Read 'n' Seed 4: Third Quarter of Environmental Epidemiology: Epidemiological Investigation of Community Environmental Health Problems

For the third quarter of my book, I read chapters 11 through 16, which were pages 129-196. These chapters are much like the previous chapters I read in the second quarter, which have to do with pollution and the ozone.

In chapter 11, is about odor pollution. I thought it was a little odd, because I guess I never thought about odor as being a pollutant, depending on what kind of odor I suppose. Some of the people in the areas reported being bothered very much or moderately, on a scale of very much, moderately, a little, or not at all. Differences in this study between men and women were noticed for headache and nervousness.

Chapter 12 is basically a review of the previous pollution chapters. They showed that after a few minutes exposure to an odorous material in the lab, the awareness of the odor begins to diminish. They talked about pollution and the effects of new exposures, how, if detected early, it should be taken care of immediately, instead of waiting to see if any health risks come about from it.

Chapter 13 is about nitrate levels in drinking water and methemoglobin in infants. They discovered that infants whose formulas were made up with contaminated ground water would give them this disease of Methemoglobinemia. In adults, the stomach secretions are strongly acidic, and this can limit the types of bacteria that can survive mixture with the stomach's secretions; but in infants, the strongly acid secretion has not yet evolved, and so when bacteria are ingested they may colonize the entire intestinal tract. They found it obvious that babies that are breast fed are likely to have little tap water ingestion in relation to infants fed a dry or powdered milk formula.

Chapter 14 is about carbon monoxide exposures and survival from heart attacks. This chapter was really confusing to me because they used a bunch of numbers and figures that were hard for me to understand. They were trying to research the difference between carbon monoxide exposures to the survival rate of heart attacks. The conclusions found that in Los Angeles in 1958 in times and places of high exposures to carbon monoxide there is an increase in the case fatality rate for heart attacks.

Chapter 15 is about lead exposures in children. They used the teeth that children naturally lose to test for lead and then compare to their school performance and intelligence. The study provided powerful evidence of a possible role of lead exposures in early childhood in handicapping school performance and intelligence.

Chapter 16 is about photochemical pollutants and the long term health effects. In 1971, the published data supported these conslusions:
"At times and locations with increased photochemical pollution, eye irritation, respiratory irritaion, increased cough and sputum, and possible headache were observed; A fraction of the population with existing asthma was more likely to experience asthma attacks when pollution levels exceeded an hourly average of 0.20 ppm of ozone; Men with cronic bronchitis or emphysema and impaired lung function experienced further lung function impairment when levels of ozone were elevated from 0.10 to 0.30 ppm; Mortality from chronic respiratory conditions was showing a general upward trend, but effects of cigarette smoking, survival from tuberculosis and pneumonia, and occupational exposures were considered the predominant contributors; High school cross country teams had 'poorer' times when they exercised during smoggy weather than the same teams exercising when smog was less" (p. 182-183).

It's scary to think about all of these things and some of them have irreversible effects. Hopefully, we can keep making sure our water is clean, keep carbon monoxide reduced, and photochemical pollution reduced. So many of these things are detrimental to our health, as well as our environment's health. We need to make sure we take care of these new exposures as they are happening instead of waiting to find out years later that they cause serious medical problems, because that long into it, it would take years to figure out how to reduce it all again.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 6: Weekly Update

MY SMART GOAL

My SMART goal was to use a reusable water bottle instead of plastic bottles. It was very unhealthy that I was reusing plastic water bottles that I would keep buying in stores. Not only for my own health, but for the health of the environment.


"I will use an aluminum water bottle 100% of the time 7 days a week for the next 10 weeks"

SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES

I remembered to bring my water bottle to work with me last week on Wednesday and Thursday, which was very good. I took my bottle hunting with me and had it for my two and a half hour drive, and I even brought it out to the woods with me! It was very useful when I got thirsty out in the woods. I caved and bought a bottle of pop for my drive back to Duluth. I was craving carbonation and sugar, and I had gotten up at 4:30 each morning to get out in the woods before dawn, so I felt I was in need of caffeine for my drive home. Once I was done with that, I returned to my water bottle. On Tuesday this week, I forgot to bring my bottle with me again to work, but the rest of the week is looking up. I will keep it by my purse at all times to make sure I don't forget!

