are a lot of people migrate to QD to settle down. Until 2018, this area of 11, 282 square kilometres accommodates 9.3948 million people, and some problems are brought in the following, such as traffic congestion, freshwater deficiency, resources and energy shortage, etc. QD is ecological overload, and it strays from sustainability (Peng, Wang, Li, & He, 2018). For example, smog, one consequence of air pollution, is heavier than before. Li, Yan, Xu, Huang, Wang and Xie (2017) show that the primary source of air pollution in QD is coal combustion and exhaust emission. Also, ship emission aggravates air pollution, especially in summer (Chen, Wang, Nelson, Li, Zhao, Zhao, Liang, Zhou & Guo, 2017). Moreover, urban runoff, sewage and industrial wastewater with heavy metal flow into the Bo sea and the Yellow Sea. Marine creatures suffer from contamination. Tourism also brings environmental problems. Some tourists leave plastic products on the beach, although every 100 meters has a trash can. 

We also need to be careful about unstable industrial activities. In 2013, one oil pipeline explodes, “approximately 2,000 tons of crude oil was leaked. As a result of the oil spill to approximately 3,000 m2 of the sea nearby, numerous fish and birds died” (Zhao, 2014, p.1301). 

Discussion and Solution

To be honest, I dislike my hometown is crowded and develop so rapidly because I have to catch up with that fast-paced life. However, it is impossible to pause a city’s progress. In the following, there are three suggestions: 1) Take action rather than suffering Not only curb environmental pollution by the government, but individuals also have to take action to change the current ecological situation. Although it is a long-term process of improving environment, individual power cannot be neglected. 2) Integrate environmental sustainability into curricula Zhao, Gao, Wu, Wang, and Zhu (2014) point out that in QD, older people are more prone to protect environment than young people. Because older people experienced environment changes and witness contamination forming. Some children lose the connections with food or other resources, they have no idea about where those resources come from. It is critical for children and young people to be aware of environmental protection and resource utilization. 3) Take measures for preventing, when governing existing problems Besides appropriate exploration, seeking alternative resources is necessary.  We have to reduce the consumption of non-renewable energy resources and take full advantage of renewable energy resources. 4) Encourage green consumption and garbage classification Low carbon life promotes the relationship between humans and nature. It requires humans to buy and use products that minimize the hazards of consumption. Humans meet their own needs and not endanger future generations.

Look at the fascinating view of Qingdao, I’d like to say that  My fishing village, please slow down.

Reference:

CGTN. (2013, November 22). Powerful explosion in Qingdao, Shandong kills at least 35, injures 166. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/aVMXOJ7OL1Y

Chen, D., Wang, X., Nelson, P., Li, Y., Zhao, Y., Zhao, N., Liang, J., Zhou, Y., & Guo, X. (2017). Ship emission inventory and its impact on the PM2.5 air pollution in qingdao port, north china. Atmospheric Environment, 166, 351-361. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.07.021

Kunzmann, K. R. (2019). Illustrations: Discovering qingdao. Planning Theory & Practice, 20(1), 148-155. doi:10.1080/14649357.2019.1558999

Li, L., Yan, D., Xu, S., Huang, M., Wang, X., & Xie, S. (2017). Characteristics and source distribution of air pollution in winter in qingdao, eastern china. Environmental Pollution, 224, 44-53. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2016.12.037

Peng, W., Wang, X., Li, X., & He, C. (2018). Sustainability evaluation based on the emergy ecological footprint method: A case study of qingdao, china, from 2004 to 2014. Ecological Indicators, 85, 1249-1261. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.12.020

Sun, K. (2019, July 16). Tsingtao (Qingdao) meets you. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/sFSClS9KVZE

Zhao, H., Gao, Q., Wu, Y., Wang, Y., & Zhu, X. (2014). What affects green consumer behavior in china? A case study from qingdao. Journal of Cleaner Production, 63, 143-151. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.05.021

Zhao, B. (2014). Qingdao pipeline explosion: Introductions and reflections. Natural Hazards, 74(2), 1299-1305. doi:10.1007/s11069-014-1232-2

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🍁Autumn🍂

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Autumn in the breeze

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Qingdao Tsingtao

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Qingdao Tsingtao

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Tsingtao

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🚂

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The 3rd autumn in CA