Ryan Shum

Hi everyone, I just wanted to talk about a climate action event that I recently watched a recording about. The event was titled: 2021-22 CPPLA Public Lecture Series Landscape Architecture and the Science of Climate Change: Sea Rise. I provided a link with the post so that anyone who is interested can watch their previous recording on their website!  The discussions were very intriguing and got me thinking about the future. Richard F. Ambrose (A professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA) talked about the potential negative effects of sea-level rise and how it consists of shorelines moving upwards on the coast and erosion of beaches that could lead to flooding, building loss, and road damage. Richard also talked about the possible countermeasures that would take place due to sea-level rise. One idea mentioned consisted of having to retreat inwards towards more land and limit development in areas that would be heavily affected by sea levels. Another idea was to accommodate and essentially adapt to sea level rises, retrofit existing structures and set new living standards to be able to live in a sea-level risen environment. 

Overall, this event was very interesting in which I learned more about climate change regarding many different topics. Also, it allowed me to envision the future of climate change and how it would change our standard of living. For those interested, I highly recommend you guys watch their videos. some of them go into deep discussions and talk about highly advanced solutions to combat some climate change issues.  Just a resource I'm throwing out here!

https://www.cpp.edu/env/landscape-architecture/news-events/public-lectures.shtml

This past friday, I decided to walk to campus yet again to play basketball. After Midterms, I felt pretty free in which I was able to do more with my time. So what better way to spend my time than to walk to campus, enjoy nature throughout the neighborhood, and get a good workout in along the way. When I got to Hitch, I gave myself plenty of time to rest, drink water, and eat some snacks (granola bars). After I played a couple of games, I decided to go home. Because it was dark out and I essentially didn’t want to walk home due to the strenuous workout I put my body through, I decided to take the bus home which I had to walk about 5 minutes to the 761 route, get off, walk to the 4 bus route, get off, and walk home. The whole process took about 40 minutes but I just relaxed on the bus and listened to some music. It’s always nice to involve myself in minimizing carbon emissions in any way I can when time permits it.

This past weekend, I decided to go for a long run in the afternoon. For some context, I live next to the Century City mall, which is a pretty considerable distance from UCLA walking-wise.  However, since I got my school work done relatively early, time permitted itself for me to do this. I enjoyed a nice long run to campus and took some stops along the way to catch my breath and enjoy nature. After my run to campus, I decided to walk around for a bit, and sit down to give my body a break. When that was finished, I went to chipotle which I ate mindfully with no distractions, and proceeded to walk back home. Usually, I don’t have time to engage myself in a lengthy workout because of time constraints, and usually have to drive to campus to get a quick workout in at the John Wooden Center. However, whenever the chance presents itself, I always try to reduce carbon emissions in which I either walk/run or take the 573 Bus Route to campus. Traditionally, I’ve always walked to my destination.  Back in high school, I would walk home after school, in which my home was located 3.8 miles away from my high school. It was a very long walk, but I enjoyed it. I usually walk with my friends halfway to their houses and walk the rest to mine. I’ve always had the option to have my parents pick me up, but I just enjoyed walking far more. 

Just like everyone else that has been posting, I’ve also decided to eat mindfully without any distractions. Initially, I was afraid that I was gonna stop in the middle of eating mindfully and turn on the TV. This is because ever since I was a kid, I was so used to having the TV while I ate. Essentially, the only time I would eat mindfully would be when I go out to restaurants. However, It turned out not as bad as I expected it to be. I found it calming and therapeutic in a sense, because I was able to be in the moment, and focus more on the food that I was eating compared to when I had the TV on. Also, some benefits that I saw from eating mindfully, is that it essentially saves electricity in which I turn on the TV and leave it on when I am done eating. Now that I tried it once, I am definitely going to do it more often. 

Hi everyone! So I’ve been using reusable grocery bags for groceries for about a couple years now and it's been super helpful. Essentially, any bags that I come across while shopping I tend to keep them so that I can use them later on. However, if I come across any plastic bags, I save them to be recycled. My thought process on doing this was so that it reduces litter (especially to our oceans) and hazards to wildlife.

 Plastic bags are non-biodegradable so it would be in the environment for years with little breakdown activity and accumulate deadly waste. For someone who aspired to be a marine biologist, this is still an important issue to me. Furthermore, I use biodegradable trash bags for my apartment so that it can get broken down easily into harmless material. But back to the subject of reusable grocery bags, I found it very useful so that you wouldn’t just end up with a large supply of plastic bags that either end up disposed of or accumulated in your household. In addition, if it were disposed of then it would just be put into our landfill and oceans, all while exposing our environment to toxic substances. 

Hey Everyone! My name is Ryan Shum and I'm looking forward to writing with you guys this quarter!