Reflections: Weeks 15 and 16

OH. MY. GOSH...blogging is over with for this class. Sad day..
Last reflections we'll ever have to do...I learned a lot in this class about myself and other class mates! It was really fun seeing how creative everyone got...we went from freaking out the first day because we didn't know expectations to...posts where there was creativity and everyone's personality really came out! I've enjoyed this class a lot and I think Dr. V had a good idea of adding the blogging aspect into the class...it was a good learning experience for us all, whether we want to continue blogging or be done with it...I for one have become quite the addict. I think I'll probably still be trying to think of share and voices over the summer! The fact that Sue Whitney came into our class was really awesome. It was great that she took time out of her busy schedule to travel up to the boonies just to talk to a bunch of college kids... I thought it was amazing how much passion she had for "junking".
So I'm gonna wrap it up. Keeping it short and sweet. Thanks everyone for reading the posts and leaving those comments (5 times, in 5 different ways haha) I think we've all grown from this class and left with open minds...

Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

I completed Derek's, Sara's, and Kevin's online learning activities
Derek's Online Learning Activity
Know Your Drinking Water Quiz
The quiz was based off of the costs of infrastructure in the United States. I got an 80% on his quiz...it was a toughy! I'm not very educated on the whole water..money.. business He provided some good sources that I looked through. They had some really insightful information. I think it made me realize how much I take for granite the water that comes so easily out of my faucets.

Sara O's Online Learning Activity
Spelling Bee
It was asked that we choose between 4 activities, I decided to do the environmental/healthy online spelling bee. It's a little embarrassing how bad I did! I couldn't spell... anesthesia for some reason (sure now I can spell it right on the first try, must have been the pressure!)

Kevin's Online Learning Activity
Urban Sprawl Quiz
I got an 83% (It told me I would make a great lobbyist ha) on Kevin's quiz. It was about Urban Sprawl. I never really even knew what "urban sprawl" was until his advocacy posts. I have to admit that it is an interesting conecpt.

Share and Voice: ESG's Road Side Clean Up

Unfortunately for some, finding a trash can is a hard concept to grasp...so we as good community health students and members of ESG went to do a Highway Clean up on our Adopted Highway. It's between fire markers [4950-4969] on Caribou Lake Rd in Duluth. We put on our walking shoes, those sweet orange vests, and the nasty rubber gloves to walk opposite ways and gather trash along the road. Referring to the picture above you can see we have about 4-6 bags of trash in only a mile or so radius! A little ridiculous I thought. What I did notice was that a lot of the trash we were picking could be recycled. So that got me thinking..is there a way to have separate bags for recycling and trash? Fortunately there is some good ideas that I found:
- Divide your volunteers into two groups; one for
trash, one for recyclable materials.
- Throw recyclable materials to the side of the
road and pick them up later or have another group
follow behind to pick them up.
-Bags of recyclables can be put out in normal
curbside fashion (try to label to be extra specific), or dropped off at local recycling
centers.
So next time I participate in a highway clean up I'm going to make sure to mention this.

Share and Voice: Super One

Thanks to Dave who so kindly gave us the Super One bags. I have another to add to my collection! I ended up using it right away and forgot to take the tag off of it. The guy at the counter almost didn't believe me that I had already owned it before I put it on the counter..ha just my luck. Anywhos I decided to look a little farther into reusable grocery bags and found a sweet website!
Why use Reusable Grocery Bags:
-Some grocery stores even offer discounts for customers who bring their own bags - now that's incentive!-It requires 13% more energy to produce one single paper bag than to produce two plastic bags. (The co-op does!)
-Ireland, the first European country to impose a tax on them, has decreased plastic shopping bag consumption by 90% since 2002, reducing overall plastic bag usage by 1.08 billion. (Ask Ingrid she was there and could tell you, I remember her mentioning something about it)
-In the past five years, over a dozen countries have banned or put a tax on disposable bags. (why don't we!!)

According to this website we are now on the cutting edge of a unique Grassroots movement that is sweeping the nation! It's believed that within five years over 90% of the country will be using a reusable grocery bag! Woohoo and Dave just brought us closer to that 90%!

Advocacy Project: Air Quality Index

The focus of my advocacy project is CLEAN AIR...and reducing emissions from cars. The purpose of the activity is to understand what the AQI is. 

If you click on "CLEAN AIR" above you can visit an interactive website that explains the Air Quality Index. It is basically a chart to tell what the air is like based on colors (green "good", yellow, orange, red, and purple "bad") and numbers ranging from 0-500 (lower the better). It's meant for kids but it's actually really interesting. Essentially it's just an virtual tour breaking things down step by step as well as a little quiz. 

Transportation accounts for more than half of the state's air toxins that contribute to asthma and the degradation of our lakes and rivers. Transportation also attributes to 1/4 of the states global warming emissions. Adopting the Minnesota Clean Cars Program can bring up the number of "good" days over "bad" by manufacturing new cars to a 30% reduction in emissions. The car industries are not too happy about it and think it'll hurt their business.

In the mid-1970's cities including Duluth and Twin cities had such dangerously high levels of smog that the federal government came up with new clean air requirements. Those requirements forced automakers to put catalytic converters on vehicles, even though they thought it was an "unreasonable risk of business catastrophe". In the scheme of things, the air got cleaner. The automobile industry did not die. And millions of people breathed easier. Now here we are 30 years later with the same issue. 

14 states have taken action to require the automakers to bring these advanced technologies to consumers..something Minnesota needs to take part in to bring that number up to 15.

References: 

http://www.cleanenergyminnesota.org/cars.htm

State Representative Melissa Hortman

Here is a close to home article a college student from St. Olaf advocating for the same topic 

Global Warming Solutions News

(Sorry group! My internet on my computer has not been working..it's been driving me crazy)

Reflection: Weeks 13 & 14

Mkaay..second to last reflection. I'll have to say I'm a little excited..ok I'm REALLY excited for summer to come! It's bizarre to think that this next week coming up is our last! Anywhos..

