Reflections Week 13 and 14

Week 13

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the Good Will adventure, due to being sick. I heard a lot of great things about it though and I'm glad the class had a good time!

Week 14

This was our last day of class. We took time to view each others junking projects which I found to be very beneficial. I got some great ideas for some new projects I can make around my house.  For my project I used an empty fuze bottle, put some confetti strings in it along with a picture of me and my friends. I had a lot of fun with this project because it allowed me to show my creative side. Lastly, we talked about what we liked about the course. I have found that my SMART goal was very benefial and kept me motivated. I have also found that I saved a lot of money by not buying pop or plastic water bottles, which also helped the environment :).

Overall

This class was extremely beneficial and I could honestly say this was one of my favorite classes. I have learned so much not only about the environment, but about myself. Environmental Health was truly the class that I would find myself talking the most about. I have educated my family and friends on the information I found most interesting such as global warming and junking. I have also found my roommates being more eco-friendly which is awesome! I found the share and voice's to be really interesting, everyone had some great things to share! Overall, I thought this was a great class and I would strongly encourage people to take this course!

Reflections Week 11 and 12

Week 11

During this week split up into three groups. Using our own words, we made up a definition that people who were not educated on the topic would understand. Then we watched a movie called "The Story of Stuff". The movie talked about where products are made and the process it goes through. Then it talks about where it all goes after.It made me realize that recycling does not always go through the proper process, which was pretty shocking to me. This movie and activity made me realize that when I am educating people for my career, I need to break it down into terms that is easy for them to understand. After the movie we split in to groups. Dr. V gave us a few different objects and it was our job to think of ways on what they could be used for. This was a fun activity and really made me realize a piece of "junk" can be turned into something useful if you use your imagination!

Week 12 

During week 12 we learned how to blog hop. This was a really cool way of being able to see everyone's photo essay. Each one of us got up and talked about what we did for eye opener and what we learned from it. Everyone had great idea's and fun photos! Then, we did an activity where we split into two groups and discussed what are some good ideas to put into our advocacy project letter. This activity was very useful because it gave me some great ideas on what to put in my letter.

Reflection: Week 9 and 10

Week 9

During week 9 we discussed what advocacy was. We did a fun activity to understand it better. There were three groups, each had a topic relating to advocacy. My group did a short skit on what advocacy is/opposed to what is is not. I learned that helping people just out of the goodness of your heart is not advocacy but something such as standing in front of a bulldozer trying to stop it from destroying a house is advocacy.  After the activity we went over our healthy people/THOMAS  Advocacy project. I achieved my SMART goal for week 9 and was proud of myself for not giving in to drinking pop.

Week 10

This week I did pretty well with my SMART goal but I started to become more "sluggish". I decided I need to get back on track and eat healthy foods again. During class we watched the movie, "Unnatural Causes". I thought this was a very interesting movie. The movie talked about how health can be affected by your income. People living in nice neighborhoods have a higher life expectancy. The movie also talked about stress. I realized that an owner of a company may be stressed, but a janitor is more likely to be more stressed because there are other factors that go along with having a low budget.  People with low incomes may be stressed when it comes to their job,but even worse, they are stressed because they are not making enough money to support their families. An owner of a company can take a vacation to relax but for people with very low paying jobs that is the last thing they can afford to do. The stress of not being able to support your fanily and work all the time can cause high blood pressure. I thought this was a huge eye opener and would definitely recommend this video.

Reflections Week 7 and 8

                               Week 7

The Environmental Working Group was a huge eye opener to me. I thought it was crazy how products we use on a daily basis can be so toxic. It is scary to me that we are putting those products on our face, it does not seem safe at all. We watched the movie "Green" which was an excellent film. I thought it was really cool how a grad student made the documentary. It was really sad to watch because showed how pollutants in the United States are causing diseases and are harmful to some places in the United States. It is so unreal to me that this is happening and the chemical plants seem to have a huge part in this problem. 

Week 8

We started the week with an eye opener called Junk on the Brain. I was really facinated with what I found out. We defined terms such as upcycling, which I thought was really cool because it showed different objects that have been re-used and made into fun objects. I also looked up where shops such as thrift shops, flea markets, and antique shops are located in Duluth. This was a huge eye opener for me because I have thrown out a lot of "junk" that someone could have used. 

We watched the movie "Thirst" which was about privatizing water in certain towns and people having to pay to use it. I thought this was crazy because water is a neccessity and you need it to live. You can't just not take that away from people.  After the movie we talked about our blogs and what we can do to make them look better which was very helpful :).

Reflection: Weeks 5 & 6

Week 5:

Our eye opener on CPSI that was due this week was a great learning experience. I toured the Food Supply and found out a lot interesting information. About 1,000 Americans die each year from food bourne illnesses linked to meat. Also, livestock manuer pollutes water ways with numerous pathogens that are harmful to human health. It is scary to me that simple things such as eating meat or drinking water could be harmful. I don't think humans should have to worry about whether the water we are drinking is safe. During class we watched a video called "The Future of Food" . This was a documentary that showed how a large corporation was trying to sue family famers. It was very upsetting to see innocent family famers go through so much. They did not know what they were doing was wrong and what they worked for their whole entire life was being taken away from them.

