Share & Voice: Population and Environment

Hey There! I thought this video was absolutely awesome. Love, love, love Moby, so I couldn't agree more with the song choice. I also thought that the pictures were absolutely awesome. Being that this is the last post I will be making I also thought it was a good way to wrap up the end of the semester. Just a short 5 minute  overview of everything we discussed at learned in class. Hope you enjoy it!

Share & Voice: The Obesity Epidemic

Two of my group members did their advocacy projects on obesity. I wanted to find out a little more about this health problem so I thought I would venture to youtube.com to see what I could find.

I actually learned a few different things from watching this video. Some ofthe facts I found interesting were:

• over 30% of adults and 15% of children are considered obese
• being obese puts you at risk for over 30 different disesases
• People with a family history of excessive weight gain are more likely to become overweight themselves
• Obesity is more common in African Americans and Hispanics
  
• Asian Americans are least likely to become obese
• BMI is not always the best indicator of obesity

It is a very intersting and short video. Take a look!!!

Share & Voice: Quit Smoking

I thought this video was very informative. Some of the images were somewhat graphic but definitely got the point across. It's only about 2:30 so you should take a look! To be honest the video kind of scared me at the end. Very intense with the message they are trying to get across but very educational as well.

Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

The three different online learning activities I participated in were Keiths, Jakes and Amandas.

KEITH'S ACTIVITY:
Childhood Obesity Lesson:

Children as young as 8 years old are being diagnosed with diabetes? TRUE
Can some of these illnesses “actually” kill these children? TRUE
The doctors had to purchase 2 scales to weight children that were over 200 lbs? FALSE - 350 pounds
Daves dad died at age 52 from a stroke? TRUE
John Marx is in shape and healthy? FALSE - But he's getting there
Parents are not to blame for childhood obesity? FALSE -  parents need to be a good example. Lead a healthy life themselves.

JAKES ACTIVITY:
Stopping Childhood Obesity in Schools:

1. What % of children worldwide are either obese or overweight?

10%

2. True or False? Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or wellbeing.

TRUE

3. What are some early effects in the psychosocial system of childhood obesity?

Poor self esteem, Anxiety

4. The current generation of children has consumed higher levels of ______ and _________ than ever before.

Soft Drinks and Fast Food

5. True or False? Diet and Genetics are the two largest factors leading towards childhood obesity.

FALSE 

AMANDA'S ACTIVITY: 

FITNESS QUIZ:

I got a 62 on the quiz

You're standing just outside the ranks of 'fitness buff', so don't stop now. Your score indicates that you've got a good general knowledge of fitness, but are a little hazy on the details. With the recent fitness craze, you should easily be able to find the information necessary to fine-tune your fitness knowledge. With the proper knowledge, you will not only be able to optimize your fitness routine, but you'll also be prepared to avoid injury.   

These quizzes were a lot of fun to complete :) I learned a lot!!! 

Advocacy Project: Quit Smoking Quiz

Title: Quit Smoking Quiz

Purpose: The purpose of this quiz is to test you knowledge on smoking. Another cool part about this quiz is that it gives facts after you answer every question. 

Please read some information on smoking:
-learn about the issues that smoking causes in teens. Click Here 
-smoking numbers in the United States. Click Here (it is not necessary to read the editorial note on this page.)


Also a few things to note about smoking:

• Smoking-related diseases cause an estimated 440,000 American deaths each year.
• A 2004 Study by the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion found that cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer.
• Each day 3,000 children smoke their first cigarette.
• Of the 3,000 teens who started smoking today, nearly 1,000 will eventually die as a result from smoking.
• A 2001 Survey found that 69.4 percent of teenage smokers reported never being asked for proof of age when buying cigarettes in a store. The same survey found that 62.4 percent were allowed to buy cigarettes even when the retailer was aware they were under eighteen.
• Infants born to mothers who smoke are more likely to develop colds, bronchitis, and other respiratory diseases such as asthma. The odds of developing asthma are twice as high among children whose mothers smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day.
• Generally, users of tobacco of all types – cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and smokless tobacco – are 5 to 10 times more likely to get mouth or throat cancer than nonsmokers are.
  

To see more facts like these take a look at smoking-facts.net

Finally TAKE THE QUIZ:

Click HERE to take the ten question smoking quiz to see where you rank with your knowledge.

Read 'n' Seed 6: Final Review of "How to Shit in the Wood" and "It's Easy Being Green"

Overview of the books:

"How to Shit in the Woods," taught the reader how to properly crap in the wilderness, however while doing this the author also presents many of the hazards and risks that are associated with thousands of years of crapping by millions of different species. The author also talks about common diseases that have become much more popular over the last few decades. Two of the diseases that were talked about in detail were Giardia and Cryptosporidium. The author also talked about many different types of tools you can buy to avoid crapping in the woods or disposing of unsafe materials.
"It's Easy Being Green," had many different ideas as to how to improve your everyday life in order to live a more green life. /One of the most interesting part of the books I thought was when many of the myths about living green were dispelled.

Three most significant things:

1. From "How to Shit in the Woods," according to the Federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention no surface water is guaranteed free of the microscopic organisms that parasitic diseases. Giardia and Cryptosporidium are two of the most common diseases.
2. From "How to Shit in the Woods," one form of disinfecting water is boiling. Contrary to previous beliefs this is now thought to kill all waterborne enteric pathogens immediately. Other chemical forms used to disinfect water are chlorine and iodine. Both of these techniques have there down falls, which is why purchasing a filter or boiling is now recommended.
3. From "It's Easy Being Green," this is one of the most important things people who are interested in going green should realize, a myth dispelled:

• Nothing I do will make a difference if no one else is doing anything
• every act when multiplied over many days and many people  will produce positive results
• even if changes can't always be seen, they are still always occurring
  
• by making changes you can encourage the people around you to do the same

What do these books mean to me? Why are they important?

