Exercise 2

August 11, 2022 By: Hstanhope

I have always been interested in my family history as it is so rich in culture and diversity. My mother’s parents are from Scotland and my grandfather still bears the thick Scottish accent, even after many years in Canada. My mother’s mum had passed away in her 50’s and my grandfather had remarried a few years later to my step grandmother. On my father’s side, my grandparents are from England and my father had immigrated when he was a child, spending his fourth birthday on a massive ship sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. My relatives have always had an accent different from mine, from a faraway place that they once called home.
Growing up with stories from my family members about their youth in countries I have never been before. My mother’s parents were born in Scottland, and it was not until their early twenties when they left their home to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to start a new life in Canada. My grandparents met in Montreal, Quebec, where they attended McGill University, both starting their journey to completing their second degree. My grandfather was taking his engineering degree and eventually became a geotechnical civil engineer. He studies the environment’s conditions prior to any designing or building of foundations or structures. This career allowed him to be able to travel and experience the world with his family.
My grandfather’s career required him to live in bigger cities around the country as he worked for large consultant companies. My mother was born in Montreal but moved to Kamloops B.C. when she was a young child and spent a few years there before moving out of the country for my grandfather’s job. My grandfather was transferred to Cairo, Egypt where my grandparents, mother and sister spent 2 years living in Africa. My grandmother on my mum’s side has her second degree in bilingualism and was a professor at many places over my mother’s childhood. My grandmother followed my grandfather around the work for his work and she was able to teach anywhere. My grandmother’s bilingual background allowed her to be able to teach French, English and math to students at the high school in Cairo. My mother has told me stories of Cairo about how hot and dry the environment was during the summer and how it does not receive much rain throughout the year. My mother told me that the natural resource that is common in Egypt was fish and that many fishing industries were able to do business in Cairo. After a few years, my grandfather had moved his family back to Canada, to North Vancouver where my mother completed high school and eventually graduated.
I believe that because of my grandfather’s career choice he had positively affected the environment by ensuring the conditions of the environment were stable enough for construction and ensuring the stability of the building or foundation. By ensuring this, it reduced the number of resources used for the construction of the building and the amount of damage that can be caused by improper design. My grandfather had a key role in ensuring the success of the foundation and preventing many complications that may arise. Most of the environments were man made, as the environment must be prepared prior to the start of construction. Personally, I do not believe that my ethnic or heritage class has influenced the way my family’s relationship with the environment. I believe that my grandfather had taken an interest in the environment, and it altered his career choice and his lifestyle. His influence has affected my mother’s lifestyle as she has always been mindful about the environment that she lives in. My mother takes care of her recycling and chooses to take the bus to work to reduce emissions and decrease her environmental footprint.
My father was born in England and celebrated his fourth birthday on a ship in the late 1960s. Once arrived in Canada, my grandparents, my uncle, and my dad moved to Whitehorse, Yukon, where my father lived for much of his childhood. The environment in the territory of the Yukon is much different from the desert of Cairo. The summer days are long and warmer, and the winter days are short and cold. In the winter months, the sun comes late in the morning and early in the evening, leaving the day with minimal hours of daylight. The natural resources common in the Yukon include wildlife and fresh water, these resources were incorporated into my father’s daily life as a child. His father, my grandfather, would purchase local meat from the local shops and other local resources. My father’s family lived in a more natural environment than my mother did. Despite the town of Whitehorse being the capital of Yukon territory, it had a small population in the 70’s and my father lived on the outskirts of the city. My father’s relationship with the environment in the Yukon changed the way he views the weather. My father was always prepared for the harsh conditions of the environment, and it was from his childhood experience living in the Yukon.
My family’s views on the environment differ from mine, they have for many years. I was always interested in animals and wildlife. As a child, I loved watching nature shows and learning about environments all around the world. My views of the environment differ from my parents, caused by the number of documentaries I have watched as a child, always wanting to learn more. One of the topics that is talked about today than within my parent’s childhood is climate change. Many documentaries that are aired today talk about the dangers of climate change and how it is affecting many environments and wildlife around the world. Climate change has influenced me in being mindful of my environmental imprint and searching for ways to reduce my personal emissions and waste. For example, I try to recycle what I can and reduce the amount of garbage I produce by reusing food containers.
As environments are constantly changing due to climate change, I try to educate and remind my family about their environmental imprint. It is important to incorporate small habits that can help reduce the rates of climate change and become more self-aware in the future.