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.

Share & Voice: 99 Reuses for Plastic Bags

     While searching online for ways to reuse plastic bags, I came across the website for Planet Green. This is such a cool website! It is all about being eco-friendly and has TONS of cool ideas for green vacations, toys, etc., as well as everything from environment news articles, beauty tips, how to reuse clothes, to how to have a more "green" vacation.

     What really got me interested in this site is the article they had called "99 Reuses for Plastic Bags." I love that they put this up because we all have thousands of plastic bags just sitting around from shopping, and this article gives you ways to reuse them. My personal favorites were using old (clean) plastic bags as baby bibs, using old bags as kites, and keeping a few in your car for "emergency trash bags."

   As you can see, there are thousands of ways to make your life greener without even trying that hard! Give it a try for yourself sometime :)

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

     In HealthyPeople 2020, I found an environmental objective related to environmental health. I found EH-1 "Reduce the number of days the Air Quality Index exceeds 100". This HealthyPeople goal wants us, like the title says, to reduce the number of days the Air Quality Index exceeds 100. Its target is 10 daus, and its baseline is 11 days exceeded 100 on the Air Quality Index in 2008.
     In THOMAS, the search engine for government bills, I found a bill related to this HealthyPeople objective: H.R. 3122. Here is an overview on this bill...

      H.R. 3122 Clean Construction Act of 2011

     Title: To amend titles 23 and 49, United States Code, to establish procedures to advance the use of cleaner construction equipment on Federal-Aid highway and public transportation construction projects, to make the acquisition and installation of emission control technology an eligible expense in carrying out such projects, and for other purposes.

     Sponsor: Rep Hanna (introduced 6/10/2011)

     Recommendation: Vote YES for H.R. 3122 Clean Construction Act of 2011

http://rifuture.org

Who Represents Me

For this week I researched the people who represent us Minnesotans in the political system. As a health educator, it is imortant to know who represents you so that you know who to contact if you ever need advice, have a public complaint, or whatever you need. This is what I found...

President of the United States
Barack Obama
www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Govenor of MN
Mark Dayton
http://mn.gov/govenor
     Office of the Govenor
     130 State Caapitol
     75 Rev. Dr. Martin LUther King Jr. Blvd.
     St. Paul, MN 55155

United States Senators
Senator Amy Klobuchar
http://klobuchar.senate/gov
  302 Hart Senate Office Building
  Washington, D.C. 20515

Senator Al Franken
http://franken.senate.gov/
   60 East Plato Blvd
   Suite 220
   Saint Paul, Mn 55107

United States Representative
Chip Cravaak
http://cravaack.house.gov/
   508 Cannon HOB
   Washington, CD 20515

MN State Representative
Thomas Huntley
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?id=10271
   351 State Office Building
   100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
   Saint Paul, MN 55155

MN State Senator
Roger J. Reinert
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?mem_id=1167
   100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
   State Office Building, Room 149
   St. Paul, MN 55155

Weekly Reflection: Weeks 1 - 7

   So far in this Environmental Health class I have learned so many things! We have gone over a lot, such as plastic water bottles, the food industry and animal treatment, and learning to blog. My favorite thing to learn about thus far was genetically modified foods. Genetically modified foods seem to me to be just wrong and something I feel needs to be labeled on the packaging the food comes in. It is not proven to be safe, and our children are starting to be born with defects and such. I learned that I am super passionate about this and it is definitely something I want to work on for my Advocacy Project.

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

   For this weeks eye opener, I used Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary and Wikipedia to define some words...

• Antique: "a product from an earlier time"
• Junk: "something of little meaning/worth/significance"
• Flea Market: "an open-air market for second hand articles and antiques"
• Thrift Shop: "a shop that sells secondhand articles"
• Upcycling: "converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of a better quality or higher environmental value"
• Resale Shop: "a local, seconhand thrift store"

These terms above have a lot to do with environmental health. These things can all be reused and recycled into new things or shared among people to not buy so much new things and use the old ones in a new way.  The terms above can be found in many local places. To pick Duluth, MN as an area, you can find these items from these terms at...

• Antique Shop: Father Time Antiques on 395 S Lake Ave #1, or call (218) 625 - 2379
• Junk Dealer: Chesney Auto Salvage located at 6250 Bear River Road or call (218) 206 - 8713
• Flea Market: Beaver Bay Flea Market off Hwy 61 just as you get into Beaver Bay. 
• Thrift Shop: Goodwill located at 4883 Miller Trunk Hwy, or call (218) 727 - 0001
• Upcycling: Cut Loose Creations on 2420 East 6th Street, or call (218) 724 - 5761
• Resale Shop: Plato's Closet located at 5115 Burning Tree Road #315 C, or call (218) 733 - 9455e

Get Your Junk On...
   I visited Junk Market Style online and found some really cool things that were reused into something new. Three of the coolest things I foud were...

            Fun Fall Inspired Bracelet - the creator took old rhinestones and charms and compiled them into one beautiful bracelet. This is so appealing to me because it is something anyone can do with old charms from a second hand shop.

Fun Fall Inspired Bracelet

           Today...It's All About The Gourd - the creator of this project took gourds and made them into a lovely floral arrangement. It is cool to me because it would look great on a table at Thanksgiving or anytime during fall to really make your home festive.       

Today...It's All About The Gourd

       Twig Chandelier - the creator of this twig chandelier did an amazing job and is my favorite by far! The took twigs and bent and tied them together in a chandelier shape and then spray painted it. This is my favorite because once it is finished and hung up, it looks so simple and effortlessly beautiful. It would really add something to any room.     

Twig Chandelier