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!