FEELINGS

I'm still feeling decent about my goal. I liked having it out in the woods with me over the weekend. I also had it by my bedside at the hotel each night. I might have to get another bottle to keep in my locker at work so I can stop worrying about forgetting to bring my bottle from home each time! I'll see how the rest of my work week goes. If I keep remembering it, I'll stick to my current plan.

PLANS FOR NEXT WEEK...

I will be keeping my goal the same. If I can't keep remembering to bring my bottle to work, I'll buy another bottle to keep in my locker, so I don't have to worry about forgetting all the time!

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

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives

These are my political representatives for the U.S., Minnesota, and Princeton.

President of U.S.: Barack Obama, DFL

House Congressman: James Oberstar,
2365 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-6211
Other representatives: Website

Senators: Al Franken
320 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5641
and Amy Klobuchar
United States Senate
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
 (202) 224-3244

Governor: Tim Pawlenty, Rep.
Office of the Governor

130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
(651) 296-3391

House Legislature: Bob Gunther, Rep,
289 State Office Building

100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
651-296-3240 or 800-684-4598
other representatives: Website

Senator: Lisa Fobbe, DFL,
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Capitol Building, Room 306
St. Paul, MN 55155-1606
651-296-8075
other senators: Website

Mille Lacs County board commissioners

Princeton Mayor: Jeremy Riddle
City Hall
705 Second Street North
Princeton, MN 55371
763-389-2040

Well, I think this was good because I never really knew there were even websites for all of these political members. I found out there is a webpage for my hometown! Cool stuff. And Lisa Fobbe is from my hometown, so it was cool to see her on that list.

Reflections: Week 7 and 8

Week 7 we started out with an eye opener from the Environmental Working Group. It's a website that you can look up different cosmetic items and see what kind of harm they can cause, to humans and the environment. I looked up a blush that I own (don't use it very often) and it had an 8 out of 10 high hazard. I was shocked that something so simple as blush could potentially be extremely hazardous to my own health!

We then watched a movie called "Green". It was about people living near the Mississippi River in Louisiana and there was a high cancer rate. They blamed it on the chemical factories in the area, for exposing them to toxic fumes and getting into their foods in the gardens through the ground. It's outstanding at how many cases they had of cancer in the area! I got to read a few more cases in my book I'm reading for my read 'n' seed. The ones I read this time were mostly about pollution and air quality in big cities. Some interesting stuff!

Week 8 we started out with an eye opener titled "Junk on the Brain". We got to see this cool website of projects that people make out of things that seem to have no use anymore. Very creative! I liked it a lot.
Then we watched a documentary titled "Thirst". It was about privatizing water and people having to pay to use it. I thought it was outrageous. Water is a necessity for life. There shouldn't be a price on that.
After the movie we talked about our blogs, and the general things that needed to be worked on. Mine had a few things that needed improving, such as putting my longer posts into separate paragraphs so it's easier to read. It was a good discussion because it helped me notice things that I needed to work on that I didn't notice before!

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Weekly Update

MY SMART GOAL


My SMART goal was to use a reusable water bottle instead of plastic bottles. It was very unhealthy that I was reusing plastic water bottles that I would keep buying in stores. Not only for my own health, but for the health of the environment.


"I will use an aluminum water bottle 100% of the time 7 days a week for the next 10 weeks"

SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES

My goal is going good still, I keep remembering to bring my bottle with me to school, working out, and when I'm driving. One part I need to work on is remembering to bring it to work with me, so I don't have to keep reusing plastic cups to drink water out of. The first day I brought it to work, I forgot it in my car! The next day, I just completely forgot it. But the last time I worked, I remembered to bring it and I kept it in my locker to drink while on my break. I was really craving pop, but I didn't give in. At my work, we have a fountain pop just like the picture here, and I have to work right next to this machine so it's hard to not give in but I've been doing great! I wanted to put my water bottle to good use. It worked out great.

