What if every building has a green roof? Or its own photovoltaic panels? Or a rainwater capture and wastewater cascade system so we no longer use potable water for our toilets and plants? That’s the world I’ve been envisioning.Before studying Environmental Engineering, I used to be a reporter. Even though as a kid, I loved reading about Ancient Roman infrastructure and architecture, and had so much fun as a Scout building pioneering projects with bamboo sticks and intricate knots. But I also loved writing and getting sucked into imaginative worlds like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, so I figured a BA in History would connect my dreams with real life. But something was missing.Then I thought I found it: journalism, which connected my love for writing with the opportunity to experience different worlds (and make a living while doing it). One of my BA co-op internships took me to Senegal, where I helped facilitate HIV Awareness workshops. But what was most memorable was living through water shortages while traveling through flooded roads and having to buy bottled water for all basic needs, including flushing the toilet.When I became the only journalist in a small northern BC town, I loved the work but I continued to gravitate towards human versus environment challenges and water-related issues, such as fish passage restoration projects and waste-to-energy power plants. This might also be because the town lies on the Nechako River, whose flow is affected by Rio Tinto’s Kenney Dam. And even later as a communications officer for a Canadian nonprofit in Mongolia, it’s the locally-adapted construction techniques such as the Mongolian ger (or yurt) and the challenges due to increasingly harsh winters threatening nomadic livelihoods that motivate and inspire me to action.Instead of just writing about how some people solve these environmental problems, I wanted to dig deep into the fun technical details, go outside, and get my hands dirty.Now that I’m studying Environmental Engineering at BCIT, I also realized that I do math for fun, enjoy using modeling tools like CadSim, R, and Excel, and find solving engineering problems very satisfying. And with my journalism and communications background, I hyperfocus while researching, write research reports that flow well, and deliver smooth presentations. I’m inspired by Biomimicry, Nature-based Solutions, Regenerative Infrastructure, Building with Nature, and Circular Economy. I can’t wait to learn more and help solve some of the engineering problems that’ll bring these visions to widespread reality.