Bernard Garcia

Nature

My Nature journey has always been evolving. I am trying to frequent going more to the river this summer. I have been out to the river a a few times, because I had paid for a parking pass last year. I like to go out and take photos and sometimes being out in nature is inspiring. Putting your phone away is something most people struggle with, but it feels nice to ignore technology and breathe in nature. Just to listen to water and the animals noises. I need to make sure I make it to the ocean this summer as well. It's very soothing to see the ocean and feel the water that connects us all. Many summers I don't make it an I forget how lucky we are living in the west coast. I put the farm as the 2nd photo, because it was very magical first stepping onto the Sunflower farm seeing the butterflies this summer. I feel disconnected from nature sometimes. Third photo I put the Pickles Baseball game I went to last Thursday. It was a nice day at Walker Stadium at Lents Park. I forget sometimes how lovely just going to the park and seeing a live event in a crowd. Thank you for the course. It uplifted my spirts.

Eco Challenge 7: Consumerism

We are all bred to consume from the first moment we taste coca cola or try McDonald's fries. The taste that excited our taste buds. We see the golden arches and McDonald's knows people will want to consume their logo and their new treats. Once you start noticing the patterns of consumption it's too late. We are money to those corporations. When school started I challenged myself to two things. stop consuming alcohol and no more tee shirts. Alcohol is a whole market that sells poison and America loves it. Shirts I have way too many for the average person. I didn't do either this summer course which I feel proud about. Happy Pride.

Transportation Challenge


Transportation is something I enjoy when I'm able too. I do rely a lot on my vehicle to get to work and back in a timely fashion. I do want to make it more of a habit to carpool too. When I'm not relying on work transportation I enjoy taking the MAX. When I travel I rarely rent a car and I usually get by on city bus or light rail. A lot of my friends make fun of me for doing so, but I enjoy the price difference in a bus ticket vs gas and parking. It does slow me down a little, but you get to people watch and see the world in a different way commuting. I take the Amtrak to travel when I'm able to and have taken the train to Chicago, Philly, Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver CA, and Wasco CA to visit my mother. I really enjoy riding the train it's peaceful and it's green. A goal of mine long term is to live closer to work to where I won't have to drive from Vancouver Washington to Moda Center. I don't have to drive now, but the amount of time I save is driving is a ton. I would like to be a street car ride away or a max ride away to work. That is a goal of mine for next year to not rely on my vehicle to get to work. I also want a motorcycle in the future which is a better alternative to a vehicle in fuel effecincity.


The two photos I posted one was a tweet from Rupaul that I remembered first made me think about using public transportation more often. The phrase "you're not stuck in traffic, you are the traffic" has always stuck in my head. The second image is a bicycle I raffled for a few days ago where all the proceeds from the raffle went to Blanchet House (https://blanchethouse.org/). I would like to get a bicycle or a skateboard soon. The exercise and the freedom of riding is something I think would be fun to experience.

Community Challenge


A few things I have done this week to challenge myself to create community are; last Wednesday after our field trip to the Sunflower Farm a few of us gathered together to have lunch and talk. Having lunch or having a meal with people creates community through conversation thank you Thomas for treating us. I have brought more reusable utensils hoping my work community starts using them more and stop the waste so much plastic or at least slow it down. Prior to starting this class I started networking with more photographers and having coffee with a local photographer a few weeks ago. Trying to bring community between artists is a goal of mine. Sometimes it feels like artist want to see everyone as competition or no room for outsiders to join. I want to challenge that and while we were out shooting together my new friend Randy and I ran into a young man that asked if he could take a photo with him. So I took a photo.

Eco Challenge 4: Water

This week's challenge was improving my water consumption. At home I use a Brita to drink water from the faucet. I live in Vancouver WA the water is drinkable, but preferred it from the tap in Portland for some reason. When remembering I always ask for no plastic straws. I might have had received two total this week when I forgot. At work I use washable cups and silverware. I stole a mug that was probably going to be thrown away and kept it in my backpack which became of use on Friday when I was working at a different campus and forgot to bring a plastic cup with me. I cut back on beer had only one this week. My sink is leaking when I overfill it so I wash dishes with minimal water needed.

