This is the last post to be done for the class. It seems very strange because I have been blogging so much for this class that it is normal for me to check my blog all the time.
Week 13: During this week we went to Goodwill and got a tour of the company. It was very interesting to see behind the scenes. I did not know that they provided so many disabled people with jobs. By doing this they sacrifice efficiency for humanity, and I think that is a wonderful thing. Another interesting part of the tour was to see how they crush mattress springs into bundles so that a place can take them and melt them down.
We had to do a blog post to our political representative about the bill we choose for the advocacy project. I thought it was very helpful to learn how to write a letter to a representative to advocate for something.
This was also the last week for my eco-chic lifestyle change. I think over the past five weeks I have accomplished a lot with my lifestyle change. It is still now always easy to shower that fast, but I still try because I know the impact I am having on the environment.
Week 14: This last week we presented our junk projects to the class. I made a serving piece out of a candle holder and 2 trays. I used gorilla glue to glue it together. Here is a picture of it.
We had to create on online activity about the bill we are advocating for. Then we had to complete all the activities in our web groups. I really like doing this because it was very short, but I learned a lot of information just from doing everyone's activities.
Overall Reflection: This class has been the most eye-opening class that I have ever taken. The documentaries that we watched were very powerful and never failed to change my thinking about the topic. The video "Tapped" had the most impact on me and I refuse to ever buy a plastic water bottle again. I will continue to advocate for reusable water bottles. I really liked doing the eco-chic lifestyle change because I got to actually change the way I was impacting the environment. The most important thing I learned was about my ecological footprint. It is still crazy to me that I alone, use about 3.6 Earths of resources. I never thought that I had that big of an impact on the Environment, but now that I do I am going to continue to try to reduce the waste I produce and lower my impact on the environment.
Sarah asked us to use Google Transit to find three places we go to a lot. I put in the directions for those places to get alternate routes by either walking or the bus.
I looked at School, Work, and the Grocery store. To get to those places I usually walk or get a ride with a friend. Since I always walk to school and work I did not put them into google transit. I did look up the route for the grocery store. It will take me a total of 8 minutes to get the number 12 bus to take me to the grocery store. I will definitely try to take the bus next time, because it is an easy change to make and hardly takes any time at all.
Occupational Hazard Crossword: Samantha
Sam made a cross word puzzle for us to do. We had to search for the answers. Answers for crossword:
Across: Down: 3. lead 1. inhalation 5. blood 2. decades 6. symptoms 4. wash 7. work
What surprised me the most was that lead can stay in your bones for decades. I also did my advocacy project on lead, so I already knew all of these answers and did not have to go searching for them, but I still really enjoyed doing the crossword puzzle.
The Effects of Smoking: Kristy
Kristy had a few fact sheets for us to read. After we read them she had us take a survey that she created on Survey Monkey.
I thought this was a really good way to learn the information because it was like studying for a test!
Water Vocabulary Match: Calista
Callie created a memory game about water infrastructure. We had to match the definitions to the word. I thought this was a fun activity to do. It also helped me learn a bunch of new definitions.
Understanding Emissions: Adam
Provided fact sheets about emissions and air pollutants. He also had us calculate the amount of emissions we create. I was very happy to see the after calculating my emissions my total annual pollution from road transport was better than average.
Three things I learned from the fact sheets are: 1. Emissions from cars are the greatest when engines are cold. 2. Maintaining vehicle property is the best way to reduce emissions of pollutants. Dirty air filters, broken air pump and a stuck choke all increase emissions of carbon monoxide. 3. Lung functions of healthy people were limited when they exercised in the presence of smog.