Week 6

This week we watched "Diet for a New America". I was very excited when I found out we were watching this movie that featured John Robbins because I am reading "The Food Revolution" by him. It was great to see the documentary because I got to see his story, as well as read it :). The video was very interesting to me. I thought it was crazy seeing a mans fat come out of his clogged artery. THAT made me realize I should start eating more fruits and vegetables. This video showed real life situations and I really admire John Robbins for sticking up for his beliefs and writing such an inspirational book.

Reflections week 3 and 4

Week 3

I am finally starting to get the hang of blogging, just like Dr. V said we would. I have been having a lot of fun with it and I have been learning a lot of exciting things! We did not have class the third week of school. Instead we set up a 15 minute appointment with Steve, which was extremely helpful! Meeting with him made me feel on track and more comfortable about the work I was doing. He told me things I needed to work on such as the labels and following everyone in class. I am really happy with my blog so far :).

Week 4 

We started out with a fun game that had to do with questions about blogging. I thought this was the perfect game because this way I could test my knowledge. I felt really comfortable with about 95% of the questions, which made me feel relieved. I got an easy question and had to answer if it was true or false to always comment on Dr. V's posts. This is true, you should always comment on her posts, along with your group members to give them feedback. We all got a prize for answering the question correctly. I, of course, got tampons. I thought that was really funny because I was not expecting that at all :P. 

After the game, we watched a movie called, "The Inconvenient Truth". This movie definitely opened my eyes and made me realize how big of a problem global warming is. The video featured the United States 45th Vice President,  Al Gore , speaking out about how global warming does in fact exist and how big of an impact is will have on our planet. 

I did not realize how serious global warming was until I saw the Inconvenient Truth. Seeing the pictures of how the planet was years ago, and seeing how the same places have drastically changed is very scary to me. It has already affected a lot land, and also animals such as polar bears. Polar bears have been drowning because there is not enough ice for them to swim to. This movie made me realize even more how important it is to help out the environment as much as we possible. They say global warming may not effect us in our lifetime, but the truth is, it already has and it will continue to worsen for our children and grandchildren if we don't change our bad habits.

Reflections week 1 and 2

The first day of class was a lot of fun for me. I hadn't really heard how Environmental Health was from other students, so I wasn't very sure what to expect. The first activity we did with the rope was fun, and also an eye opener. When Dr. V kept removing the ropes and we all had to fit into one with both feet in the circle I wasn't sure how it would be done. This activity taught us to work as a team to come up with a sollution. The rope activity also taught us to always go into new experiences with an open mind to see what the different possibilities are. After the rope activity we worked on blogging, which, I am completely new to. It was cool to make my own blog and put whatever I want on it. Blogging seems a bit overwhelming right now, but I'm excited to see all the different options:). Week 2 started the class off with a few quotes. Dr. V.  asked us what we thought the meaning of each one was. It was fun to hear what everyone said because this showed there are a bunch of different ways to interperet things. Each quote can be short and simple, but it can also be deep at the same time. We also talked about how the government relates to the environment. After watching a movie about global warming I was really shocked to learn that the government does not tell us some very important information. Global warming is becomming an even bigger issue, however, they arent telling us what they know about it. After the discussions we had a verrry good snack that keith brought in! His specialty, chocolate covered pretzels will definitely be tough to beat! After the snack, we learned more about blogging. I feel that I am starting to get the hang of it (slowly). I feel that it is really overwhelming, but once I get it done it seems fun!

Welcome to Carrie's Environment

                                                       Welcome to Carrie's Environment!

My name is Carrie Jones. I am a Junior at UMD with a Community Health major and a Psychology minor. I love to work out, hang out with family and friends, travel, and cruise around the lake. This is the second blog I have ever made, so I am still new to blogs. I have already learned a lot of new and exciting things. My blog is going to be about tdifferent things we can do to help the environment such as recycling everything that needs to be recycled, car pool, and use the reusable bags for the grocery store. My main goal is to start drinking a lot more water so I am going to buy a reusable water bottle instead of throwing the plastic ones away every day. :)



There are 6 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Read 'n' Seed
6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post is has been labeled with all five kinds of posts.


       1.Carrie  http://carriesenviornment.blogspot.com/
       2. Kayla http://kaylasgreenland.blogspot.com/
       3. Danielle S http://daniellesdandyenvironment.blogspot.com/
       4. Rita  http://ritasrealm.blogspot.com/

You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete


I plan on learning a lot in Environmental Studies and I Know that my "bad habbits" will start to change very quickly and I will try to educate my friends, family, and other peers on what I can to help change the environment.

Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy



Made with My Cool Signs.Net