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 :).

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Weekly Update

                         
                 SMART GOAL

My SMART goal is to stop drinking pop and start drinking healthier fluids out of a re-usable water bottle. 

      Successes and Challenges

The good news is I used my water bottle all week long and brought it to every class. The bad news is that I splurged this weekend and had two pops. It had not been too difficult for me the following weeks, but my friends all had a pop and so I gave in. :(

                           How I feel
I will admit, I am a little disappointed in myself. I had been doing very well and felt very healthy. When I think about it though, I used to drink pop all the time and me having 2 pops in about 4 weeks is actually very good for me.

                             What I Learned

After drinking two cokes it made me realize I am just fine without drinking pop, and I love how I feel drinking water. I have felt a lot healthier these past 4 weeks. I have been working out a lot and drinking lots of healthy fluids. I used to think I needed a pop every time I felt a little sluggish to wake me up. I have learned that is definitely not the case and there are other healthier drinks that will have the same affect.

              Plans for Next Week 
Next week I plan to not "give in" to any temptations and stay committed with my SMART goal. Overall I am proud of myself. I love how I feel when I do not drink pop and I want to stick with the original plan :). 

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

Eye Opender: Junk on the Brain

Part 1: Definitions


Antiques: a work of art, piece of furniture, or decorative object made at an earlier period, and according to many customs laws, at least 100 years ago. According to http://antiques.about.com/od/resourcesforbeginners/g/bldefantique.htm


According to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/junk, Junk/Junking is any old or discarded material, as metal, paper, or rags.

A Flea Market according to http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-flea-market.htm , A flea market is a large, traditionally open-air market where people sell a wide range of goods, typically used.

Thrift Shop: A shop that sells used articles, especially clothing, as to benefit a charitable organization.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thrift+shop

Wikipedia defines Upcycling as: 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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycle


Resale: the act of selling a second time.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/resale

Part 2: The words defined above all relate to environmental health. All of these places above make it so that articles of clothing, and other materials can be re-used instead of throwing them away. Some people throw clothes away because they do not fit, or throw away some sort of decoration they are not longer interested in. The environmentally friendly thing to do would be to bring those belongings to a shop that will take them and sell them for you so someone else can use them.

Local Resources:

Antique store: Canal Park Antique Mall
Address: Located in Canal Park. 310 Lake Ave. S.
Phone: 218-525-2596


Junk/Junking:There is a Junk Yard called Jadco Special Haulers
Located: 4011 Rehbein Rd, Duluth, MN
Phone: (218) 724-5538‎
E-mail: N/A, better to call

Flea Market:
I couldn't find one in Duluth but I found this website that showed a few locations in Minnesota that had them. The closest one I found is in Blaine MN

Address: 10980 Central Avenue NE, Highway 65, downtown
Phone: (612) 757-9906


Resale Shop: Plato's Closet
www.platoscloset.com
5115 Burning Tree Rd
Duluth, MN 55811-1876
(218) 733-9455

Thrift Shop: Goodwill
www.goodwill.org
Address:700 Garfield Ave
Duluth, MN 55802-2695
Phone:(218) 722-6351

Upcycling: I couldnt find anything about upcyling in Duluth, but here is an example and a fun idea :) http://www.moonbattery.com/upcycled-garbage.jpg



I have donated some of my clothes to the Salvation Army and Goodwill. I have also gone to rag stock to find things such as halloween costumes. I really like the idea of upcyling, it allows you to be creative. All of these stores help out the environment and I feel that it is important to use these stores more often :).

Part 3: http://www.junkmarketstyle.com/item/16914/button-necklace I thought this picture of the necklace was really cool. They used old buttons to make it, which was a smart idea and it looked pretty sweet! This is a great example of finding a certain object and putting it to use!

http://www.junkmarketstyle.com/item/16524/gas-lamp-to-candlestick-quick-easy-and-pretty-too

This was a pretty sweet idea. They used an old gas lamp and used buttons and an old necklace to decorate it. I thought it was a really fun idea. It's fun to see what you can put together :).

http://www.junkmarketstyle.com/item/16559/time-to-hit-the-sack

I thought this was an awesome idea! They used burlap sacks as door mats, signs, and poseters. Great for the environment, and different/creative thing!

Read 'n' Seed 3: First quarter of "The Food Revolution"

I read pages 84 to 168 of, "The Food Revolution by John Robbin's and learned a lot of interesting information.

Main Topics
The main topics I learned about was: children eating unhealthy and contracts in schools with fast food companies/vending machines, the dairy industry making false advertises and making people believe milk cuts down the risk of osteoporosis. The book also talked about what is being most advertised in our economy is not necessarily healthy food choices, and lastly I learned about E coli.