Breathe-Freeville Mystery: Sonny
Sonny created a detective game. The town of Breathe-Freeville was getting sick and we had to look at a suspect she provided and answer the questions. 1. Suspect: PM2.5 or PM Fine 2. Crime: Particles travel deep into the lungs and cause respiratory damage. Also can cause damage to the hear and cause cancer 3. Cause: PM Fine comes from burning fuel in powerplants, factories, cars and trucks. It also can come from the dust off of roads, fields and construction sites. 4. Lock'em Up:To help reduce PM Fine or to not get sick from it, avoid strenuous activity where PM Fine levels are high. There are also programs that put a cap on emissions from powerplants. You can also find out if your area is a non-attainment area which means that it doesn't meet the EPA national standards for air quality. 5. Case File: From this activity I learned what PM Fine is; I have never even heard of it before. I learned that it comes from emissions and can cause a lot of damage to the lungs.
Background:Lead is a toxic substance that can be found in many places. It is important to know what could contain lead so that children will not get lead poisoning.Safety at home website says that lead poisoning in children remains a big environmental concern in the U.S. According to the EPA, children can be exposed to lead before they are born. Also, children that may seem very healthy can have high levels of lead in their bodies. It is important that people are aware of the health effects of lead, where lead is found and how to prevent lead poisoning. Most people think only of the paint in homes as containing lead, but this is not the case. There have been many other products that contained lead based paint out in stores. The CDC says that lead-based paint and lead contaminated dust are the main sources of lead exposure for U.S. children. Instructions:
Find three recalled item (preferably in the past year).
Tell me the name of the product and how long it was out before it was recalled.
Then go to the EPA website page on lead, click on the "What you can do to protect your family" link and list three ways you can prevent lead poisoning in your home.
Watch the short video below on lead Poisoning and give a short reflection on what you have learned or what surprised you overall from this whole activity.
I hope this activity is not too tedious! Good luck!
While I was working I noticed that we had the same chips that we had for a snack on Monday. The brand is called Sensible Portions. The snacks are in healthy portions and according to the website, still taste great! I thought the straw snacks we had were really good. Their products are all natural and gluten free. If you want to see more of their products, check out their website!
My SMART goal: I will shower for 5 minutes everyday for the next 5 weeks. This week I did pretty well in achieving my SMART goal. The week was about half; with me achieving it 4 times.
Successes and Challenges: I was successful for half the week. I used my phone to set an alarm so I would turn off the shower at the right time. When I needed to shave I turned the water off. It was still really challenging to shower in 5 minutes. I did go over that a couple of times but overall I did better than last week.
What Feelings did you experience? I felt pretty good the whole week. Even though I didn't always make my time I still was always under ten minutes at least so it felt good to save water.
What did you learn this week? I learned that the more you practice a behavior the easier it is to change that behavior into a habit.
What are your plans for next week? This project is done this week but I will continue with my SMART goal.
Review of entire process:
My SMART goal was: I will shower for 7 minutes everyday for the next 5 weeks. I changed my SMART goal once from 7 minutes to 5 minutes.
The things that helped me to be successful were using an alarm to time myself in the shower so I knew when I had to get out. Also, just knowing I had a goal to keep made me shower faster. It was challenging at first to shower for only 7 minutes but once I got used to it, it just became habit. It's still hard for me to shower for 5 minutes. When I needed to shave I just turned off the water so I wouldn't go over my time limit.
From this project I learned how easy it is to change a behavior if you really try to change it. I learned that I used to take showers that were way too long and I save gallons of water just by showering for a shorter amount of time. Behavior changes have to be worked on; they aren't something that is going to happen overnight. For a behavior to change, you have to keep trying to change the behavior until it becomes a habit.
The environment benefited from my project because I saved tons of water from being wasted. By conserving water I helped to reduce water pollution. I also saved energy that is used to heat the water.
I will continue this behavior because it has become natural now for me to shower for only a little while. However, I will probably shower 7 minutes and not 5 minutes. I think it's important that I keep conserving water by lessening my shower time.