"How to Shit in the Woods," taught me a lot about a topic that I previously had no knowledge of. I never knew that people disposing of there fecal matter in the woods could be so detrimental to our woods and health. "It's Easy Being Green," showed me a lot of different ways in which I can make subtle changes in my life to be more environmentally friendly. The book also put to rest a lot of myths that hold people back from "going green." For this reason it was really nice to see them identify that everything you do is contributing to a better, healthy, world.

Do I recommend these books? Why of why not?

I would definitely recommend reading "How to Shit in the Woods," it is absolutely hilarious and it is written in a very laid back tone. I also learned a lot about the importance of properly disposing of EVERYTHING when you are in the wilderness.
I would still recommend reading "It's Easy Being Green," because there are a lot of good ideas in the text. However, out of the two I would recommend reading "How to Shit in the Woods."

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 10: Overall Project Reflection

My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex. I changed a few things over the past 10 weeks in order make my goal more difficult to attain because it was fairly easy to keep up with recycling my aluminum cans, plastic and glass at first. A few weeks in I decided to start cutting down on the amount of carbonated water I was drinking because not only was it not as healthy as regular water but it also created more recycling then need be. Another thing I added was recycling paper. It was almost like I completely forgot that you can recycle paper as well until the last few weeks.

My SMART goal was very successful. I started something that I will definitely continue doing for quite awhile. I learned that I took advantage of the ease of recycling that I have at my home in the cities. At my house we have a recycling bin and it gets picked up on the end of our driveway once every two weeks. At school I had to make much more of an effort to collect the recycling and then bring it to the recycling center. I really wish that my landlord would have been more receptive to the whole recycling idea but on the other side of things I got my roommate to recycle as well so that was very exciting.

I benefited from doing this eco-chic lifestyle change because it taught me to reduce the amount of waste I leave on earth. I want to be as green as possible and this was a good first step to take. It's always really easy to do something when you have the resources necessary around you to do it. I learned how to be proactive and find the resources needed to recycle when I didn't have a pick up schedule that made it easy for me.

I am really glad that my roommate decided to adopt this lifestyle change as well. It was so nice to see how much less trash we produced when we started keeping a recycling bin. It made me happy that I was able to influence someone else in my life even if it was only one person. I look forward to continuing this behavior and hope to influence some of the other people in my apartment complex. Or at least spark their interest when I walk out of my apartment with a few bags full of recyclable items.

For other people who are interested in making a lifestyle change I would say that no matter what your goal is don't get too comfortable with it or get discouraged if you don't meet your goal. It is important to make your goal a challenge so if you see yourself consistently meeting your goal don't be afraid to make it more difficult. Also, don't get discouraged if you don't meet your goal if you need to make a change or just try again the following week.

I am looking forward to continuing my lifestyle change for years to come!!! Hope you had a good time following my experience.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 10 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Share & Voice: Earth Song

I went to see Michael Jackson's "This Is It," movie awhile back and I believe that this was the closing song. To be honest I have somewhat of a weakness for Michael Jackson's music so I thought I would post his "Earth Song," as one of my share and voices. I think it it's an awesome song definitely worth listening too if you haven't heard it before or if you like MJ.

Below is just one of the few verses in the song that I think can be related to environmental health. It really made me think about what has happened over to our Earth over the years.

"What about animals (what about it)
We've turned kingdoms to dust (what about us)
What about elephants (what about us)
Have we lost their trust (what about us)
What about crying whales (what about us)
We're ravaging the seas (what about us)
What about forest trails (ooh ooh)
Burnt despite our pleas (what about us)"

Advocacy Project: Letter to Public Official

December 6, 2009
Senator Amy Klobuchar
U.S. Sentae
302 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC 20510


Dear Senator Klobuchar:

I am writing to you to vote YES to the H.R.1256 bill which is promoting regulation of tobacco products in order to protect public health.  Smoking poses a seriously problem not only in the state of Minnesota but all over the nation as well. In fact, every year tobacco causes more than 440,000 deaths in the United States. Ironically, of these 440,000 deaths, 38,000 are from secondhand smoke. In the last 40 years around 12 million Americans have died prematurely because of smoking!

Unfortunately the effects of smoking are being seen in adolescents as well. Cigarettes are currently the main way that tobacco is being used by adolescents. However, smokeless tobacco/chew is an emerging issues that must be addressed. Internet sales of tobacco is yet another way that adolescents are illegally getting their hands on tobacco products. Recent surveys also show that it is much easier to obtain tobacco from friends and family. Something must be done in order to stop the trend and reverse the numbers that are continuing to spiral out of control. The following are some ideas for improving the high tobacco use among adolescents grades 9-12: increased tobacco prices, smoke-free policies in workplaces, public places and schools, reduced prices on cessation services, and telephone quitlines.

I hope that some of these ideas could be incorporated into the passing of H.R. 1256. I firmly believe that if you vote yes on this bill and it is put into effect that we will see results in the community and a decrease in the number of illnesses and deaths associated with smoking.

Thank you for taking the time to read about the importance of voting yes on H.R. #1256. 


Sincerely, 


Kristin D
(contact)

Reflection Post: Weeks 11 and 12

Week 11: This week we watched a short video entitled "The Story of Stuff," narrated by Annie Leonard. In this video there were many different topics discussed that were related to environmental health. One of the most interesting things I have learned in this class that was reiterated in this video is the fact that the US uses 30% of the world's resources. This is especially shocking considering we make up much less than that percentage with our population. After the video we looked at some of the different objects that Dr. V brought in that most people would consider "junk." We then made a list of things that the different objects could be used for. I had a lot of fun doing this!!!