Week 13: We watched this eye opening video..Story of Stuff. It's definitely one of my favorite videos so far. Next we did the Advocacy Project Issue Overview. I changed my topic from the first advocacy post to reducing car emissions by 30% by the year 2016. Lastly we got to go out in the nature and navigate ourselves through the woods!

Week 14: Tuesday we had a grad student come in to talk about future things to do in Environmental Studies and wrote our Advocacy Letters. Thursday we had a "Junking" activity! It was so much fun, I love being creative! :)

I'm looking forward to this last week! Bring on the summer!! :)

Share and Voice: Penn and Teller

So this past weekend I went to visit Paul, "my man"..as Sara J would call him ;) in Staples Mn, which is about 30 miles from Brainard (let me tell you it's a pretty exciting town..) He helps run a golf course out there. His boss was kind enough to let me work there this weekend (just to make a few dollars for my broke self as the school year is coming to an end) As I was helping to clean up all the garbage and pop bottles from the tables I was surprised to find out THEY HAD NO RECYCLING BINS?!? Of course I made a smart comment to Paul, he's always giving me grief about my rants on recycling, littering, etc. Then I went right to his boss and made a comment (friendly but honest) and asked why he didn't recycle. He simply answer "I don't believe in that crap"...I was speachless. Then he went on to ask if I'd ever seen the show "Bull Shit" (sorry thats the name) by Penn and Teller. I have seen that show and I actually like it. But that doesn't mean I change the way I live just because some magician tells me it's not true!? The show is based off mostly controversial topics that they "prove" to be one way or the other. It's a really interesting show, but if everyone believed everything they say there'd be no recycling, endangered species aren't real, and college is a scam..(the list could go on and on it's been aired since 2003). Basically I guess I was just looking for a better answer from him. I was hoping fees would have been an excuse, or the fact they are only open for a couple months, but no he didn't "believe" that recycling did anything?? It's my goal the next time I go back to bring back some proof for him..if you got any good ideas let me know :) I have a few that I've been looking into..I'll let you know how it goes.

Here is a link to the video..they swear a lot but if that doesn't offend you I think you should check it out and watch with an open mind..it's just 1/3 of the show because they're an hour long but if you have time check it out.

Advocacy Project: Letter to Public Officer

April 28, 2009

State Representative Melissa Hortman

377 State Office Building

100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

I am writing to you in regards to an issue that has been brought to my attention. I am a citizen who is concerned about the future pollution of our state. I support H.F. No. 609 in hopes that you will as well. It is stating that Minnesota should adopt statewide vehicle emisions standards that are more protective than the federal standards. Beginning in 2012, the clean car stanards will require that all new cars and light-duty trucks sold or registered in MN will be manufactured in a way that results in a 30% reduction in emissions by 2016.

Reducing pollution from on-road vehicles in Minnesota is an important piece to the sollution. Why not join the 14 other states in adopting more protective vehicle emission standards. We have a lot to lose in Minnesota--10,000 plus lakes, rivers, animals, our health, and the list could continue on. The knowledge and technology is there to make these cars. It is up to us to put our foot down and take a stand against these auto industries to make them realize it's a win-win situation.

I ask for your support in passing H. F. No. 690. This bill will help to fight the global warming pollutions that can harm the future of what makes Minnesota so unique.

Please contact me for any additional information. Thank you for dedicating your time on this issue.

Sincerly,

Jayme Purkat

100 Environmental Blvd.

Duluth, Mn 55555

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

GMC's 2008 Sierra 1500 already meets the year 2016 clean cars standards when running on E85

Introduction:
Issue/Current Legislation:
Unfortunately due to lack of finding information on my previous topic of coorelating the environment and physical activity with students, I chose to switch to Clean Cars for Minnesota. I went back and found some information from Healthy People 2010 focusing on environmental health and the harmful air pollutants. I next found a related topic for enhancing the Minnesota Clean Car Act; which is requiring decreased emission of criteria air pollutants and green house gas pollution from new motor vehicles. Information for the act, Rep. Melissa Hortman, H. F. No. 690. It is stating that Minnesota should adopt statewide vehicle emisions standards that are more protective than the federal standards. Beginning in 2012, the clean car stanards will require that all new cars and light-duty trucks sold or registered in MN will be manufactured in a way that results in a 30% reduction in emissions by 2016.

Who is affected by the issue?
-The car industries are affected most for the gain and potentially some loss. From my understanding of the things I’ve come across, the technology is already there to make the change to these new vehicles to come. Car manufacturers can reach these standards by making improvements to a car's (TRUCKS, SUV’S, VANS etc) engine, tires, transmission, and air conditioning systems (the list goes on and on). These technologies are readily available and currently in-use by automobile companies worldwide. If they come out with a new model of car each year, why not use the technologies available to make them reduce the pollutions? I’m trying really hard to think critically about the issue and really know nothing about how to make a car. But I would assume there are different ways to make a “Cleaner Car” so that could potentially make some jobs or have a possible loss in jobs.

What are the consequences of the issue?
If nothing is done about the harsh pollutions in the air:
-Public health: The people of Minnesota are at risk for these high rates of pollutants –cancers, asthma, lung disease etc.
-Environment: The lakes, rivers, and streams from the impacts of global warming from the car emissions—as well as animals and forests

What is the economic impact of the issue?
-It is said that there would be a slight increase in the purchase cost of some vehicles
-A clean cars standard would result in a net savings to consumers due to reduced operations costs from fuel efficiency.-Less dependence on foreign oil
-Will reduce at least 13 million metric tons of global warming pollution and other air pollutants and save consumers more than $260 million by 2025 (MCCAG).

What is the social impact on the issue?
-Minnesota will join 14 other states in adopting more protective vehicle emissions standards, authorized under the federal Clean Air Act.
-Consumer and auto industries bear the costs but in the end can both get benefits

What are the barriers?
-Of course MONEY is always a main barrier and topic in every one of these sub-topics of the issue
-Cars/Trucks/Vans made before 2016 where will they go?
-Is there a way to upgrade the “old” cars—how much money will it be?
-Consumers going elsewhere to buy their cars
Overcoming barriers:
-By 2016 there could be some sort of “reward” or stipend for consumers to upgrade their car.
-ALL states in the US could try and get this bill passed..14 (almost 15) down 36 to go!

