I’m a 6th year student who’s been in school for too long and I intend to graduate with a BBA in Entrepreneurship and Marketing. The two things I’ve wanted to do since I was seventeen are a) to have my own martial arts school and b) have my own farm (with lots of happy chickens)! I stumbled across the BOD program by accident, but I like it better than most of my business classes because we learn how to take action and solve problems, not read a textbook to prepare for an exam.
The course has helped me understand a huge problem the majority of the human race will be facing: a global food shortage because we all depend on supermarkets and huge farms that grow only a few crops to keep us all fed. There was a ton of self-reflection in this course, which got me to realize just how many small, everyday habits I could change to be a little more sustainable.
BOD also helped me discover one of my life goals: encouraging people to become more involved in their food-growing process. To me, this looks like individuals growing their own food and appreciating the effort, work, and satisfaction that comes with being self-sufficient. One of my favourite things about this? We’re supporting ourselves and protecting the Earth from the toxic effects of industrial farming!
One super cool thing we did was build prototypes – actually using power tools (or learning how). My first prototype before I helped with the rain barrel was a (mini-sized) composter, which didn’t work so well for various reasons. The second prototype, a group project, was a portable greenhouse, which worked out much better and will be growing herbs and high-yield veggies very soon! The goal of the greenhouse is to provide people with low-cost produce grown in a sustainable manner, all while facilitating discussions about how we humans could very well die from famine if we don’t change our dependence on industrial agriculture.
Group Project:
Hydroponic Greenhouse