Reflection: Weeks 8 - 14

    The second half of the semester I learned so much! I also think that I liked what we learned about in this half better...lots of interesting stuff! I loved learning about all of this recycling videos and everything else, with my favorite being the documentary "The Story Of Stuff" where we learned that consuming buy-able objects is a whole cycle, with us, the consumer, being the one with all the power to stop it, but just choosing not to for many consumers. Another one of my favorites from the semester was our trip to Goodwill. I really loved going to Goodwill because I learned about all of the great recycling things they do, and don't let anything go to waste.
    At Goodwill they literally let nothing go to waste. The matresses get striped down into their original elements, old shoes get shipped to thir-world countries, clothes that they cannot sell get brought into Savers, and so on. I just love the fact that nothing goes to waste there, and the fact that Goodwill employs so many people who need jobs. It is such a great place that now I do a lot of my personal and christmas shopping there! :)

en.wikipedia.org

    In this half of the semester we watched many documentaries, all of which I found to be extemely interesting and informative. One interesting one was "Thirst", a documentary about the bottled water that we drink. After learning about all of the chemicals in our bottled water, I am never going to buy bottled water again. Not only is it expensive, but there are multiple toxins such as gas, prescription drugs, and even plastic! Really gross, I know.

    Yet another thing we learned about this semester is how to write an adovacy letter to a politician, and how to get people to vote your way on an issue. This is extremely important to know how to do in the health education field since all of your grant money comes from politicians, and you need to learn how to persuade them to vote your way.

   Through this the main focus was our Junking Project. For this we found old pieces of "junk" and then made it into something new and useful. I glued a small plate to the bottom of a wine glass to make a candy dish. I dont have a picture of it since it was left in the classroom and then lost, but it was really cool :)

Share & Voice: Photo's

I LOVE being outside in nature doing whatever: hiking, swimming, sight-seeing, you name it. Since I love being outdoors so much, I figured I would share some of my favorite photo's of favorite places...

4th of July Fireworks...A night full of fun, bonfires, good food & good people

Tetagouche Park overlook in Northern MN

Canal Park in Duluth MN

One of the biggest snowfalls of the year...BEAUTIFUL! :)

My favorite place...Shovel Point (near Silver Bay, MN)! It was cloudy this day, but on a sunny day it is so pretty here!

Another picture of Tetagouche Park in Northern MN

View from a beach at Split Rock Lighthouse Park near Silver Bay, MN

   I guess you guys can tell that northern MN is my favorite place and has the prettiest places :) If you are ever looking for somewhere so go sightseeing or just to visit, I would definitely recommend this region!

Adovcacy Project: Letter To Elected Official

December 12, 2011

Mark Dayton
Office of the Govenor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr.  Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

Vote YES on the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (AKA Clean Water Act)

 This bill has an extremely large impact on the waters of our nation. As a concerned citizen, I feel it is right to protect our water so that it will always be safe to drink, swim in, and use in many things. This bill will help our water stay clean and usable.

This water act influences many people. If we have dirty water, it is not safe to drink, to swim in, or to fish in (if it does not already kill the fish living in those polluted waters). We would lose our fishing recreation as well as becoming very sick form drinking contaminated water. Big factories, especially along Cancer Ally, pollute the water of poeple living around that area, and those people then become very sick. Keeping our water clean is extremely important to our health, our recreation, and our environment.

People against this bill might say that corporations will have to spend a lot of money to make sure that their run-off is clean, or that the cost of cleaning our waters is too high, but how can politicians buy that??? The cost of cleaning our waters and run-off is nowhere near as high as the health costs, not to mention how much more expensive it would be to clean all the water 100 years from now!

Your support on the continuation of this bill is so very appreciated. I hope that you continue to support this bill in any way you can, and encourage others to do so as well. If you have any questions, please contact me at 888-888-8888, or email me at student@mail.com.

Thank you for your time,
       Student

Share & Voice: Eco-Friendly Flooring

   For this weeks Share & Voice, I looked at a website about eco-friendly flooring called "Eco-Friendly Flooring". This website is so cool! They offer all types of flooring including bamboo, recycled glass, and reclaimed & sustainable wood. All of their floorings are sustainable, recycled, and easy to recycle again. Their headquarters are located in Madison, WI.

Dog friendly recycled cork

Recycled metal tiles

Recycled glass tiles

Kid friendly recycled linoeleum

Advocacy Project: Fact Sheet

Facts on Water Quality in the United States

Presented by Hannah Koepke

Who is affected by water quality?

Everyone. The Clean Water Act promotes this idea of healthy water quality levels in the United States. If this bill had not been enacted, we would be drinking contaminated water, not be able to safely swim in some of our waters, and even have to be careful of the fish we catch in our waters, especially near areas of factory run off.

What is the economics of this issue?

Companies have to pay more to have clean and regulated run-off, but we cannot afford to spend trillions on cleaning up our water sources. Our drinking water is at stake. Most shocking, bottled water does not have to meet the same regulations as public water, and privatized water cleaning companies do not even have to same high quality standards as public city water does.

What can you do?

You can keep up the Clean Water Act and keep our lands water sources clean and usable for generations to come. For more information, please visit the Environmental Protection Agencies informational page at http://www.epa.gov/gateway/learn/water.html.

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

    For this project, I searched all over a college campus to find out all the ways that they are trying to be sustainable and eco-friendly. I found many things, which is great! Here I will show you a few pictures of what I saw...

Water saving toilet in the on-campus apartments 

Friendly reminders to turn off the light when you leave the room

Recycling bins located all over campus in addition to the small ones near trash cans

Places where you can safely get rid of your old electronics

High speed hand dryers to reduce paper waste

In this bathroom the lights are motion-sensory, so they help save electricity by not leaving the light on constantly

The library uses sustainable paper for all their reciepts

All across campus there are solar-powered compacting garbage cans

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

    The issue I picked for my advocacy project is clean water. The current legislation that adresses this is The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (AKA The Clean Water Act).
    Who is affected the most by this bill? The Amerian public is affected the most. If this bill were not enacted, we would see a considerable decrease in the quality of our Nation's water. Our corporations have the most to lose in this bill since they have to spend a considerable amount of money cleaning their water run-off, but we the people of the world have the most to gain by having clean water sources. Consequences of not having clean wateraffect everyone from individuals to society as a whole.

     The eocnomic costs of the issue are companies paying more money to clean their waste products, but the gain is that we are not paying a loss of clean water or thousands of dollars to restore our clean water. The social impact of this is the public fighting to get clean water for drinking, swimming, etc., as well as providing clean water to other countries. By companies watching their pollutants, and by individuals watching what they dump in waters, we socially benefit by having not polluting be a corporate norm.

     Barriers addressing this issue are the fiscal costs of keeping our water clean, but these barriers can be overcome by creating simple ways to keep water pollutants down. Resources for this issue are individuals working for the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]. They can be tapped at anytime by going to http://www.epa.gov/epahome/comments.htm and seeing all the resources the EPA has and also to contact the EPA.

     There is a long history to the issue of water quality. In the Great Lakes community is has been long as there is a vast quantity of water that we the citizens want protected, which is why in 1978 by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement came about. The result was the forced upkeep of our Great Lakes to stay clean.

     I believe there are many people to support this cause for clean water, especially those living on large bodies of water. Opposers would be companies who want to save money by dumping their waste in water bodies. To create a common ground, companies who practice safe waste removal ways will be subject to tested, and if they pass the standards we will impose, then they get a monetary refund from the government.

     I want everyone to be on board in keeping this bill alive.