What are the resources?
-State Representative Melissa Hortman
-Clean Energy for Minnesota
-In both of these websites they provide great information and ways to get involved and stay updated on these issue

What is the history of this issue?
-The auto industry has a history of fighting every advancement and innovation, including seat belts and airbags. This should be just as important as seatbelts and airbags. We need to put our foot down and take action!- At the same time manufacturers say they can’t meet the clean cars standards, they are also publicizing the introduction of these new technologies at auto shows, in press releases, and on their websites.

Allies & Opponents:
Allies-Minnesota Citizen and other state citizens—finding data from the other 14 states of this working for a decrease in pollutants
Opponents- Some Minnesotan citizens, some of the car industries

Recommendations:
VOTE YES for H.F. 690. Air pollution will continue to threaten the public health in Minnesota, while global warming pollution could harm the future of what makes Minnesota so unique—(Bringing it close to home in Duluth) Boundary waters, Lake Superior, Lake Superior Hiking Trail, Jay Cook Park, Chester Bowl..and that is just a few in Duluth! Adopting the Clean Cars program would be a big step to address these challenges to come. Some little steps that make a big difference in correlation to the Clean Cars program—using public transportation, car pooling, bike, walk…We’re in this together, lets take our “Minnesota Nice” to the next level and be nice to our health and environment.

Please feel free to give me some feed back and ideas for these topics!

Reflection: Weeks 11 & 12

(Woopsies.. sorry! I had a "scheduled post" and it didn't post for some reason..)

These reflections are dwindling down and I'm getting that Spring Fever..really bad! I just wanna play outside now that the sun is out! ...I hear there is snow coming though..typical Duluth.

Week 11-

The past week I feel wasn't too busy. We watched a film called "Unnatural Causes" and had an introduction to Healthy People 2010 and using THOMAS for our Advocacy project.

Unnatural Causes was a film about visiting 4 different neighborhoods East to West of Louisville, Kentucky. The people who lived in East area were in the top 1% of income, which was more than the bottom 90% of people's incomes combined! It was basically emphasisizing the whole "money is power" aspect. The film went into detail of showing how income, coorelates to life expectancy. The lower income, the lower life expectancy. It really was a powerful film.

Week 12-

This week we went a little more in depth on our Advocacy project. Searching, The Library of Congress: THOMAS website and Healthy People 2010. So far mine is focusing on physical education and using the resources available within the environment (environmental education).

Lastly this week we read Chapter 20: News on the Environment Isn't Always Bad. I liked it. The reading was short and to the point. I thought it was a change in things, showing that there are changes being made. Some examples of good news was, that the ozone gap is said to be closing up and that nationwide there is an improvement in air quality. Although there were some great points made in class. We need to be aware of where this source is coming from, and be aware of bias. It was said that this article was first appeared in the Christian Scienece Monitor, in 2002, which in actuallity that was 7 years ago. Maybe it's gotten better/worse?

Overall these past two weeks we've had some good discussions, readings and films in class. I look forward to the next couple weeks that seem to be wrapping up the school year!

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

Goal: Improve health, fitness, and quality of life through daily physical activity.

The focus area for physical activity and fitness has 15 objectives related to participation in physical activities and access to physical activity and fitness programs and facilities at schools and worksites.

From looking at the Progress Quotient Chart, it shows that there was anywhere from a 6% to 28% range for moving towards the targeted change. Although unfortunately there was a decrease in moderate, vigorous and participation in physical activity altogether, which is what the goal was focused on.

Expansion...summary of progress, disparities, opportunities & challenges, and emerging issues

Physical inactivity is seen as an important public health problem that has evovled rapidly. The focus was mainly adults ranging from highschool age and up. It seems that some adolescents may perceive vigorous physical activity as socially unacceptable. Based on that same research, possible explanations for such a decrease is due to the diminishing school-based physical activity classes. Some initiatives being done was the "VERB, It's what you do" campaign. It was a national, multicultural, social marketing campaign coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The progress toward elminating disparities showed that the disaparities were similar over time. Although they found one exception was that the population with at least some college education background had the best rate of physical activity.

Race and Ethnicity

Gener, Education, Location, and Education

For most objectives in this focus area, the best group rates were observed in the white non-Hispanic population, persons with at least some college education, urban dwellers, males, and adults without disabilities.

Historically physical activity and fitness were integrated throughout ones daily life. It was a cultures way of life--maintaining the home, transportation, occupation etc. During the 20 century where there was a peak of automobiles and labor-saving devices--the lifestyle changed and physical inactivity was recognized as a risk factor for many chronic disease, poor mental health and overall health and wellbeing. The promotion fo public lands for public help are on the rise to ensure that Americans understand the benefits of being physically active. Federal agencies and national agencies (Heart, Lung, and Blood) are coming together to promote recreational facilities. There was a community based initiative developed, "Hearts N' Parks" developed and designed to inproving the nutrition and increasing physical activity. There are many emerging opportunties in the public health field along with many challenges. There is a lack of evidence based practices for physical activity programs targeting select populations. This challenge will continue for practitioners trying to affect physical activity behaviors within a target population.

Opprotunities have emerged with the coming of new years. There is now advance devices to measure physical activity (pedometers, heart rate monitors etc), to get a better idea of where a person is at physically. Also looking ahead to the future, public health practitioners increasingly view physical activity as a pillar of chronic disease prevention and mental health initiatives.

Related bill from THOMAS:

H.R.1585

Title: To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve standards for physical education.

Sponsor: Rep Kind, Ron [WI-3] (introduced 3/18/2009)

Latest Major Action: 3/18/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Recommendation: Vote YES for H.R. 1585 To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve standards for physical education

My Political Representative(s): Congressman James L. Oberstar

Share and Voice: Spring Break Challenge

So I decided take part in Erika's challenge to post some great pictures from my spring break...I did my eye opener on my hiking trip to the Appalachian Mountains but I had so many great photos that I just wanted to share more!