Week 12: This week we learned about MckLinky blog hops. We then used the blog hop that we created to show our photo essays to the class. It was interesting to see the different topics that people in the class picked to share. After we shared our photo essays we talked about an upcoming assignment for our advocacy project. As a class we discussed how to write a letter to an editor as well as a political representative. I got a lot of good ideas from this :)

Looking forward to the last few weeks of the semester! Have a good weekend everyone.

Share & Voice: Recycling Commercial

I thought this video was extremely cute and goes along well with my SMART goal. It is true what they say in the video you really are never to young to start recycling :)  If we teach kids the importance of recycling at a young age (elementary school or earlier) it will become an everyday part of their life and hopefully stick with them throughout their lifetime. If elementary schools require and promote recycling it also has the opportunity to crossover to a students home and make a difference there as well!!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 9: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex.Things are going well again this week. I am doing much, much, much better with not using as many plastic bottles. I realize that I was pretty bad a few weeks ago but I have definitely made a turn in the right direstion towards completely fixing that problem. I have also noticed that I save more money when I don't produce as many plastic bottles :) always a plus!!!

I decided to add a new component to my SMART goal, which is to start recycling paper items. I just noticed that for whatever reason I was recycling cans and plastic bottles but was completely forgetting about the fact that I could recycle old assignments and paper that is no longer necessary for me to have. This is something that I hope to get better on and remember to do! I'll check in next week and let you know how things are going :)

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 9 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

For my photo essay I decided to take some pictures around campus of the different trash and recycling bins. I wanted to see if the students on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus were using the bins appropriately. I found it somewhat discouraging that when I looked in some of the trash bins I would see aluminum cans and plastic bottles and there would be a recycling bin right next to the trash. It is unfortunate that some people are just too lazy to put a little bit more effort into helping the environment and recycle.

Take a look at some of the pictures I took when going around the UMD campus.

These are some of the recycling bins that can be found in the Kirby Student Center on campus. As you can see there are places to recycle aluminum, plastic and paper right next to the trash so it shouldn't be to hard for anyone to put their items in the appropriate bins.

I actually found out when doing this project that although the bins say CANS ONLY you can now deposit plastic in them as well. I think signs should be changed so students know this. I can't tell you how many times I have walked around campus with my plastic bottle looking for a bin.

This is one of the CANS ONLY bins. I am wondering if some students know that you can put plastic in these bins now whereas others don't, or if they just disregard the signs.

This is an example of another cans only bins. We have to make sure that they are getting emptied regularly because as you can see this bin is overflowing. It is keeping some people from recycling :(

This is another example of the bins that are provided for trash, paper, aluminum and plastic. Another interesting component of the device above is the fact that all the bins surrounding the 3 larger bins (alum, plas, paper and trash) are provided to students to charge there computer throughout the day. This is yet another thing I found when looking around campus.

This is a bag of trash I found on the second floor of Bohannon hall. As you can see there are many recyclable items that have been thrown in the trash. We need to stop trashing things that are recylable to stop the rapid filling of landfills.

The following two pictures were found in one of the bathrooms on campus. I just found it interesting to see that there are more efforts being made for going green on campus than just recycling.

This label was found on the soap dispenser. Stating that "This dispenser contains Green Seal Certified Hand Soap."

This label was found on the dryer. There were no paper towels available for use in this bathroom. Just the dryer. Again it is refreshing to see that efforts are being made to cut down on the amount of trash we produce on campus.

I hope you enjoyed my photo essay and learned a few things along the way.

    

Read 'n' Seed 5: Second Half of "It's Easy Being Green"

This is the second of two books that I have read for my reed 'n' seeds. The first book that I read was "How to Shit in the Woods," I will incorporate that book into my last post (the review post) with the current book that I am reading. I will be covering the final four chapters of "It's Easy Being Green," in this post. This book was written by Crissy Trask. The chapters covered in this post are as follows: Chapter 4 - Buying Green, Chapter 5 - Green Shopping Online, Chapter 6 - Getting Involved and finally Chapter 7 - Resources to Help the Earth. Those four chapters cover pages 92-158 in the text.

Chapter 4, Buying Green, this chapter discusses the fact that some of the biggest problems our planet is faced with today is because of consumer choices. The electricity we use, car we drive and the food we make and eat can all affect the environment. "Buying Green," helps individuals understand how to be green consumers and be extra cautious of the everyday choices/purchases that can make a difference.
Some of the goals that green producers or manufacturers have that consumers should be aware of are as follows:

• preserve natural resouces and wildlife habitat
• portect air, water and soil
• produce less toxic pollution and waste
• maintain land integrety and area
• protect animal welfare

A few things that you as a consumer should ask yourself before purchasing a product are:

• Is the product produced locally to minimize energy used?
• Does it come from readily renewable resources?
• Is it packaged minimally or in recycled content packaging?
• Can it be recycled or remanufactured at the end of its life?

These are all good questions that I never had asked myself before. I will now be more conscious of this when purchasing food and products. 