Significant Things I learned/New Terminology

The average U.S. kid sees 1,000 ads each week that promotes eating unhealthy such as restaurants such as McDonald's and Taco Bell. Most kids that start eating unhealthy at an early age will eat unhealthy for the rest of their lives. More than 5,000 schools in the U.S. have contracts with fast food companies and supply vending machines. This only helps support bad habits and is not sending the right message about health to children. An interesting fact I read was that the amount spent annually by the dairy industry on milk ads is $190 million where as the amount spent on McDonald's advertising its products is $800 million. The amount spend annually by the National Cancer Institute promoting fruits and vegetables is $1 million. If the U.S. shifted more toward a plant based diet the majority of people would lead healthier lives, feel more energetic, and live longer.

I learned that the milk mustache commercials that promote milk to put the risk of osteoporosis is creating false information. There is no evidence according to the FDA that increased calcium intake from milk will lower the risk of osteoporosis. The Media called John Robbins, "the dairy industries public enemy number one" which is ironic because his father owned the largest ice cream company. John criticizes the dairy industry because they put ads out that are untrue and trick people into believing dairy products are necessary for a healthy diet. There was a study of more than 75,000 American nurses that found that women with the highest calcium consumption from dairy products actually had substantially more fractures than women who drank less milk.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 200 people in the United States officially become sick every day from E coli and several die. Ironically, undercooked meat is more likely to result in cancer. Ecol i bacteria can be found in up to 50% of the US cattle carcasses.

Implications of What I Read

What I read has a huge impact on Americans. People are not getting properly educated on certain foods such as dairy products and E coli. Also, there are way too many ads on T.V. promoting unhealthy eating. People need to get educated on foods and realize what is actually healthy for them opposed to what is not.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

SMART Goal- How I Achieved My Goal.

My SMART goal is to stop drinking pop and start drinking out of a reusable water bottle.

Successes and Challenges

Week 4 went by really fast for me, yet very well. I am impressed with how well my SMART goal is working out for me! I went home last weekend. Home is usually where I drink the most pop because I like pop with home cooked meals (for some odd reason). My mom offered me one multiple times and I was very happy with myself when I turned it down.

Feelings I Experienced
I felt great when I turned down pop and choice a more healthy choice. It made me feel more determined to achieve my goal. Also, when I tell people I have given up pop for this semester people really respect it and think it is really cool.

What I learned This Week

I feel each week I have wanted pop less and less. I also got a new pink water bottle which I am pretty excited about. I have been filling that up multiple times a day to keep hydrated.

Next week I plan to put orange juice in my water bottle and bring it to my morning classes, then drink water the rest of the day :)


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

Share and Voice: Being Eco Friendly Can Pay Economically

I found an article http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2005-08-14-ge_x.htm about companies being eco-friendly. Many Retailers are going green and consumers have been responding to it. Companies such as automakers have made hybrid vehicles mainstream which has had a great outcome. Even products such as cleaning supplies have had natural ingredients which has been a hit with consumers. The sales went up 250% since doing so. Going green has been a huge hit and companies are starting to realize this may boost sales. GO GREEN :)

Share and Voice: Fast Food and America

I thought this  YouTube Video was very inspirational. It shows a lot of obese kids and adults with  many eye opening statistics. I am very interested in obesity in children so it was a good video for me to watch. It makes you realize, if children are taught to eat unhealthy/fast food they will more than likely be unhealthy in their future. The lyrics to the song say, "what have you done today to make you feel good?". I thought this was a great song choice because when you think about it, in the U.S. their is vast majority of people who sit on their couch, watch tv, go on the computer, or play video games instead of being productive. If we can get people to go outside, be more adventurous, and work out and eat healthier (starting at an early age) our obesity rates would go down.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

The cosmetic item I chose to evaluate is Victoria Secret's Dream Angels "Heavenly" perfume. I chose this product because it is something I use every day . I was a little shocked when I saw the results because I never really thought of perfume as being hazardous to the environment. I found out that the ingredients in this product are linked to developmental/reproductive toxicity, allergies/immunotoxicity, and other concerns for ingredients used in the product such as neurotoxicity, enhance skin absorption, and occupational hazards. On a scale from 1 to 10 my perfume was ranked at a 5 which is considered to be a moderate hazard. It is crazy to think that our every day objects are hazardous to the environment.

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.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

My SMART goal is to stop drinking pop and start drinking more water in a re-usable water bottle. I must say week two was extremely successful and a piece of cake! I am very proud of myself!