Above is a photo of the group on big rocks view

To the right, I'm inbetween a few of my favorite people..Amanda (my tent buddy) and Sarah!

Like I mentioned in my eye opener we stayed in tents most of the time but in shelters for a few nights. Here is a photo of what Amanda and my tent always looked like..we were always hanging things to dry on it..a little ridiculous

On the AT trail..everyone has a trail name. Mine was jitterbug because apparently I'm "jittery and cute as a bug" (thanks to Sarah a.k.a. mama bear..) jittery in the aspect that at night I would always hear noises and freak out. One night some sort of animal pushed the tent down on my hand as I was sleeping then tried to get into the tent (ha i swear) and I ended up waking up Amanda..so I didn't have to be freaked out alone...she wasn't too happy about that :)

Also another time Amanda got up in middle of the night. She thought she heard a frog jumping around in our tent...it was so cold and I couldn't imagine getting out of my sleeping bag..I came to the conclusion that I could handle a frog jumping around..but the key word here is THOUGHT..that "frog" ended up being a mouse. I don't think I've ever jumped up so fast! It was four in the morning and here is me and Amanda screaming and huddling in the tent because this little tiny mouse was running around all of our things! Poor thing was probably so scared. As we calmed down we never did see that mouse again. We were sure he ended up in our bags and was going to take a trip back to MN.

This was a picture of our final destination..after 50 miles..it was really rewarding to look at! I know I didn't add too many more photos but just a few more of my favorite ones!

Share and Voice: Blog Award

I recieved this award from Sara for my recent share and voice on camping. I am passing this award on to Derek for his eye opener: photo essay! I thought he had an original idea of taking photos throughout the week of what his family was recycling. He was saying that his family was the only one on the block with a smaller garbage can because they recycle so much! It just goes to show that even the little things we do can make a big difference!

Here are directions for you to "pass the torch"!
1. Leave a comment below so that I know you "picked up" the award.
2. Create a Share and Voice post that says you've received the award and indicate who the award is from (be sure to hyperlink).
3. Also indicate to whom you are going to pass on the award and why. Be sure to hyperlink the blogger (use main blog URL) and the blog title (use the specific URL for that blog post).
4. Copy and paste these instructions at the bottom of your post.
5. Publish the post.
6. Visit each blogger you've awarded and leave a comment telling them they've won.

7. Continue the process...

Reflection: Weeks 9 & 10

These past two weeks have been less eventfull than the previous weeks. It was a helpful transition back from spring break! :)

Week 9:

We learned a little about advocacy which is the active promotion of a cause or principle. It is just one of our 7 Responsibilities as a Health Educator. There was an advocacy post where we found the names and contact information of our political representatives in Duluth. It was pretty interesting realizing how I am really not up to day on my political leaders. I thought it was a good learning experience for me to challenge myself and look a little deeper into political issues. We also talked a little bit about our photo essay that was due the next week and the ethics of taking pictures.

Week 10:

There was no class this week due to the AAPHERD conference held in Florida (I so wish I could be in Florida!!) Although we did have a photo essay that was talked about the week before due. I think this was one of my favorite assignments. I chose to do the Appalachian trails and the volunteer efforts that are put forth to keep the trails maintained. I went there for spring break so I knew ahead of time to find things that might work well with the photo essay. I really wanted to find the similarities and differences between the trails around Duluth..but unfortunately due to the nice weather that was dropped on us I just decided to do the Appalachian trails.

Once again these weeks flew by! The end of the school year is creeping up..it sure doesn't feel like it with all this snow we keep getting though!

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

Over spring break I went on a 50 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT). I thought it seemed like a lot of miles, but compared to the whole trail being about 2,178 miles from Georgia to Maine, it's just a tiny mark on the map! We started at Sams Gap North Carolina and went south bound to end in Hot Springs. It was an awesome experience! Going into this, I knew we were doing this photo essay so I decided to find things on the trail that I thought were interesting and I could share with the class. This post mostly focuses on the maintenance of the trail, clean water sources, and my experience compared with everyday "convenient" living.

As we were walking along the paths I often wondered... who managed the paths and how could they keep up with it?!

About the time I took this picture is where we ran into people (workers and volunteers) who came around to monitor, maintain and protect the trail.They were often taking care of vegitation that was coming onto the trail, storm over blow, maintaining overnight shelters, marking boundries etc. After starting this essay I decided to look a little deeper into the maintanance of the AT. The trail has been around since 1937. It is protected by all 14 states that it touches and is a unit of the National Park Service. The volunteers and workers came from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). It's basically a HUUUGE organization full of over 6,000 volunteers per year, plus year round employees with a mission to preserve and manage the natural, scenic, historical and cultural resources associated with the trail. This website provides a lot more in depth information on it.

There were many signs along the way giving credit to the wonderful volunteers.."over 2100 miles maintain by local volunteers". I thought it was really cool just showing that little things making a big difference.

I also thought this sign was perfect for explaining a little history and who the trail was protected by...

We averaged anywhere between 6-12 miles a day carrying probably a little over 40 pounds because of all the food we had to pack. We made most of our meals just by adding water to things such as oatmeal, malt-o-meal, chili, macaroni etc. It wasn't too great but after a long day of hiking anything is good. Going on this trip also made me realize how lucky I am to have clean water! We had to hand pump our water from little streams and waterfalls that were few and far between.

Drinking the water "raw" from the stream can be dangerous, it really put things into perspective for how lucky we were to have resources available to make the water clean to drink.
We actually all ran out of water our second night! We had been hiking for too long and had to ration about 2-3 waterbottles between 10 people at our campsite. I swear I have never been more thirsty before, we were all dreaming of water that night!

It was almost worth it though because we woke up to this amazing view at our campsite (when we arrived at the camp site there was a lot of fog so we couldn't see out)

As for sleeping, most of the time we slept in tents, but along the trail there are shelters about every 5-10 miles apart. Usually there is a water source and bear hangs (to hang your food up at night).