FEELINGS

I'm feeling pretty decent about my goal, although I wish I was better at remembering to bring it to work. I think I'll be better about it from now on. Now that I actually brought it once, it will be easier for me to remember. Just have to get into the habit.

PLANS FOR NEXT WEEK...

I will be keeping my goal the same. I'm going to keep bringing it to school with me to drink during classes and working out. I'm going hunting this weekend, and it will be almost a 3 hour drive to where I'm going, so I will definitely have it with me while driving! I'm going to bring it into the woods with me as well to keep hydrated during the day. I will most likely have a mug with hot chocolate in it as well to keep with me. Also going to work hard at remembering to bring it to work with me to drink on my breaks!

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

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

PART 1

Antiques/Antiquing: any work of art, piece of furniture, decorative object, or the like, created or produced in a former period, or, according to U.S. customs laws, 100 years before date of purchase. To shop for or collect antiques.
Junk/Junking: anything that is regarded as worthless, meaningless, or contemptible; trash. To cast aside as junk; discard as no longer of use; scrap.
Flea market: a market, often outdoors, consisting of a number of individual stalls selling old or used articles, curios and antiques, cut-rate merchandise, etc.

Thrift shop: A shop that sells used articles, especially clothing, as to benefit a charitable organization
Upcycling: involves processing used materials into new products, or the re-use of a product with crippled functionality for alternative purposes, to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production, with the intent of creating a product of higher quality design and artistic value.
Resale shop: They usually sell mainly second-hand goods donated by members of the public, and are often staffed by volunteers. Because the items for sale were obtained for free, and business costs are low, the items can be sold at very low prices.

PART 2

1. They have to do with environmental health because instead of these things being thrown away, they are donated, resold, reused, and recycled. Saves energy and helps the needy.
2. Antiques: Canal Park Antique Center 310 S Lake Ave Duluth, MN 55802 (218) 720-3940
Junking: Junk My Car 1-877-586-5692
Flea market: Studebaker Drivers Club Swap Meet Flea Market and Classic Car Show Lake Superior College, 2101 Trinity Road Duluth, MN 55811
Thrift Shop: Goodwill 4883 Miller Trunk Hwy Hermantown , MN 55811 (218) 727-0001
Upcycling: I couldn't find anywhere that has upcycling, but I found this cool short article about it :)
Resale Shop: Plato's Closet  5115 Burning Tree Rd Ste 315C Duluth , MN 55811 (218) 733-9455
3. I have used some of these things, most of which are Thrift shops like Goodwill or Savers, or resale shops like Plato's Closet. I have gone antiquing with my friend's parents or my grandparents before, but it's not something I do regularly. I also donate my old clothing to these types of places so I'm not throwing them away. I'm helping the company, and helping the commuity.

PART 3

I really like this Paris Themed Necklace. I thought it was very creative and pretty as well. I would never think to make something like that!
I also thought this Light Bulb project was cute. Good way of reusing an old light bulb by planting flowers in it!
This edible centerpiece was super cool. I love food and finding creative ways to use it and display it are very interesting!

That is a very cool website and I like how creative people can be!

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second Quarter of Environmental Epidemiology: Epidemiological Investigation of Community Environmental Health Problems

For the second quarter  of my book, I covered chapters 5 through 11 which is pages 65-127. These chapters mostly went through and told stories and studies of pollution and ozone problems.

Chapter 5 was the most interesting to me. The title of the chapter is called "The 20 Minute Disaster: Hydrogen Sulfide Spill at Poza Rica". It tells the story of a neighborhood near a plant that happened to have a gas leak. People in the neighborhood were poisoned by these gases, some of which died, some of which were hospitalized. I found it very sad, because so many families were affected by it. Some lost children, some lost a parent, and some lost children and a spouse, all because of a few minute long gas leak. Once the valves were shut, the fog cleared up and the air got better, but not before the devastating effects took place.