Chapter 5, Green Shopping Online, compares online shopping to "land shopping." In today's society online shopping has become increasingly popular. Some people are so busy they can't seem to make it to stores during normal business hours, so they turn to online shopping or electronic commerce. I found this next point very interesting, there was a study done by the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions recently that determined we can save energy and protect land by shopping online. They also found that the transportation energy used to ship items to the warehouse to homes is actually less than the energy used to ship products to retailers and to get around in our cars. In the long run internet shopping may also reduce land development for retail stores and parking lots. Below are a few examples of sites that are internet based and do not have retail stores:

• craigslist.com
• ecochoices.com
• greenhome.com 
• shoeswithsouls.com

Chapter 6, Getting Involved, talks about different ways in which YOU can get involved to see positive changes in our environment. A lot of focus, according to the book, is put on the government. This book suggests that large corporations that are operating with disregard for public health should be more of a focus. Individuals should invest interest in making sure that big corporations are operating both legally and ethically. A growing trend for citizens has been to mass email government officials with emails that read very similar. This chapter suggests that you personalize your letter and put your own opinions into it. Prove that you have a mind of your own and are truly passionate about the issue! Some companies that are making an effort to help address a cleaner, greener, environment are American Lung Association, Clean Air Campaign, Green Scissors, Genetically Engineered Food Alert and Greenpeace USA.

Chapter 7, Resources to Help the Earth, is the final chapter in the book. The main focus of this chapter was to give the reader credible resources that could be used to find out more information about how to take the appropriate steps to "go green." With over 4 billion websites and pages it can be very difficult to find the information that we are looking for. Some sites recommened in this chapter are:

• buildinggreen.com 
• eco-labels.com 
• woodheat.org 
• organicgardening.com/steps 
•  climate.org 
• greenbiz.com  

I hope that some of the information above will help you see ways in which you can live a greener life as well as places where you can find the information to do so. 

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 8: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex. Another week has come and gone and so has another trip to the recycling center :) Things went very well this past week. I am doing a good job of meeting the original goal that I set for myself. My roommate also continues to do a good job with recycling her items as well.

One thing that I did much better on this week was my intake of carbonated water (which comes in individually packaged water bottles). I am proud that I was able to cut down on this and hope to soon be able to take this beverage out of my diet completely.

I am really hoping that my landlord has not forgotten about the breif discussion we had a few weeks ago. I would really like to see him take some initiative to have a company do a pick up for us once every two weeks. I believe a lot of the tenants would partake in this. It is something that I will possible mention again next time I see him. Hope everyone elses SMART goals are going well!!! :)

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 8 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Reflection: Weeks 9 & 10

Week 9:
In week 9 we discussed advocacy and what it means. We split into three different groups and each group talked about a ifferent aspect of advocacy. We also talked about the advocacy project and what we are going to be doing the next few weeks with it. When we were learning about Thomas (the library of congress) I was very confused as to every thing that we would be doing with this project. However, once I got started I had a lot better understanding of Thomas and how our class would be using it.

Week 10:
In week 10 we watched the movie "Unnatural Causes." There are seven movies in this series and in class we watched "In Sickness and In Wealth." Some of the things discussed in this video were how health, race, and wealth all correlated to each other and how apparent the disparities were between them. The movie showed how Kentucky was extremely diverse and the differences in the wealthy part of the state versus the more poor part. The results were somewhat shocking because in every instance the weathy people were more healthy and the people who were more poor were less healthy. This was incredibly interesting to find out, it is something that is also very sad see. Your wealth should not be indicitive of your health!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 7: Weekly Update

 My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex because I was not offered a service. Things continue to go very well for me. I have been reaching my goal which makes me feel good knowing that I am making a difference, even if I only am one person. My roommate is also continuing to do a good job of recycling her items as well.

This week I didn't do a great job of meeting my goal to drink less carbonated water. I am thinking that I am just going to stop completely and not buy it. It will save me money and then I won't be tempted as well. There are many different things that I could be putting into my body instead of water that isn't that great for you.

I talked to one of the other tenants in my apartment complex. She is an older lady. I asked her if she would be interested in having me collect her recyclable items, she said that she would "try" to remember to start collecting. So we will see how that goes. I often help her bring her grocieres in so it would not be that hard to grab the recyclable things when I do that. I hope that she attemps collecting her items.

I will be going to the recycling center again early next week. I am really proud that my roommate and I have stuck to this goal. I am looking forward to keeping it up the rest of this school year.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 7 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

Healthy People 2010 Goal of Interest: 
 I chose to do my Advocacy Project on Reducing Tobacco Use by Adolescents.

Objective: Reduction in Tobacco Use by Students in Grades 9 Through 12
Target: 21%
Baseline: 40% of students Grades 9 through 12 used some kind of tobacco product (in the past month) in 1999.

Progress Quotient Chart:
According to the progress quotient chart for reducing tobacco use by students grades 9 through 12, it is moving towards its goal by 68%. The progress quotient value can be found by taking the most recent value subtracted by the baseline value, over, the year 2010 target subtracted by the baseline value, and multiplying that answer by 100.


Opportunities and Challenges: 
Every year tobacco causes more than 440,000 deaths in the United States. And of these 440,000 deaths, 38,000 are from secondhand smoke. In fact in the last 40 years around 12 million Americans have died prematurely because of smoking!!! Strides are being made in reducing secondhand smoke in public places, much like in Minnesota. The following are some ideas for improving the high tobacco use among adolescents grades 9-12: increased tobacco prices, smoke-free policies in workplaces, public places and schools, reduced prices on cessation services, and telephone quitlines.

Emerging Issues:
Cigarettes are currently the main way that tobacco is being used by adolescents. However, smokeless tobacco/chew is an emerging issues that must be addressed. Internet sales of tobacco is yet another way that adolescents are illegally getting their hands on tobacco products. Recent surveys also show that it is much easier to obtain tobacco from friends and family.

Disparities: 
For race and ethnicity American Indian and Alaska Native have the highest rate of using tobacco, followed by adolescents of two or more races. For gender and education males have a higher rate or use than females. Adolescents that have not received their high school diploma are also more likely to use tobacco products. Finally adolescents that come from a family of poor income are more likely to use tobacco as are those with disabilities.