These shelters are really convenient to put things out to dry in. It's a first come, first served basis until it is full. They were my favorite because the nights got reeeally cold so the more people huddling in those things the better! At night I would literally wear everything in my suitcase. It put heat into another perspective as well! The shelters are maintained by volunteer groups that repair and build these shelters on a regular basis. Without the help of these volunteers these shelters wouldn't be available. You'd be surprised how a little shelter can really make a difference when it's raining!

This trip was really challenging at times. There were days where we would go up 2,000 feet within a couple miles. I think I learned a lot about myself and the little things that we never really stop to think about during the day..such as clean water, warm food, shelter, warmth..it really was an eye opening experience.

Here was me on my favorite view of Blackstacks Cliff..We could practically touch the clouds!

Going on this trip was a little out of my box and I encourage everyone to give it a try. Superior Hiking trails are close by..they're great for day hikes or backpacking with about 205 mile long footpath. Also UMD provides great equipment that you can rent! If anyone is intersted in volunteering and getting involved. All the information is provided at these websites!

We had a quote that we all liked it was "Not all who wander are lost"..so wander on and make a difference!

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives

President:

Barack Obama

Political Affiliation: Democratic

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500


Congress Persons:

Senate: Amy Klobuchar

Political Affiliation: Democratic

Olcott Plaza, Suite105

820 9th Street North

Virginia, MN 55792

Telephone: 218-741-9690

Fax: 218-741-3692

House: James L. Oberstar

Political Affiliation: DFl

Duluth Office:

231 Federal Building

Duluth, MN 55802

Telephone: (218) 727-7474


Govenor: Tim Pawlenty

Political Affiliation: Republican

Office of the Governor

130 State Capitol75

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

St. Paul, MN 55155

Telephone: (651) 296-3391

E-mail:tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us


State Legislature:

Senate: Yvonne Prettner Solon

Political Affiliation: DFL

75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room G-9

St. Paul, MN 55155-1606

Telephone: 651-296-4188


House: Thomas Huntley

1924 Wallace Ave 55803

Duluth MN

Telephone: 218-724-6568

E-mail: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/mailto.asp?id=10271


County Board President: 5th District

Peg Sweeney

Room 208 100 N. 5th Avenue

West Duluth, MN 55802

Telephone: 218-726-2450

City Mayor

Don Ness

Political Affiliation: DFL

Room 402, 411 West First Street

Duluth, MN 55802

Telephone: 218-730-5230

City Council President:

Greg Gilbert

Gilbert Law Office

Duluth Technology Center, Suite 56311 East Superior Street

Duluth MN 55802

Telephone: 218-625-8777

(Picture by: Amanda Childs)

Share and Voice: Camping

So I'm going on a backpacking trip to the Smokey Mountains. I'm going to be roughin' it for about 7 days! I figured I'm doing my part on saving a weeks worth of electricity and heat, but I wanted to make sure I'm camping in an environmentally way...

I found a few good tips I'll share incase anyone else likes to camp. These may be self explanatory to some but reducing the impact on the environment while you're out there is really important..

Leaving the area unspoiled and uncontaminated is the main factor:
-Know the regulations of where you are
-Understand the weather conditions
-Do not alter the area to make it into a campsite
-Use the trails, don't make your own!
-Be aware of where your steping, especially the plants and vegetation
-Check the campsite thoroughly before you leave for spilled food or trash
-Use pre-selected campfire ring if possible, and keep the fires to a minimum
-Respect the animals
-Be curtious to other campers!

Respect nature and you can have a fun, eco/earth friendly trip! I look forward to telling you all about mine! Have a great Spring Break

Some more info here!

Reflection: Weeks 7 & 8

Wow these weeks are just rolling on by!

Week 7-

There was a reading on Chapter 16: Ill Winds: The Chemical Plants Nextdoor. It is about a girl named Becky Bradway who writes about her life in a small town of Buffalo, Illinois. I liked it simply because she wrote it in story form. The story told her life story from age 8 explaining how she viewed her town as a child. She went on to talk about all the pollutions and rare cancers that she didn't realize were being caused by the air she thought was so safe to breath as a child.

We also watched the film "Green". What I thought was great is that it was written and directed by a graduate student, Laura Dunn. The documentary is based off of the 100 mile stretch of the Mississippi. It has the highest amount of chemical useser, disposers, and industries. It is an area with an abundance of jobs but safety and health are of no concerns. It is what the nation calls Cancer Alley. There were a lot of touching stories from people living near by with all these rare forms of cancer. It was a really powerful film.

We had an eye opener of Environmental Working Groups Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. It was really interesting! We picked one product that we use every day to type it into this database. I chose my Ponds face lotion (that I literally use at least 2 times a day). What was interesting was I got to see the hazard level of it and what kinds of chemicals were inside of it. My hazard score was a 6, so after this runs out I think I may turn to another type of face lotion that is less hazardous.

Week 8-

We had a reading (that I did a review on) of Chaper 31: Privatizing Water. I was a little lost at first, because I honestly had no idea what privatizing water was! Basically what I got out of it, is that our world leaders are taking something that I feel is a persons right and turning it into an "economic good". The intentions of the giving back to the public are not what is focused on, it's money. Privatizing water is seen as a way to help countries in debt to lure investments. The real question is are they really trying to help?! This was a reading that really challenged my thinking. Something needs to be done for these 36 plus developing countries with inadequate amounts of fresh waters, but is privatizing water the answer?

Lastly, we watched "Thirst". This film was also about privatizing water. It showed issues of privatizing water all around the world. A main focus was Stockton, California. The mayor wanted to privatize water to save the government money, but gave no vote to the citizens living there! We didn't catch the end, but I found that eventually there was a vote and it was decided to keep local control of water. We had a great discussion after about all this. In my opinion, it sounds like privatizing water is sort of like GM foods, the intentions were to help these developing countries, but is that really what they are doing?

