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Thursday, December 15, 2011

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 :)

Monday, December 12, 2011

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