H.R.1256
Title: Regulate tobacco products in order to protect public health. Amend title 5 in order to make changes in the Thrift Savings Plan, Civil Service Retirement System, and Federal Employees' Retirement System.
Sponsor:  Rep. Waxman, Henry A. Introduced 3/3/2009
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-31
Recommendation:  Vote yes for  H.R.1256. 
My Political Representative(s): Congresswoman Kate Knuth

Read 'n' Seed 4: First Half of "It's Easy Being Green"

This is the second of two books that I have read for my reed 'n' seeds. The first book that I read was "How to Shit in the Woods," I will incorporate that book into my last post (the review post) with the current book that I am reading. I will be covering the first three chapters of "It's Easy Being Green," in this post. This book was written by Crissy Trask. The chapters covered in this post are as follows: Chapter 1 - Green Living Myths, Chapter 2 - Making a Difference, and Chapter 3 - Eco-Tips for Living Greener. This post will take us through page 92 of the text.

Chapter 1, Green Living Myths, is filled with different myths that are assumed about "green living." Many people choose to believe these myths and it prevents them from making the changes necessary to live a more earth friendly life. I will address some of the myths that were discussed in chapter 1 below:

• Earth-Friendly products are expensive and hard to find
• there are approximately 13,000 retailers devoted to selling enviornmentally prefered products
• many companies are now "going green" in order to keep there costumers and compete with other retailers, therefore products are easier than ever to find
• as far as price, many prodcuts are more affordable than products that are not considered "green"
• Deferred savings are also something that should be considered (reduce energy costs in the long run)
• Nothing I do will make a difference if no one else is doing anything
• every act when multiplied over many days and many people  will produce positive results
• even if changes can't always be seen, they are still always occuring
• by making changes you can encourage the people around you to do the same

Chapter 2 talks about how you can "Make a Difference." It is important that we understand the relationship of what we do in our everyday life and the results it has on the environment. In our daily living we have the opportunity to make many decisions which impact the environment. For instance, driving alone to work, choosing to make one sided copies, picking plastic or ignoring a leaky faucet all impact the environment negatively. However, we can make better choices by choosing paper bags or better yet bringing our own bags to the grocery store. We also have the opportunity to decrease the amount of water we use everyday. The average American uses 183 gallons of water a day! By choosing to be more efficient with watering, bathing, cooking and washing you can reduce this number by 57 gallons. Also, by making better choices when it comes to transportation (biking, ride share, public transportation) it will reduce the negative effects on the environment.

The last chapter I covered for this weeks post was Chapter 3 - Eco-Tips for Living Greener. Everyday we make about 100 choices that can affect the environment!!!! So knowing what choice to make and why is very important. Below I will share with you many of the tips I found interesting that I plan on implementing into my own life.

• AT WORK
• Make two sided copies
• Distribute handout via email
• Use suppliers that will take back their hazardous waste
• BATHROOM
• Replace old toilets with new ultra-low flusher toilets
• Take shorter showers
• Don't use the toilet as a wastebasket, instead throw away trash in the trash!
• Use a strainer on the drains to prevent hair from getting clogged in the drain
• BUILDING AND HOME IMPROVEMENT
• use salvage yards and antique shops when building
• Only wash full loads of laundry
• Use a drying rack instead of the dryer sometimes
• ENERGY
• Keep your refrigerator set at 37 degrees
• Turn off oven 10-15 minutes before cook time is done, your food will continue cooking
• Set thermostat no higher then 68 degrees in the winter
• Apply door sweeps on the bottom of doors to avoid heat or air escaping
• KITCHEN?MEALS
• Eat less meat (helps water pollution problems)
• Buy in bulk whenever possible
• cut back or stop using single serve (one time use) meals

I hope some of these tips will help you make better choices, making our environment a better place. I look forward to my next post, in which I will cover the last 4 chapters in "It's Easy Being Green."

Have a great weekend everyone!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 6: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex. I am on week 6 of my lifestyle change and so far I have been doing an excellent job. This week I made another trip to the recycling center. I also found that I didn't use as many recyclable items as I did in previous weeks. This was a big accomplishment for me, I really cut down the amount of carbonated beverages (mostly water) that I was drinking. I still think I could do a better job of drinking more regular tap water though.

I am very proud of how my roommate is doing as well with the recycling. Every once and awhile I need to remind her to recycle though because I will find some kind of glass or plastic container in our garbage. I am happy that I have seen her adopt this change as well.

I finally got a chance to briefly talk to the landlord and the idea of getting a recycling company to pick up here was not well received. I am thinking about possibly getting some facts to present to him that show the importance of recycling.

In the mean time I will continue recycling and encouraging my roommate to do the same. If I can't convince the landlord to start having a company pick up, I may talk to a few of the neighbors I know and ask them if they would want me to start collecting their items as well.


Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 6 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives

The information provided below includes contact info as long as a link to the persons personal website:

President of the United States:
Barack Obama (D)

Write a message to Barack Obama
Or mail comments.concerns to:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

Senators:
Amy Klobuchar (D)


The Honorable Amy Klobuchar
United States Senate
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2303
DC Phone: 202-224-3244

Al Franken (D)


The Honorable Al Franken
United States Senate
320 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2304
DC Phone: 202-224-56411

House of Representatives:
Click on the name of the representative to get contact information as well as a short bio.

