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!!!!