These past two weeks were pretty stressful with the amount of work in each of my classes loading up. I actually enjoy the films and readings we do in this class, it's a nice change from my other classes! I'm just looking forward to my backpacking trip to the Smokey Mountains over spring break, I'll make sure to tell you all about it when I get back! :)

Share and Voice: "Plastics are forever"

Ponder for a second..can you imagine going a day without using plastic? Yes...it means no computer, no car, no phone, no plastic grocery bags, no pens...those are just a few, the list could go on and on. It's almost impossible to live without plastic at this point! Essentially all the plastic that has been made up to this point is still on this earth! They may be in really small peices but there is no way to get rid of it. Plastic put into landfills, eventually end up in the ocean. Some researchers and environmental organizations list plastic as the number one threat to our marine environment. It is up to us, as individuals to make a difference. I know, I know it's seems impossible to cut out ALL plastics but why don't we try and take baby steps? If you purchase 1 reusable grocery bag you will prevent 400 plastic bags from being used! Each American uses approximately 168 plastic bottles per year. Why not cut that number way down and get a staneless steel water bottle!? I carry mine around all day, I clank that thing around on everything. It's really durable and keeps the water colder for longer! OGGI is the type of bottle I use but another popular brand is Kleen Kanteen. You can purchase these staneless steel bottles just about anywhere, the brand doesn't matter, just giving a few examples! Kleen Kanteen actually has a really awesome website with alot of interesting facts about plastic (it's actually where I got a bunch of this information). The point I'm trying to make is that a small change can make a big difference!

Review of Reading 31: Privatizing Water

To be completely honest, I read the title of this reading and I really was not sure what "privatizing water" meant and who was involved! So I'll define and explain a few things as I go about the review.

Water Privatization: is short for a private sector (a part of the economy which is both run for private profit and is not controlled by the state) participation where supplies of water services and sanitation are set aside and owned.

This chapter was a little hard to follow so bare with me here. What seems to be the issue is something we take for granite every single day of our lives, water accessibility. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (MIF) have encourage coutries in debt to privatize their water. Meaning the right we have as humans (getting adequate supplies of water) is being seen as an "Economic Good" by our world leaders, as of 1992.

The book went into a little detail about the troubles of Chochabamba, the third largest city in the country. Saying that they signed over control of their waterworks, but it rose bills by 35%. As a college student I couldn't possibly imagine paying that much more for water! The people disagreed with this move because it was a resource they just couldn't live without. There was much violence and many protests against it, which eventually led to the rescission of the water contract.

Privatization of water is seen by the World bank and IMF as an opportunity to lure investments from international coorporations to help these countries in debt. When in actuality, they're making something that is a public trust and right, that the goverenment should be in charge of (access to safe and adequate supply of water) into an opportunity for profit. The government is failing to provide over 1.1 billion people with adequate supplies of water. The questions arising are how can these numbers be decreased? Will these private sectors help? There are now 36 countries all in africa that do not have adequate amounts of fresh water to meet the industrial, municipal and food production needs of their people. It is also said that by 2015, seven more countries will join the water stressed!

While countries like the US, with generally well run water systems are slow to privatize water systems, many developing countires are faced with rapid deterioration of their water systems and are looking for this private sector assistance. Many of these countries rely on questionable water sources and expensive private suppliers. Some places like Bolivia, where poor families are paying up to 10 times more for their truck water tanks than the wealthier people with piped water. Due to these large companies being motivated by profit rather than public service, people around the world have been dealing with drastic rate increases, job cuts, dropped conservation initiatives, and health services.

The whole process of privatizing water has challenged my thinking. There was potential advantages explained when privatizing areas where the governments are weakest and failed to meet the basic water needs. But there also are risks when dealing with weak governments where public interests are usually the last thing that is protected. It seems like there is a lot of room for corruption. I think the main thing I got out of this was that if they do choose to continue privatizing water to make sure that the public service is #1 on the list rather than profit. It seems almost unreal to me, that so many people around the world are so deprived of clean water! Like I said earlier, it's just something that we all take for granted but I am very thankful for.

Municipal rate: is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village or a small grouping of them

Urbanization: the physical growth of rural or natural land into urban areas as a result of population immigration to an existing urban area.

Infrastructure: can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

Paternalistic Sector: Group of people that make decisions on behave of others

Just this past year for Dr. Tornabene's class we toured the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD). We got to see how our water around here is cleaned, tested, etc. There is a lot of things to learn from this cite I highly recommend going to it!

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

For this Eye Opener what we had to do was visit the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database and type in 1 cosmetic product that we use regularily. I chose to type in my Pond's face lotion. Face lotion is the one type of product I honestly don't think I could live with out (I know I'm being a little dramatic) but I use it everyday, in the morning and evening. My hazard score was a 6. The website said that some of the ingredients in the product were linked to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, allergies, and a few other miscellaneous concerns. It surprised me that something I put on my face every day could give me cancer or even reproductive issues??! I used the same website to find some other low hazard face lotion products, most I've never heard of (which I'm not surprised). It seems a little unrealistic to me to stop using every kind of cosmetic that I own but I'm definitely going to start paying attention to lables, I might even type something in this website before I make my next cosmetic purchase! It seems now that everything is linked to cancer, and I'm not really sure how or what to think about it.

Share and Voice: Environmental Advocacy

Oookay you have to check out this website! It's really awesome, it's the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MECA). I just came across it today, they have about 5 main things they focus on: public health, transportation and land use, water quality, wildlife and natural resources, and clean energy. Weird, just about everything we're talking about ;) This is a state wide, non-profit organization that uses legislature along with research, communication and collaboration to improve Minnesota's environment. It has some really interesting topics and up to date environmental issues from basically every day check it out!