For anyone making a lifestyle change, I recommend that they pick something that they really want to change or something they really care about. It's so much easier to make a lifestyle change if you really want to. I would also recommend to keep trying if it doesn't work at first because it's very likely that the change will not happen right away. Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain
December 6, 2010 Sen. Barb Goodwin U.S. Senate 650 Sullivan LN NE Columbia Heights, MN 55421
VOTE YES ON S.RES.650.ATS: National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week
The proposed national prevention week will help educate the public on lead poisoning in children and teach people about prevention. By designating one week to prevention of lead poisoning, this bill ensures that the public will be aware of this issue and take action against it. As a current Health Education student from Minnesota, I believe that there should be a week each year designated to childhood lead poisoning. This will keep the public aware of the issue so that steps can be taken to eliminate blood poisoning levels in children.
The prevention week will help educate the public on the dangers of lead poisoning in children. According to the CDC, lead poisoning affects nearly every system in the body. There are often no symptoms for blood poisoning, thus it can go unnoticed. Children under the age of 6 are at the most risk because they put their hands and objects in their mouths more. Also, children at and below the poverty line are also at more of a risk. It would be ideal to completely eliminate blood poisoning as a health issue, but until that comes about a program for prevention once a year is needed to help increase awareness.
Opponents might say that levels have decreased significantly in the past and that there is no more need for blood lead prevention. However, there are still cases of childhood lead poisoning. There have also been many toys and other objects recalled because of lead. Although companies in the U.S. may not used lead based paint, toys and other objects imported from other countries may contain lead based paint. The problem is still there and must continue to be addressed until it is eliminated.
We appreciate the past support of the bill and hope it continues to get passed each year. As a health education student, I hope you realize the importance of educating the public on blood poisoning in children. Vote yes to S.RES.650.ATS: National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week.
Alyssa
Fact Sheet
How do children get lead poisoning? Older homes can contain lead-based paint. Painted toys may contain lead as well as some drinking containers. Children who put toys, containers are suck on the windowsill in an older house may get exposed to lead. If they eat paint chips or soil containing lead they may also get exposed.
What are the symptoms of lead poisoning? Sometimes there are no symptoms. When there are symptoms, they are like other illnesses. Loss of appetite, tiredness, irritability, weight loss, and reduced attention span.
What are the affects of lead poisoning? If not detected early, children with high blood levels may have damage to their brain or nervous system, slowed growth, hyperactivity, behavior problems, headaches, and learning problems.
How can you prevent lead poisoning?
Learn about where lead is found
Keep the home dust-free
Wash children's toys frequently
If you have an older home get it tested for lead
Make sure there is no cracked or chipping paint
Have your kids wash their hands after playing outdoors
More information: For more information you can go to the CDC website or EPA's website.
As always, these past four weeks have been eye-opening.
Week 9: During this week we started our Eco-chic lifestyle goal. I learned how to create a SMART goal to use for my lifestyle change. I also started the Advocacy project. I had to look up all my political representatives. This was good to do because I actually learned who to talk to advocate for issues.
Week 10: This week we watched a video called "Unnatural Causes." This video was about the effects of social class. We had to look at different bills for our advocacy project. This was interesting to learn about all the different issues out there. The second week of my lifestyle change went pretty well; it was fun to challenge myself.
Week 11: We watched a video called "Story of Stuff." It was about what it takes for us to get products. It was interesting to learn how we are able to get products so cheap. I also learned that people usually only keep stuff for 6 months and then throw it away. The junk project was introduced this week. We looked at different junk items and had to think of ways they could be used or transformed. This was also the third week of the lifestyle change and I decided to make my goal more challenging.
Week 12: This week I didn't do so well on my lifestyle change. It was more challenging but I thought I gave it a good try. For this week we had to do a photo essay on the environment. I took pictures of paper and plastics bags. I found that there are a lot more places starting to put out plastic bags recycling containers.
Overall, I think I learned the most about different ways that I can be an advocate in or for my community. I'm learning to look more at junk as a potential treasure and not just junk. Right now, I think I will just be an advocate to my family; I hope I can start getting them to make some changes for the environment. It's almost the end of the semester! I can't wait to see everyone's junk project!