Tim Walz (D)

John Kline (R)

Erik Paulsen (R)

Betty McCollum (D) (represents my home town)
Keith Ellison (D)

Michele Bachmann (R)

Collin Peterson (D)

Jim Oberstar (D)


Governor of Minnesota:

Tim Pawlenty (R)


Mailing Address:
Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

Other ways to reach the governor:
Telephone: 651-296-3391
Toll Free 800-657-3717
Facsimile: 651-296-2089
Email: tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us

State Legislators that represent my home town (Shoreview, MN):

Senate:

Satveer Chaudhary (D)  

205 State Capitol

75 Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard

St. Paul, MN 55155

(651) 296-4334

sen.satveer.chaudhary@senate.mn

Representative:

Kate Knuth (D)

507 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
651-296-0141
rep.kate.knuth@house.mn

Shoreview City Mayor:

Sandy Martin (R)
444 Lake Wabasso Court
Shoreview, MN 55126
Office: 651-490-4618
sandymartin444@comcast.com

Share & Voice: Don't Take Today For Granted

This is one of the hardest things that I have ever written about. I was contemplating even posting about this, but I thought that if one person changes because of what I am writing it will be well worth it.

Today I was heading from school to my home in the Twin Cities. I was about 15 miles north of Hinkley when I saw an object flying airborne from the north bound lane into the south bound lane. It took me a minute to realize that it was a car flying through the air, flipping and turning. Eventually it stopped on the other side of the highway 35 (about 40 ft from where it first was airborne). I still had enough time to stop and I was the first one on the scene.

I was hesitant to go towards the vehicle (which was a Jeep Wrangler with a soft top) because I knew what I was going to see was going to be horrific. I motioned to the lady who stopped behind me to dial 911 and then ran towards the accident. Because of the soft top vehicle everything was very open, in fact I don't even remember if the roll bars were still intact. I won't go into too many details because they are too gruesome to post. The first thing I did was take off my sweatshirt to try and stop the severe head bleeding, then took his pulse. He had an extremely weak pulse which stopped about 20 seconds later. At that time another man showed up on the scene but it was too late, the driver died on impact or shortly after.

I have been thinking about a lot today wondering how it happened, if the victim had a family, if he felt anything?

But the thing that I have been thinking about the most is how thankful I am to have today. How thankful I am to have my family and friends. How thankful I am to be able to hug my parents and tell them "I love them." Tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us, today is the first time I truly realized this.

I do not know what caused the accident, considering the conditions, I am thinking the driver may have been distracted by something. Which brings me to my last thought, I know I am extremely guilty of sending a quick text while driving, or taking my hands of the wheel for one reason or another. What I saw today shows me that none of that is worth it. Driving is such a dangerous privilege and I hope that those of you reading this realize that it takes one second to lose control and another to lose your life.

Make sure you tell the people close to you that you love them today, tomorrow and always. And please be extra cautious when driving!

Reflection Post: Weeks 7 and 8

This post will cover the last two weeks of class 10/26 and 11/2.

The class on October 26, I was unable to attend because I did not feel well. I had a chance to watch part of the film "Green" online and thought that it was very interesting. I also thought that it was very cool that the documentary was done by a graduate student, really impressive. For the eye-opener this week we were to see the amount of chemicals in one of the products we use in everyday life. My results were kind of scary with cancer being linked to my item, it will definitely make me more aware of what I buy in the future.

The week of November 2, we watched a documentary called "Thirst." This movie was about the privatization of water. Two different view points were shown in this documentary which was nice. This style gave you the opportunity to pick which side you support without strongly pulling you one way or another. I thought a good point was brought up in this documentary when they said that if we are not careful with how we deal with water, the price could end up soaring like gas prices. It is very hard for me to imagine a gallon of water costing $3.00. It was also sad to see that in some towns the citizens did not have the chance to vote on this issue.

When we were not watching the video on Monday we were discussing the smoking ban cessation meeting or "junking." It was interesting to hear about the smoking meeting and what different attendees though of it. I would have liked to make it to this but unfortunately I could not. The junking discussion was also fun and I realized after that I do a few more activities than I originally thought that are considered "junking." One of the ones I didn't mention before that I believe qualifies is buying and selling things off of ebay.

I am looking forward to the upcoming classes :)

Share & Voice: "How Al Gores Movie Inconvenient Truth is full of crap"

This video called "How Al Gores Movie Inconvenient Truth is full of crap," was found on youtube. The video includes Glenn Beck who is both a television and talk radio host.

Ever since we first watched the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary by Al Gore, I have been wondering about the programs validity. I decided to do a little bit of my own research and see what some different people had to say about it. This is a longer video but most definitely worth your time to watch!

The most interesting counterclaim I found related to this video was regarding the melting of Greenland and/or Antarctica and how it would contribute to the sea level rising 20 feet. In the video experts say that at most by the year 2100 sea levels will have risen about 23 inches. Quiet a difference in statistics!!! I found this quote by John Stossel,"melting arctic ice won't raise sea levels anymore than melting ice in your drink would make your drink overflow." It makes sense to me if the mass of the ice cap is already in the water, it doesn't make sense that water levels would rise at all, they would stay consistant. Just something to consider!

I also found it ironic that so many of the other "facts" mentioned by Al Gore could so easily be disproved. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with this video, instead I am just bringing it to everyone's attention that you have to be careful to take everything as fact. There are two sides to every story.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex. I am on week 5 of my lifestyle change and so far I have been doing an excellent job. The first few weeks of this change I would have to tell myself not to throwing things away and that I am working on recycling. Now it is almost just like second nature to go to my recycling bin... which happens to be right by the garbage so I have no excuses when throwing things out :)

In week 4 of this change I decided to challenge myself more by trying to cut out the number of recyclable items I am producing. The biggest reason I produce so much recycling is because I am highly addicted to this carbonated water that only Target sells. In the next few weeks I am really going to focus on replacing this carbonated water with regular water from a tap. Hopefully I will be able to ween myself off of it because not only am I producing unnecessary waste, I am also drinking water that is not the healthiest for me.