Reflections: Weeks 5 & 6

Wow I can't believe we're already on week 5& 6 review! Feels just like yesterday when we were babies at this blogging thing. Now I feel like we're well on our way to becoming professional bloggers ;)

Week 5

A few things we did in week 5 were reading Chapter 15: Feeding the World, completed another Eye Opener called CSIP and watched a film, "Diet for a New America" for which I wrote my first review on. Feeding the World was quite an interseting chapter that was eye opening and even a little shocking to me. It focused on the environment, population and the food supply of our earth. I found it alarming that at some point, not too far away, our future demand of food will pass our food supply! I chose to visit the CSPI website where I did a Tour of the Food Supply. I learned quite a bit on the food factories, farm animals, grains, and a lot more. If you haven't been there yet I recommend checking it out! The film, Diet for a New America was really interesting. I feel that by doing a review on it, I got into it a bit more. It was based on John Robbins talking about how the food choices we make every day effect our health, happiness, and the future of life on earth. Check out my review for more details on it!

Week 6

This week we had an Eye Opener of an indivdually assigned reading and watched the film "Future of Food". My assigned reading was on Chapter 29:Growers and Greens Unite. Basically what was going on in this chapter was that in some places farmers and environmentalists are coming together to solve problems together, rather than working against each other. Something I found interesting was that Organic farms are pretty limited to about 8,000 in the US, but they're profits are improving by about 25% each year! Hopefully these other farms will catch on soon. The film we watched was almost scary to me! It was talking in depth about the very disturbing truth behind unlabled, patented, genetically engineered foods. At first the concept seemed like a good idea, great lets make more food that could (weasle word) help feed the hungry. I see that being an awesome attempt, but in reality isn't the case. I think at this point scientist have gone too far. As a consumer there is no way to know if my food has been modified and I think I have the right to!

The past two weeks I have enjoyed reading the chapters and watching these films. My eyes have yet again, become more open! I look forward to the next couple weeks.

Eye Opener: Summary of Reading

Growers and Greens Unite
The title of this chapter really sums up what seems to be happening in some areas of our country. Despite the sterotypes of the diverse groups of farmers and environmentalists, it seems that they are overcoming this "mis-trust" to work together. "People with wildly different backgrounds are learning more about each other as the come together to defeat common opponents". The book stated stereotypes such as farmers are often seen as stubbon and narrowminded by the environmentalist and the environmentalist are seen as people who dispense rules and don't understand what really goes on in a farm. At this point, when farm factories (CAFOs) are becoming detrimental to the environment (and the surrounding people) farmers are even known to defy the Farm Bureau to join the environmentalist to help with certain issues. It was interesting to see that in hog farming factories, 1 hog produces two to four times as much raw sewage as a human being! In reality there are only about 8,000 farms that are "certified organic", but their profits are growing 25% each year. If only the CAFOs didn't consider this "alternative" farming as risky, they could see that there are other options. Durastic change isn't going to happen over night, but it's good to see that there is common ground of interest in change on the rise.

A few questions for discussion: Would our environment change durastically if these farms went to all "organic"? What would happen to the price of food? Would organic farming really be "risky" or is it just different?

Bottom line, whether or not a farm is organic or a big factory, they are all just trying to survive. With a main issue of whether they are doing it environmentally friendly or not, regardless it has to be a combined effort on both sides.

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Review: Diet for a New America

The film we watched this week was Diet for a New America. It was made in 1995 based on John Robbins. John Robbins, who was the son of Irv Robbins one of the co-founders of Baskin Robins. Rather than following in his fathers ice cream legacy, he found something that was more rewarding to his life. John was quite sick growing up with Polio, which seemed to be his biggest motivation. He often wondered how he could regain health. Johns solution to regaining health was being more concious of the foods he would consume. Being health concious lead him to realize that there was a link between agriculture, health, and the environment. John had various doctors come on film and explain just how the food that we eat has an imact on our health. The doctors explained that the excess amount of (saturated) fat consumed, goes into the blood which can cause various complications such as blood clots, heart attack, stroke, and even cancer (while also keeping in mind heredity, medical history, diet and exercise). One doctor even showed a tube of blood where you could actually see the fat seperated, it was a pretty disgusting visual!

The video went on to explain how different countries have different ways of eating, some are even "scared to become like us". To one of our American servings of meat, could feed a family of 4 or 5 in other countries who use meat as a side dish! Not only did John talk about how bad the meat was after it was cooked, he explain the harsh environments that these animals are kept in before they reach the slauter house. On some farms (of course not all!) cows are kept in confined places where their movement is constricted to make sure that the meat will be "tender" when cooked.

In order to produce all the food grain needed to feed the cows, there are mass amounts of pesticides and fertilizers that are used. Essentially the cows are eating it which obviously turns into manure. The video went into detail explaining the problems that cow manure has on the environment. Some live stalk making up to 6,000 lbs of manure each year. These cow feces go into the ground, essentially entering the water and becoming destructable to the environment and the people surrounding the farms. Nitrate (from the fertilizer on grains that are fead to the cows) can enter the drinking water, causing harm and birth defects to babies called Blue Baby Syndrome.

This movie was a little challenging to watch (depsite it being a little out dated) because it goes against most (not everyone) of what our normal up-bringing as an American is. Personally, I grew up in a family where all of our dinner meals were based off of meat and a side dish of vegetables. I have always been a "picky eater" (what my family calls it), and since highschool I don't really eat beef that often. I still get werid looks and comments from my brother and dad when I eat a turkey burger at dinner while everyone else is eating a beef burger! Essentially this movie was an eye opener to me for realizing how the health, environment, and agriculture are so closely tied together. This movie was very biased, but I think watchin it with an open mind helped me realize some important points that were made.

Polio-A viral disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells of the brain stem and spinal cord.

Pesticide-Chemical preparation for destroying plant, fungal and animal pests.

Fertilizer-Mixture of substances used to make crops more productive.

Blood clot-A semisolid gelatinous mass of blood that consists of red blood cells, white blood cells and plateletes trapped within a fibrin network.

Stroke-A blockage of a blood vessel leading to the brain causing inadequate oxygen supply.

Heart Attack-Damage to an area of heart muscle that is deprived of oxygen (usually an artery)

Share and Voice: The Environmental Guy

Is anyone fans of Jim Carrey?? I think he is so hilarious :) Here is a video of him trying to do his part for the environment. It's pretty ridiculous and I'm not sure if he's mocking or trying to make a point! Let me know what you think.