Chapter 6 went on to talk about three Los Angelos heat waves, and the researching of the effects of the elderly and sick in the nursing homes. They found there was a 1-day lag between th peak of temperature and the peak of mortality in each age group. They also found that heat waves like these happen every 8 years. 1939, 1947, 1955, and 1963 are significant years in this study.

Chapter 7 is about the planning, analysis, and preparation and how it can save lives. One statement that stuck out to me says "Most heat waves are forecast by the weather service. Should such forecasts provide advice to elderly and ill persons to take preventive measures? If you answered yes, what measures, at what temperature level, and who should offer the advice?" (Goldsmith, 84). I found that very interesting, because taking such precautions could save many lives.

Chapter 8 is about school children in Kawasaki, Japan and their respiratory problems because of the industries near the school district. They used two measuring indexes of air pollution: monthly sulfation rate by lead peroxide method and monthly dustfall. Dustfall?? Honestly? Now that's some serious pollution right there. These students had layers of dust on their school desks and their books became soiled. The industries eventually did something about it to solve the problem, but how horrible for those kids to go through that!

Chapter 9 mostly talks about people with asthma and environmental factors, and the affect on their breathing. An interesting thing I saw was a list of environmental factors of asthma attacks. "1. Allergens such as those produced by cockroaches, house dust mites, mammals and birds, molds and fungi, pollen, and food and drugs. 2. Irritants such as SO2, ozone, NO2 and mixtures of pollutants consisting of ozone, CO, and NO2. 3. Climatic factors such as temperature (more specifically, sudden changes in temperature) and humidity, and temperature inversions. 4. Respiratory infections" (Goldstein and Hartel, 102).

Chapter 10 is about asthma and air pollution in Los Angeles. They found that most of the asthma attacks occurred at night, whereas peak pollution levels were in the middle of the day to early afternoon. It showed that there is a latent period between the pollution exposure and the maximum effect. I found that to be intriguing. They also concluded that small increases in sulfur oxides can lead to aggravation of asthma in a number of the asthmatic persons exposed.

A lot of these cases are from years ago, but it still shows how the environment has an effect on our health. It's good to see that they have done some things to try and fix some of these problems. But it's also sad to see that some of these problems still exist today, even after all the researching. Hopefully, we can continue to minimize pollution. We need our planet for as long as possible!

Share and Voice 5: Vegan Outreach

So, I was walking around the halls of school one day in between classes, and a student standing at the bottom of a stairwell was handing out pamphlets. I gladly took one and what was it about? Animal cruelty! I found it ironic, because we had just talked about animal cruelty in farms and production in class that week. The makers of the pamphlet have a website posted on the back. I checked out the website and it looks awesome. It talks about vegan foods and it has a guide to "cruelty-free eating". They provide recipes, talk about vegan health and plant based diets, talk about reasons for eating vegan, and so much more! I love salads and it looks like they have some great salad recipes on this site! I'll be sure to post about it if I try one!

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

MY SMART GOAL


My SMART goal was to use a reusable water bottle instead of plastic bottles. It was very unhealthy that I was reusing plastic water bottles that I would keep buying in stores. Not only for my own health, but for the health of the environment.

"I will use an aluminum water bottle 100% of the time 7 days a week for the next 10 weeks"

SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES

My goal has been going very good and I'm doing a good job at remembering my water bottle everytime I go to school. I take my new bottle with me many places. The orange juice stains are starting to fade too! It's still hard at work because I work in a cafe and we can't have any of our own foods or even water bottles inside the cafe, so I have to use a small plastic cup to drink out of. I do keep it in my locker and use it for each break, but I throw it away at the end of my shift. I didn't really think about it, but I think I need to start bringing my water bottle to work and keep THAT in my locker for on my breaks instead of using plastic cups over and over. I will definitely start that change today at work! I bring it with me when I work out and I keep my bottle on my desk next to my bed from the second I get home from school so it's always where I can find it when I'm thirsty!