I am very proud of myself for sticking to this as long as I have. Today in school I even caught myself with a bottle, about to throw it away, but I remembered just in time :) It is getting easier at home like I said to remember to recycle, but at school it is still difficult. Recycling options are not as evident as trash options for throwing things away. Hopefully this will continue to get better with time.

I look forward to another week of recycling and making my second trip to the center next week!

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Share & Voice: Going Green: Supernews

 


Please take the time to watch this sarcastic video on going green (or the lack of). It is only about 3 minutes long so it won't take up too much of your time. I found this video on youtube.

I hesitate to say that it is funny video because there are some ironic truths in it. The idea of this video is that Terry (the green guy) has made a life change by literally going green. Although as you watch the video you will see that he really has not gone green at all. In fact he has done the opposite. Many different stereotypes about who goes green and who doesn't are also touched on in this video. I also found it interesting that they even made a reference to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," in this short parody.

Hope you enjoyed watching this entertaining video. I know I did.

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

Part I:

Antiques: an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age, rarity, condition, utility, or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era in human society.

Junk: waste, any undesired thing or substance.

Flea Market: a type of bazaar where inexpensive or secondhand goods are sold or bartered. It may be indoors, such as in a warehouse or school gymnasium; or it may be outdoors, such as in a field or under a tent.

Thrift Shop: A shop that sells used articles, especially clothing, as to benefit a charitable organization.

Upcycling: involves processing used materials into new products, or the re-use of a product with crippled functionality for alternative purposes, to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production, with the intent of creating a product of higher quality design and artistic value.

Resale Shop: The selling of a good to another party after having purchased it.

PART 2: Answer the following questions:

1.What do the terms above have to do with environmental health?

These terms identify with environmental health because they all have to do with reusing things. Antiques are reusing furniture, thrift shops are usually reselling clothing etc.

2.Identify at least one local resource for each of the terms above...provide name, location, contact info, and link to website or blog.

Antique Shop:

Canal Park Antique Center

310 S Lake Ave, Duluth, MN

(218) 720-3940‎

Junk:

Old Town Antiques & Books

102 E Superior St, Duluth, MN

(218) 722-5426‎

Flea Market:

Trader's Market Inc

10675 260th St E, Elko, MN

(952) 461-2400‎

Thrift Shop:

St Michael's Used-A-Bit Shop

16 N 1st Ave W, Duluth, MN

(218) 722-2171‎

Upcycling:
I could not find anything specific on upcycling in Duluth, MN or close by. 

Resale Shop:

Plato's Closet

5115 Burning Tree Rd, Duluth, MN

(218) 733-9455‎

3.Identify whether you do any or use any of these things. Why or why not?

I have donated clothes and items I no longer use to the Goodwill. I also have gotten some money from donating clothes to Plato's closet. In the past I have often gone to thrift stores like Ragstock. 

PART 3: Get your junk on!

From Card Table to Wall Art:
I thought this was an awesome, cheap way to decorate. It looks good too!!

Vintage Redesign Jewelry - From Raw Elements to Fun:
Just thought this piece of jewelry looked cool. Not something I would wear but I think that it is very artistic and interesting. 

 End of Summer Retro Picnic:

This seemed like an interesting concept to me. Picnic's are fun but a retro picnic would be even better!!!

Share and Voice: Yanks, Phillies & World Series Go Green with NRDC

This article was found on greenandsave.com under the news section. I just happened to stumble across this new story when I was looking on google for some information about the Yankees and Phillies series.

This article was written by Jessica Esposito who is a research fellow in the New York office of The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) where she works on the "greening" of sports. The NRDC was founded in 1970 and is made up of lawyers, scientists and policy experts and has more that one million members.

This story talks about the efforts that the MLB is making to create greener ball parks as well as different changes and improvements that are being made during games. For instance in the 2009 World Series members of NRDC will be roaming the ballpark collecting recyclable plastic bottles and spreading the message to fans about going green.

Although some changes are being made that can be seen, like recycling, many of the changes that the MLB is making are behind the scenes. One of the biggest changes that is being seen is with the energy use at major league stadiums.

Some of the changes that each stadium has made in their effort to go green are highlighted below:

Yankee Stadium:

• lighting improvements installed at the new stadium save nearly 207,000 lbs of CO2 emissions per night game
• all concession cups are made from bio-based, compostable plastic
• low-flow and water efficient plumbing fixtures are projected to save 3.1 million gallons of water per year

Citizen Bank Park:

• Completed an energy audit that identified opportunities for enhanced energy efficiency and have installed lighting and equipment improvements
• Local and organic food options
• Recycling program for plastic, aluminum, glass, paper, cardboard is enhanced by "Red Goes Green" team of volunteers, which collect recyclables in the aisles during every game.

It was nice to see that big organizations like the MLB are making appropriate changes in order to get the word out about going green. Hopefully changes like this will continue being made and people will catch on and make these changes in their personal lives as well.

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second half of "How to Shit in the Woods"

 This is the second and final post I will be making on the book "How to Shit in the Woods" by Kathleen Meyer. Since I am reading two different books the next two posts will be on a different book and the final review will be on both books.

The chapters I covered for this post were Chapter 5; Trekker's Trots, Chapter 6; For Women Only: How Not to Pee in Your Boots, and finally Chapter 7, What? No T.P.? or Doing it Without. These chapters were from pages 65-107.

