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