FEELINGS

I'm happy with the changes that I've made, and I'm glad to still find things I can change, such as bringing it to work and keeping it in my locker during each shift. I look forward to finding new things to keep using it for!

PLANS FOR NEXT WEEK...

I'm going to continue to bring it with me to school and working out. I will also keep it by my bed as usual. I plan on bringing it to work with me also from now on so hopefully I can remember to keep that up! I'll let you know how it went next week!!

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

Share and Voice 4: Modern Health Crusade

I learned a bit about the Modern Health Crusade in HLTH 3303 Foundations of Health. At this website, it talks about a "No spitting" campaign to stop the spread of tuberculosis back in 1915. They believed that spitting on streets and floors could spread tuberculosis if the spitters were infected. The bacteria could live in the spit up to a day, and women stopped wearing dresses that dragged on the ground collecting the bacteria and bringing it into their homes. I found all of this very interesting. It then led to a campaign that we still kind of follow today. It includes a list of simple habits such as washing hands before each meal, brushing your teeth after breakfast and dinner, drink four glasses of water a day, taking baths regularly, and a few others. I found these things very interesting because they are kind of the starting ground for some of our healthy habits we have today.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

I looked up Avon True Color Blush on the Environmental Working Group website. It has an 8 out of 10 high hazard. I never knew a simple powder could be so dangerous! It says that ingredients in this product are linked to: Cancer; developmental/reproductive toxicity; violations, restrictions, and warnings; allergies/immunotoxicity; and other concerns for ingredients used in this product are: Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, and Biochemical or cellular level changes. WOW! I'm glad I chose a product that I very rarely use, because I'm a little scared to use it again! I'm sure it's ok to use if you use it as little as I do, which is maybe 4 times a year. It makes me want to look up all of the makeup products I use. I can't believe these products contain so many toxic things and can have that much of an effect on our bodies! I would love to use this website to look up products before I use them, and use it to help me find safer cosmetic products!

Share and Voice 3: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

This segment on Good Morning America is jaw dropping. It talks about all of the plastic going into our oceans, and staying in our oceans. It's outstanding that in their samples, there is 6 times more plastic than plankton. And the fish are eating these plastics. So if we eat these fish, are we eating the plastic too? Like they said, we need to accept responsibility, and take action at local levels to prevent this from continuing. Just awful!!!

Reflections: Weeks 5 and 6

To start off week 5, we had an eye opener from the CSPI website. It was amazing to see how much goes into the food industry and industrial farming and how harmful it is to the environment, and to the animals. I scored my diet using the amount of servings of animal products each week. I never knew that the things I ate were so bad for the environment, and just changing the amount of servings can be a huge impact on the environmental outcome.

We then watched "The Future of Food". It's crazy to think about the things that big corporations will do to take over everything and everyone. So many people's farms were taken over and they lost so many of their seeds and crops. I thought it was funny how they said that if things are genetically modified with their product, they own it. If a person was genetically modified with their product, would they own that person? I found that very interesting.

Week 6, we watched "Diet for a New America". I give John Robbins a lot of credit for not following in his father's footsteps and going in his own direction. He is leading people to healthier lifestyles instead of supporting an ice cream chain. Great work! We then worked on graphical headers for our blogs. I have a picture in my header, but I don't think it's a graphical header. I couldn't really find a program on my computer that can change the size of my picture so I just left it as is for now.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

MY SMART GOAL

My SMART goal was to use a reusable water bottle instead of plastic bottles. I reused plastic water bottles beforehand, and realized I needed to change. Not only for my own health, but for the health of the environment.
"I will use an aluminum water bottle or coffee mug 100% of the time 7 days a week for the next 10 weeks"


SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES
 
 My goal has been going great and I'm doing a pretty good job. I take my new bottle with me almost everywhere. It's hard at work because I work in a cafe and for safety purposes, we can't have any of our own foods or even water bottles inside the cafe, so I have to use a small plastic cup to drink out of. I do keep it in my locker and use it for each break, but I throw it away at the end of my shift. I still keep my bottle next to my bed at night to drink out of as well.
 