The hilarious tone used by the author continued in the final three chapters of the book. She even ended with a funny "shit," definition in the last few pages of the text. I will share with you towards the end of this post some of the funnier definitions. :)

Meyer covered something that a lot of outdoors people encounter in her chapter, Trekker's Trots. The changes in climate, altitude and time zone can all influence this unfortunate thing to happen, not to mention the food we put in our bodies. The most likely thing that can influence the Trekker's Trots to make an appearance is the water, and the lack of a clean water supply.

As I discussed in my last post Giardia and Cryptoporidium are widespread in the wilderness and must be considered a hazard everywhere in the world. Because these two diseases are so common now due to fecal matter continuing to contaminate our earth filtration systems must be used to drink any kind of water in the wilderness Meyer discusses a few different systems that can be used one of them being the Katadyn Pocket Filter which retails for $250 and a replacement filter is $150. This filter is impregnated with silver that inhibits bacterial growth. It has a mechanical straining system that takes out all protozoan cysts and all bacteria. These types of filters are also now recommended to use when traveling to countries that have poor water quality.

Another form of disinfecting water is boiling. Contrary to previous beliefs this is now thought to kill all waterborne enteric pathogens immediately. Other chemical forms used to disinfect water are chlorine and iodine. Although both of these techniques have there down falls, which is why purchasing a filter or boiling is recommended.

The chapter for Women Only: How Not to Pee in Your Boots was very interesting and comical although there was not a lot of substance in the chapter. One funny thing to note was that Zanika Sportswear (4315 Oliver Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN) has created a type of pants for women that velcro from front to back to enable an easier method of peeing.

In the final chapter it was discussed what to do in a situation in which you do not have T.P. A few different ideas were given that involved splashing water. However, personally I hope I don't get caught in that situation, especially outdoors.

Shit definitions.. Just for Fun :)

Shit bricks: 1. to worry 2. to be terrified
Shit can: 1. to throw away
Bad Shit: piss poor quality
Bullshit: 1. lies, nonsense
Chickenshit: 1. a coward

Hope you enjoyed reading about this book as much as I enjoyed reading it. I would definitely recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good laugh. Have a good weekend everyone!!!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex. This week I did a good job of recycling all of the recyclable items I used at my apartment and disposing of them in the proper container that I purchased for at home use. I also took my first trip to the recycling center. It was pretty painless ;) and I will probably start going more often because I had quite a few extra bags of recyclable items. I go through a lot of plastic items... this is something that I am going to start working on in addition to just recycling my items.

A challenge that I ran into is making sure to recycle the recyclable items I use at school too. Sometimes I get too caught up in the convenience of a garbage can. I really just need to hang on to the item until I find the proper container. I caught myself doing this once of twice over the course of the week. If I am making conscious efforts to change this at home I should be doing it at school as well.

It felt good to dispose of my items at the recycling center. It put things in perspective to see the items be put at the center instead of in a landfill. It may take some extra time for me, but it is the only earth we get so I know it is worth it.

Next week I am going to start trying to cut down on the amount of plastic items I produce each week. I realized that is completely unnecessary that I produce that many recyclable items in just a few weeks. Going forward I am going to try to limit my recyclable items to one trash can full, or the equivalent of, every week.

I am looking forward to seeing how my new challenge goes. Have a good one!

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

For this weeks eye opener we visited the site Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. Once I located this site I picked one cosmetic item that I use and looked it up to determine how harazrdous it is to my health. I decided to look up the Clearasil Deep Cleaning Pads that I use after I wash my face. I was very surprised to see some of the results that showed up. This product was rated a 6/10 which is "moderatly hazardous" to our health. The ingredients in this product can be linked to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, violations, restrictions and warnings, allergies and immunotoxicity and finally  neurotoxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), miscellaneous, multiple, addictive exposure sources, enhanced skin absorption, contamination concerns, occupational hazards.

I was most shocked to see that this products ingredients could be linked to cancer. However, the skeptic in me says that a lot of things we are exposted to cause cancer and like most things if you are exposed to these ingredients in moderation it doesn't matter.

I did spend a little extra time on this site looking at what products have a lower number on the hazardous scale and will consider using some of those products in place of what I use now.

Share and Voice: Romancing Your Soul

I stumbled across this video on youtube and found the first part extremely shocking. I strongly urge you to watch this video it is not even two minutes long and in my opinion it is very eye-opening. My interpretation of this video is that the first half is what society will become if we don't start making changes and fast. Parents will put more emphasis on their work life then family life and environmental destruction will be the norm. However, in the second half of this short video it shows just how easy it is to turn all those things around. Please take a look at this video. It is definitely worth your time!!!

Have a great weekend!

Reflection Post: Weeks 5 and 6

In the last two weeks of Environmental Health we watched two different films: The Future of Food and Diet for a New America.

The first film, which we watched in week 5 of class, was mainly about a company called Monsanto and their impact on smaller, family owned farms. Monsanto is an agricultural company that "applies innovation and technology to help farmers around the world produce more while conserving more." Monsanto had patented different types of seeds that somehow ended up on smaller families farms, because Monsanto had rights to the patent they sued the smaller farms for having Monsanto's seed on their property. It was unfortunate to see small farms lose everything because of a large company like Monsanto and their selfishness.

The second film, Diet for a New America, we watched in week 6 of class. This movie is hosted by John Robbins who's father started Baskin-Robbins ice cream business. John studied the American-based food diet for over 10 years and presesnts his findings in this video. I thought a lot of the facts presented in this video were very intreseting and alarming. Unfortunatley, I think our obesity epidemic has just continued to spiral further out of control and has no end in sight. The last portion of week 6 was spent learning how to put a photo in a header as well as find the appropriate size of the header box.

The last two weeks were fun and I learned some interesting things. I am looking forward to our upcoming classes!!!