Eye Opener: CSPI

I visited each site briefly in the Eye Opener section: Food Tour, Eating Green, and Score Your Diet. I decided to further explore on the Food Tour because I thought I could get some interesting new facts!

Basically it was a virtual process of where our food comes from and what is done with the fertilizers, land, slaughter house, super market, and much more.

Some interesting facts I learned:

Ferilizer Facts: Producing feed for the U.S. livestock, consumers about 22 billions pounds of fertilizer annually, and that energy used to manufacture it coule provide one years worth of power for about 1 million Americans.

Factory Farm: I was not aware that Farm animals in the US are not protected by strict laws and are often tortured and/or badly mistreated.

Animal Feed: Livestock are fed trash! At one point they were even feeding cattle with other cattle remains (YUCK!) which caused Mad Cow disease, which is illegal now.

Manure Lagoon: The methane released from livestock and their manure is equivalent in environmental destruction to the annual release of CO2 from about 33 million automobiles.

Super Market: Contaminated food cuases about 5,000 deaths each year. About 1/5 of them are linked to meat poultry, dairy and egg products. (Any one hear about the peanut recall?!

Hospital: The CDC estimates that contaminated food causes about 76 million illnesses, 325,00 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths each year. The main culprits ranging from hamburgers, milk, and eggs.

Obviously if I put in all the things I learned from this site, it'd be a little over kill. I just put in the ones I thought were most interesting. If anyone hasn't seen this website I highly recomend it. There are tons of facts. Although these facts were alarming, I have a hard time believing that all farms contribute to some of these horrendous things (such as the cruelity and contamination), but it was interesting learning about them all! If anyone was considering being a Vegitarian, this site will pull you towards that for sure!

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Share and Voice: Baby Panda Zhen Zhen

This summer I spent a couple weeks in California. I spent most of my time in San Diego. I went to the San Diego Zoo and got the cutest pictures of the new baby panda Zhen Zhen just shy one 1 year and her mom Bai Yun! Zhen Zhen is the fourth giant panda born at this Zoo. Giant pandas are about the size of a stick of butter and hairless at birth. The mother cares for their cub very well but more often then not many do not survive. There are special captive propagation programs in China and other Zoos around the world designed to study and care for these new panda cubs to help them reach adulthood. There are only around 1,600 Gi ant Pandas surviving on earth, therefore making them endangered. Several reasons why they are endangered is because they have a low reproductive rate, there is a shortage of bamboo (which 99% of their diet is made up of, eating nearly 84lbs a day!), habitat distruction (China's has over 1 billion people), and hunting. In China there is a wildlife reserve making sure that these pandas have food, and space to live with little human interference. Check out these links they have a lot more information than I have, but just thought I'd share some pictures!

Reflections: Week 3 & 4

These past two weeks went a little smoother with the blogging! I finally got the hang of commenting and posting on the correct days. I even figured out a fun trick to schedule an early post for a specific time and date!

Week 3

We had a couple readings from our book, Outlooks: Readings for Environmental Literacy, chapter 1, The Challenges We Face and chapter 27, Seeing Green: Knowing and Saving the Environment on Film. Both readings were interesting. Chapter 1 was pretty much an intro to the environment. It touched on topics such as population & health, food, energy & climate, and biodiversity. A quote that caught my attention right away was "The globe doesn't need to be saved by us, and we couldn't kill it if we tried". It then goes on to say that we have done a pretty good job at putting the climate, air, and water all out of balance and it is us that we are trying to save. I thought that this was a powerful and alarming statement. Chapter 27 focused on environmental films and the fact that some are educational with a powerful message while other films can often show the environment as a "fantasy". It is one thing to hear about an issue but it is another to actually see a picture and get a visual for what is going on. The meaning behind films being fantisized is when they portray the "natural" environment on screen, but hide or edit out the areas may be polluted or overpopulated.

Week 4

We had an Eye Opener assignment to get our Ecological Footprint. I found out that if everyone lived the way I do, it would take over 4 Earths! It was a good way to get a visual of just how much each of us are wasting with each day and how every little thing we do adds up. This week we also started watching "An Inconvenient Truth" featuring Al Gore. It is a powerful film that goes into detail about how our climate is changing and the effects it has on the land, water, ice, animals people, and much more. Here is a quote I thought was meaningful, "There is no doubt we can solve this problem. In fact, we have a moral obligation to do so. Small changes to your daily routine can add up to big differences in helping to stop global warming. The time to come together to solve this problem is now." The point being, we need to do something about this serious problem fast.

The past few weeks I feel like I have taken in a lot of information about the Earth and Global Warming. I realized now is a better time then ever to take action. I look forward to what is ahead in the next couple weeks!

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

How much of the Earths resources does my lifestyle take up? According to this quiz from the Redefining Progress, if everyone lived the lifestyle I live it would take 4.35 Earths! My results seemed to be somewhat below the Country's average, but it still surprised me that 1 poor college student took up over 4 Earths!

Since college I have defintely been introduced to the advantages of conserving electrcity, water, gas, heat, etc. not only for my wallet but for the Earth in general. We as Americans rely so much on water, electricity, heat, air-conditioning, driving etc, that we don't realize how much is going to waste.

I'd like to think that I contribute by taking the bus, carpooling, recycling, conserving, using hand-me-downs (it seems the list could go on and on) but there is always room to improve which I think I could.

What I found challenging about conserving had to do with the house that I live in. It's an old house, with old windows, oil heat and we rent it. That itself makes it difficult to be eco-friendly. We do try hard to contribute by puting in the correct light bulbs, blocking off windows and doorways, unplugging and turning things off, and keeping our heat in the high 50's (which believe me is chilly, you don't see us walking around our house with shorts and t-shirts on, it's more like jackets and hats still on!)

I thought this activity was fun but it just made me feel guilty that I need to do a lot better. I wish I had the money to have the hybrid car, or the solar panels in our house, but it's looking like that isn't happening for me any time soon, so I'll keep doing my part the best I can. I think the little things like recycling, turning off lights/appliances, and using public transportation can make a big difference!

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