FEELINGS
 
Normally, I think of a "water bottle" containing only water, but I've had a cold for the past week and I bought a couple gallons of orange juice. So everyday before I leave for school, I fill my bottle up with orange juice. I think the inside of the bottle is stained yellow now. Oh well! My cold is getting better and I'm still using my bottle for nearly everything. I like the changes I have made and hope to keep them going even after the ten weeks is up! I'm sure I will!

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

Share and Voice 2: Tour of WLSSD

For Dr. Tornabene's Community Health class, we took a tour of WLSSD. It stands for Western Lake Superior Sanitary District. It is located in West Duluth. First, we met in a conference room where a woman who worked there talked about the type of things that go on, and what they do with the waste, and certain materials you aren't supposed to throw away. Then for the tour, we had to wear hard hats and safety glasses. We got to see the chemistry lab where chemists look at the water to test it's cleanliness and we saw where the garbage trucks bring the garbage. It is then separated and stuff that needs to be recycled is put in it's proper place. There are also compost piles where they put old food and other materials to be composted. And finally they have a place where you can bring all of your items that you shouldn't throw away, like flourescent lights, paint, and other toxic wastes that shouldn't be put in the garbage.
I had never known that this place existed. I knew that they had sanitation places, but I never knew what they consisted of or where they were located. It was very interesting and a great learning experience!

Read 'n' Seed 2: First Quarter of Environmental Epidemiology: Epidemiological Investigation of Community Environmental Health Problems

Wow. So this week has been crazy for this read 'n' seed. I went to check out my first book I had chosen, only to find out it had already been checked out, and not due back until November 3rd. I then looked on the UMD library website for another book, only to once again find out it was not available. The librarian and I searched for new books on the library website once again, and I finally found a book that looked interesting to me. My friends and I went to where that book was located, only to find one next to it that looked more interesting to me. So here, I finally have a book called Environmental Epidemiology: Epidemiological Investigation of Community Environmental Health Problems by John R. Goldsmith. It has been interesting so far.

I was able to read the first 4 chapters, which was about 63 pages. The first chapter pretty much just talked about definitions, concepts, and problems. It talked about measuring environmental exposure and one term that I found interesting was "Personal Exposure Estimate", something attached to a person in order to obtain a measurement of indoor pollution levels. I thought that was interesting to hear about.

The next three chapters talked about a couple of the significant cholera outbreaks in our world. Chapter two was all about the Broad Street Pump and how Dr. John Snow discovered what caused the outbreak of cholera in a London district back in the 1800s. Everyone in a certain neighborhood was getting their water from a local pump, and Snow found that the water from the pump was contaminated and was causing the cholera which caused a great number of deaths in a short period of time. The handle to the pump was then removed, although it was when the epidemic was subsiding.

Chapter 3 talked about the cholera outbreak in Jerusalem in 1970. It was learned that farms were getting their irrigation water from sewage systems and the people who ate the plants from their crops were infected with cholera because of the fecal specimens from the water. Within a seven week span, there were a 176 cases in the town of Jerusalem, the peak being during the 5th week, with 59 cases. It was intresting to hear about these different cases between London and Jerusalem.

Chapter 4 was just about cholera in our day today. It just talked about how it is spread through fecal contamination of drinking water. There are simple household methods to treat cholera such as using a mixture of salt, sugar and water, just by drinking it, to retain all of your fluids back.

It is possible for another cholera outbreak to happen, it is just a matter of when and where. That's why it's important for our water to be clean from contaminants and pollution. Because you never know when your water might be unsafe. Scary stuff!