Unfortunately, I, like everyone else, was sick last week so i was not in the mood for pop one bit. I brought my water bottle to each class and filled up an average of 5 times each day. My roommates were all sick as well so I brought them to the store to get re-usable water bottles.... gotta keep hydrated!

Besides the fact that I was sick, I felt really good since I have gone 2 weeks without drinking pop. It feels sooo good to finally be dehydrated!

This week I learned how important it is for your body to drink a lot of water and juice (which I filled up my re-usable water bottle with one day). My plans for next week will be to hopefully recover from my cold and keep staying dehydrated with a lot of healthy liquids. I will also try to make sure my roommates do this as well. :)

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

Share and Voice: Life Saving Health Food Tips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRJ71HLcKmI&feature=related I found this youtube video to be very relaxing, and informational. There are many foods that can help combat caner, control blood pressure, soothe your skin, and lower cholesterol. I checked out their actual website  http://healthfitnesssite.com/ and found it to be very helpful as well. It shows the latest health and fitness news. It tells in detail why these fruits and vegetables are healthy for you. I learned a lot from this website, make sure to check it out :)

Share and Voice: Healthy Eating Tips

I found this website http://helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm and found it to be very helpful. The thing I liked most about this website is that it is realistic in that fact that it explains that eating healthy does not have to be about a strict diet or setting unrealistic goals such as being extremely thin. It is more about feeling great, keeping yourself healthy, and having more energy. 

Everyone's body works differently so they show the basic tips to eating healthy. You can learn about all the different food groups on this site and what is healthy opposed to what is not. There are tips on how to choose foods that improve your health and how to avoid foods that raise your risk for illnesses. Check it out :)

Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of "The Food Revolution"

         

 Chapters Covered and Main Topics
 I am reading "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins. For the first quarter I read 80 pages of this book, which covered chapters 1-4.

   I found these chapters to be very inspirational. So far "The Food Revolution" has brought up some great points that I was unaware of. John Robbins, son of Irv Robbins from the world’s largest ice cream company, Baskin Robbins had a lot of wealth in his family and could have easily taken over his father’s successful company. Instead, he chose his own path which was to move to a small island off the coast of British Columbia with his wife and live financially poor and grow most of their own food.  Robbins wrote this book to provide solid information about our food choices and to get people aware of greater health choices in order to live a lifestyle you value. These chapters talked about how to lower your blood pressure, how to treat heart disease and which diets to look out for. For an example he brings up the Atkins Diet and talks about how we are told that is an amazing weight-loss plan and how you can enjoy a cheeseburger when you are hungry and you will be on your path to weight loss seeing amazing results in "14 days".  Robbin's does a great job of explaining why these diets do not work. He calls them a "classic profile of a fad diet scam". Robbin's quotes, " leaving behind the standard American Meat is like breaking free from chains, to become, perhaps for the first time, truly free".

   Significant Things I learned
 "The Food Revolution" has made me learn many significant things thus far. Statistics show that blood cholesterol levels of vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians are 14% lower. Many people grew up believing animal protein is superior to plant protein and believe that we are risking our health if we do not eat animal protein. Soy proteins have actually been found to lower cholesterol levels. Although you cannot guarantee you will not become ill, eating healthy reduces your risk of many diseases and it opens the door to experiencing new levels of passion in your life. I learned about ketosis. The primary mechanisms by which the Atkins diet causes weight loss are caloric restriction and ketosis. According to Robbins "Ketosis occurs when there is an imbalance in fat metabolism which occurs in starvation.  People eat fewer carbohydrates because that’s what diets such as the Atkins diet tell them to do. In reality, when people eat fewer carbohydrates, their bodies turn to fat for energy. 

      Implications of What I Read 
 This book has already taught me a lot of great information I was unaware of. I really liked how the author, John Robbins, displayed his information and I really respect him for doing what he loves instead of taking over his family’s business. I learned there are other ways to get protein instead of meat. Meat can cause health problems and raise blood pressure. I liked how Robbin's stated a lot of facts and never said people have to give up meat. Ending with a quote from John Robbins I found to be very inspirational, "This life we lead may be hard, may be downright agonizing at times, but it’s not about finding fault. It's about finding a way of life that honors your living spirit. It's not about blame. It's about coming to a deeper understanding of who you are, and of the love and power that lie within you. It's not about pointing fingers. It's about pointing the way, whenever possible, to a thriving, healthy, and compassionate life.”

