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!!!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

 My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex. This week I did a very good job of collecting all my recyclable items and putting them in my container. I will be going to the recycling center either this Friday or next Monday. 

I did not have any challenges come up this week with my SMART goal. My roommate had done an awesome job with all of her recyclable materials as well: two is better than one :)

I am happy that I decided to start recycling at my apartment complex, because although I am only one person I feel as though I am making a difference. Hopefully, I will be able to influence some of the people in my complex to start doing the same thing.

I still have not been able to talk to my landlord but I plan on doing so whenever I see him next. I am hoping he will listen to the benefits of having our apartment complex recycle and will decide it is a good investment for our building.


I am looking forward to the upcoming week and going to the recycling center. I will not make any changes to my SMART goal this week, but I will hopefully be in contact with my landlord.

Have a good one!

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Read 'n' Seed 2: First half of "How to Shit in the Woods"

 I am actually reading two different shorter books as opposed to one longer book so I will be making two posts on "How to Shit in the Woods" and two posts on another book. My first post on this book will cover the first four chapters; Anatomy of a Crap, Digging the Hole, When You Can't Dig a Hole, and Plight of the Solo Poop Packer. These chapters bring us through the first 65 pages of the book.

The first four chapters of "How to Shit in the Woods" by Kathleen Meyer were extremely entertaining and also educational. I have never read a book that used this kind of language and pretty much told things the way they are (i.e. the author does not use fecal matter or bowel movement to describe feces, instead poop, shit, crap and turd are used.)

The main idea that is represented in this book is how to properly crap in the wilderness, however in doing this the author presents many of the hazards and risks that are associated with thousands of years of crapping by millions of different species.

I was not aware of many of the problems that "shitting" in the woods can create. The proper decomposition of feces in order to prevent water contamination was the most urgent issue presented in the book thus far. I will share with you some of the problems and illnesses caused by pooping outside:

• Epidemics related to improper decomposition of poop are starting to become much more common. 
• According to the Federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention no surface water is guaranteed free of the microscopic organisms that parasitic diseases. 
• The most common disease associated with fecal matter is Giardia. "Giardia is spread by 'fecal-oral' transmission, meaning some form of infectious organism is shed in feces and enters a new host of victim by way of mouth. p.17"
• Giardia is also now becoming more common in preschool and day care centers. In this setting Giardia can be easily eliminated by hand washing. 
• Another disease that is becoming more common with improper disposal of crap is Cryptosporidium. This disease became more known in 1993 when it had an outbreak affecting 400,000 people in Milwaukee. Again much like Giardia this protozoan is spread by fecal-oral transmission and is passed between humans and animals.
  

All of the problems above can be avoided by the proper disposal of "shit." The author talks about "packing-it-out" when venturing out into the wilderness to avoid adding to the poo problems in today's society. This book also touches on improper disposal of poop in landfills and the detrimental affects it can have on earth.

I never knew that pooping outside was such a big issue. I am interested in reading further into this book and learning more about poop and the contamination of water.

Have a good weekend everyone!!!!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to start recycling at my apartment complex since a service is not offered for the tenants. I am very happy with how the second week went of my eco-chic lifestyle change. I realized that I have a lot more recyclable items I use in the span of a week then I originally thought. My trash can I bought is already full!!!

The only challenge that I have run into is that I am going to have to either go to the recycling site more often then originally planned or store full recycling bags in my storage closet at my apartment. I think I will probably collect for two or three weeks at a time then go to the recycling site. That way I can store some bags in the storage closet but it won't get to full.

I am very excited about how this is going far. It makes me feel better to not be creating so much trash every single week. Surprisingly, I think my roommate and I have cut the amount of trash we produced in half by recycling! I am looking forward to next week and continuing with this lifestyle change. I am going to talk with the landlord next time I see him about the possibility of getting a recycling service once every other week at our complex. Wish me luck!!!

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Eye Opener: CSIP

For this weeks eye opener I took the Score Your Diet test. This test scores how your diet rates as far as nutrition, the environment and animal welfare. I was surprised by my results because I scored well in the health category but poorly in the environmental and animal welfare categories.

I scored the highest with my fruit and vegetable intake. I was somewhat surprised that this was my highest score (14, 27 respectfully) because I do not meet the daily requirements for either of these categories. I do however meet the requirements for bread and chicken/turkey (9, -8 respectfully). Obviously a lot more importance is placed on eating fruits and vegetables then it is some of the other categories that can be found on the score your diet check-list.

I scored the lowest on my cheese and milk/dairy intake. According to this test I am eating way to many dairy products and that is consequently more harsh on the environment and animal welfare than foods like fruit and bread.