Share and Voice 1: Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

This year, blog action day is about climate change. The government seems to be trying to hide global warming from us and telling us it isn't certain. But the documentary by Al Gore titled "An Inconvenient Truth" shows what is really happening. So many glaciers and ice shelves are melting away and he even shows before and after pictures to prove it. It truly is outstanding. I'm so glad the nations are getting together soon to talk about it and try to find solutions. I sure wouldn't want to see what Earth will be like when I'm the age of my parents, and have my kids in school being shown what Earth used to look like before humans destroyed it.
I have made some changes to my habits, some of which include using a reusable water bottle that I have bought, instead of plastic water bottles. Plastic is polluting our planet and our oceans. I also plan on changing from using plastic bags at grocery stores, to using my own reusable bags. If everyone took action together to change some of their small habits, it can make a big difference to our planet in the long run.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to stop using plastic water bottles and use a reusable bottle. It was tough at first because I was out running errands and I figured a grocery store or wal mart type store would have those kind of water bottles, but I could not find any anywhere! So for a few days I used one that my roommate had in the cupboard until I could find one for myself. When I finally got a chance at school, I went to the school store and had quite a few to choose from. I found one that even had its own tag from BioGreen Bottles.

On the tag it says "This bottle is 100% biodegradable, recycable, reusable. BPA, DEHA and DEHP free. It is made from recycles materials also. I'm excited to know that I have something better than a plain plastic water bottle and something that will last me a long time. This week I learned how simple it can be to change one small thing that can help the environment. Things aren't always that simple though. Next week, I plan on keeping up with using my new bottle. I take it with me everywhere! Class, gym, in the car, next to my bed...I'm constantly carrying it with me.

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

Eye Opener: CSPI

I read the facts about the items on the homepage. I never knew that cattle could develop so many problems from having too much grain. I also never knew that pigs had their tails cut off, chickens had their beaks cut off, and cows were castrated, all without pain killers. I knew that meat, poultry and dairy were high sources of food bourne illnesses, but I never knew how often it happened.

For my eating green calculator, the environmental burden of animal products I eat in a year turned out to be: 0.7 acres of grain and grass needed for animal feed, 17 pounds of animal fertilizer used to grow animal feed, 0.1 pounds of pesticides used to grow animal feed, and 4175 pounds of manure created by the animals I eat.
When I calculated the changes I was willing to make, I reduced my environmental burden by: 0.3 acres grown, 6.9 pounds of fertilizer, 0 pounds of pesticides, and 1993 pounds of manure. Who knew that just cutting a few servings could change some of those things so much. I'm not a vegetarian, so I didn't want to cut ALL of my meat intake, but I am definitely willing to cut how much I eat. I definitely need to cut my cheese intake, and that I had already known. It will be better for the environment, and my own health, because cheese contains so much fat.

When I scored my diet, my health score was 20, environmental score was -27, and animal welfare score was -15. My grand total was "Uh-oh" -22. I scored the lowest on cheese, and highest on vegetables. I do try to eat a lot of vegetables each week, but I do consume a lot of cheese. I am definitely willing to change my cheese diet, and lower it. I could use the most improvement on my environmental score. I am will to eat less processed meat, and more vegetables and organic food.

I learned that my eating habits do make a huge impact on the environment and I am willing to change some things to help that. I will eat less cheese, less servings of meat, and more fruits and vegetables. It will be better for the environment, and for myself.

Reflections: Week 3 and 4

Week 3 we didn't meet for class, we just set up 15 min appointments with the TAs to make sure we had everything we needed and we were caught up in class. I thought it was very helpful, because I was doubting myself when it came to having everything I needed. Turns out I didn't and I was able to get caught up.
Week 4 we had an eye opener due and I never knew how much energy I used. Wayyyy more than I had originially thought. We started out class with a game where we each chose a question about blogging and had to answer it correctly to get a prize. The prize bag sure was interesting!! Very unpredictable! We then watched "An Inconvenient Truth". I had seen parts of it before, but not the whole thing so I was glad to see what I hadn't seen already. I really liked that he used graphs and visuals to show the changes in ways that PROVE what is happening. The pictures were shocking to see how much of the glaciers and other ice areas have melted! I sure hope the government does something about it soon, instead of trying to cover up what is happening. I sure don't want to be around to see the final consequences!!