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Chnage Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART Goal for this semester is to stop drinking pop and start drinking more water, while using a re-usable water bottle. It is already a little challenging because I have always drank a lot of pop, so it has been hard to give it up. However, I have been drinking a lot of water, which I had been lacking lately. Drinking more water made me feel a lot healthier and more "up beat". 

Knowing that I am helping the planet by using a re-usable water bottle and helping myself be healhier is a huge fator is why I am staying motivated. I have been experiencing many feelings on this challenge. I have been frustrated when I have wanted to drink pop, yet, motivated most of the time and excited to see how I progress. 

This week I have learned to stay strong and keep motivated in order to achieve my goal.

Next week I plan to do the same thing. I am trying to get my roommates to do this as well so that it will be easier to stay strong. 

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

Share and Voice: Eco-Friendly Tips

I searched for Eco Friendly tips and found this site. http://www.ecologyfund.com/ecology/res_tips.html. There are some of the basic things we already know such as conserve water and ride your bike instead of driving but there were good explanations on why we should do so. However, I thought there were a few tips I had never heard of such as leave your cat inside because cats kill about 1 billion small birds and animals each year. There were also tips such as, dispose old paint and chemicals. Not only does this site have tips, but it has the eco footprint and information we are learning about in class. Its a fun website, check it out :)

Share and Voice: Eco-Friendly Bathroom Products

I found an interesting youtube video that shows how to choose eco-friendly bathroom products. This video shows how to cut your families risk for toxic chemicals, and also how to help the environment by choosing the proper products. For example, it is eco-friendly to get the highest percentage of post consumer content toilet paper you can find and without chlorine processing. Also, the average American uses 9 products a day which is about 120 chemicals spread among them. These are things I never would have thought about. Hope you enjoy the video! 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pCe5KXwO2o

Eye Opener: CSPI

CSPI, which stands for the Center for Science in the Public Interest is something I was not aware of until just now. The organization focuses on nutrition and health, the alchol policy, and food safety. I decided to Tour the Food Supply and found some shocking statistics. 

I learned that in 2002 alone 140 million cattle, sheep, and pigs were slaughtered in the United States and 9 billion chickens and turkeys were killed. Statistics from http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/tour.html show that this converts to 30 birds for every American. I also learned that diets rich in Dairy products and meat products have a greater obesity rate because it can make you have high blood pressure, an increase risk of having type 2 diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

  A very shocking thing I found was that there are over 1,000 Americans that die each year from food bourne illnesses.Also, less than one quarter of americans eat the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables. 

Another interesting statistic I  found is that foods such as hamburgers, egg yolks, whole milk, and other fatty meat and dairy products can lead to some types of cancer and then saturated fats and cholesterol in these products 50,000 to 75,000 fatal heart attacks annually.

These are all shocking statistics I was unaware about. I am glad I am more educated on these topics and will continue looking at this page in my spare time. I realize it is important to "eat green". Organic foods can be pretty spendy, but I realize I should cut down on some meets. I learned how much the U.S. food supply is hurting our country and I feel it is an issue more people should be aware of.

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.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Chnage Week: 1 My SMART Goal

My SMART lifestyle change goal is to give up drinking pop and start drinking 3 glasses of water a day in a re-usable water bottle. This lifesyle change is eco-chic because I will stop throwing away several plastic bottles per week, which I feel is great for the environment.

I chose to start using a re-usable water bottle because i started drinking way too much pop and not enough water, causing myself to become dehydrated often. By giving up pop I will hopefully feel more healthy, and also I will be doing the environment a favor by not throwing away multiple bottles per week.

I am very excited to start this process because I have wanted a reason to give up drinking pop. Now, I can help myself and the environment at the same tim. :)

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprints

Before reading about Ecological footprints, I was not sure what it was. I went to wikipedia's ecological footprints and read what it was and found it to be very interesting. I learned that Ecological Footprints is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystem. According to, http://www.rprogress.org/ecological_footprint/footprint_FAQs.htm the Ecological Footprint measures the amount of natural resources an individual, a community, or a country consumes in a given year. Each person living on this planet has a huge impact on how this earth is today.

I took a quiz and thought it was extremely interesting. It asked me what country I lived in, how much meat I ate a week, what kind of house I lived in, how often I use my car and do I carpool, and how often do I fly each year.  At the end, the results told me that if everyone lived a lifestyle like mine, we would need 5.4 planet earths to provide enough resources. This was a huge eye opener for me. I realized I should be more cautious to my everyday lifestyle choices such as what I eat and how much I drive.

After being in Environmental Health for a couple weeks I have already started to change some of my daily routines I felt I should change because of the environment. This quiz really made me realize its not just about recycling, its about driving, eating, flying, living in a house.