Garbage in the oceans back in 2015 was estimated to be 19 billion pounds and the majority of plastics come from garbage. According to the textbook article "The Oceans Are Drowning in Plastic - And No One is Paying Attention" that by today the plastic will have doubled. Those figures are insane I don't know if it has happened, but imagining that many pounds of garbage and it effecting all the living creatures in the sea. It's sad to think of all the things eating plastic bags and straws getting stuck in more sea critters. We our poisoning our source of life with things that should not be mixing together. Our human garbage with plastics and things that don't just degrade into our oceans as if we don't use the ocean for a source of food and water. I don't know if I lose hope or just keeping doing all I can do to make better use of the resources around me.

ECO Challenge Session 3: FOOD

This week's challenge I was inspired to eat some corn while listening to Korn. when making food choices I ate one of my meals vegetarian, I still eat meat, but sometimes I notice it slows me down and it makes me feel warm and will choose to eat a veggie meal instead. I have been cutting out plastics when buying coffees and other beverages. I also avoided grabbing a plastic lid yesterday at a Mexican restaurant. McDonald's even now has sip cups I saw and avoid 90% of every straw thrown at me. I've had enough straws for a lifetime. I been picking up litter when I run into it. I don't pick up 100% of the litter maybe like 35-40% of the litter I've run into walking around Vancouver Washington and Portland Oregon. I went and sold some things to a record shop and with the money I received I bought another movie. It was like trading movies almost.

I didn't realize I had to do two posts....


Energy I don't feel like I consume as much. I don't really use the TV, I don't have anything running all day besides light. I am currently turning off the lights when I leave my place. I don't have AC at home. I want to spend more time away from home and in nature. Enjoying the beauty of needing to waste, Goals for the summer.

My current changes in growth I am trying to do to save energy and waste. I always try to do my best at things and sometimes you can do better by improving on things bit by bit.


1. I told myself for this month while I am in school I would not purchase any clothing. A personal challenge to myself, because I lack impulse control sometimes. I know that might sound weird, but I tend to buy shirts at concerts. I love to show support for live music, but my closet is too full of black tee shirts. I will find other means to show support for artists. I want to get into donating things to friends and selling things. Repurposing some of my spending to save me money and pay some of my bills down. I try to thrift more for household things. I want to start donating things to thrift shops. My friend had a suggestion I could also do is leave things out for free instead of throwing something away. I want to utilize the Reuse Room located in Cramer Hall. I don't think it's open during summer, but when Fall comes around I want to start donating things for students to use since I have only taken things out of it.

2. Using plastic cups and silverware at work. I already do this mostly, but there are times I get lazy and use paper cups, At work we have a few spoons and forks and a few dishes. I want to donate more silverware and dishes to my work office. I see so much waste occur and want to slow it down. I've had a coworker ask me once why I don't use plastic forks at work and I told him I don't like creating trash if we don't have too. I think little changes or ways to make people think about waste will make them realize there are more sustainable means to everyday living.

3. Turning off the lights more often. I tend to leave a light somewhere at my place. I think it's my fear of the dark. My issue is I leave the lights on when I leave the house. My goal is to no longer do that. I utilize using night lights. when at home. I also love candles so I leave candles burning in a safe area. More natural sources for light instead of relying on that bright florescent lighting that waste energy and money at home. I don't have AC at home so I use the window for the main means to cooling.

Other ways I want to improve is cooking more at home for myself. Easier to control healthy choices if I am putting all the ingredients together. I utilize the pantry a lot on campus already, but when I grocery shop I want buy in bulk. Repurposing things for art and donating old art supplies to places like Scrap.