The category that I need the most improvement in is environmental health. In this category I scored a -34 which is in the uh oh category. To improve this number I will make a few subtle changes that will hopefully improve my environmental score. A small change that I would like to make is to start purchasing low-fat dairy items (especially cheese) as well as cut down on the amount of dairy I am taking in each week. I think that if I do both of these and stick with it my overall environmental score will go down.

Reflection Post: Weeks 3 and 4

For the third week of Environmental Health we did not meet for the regular scheduled class. Instead we had a meeting with either Steve or Jayme to discuss how blogging is going and ask any questions we may have. I met with Steve for about 15 minutes and learned a lot in that short amount of time. One thing I learned how to do was use Google Reader. This tool will help me keep up with my classmates blogs and even set up a folder to view my groups posts so it is easier to comment on them. Steve also helped me figure out how to use my labels appropriately.

The fourth week of Environmental Health we started class by playing a game that reviewed different parts of the course home page as well as different topics associated with out blogs. This game was helpful and a good way to review the requirements we have to fulfill with our blogs. One thing that I learned was that I need to comment on all of Dr. V's posts.

After the game each student talked about what they were going to do for their eco-chic lifestyle change. There were a lot of good ideas that were mentioned and I am excited to see how each change progresses.

Finally to end class we watched the movie An Inconvenient Truth with Al Gore. This movie was much more interesting then I initially anticipated. An Inconvenient Truth presents many different topics related to global warming and what the effects will be if we do not make changes. One part of the movie that really stuck with me was the part that Mr. Gore talked about what would happen if the ice cap melted in Greenland. It is crazy to see how the landscape would change coastal areas around the world if this were to happen.

I am excited to see what we do in next weeks class! Have a great weekend!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART Goal

SMART Goal:
My SMART goal is to start recycling glass, paper, plastic, and aluminum at my apartment complex. Where I currently live trash is picked up multiple times throughout the week however, there is not an option to recycle. I would like to start collecting the materials that are recyclable and dispose of them at a recycling center.

There are many benefits of recycling the biggest being that it will save money and create jobs with its growing popularity. Other interesting facts about recycling are:

• The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a light bulb for four hours.
• A national recycling rate of 30% reduces greenhouse gas emissions as much as removing nearly 25 million cars from the road. 
• Recycling prevents habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, and soil erosion associated with logging and mining. 

From the second I moved into my apartment I had an issue with the fact that the landlords did not offer the option to recycle. Up to this point I haven't done anything about it and I am excited to finally make this change and start living a more eco-chic lifestyle.

Tonight I started to make the first changes necessary to reach my goal; I went to Target and purchased another trash can that I can place all my recyclable items in.  My roommate will also be partcipating in this change which means twice as many items will be being recycled. :)

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

This assignment was extremely interesting and scary at the same time. We are using up the earths resources faster than it can produce them. I have known for awhile now that the United States as a whole uses more resources than most other countries. However, I never really put myself in the category of being one of "those people" that heavily contributes the eventual running out of Earths resources.

Boy was I wrong!!!

I took a quiz called the Redefining Progress and was alarmed by my results. I thought that I would be about average when it comes to the ecological footprint that I leave (1.5 earths on average). Again I couldn't have been more mistaken my quiz results were very upsetting as I found that if everyone lived my lifestyle we would need 5.32 Earths. I definitely want to change my behaviors in order to change this number. I already have a few ideas as to how I can start living more environmentally friendly. First I will start carpooling more often to school in order to reduce CO2 emissions. I will also start recycling in order to reduce the amount of trash I create. I look forward to finding more ways I can live green in the books I will be reading throughout the semester.

Read 'n' Seed 1: How to Shit in the Woods, It's Easy Being Green

I am reading two shorter books as opposed to a longer book. I have supplied the information for each below.

The first book is titled How to Shit in the Woods: An Enviormentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art. This book is about making changes in the outdoors to be more enviornmentally friendly. It discusses camping and other outdoor activities and how to keep the earth healthy while participating in them.

The main reason I chose this book is because of the title. It caught my attention right away and seems like it would be an interesting book to read. Fore more information on this book click one of the following links:

Synopsis
Reviews
Editorial

This book has 128 pages. I plan on dividing this book into halves and doing two read 'n' seed posts on each part of the book.

The second book I'm going to be reading is It's Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living. This book describes different ways that you can start living green. It is full of little suggestions that are easy for the reader to understand. These will be the first books I read about going green and I am very excited about them.

For more information on this book please click one of the following links:

Synopsis
Reviews
Editorial

This book has 170 pages. I plan on writing my last two read 'n' seed posts on this book. I will be dividing this book into havles as well.