Reflection: Weeks 13-14 & Overall Course

Well folks this is my last blog post....at least for Environmental :( It has been a blast getting to know everyone in class, at least those I did not already know. I have to admit I was not sure about blogging but after doing it I realized it was a lot of fun.

These past 2 weeks have flown by! Here is a recap of what we did:

• Toured Goodwill
• Did our Advocacy letter/fact sheet and online learning activities
• Wrapped up our SMART goals
• Show and Tell of our junking projects

Touring Goodwill was a lot of fun and interesting. I had never been there before this class so I was able to learn a lot. I could not believe how many things they had in the back of the store. It is great so many people donate things. While there I was even able to pick up a cute leopard cardigan!

Our advocacy projects opened up a lot of our eyes to new issues and bills. As I have stated in previous blogs, I had never really participated in government issues but se

eing which bills are trying to be passed was really cool. The bill I focused on was an education act for Emergency Contraception. Not only did I learn a lot of this topic but I hope my blog groups did as well.

After wrapping up our SMART goals I felt such a sense of accomplishment. Being able to succeed at this goal made me feel very good. Along the way I was also able to influence others which was just as important to me. Thanks for all the support from my fellow bloggers! :)

Last, but definitely not least, we did our junking projects. I had the most

fun with this project. It was cool being able to create something from junk and sharing it with the class. My junking project was a wine cork board. It was very easy to make. All I needed was a frame, black paint, hot glue gun, and wine corks. The pictures below are my junking project. Enjoy!

Overall, I learned a lot about myself and the environment. I admit I was a little selfish when it came to the use of the environment. I wouldn't recycle sometimes, never really cared about governmental issues, and used as many resources as I wanted without thinking anything of it. Well now I rethink everything I do. For example, do I really need that bottle of Gatorade or hormone-injected meat....do not think so!! Environmental health opened my eyes to many issues that get swept under the rug....well that rug is rising. It is time to talk and fix these problems before we run out of resources and ruin it for future generations.

Hope everyone has a safe, relaxing break!!!

Picture Source for top picture:This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 with a copyright notice, and its copyright was not renewed

Reflection: Weeks 9-12

I know everyone, including me, has said this over and over again but where has this semester gone?! I feel like three weeks ago we were just learning how to blog now we all have our blogs decorated fancy with cool backgrounds and tools and are making our posting so interesting and fun. Lets see, in the past four weeks we have learned a lot about:

• Advocacy (Advocacy Prjoects)
• Healthy People/THOMAS
  
• Eco-Chic Lifestyle Choices (SMART goal)
• Photo Essays
• Junking

I think two of the most important things we have done in the past four weeks are our advocacy and eco-chic projects. Because of this class I was obligated to find out about our political representatives. This actually made me happy because everyone should at least know who their representatives are. I am usually up-to-date with politics but this year I just had too many things going on. I also enjoyed being able to look on the Healthy People and THOMAS sites for current bills or proposals that are trying to be passed. Since our blogging groups are larger I was able to read about many different bills and why others' felt they should be passed.

Our SMART goals were another fun project. It was cool seeing how and why everyone picked their goals the way they did. Being able to receive positive feedback and constructive criticism from my groups members really helped me stay on track and become more eco-friendly.

Personally, I had a lot of fun with the photo essay. I was able to go to my friend Emily's farm, which I had wanted to do for a while. It was very exciting to be able to see things like this first hand because it puts things into perspective. It was also fun being able to see what others photo essays were about. I think our junking projects are going to be a lot like the photo essay. We are able to pick or make whatever we want to do and then show the class. I am excited to see what people make with their "junk".

Overall, besides learning a lot of from our eco-chic and advocacy projects, I have learned a lot from my group members. By switching groups and having to post individual messages on each blog I have got to know a lot of people in the class. I have read what others are doing, what interests them, and what they think of what I do. I love posting and reading the comments because then I get others' opinions and suggestions. Blogging is a good way to network, get others' opinions and ideas, and post what is on your mind.

Picture Source: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Reflection: Weeks 5-8

Weeks five through eight in Environmental Health have shown me many things in the world that I have been oblivious to. Some of the things we have discussed are:

• The Future of Food
• CSPI-Scoring Your Diet
• Read'N'Seeds-Last Child in the Woods
• Graphical Headers
• Movies-"Fresh", "Green", "Tapped"
• Environmental Working Group-Cosmetic Products
• Junking

The future of our food is at stake. Many farmers are having to make the choice of whether to raise their animals and crops naturally or use pesticides or hormones. Even though hormones can help your animals produce more they are not good for them. Animals should produce what they were born to make, not what we want them to produce. Pesticides are also not good. Many times they can damage crops or crops can become resistant to them after so long.

After doing our CSPI activity, Scoring Your Diet, I learned a lot about the choices of food I make. When buying food you should always check the labels. If possible you should always try to get organic or natural foods. For example, when looking at meats look for hormone free or grass-fed. These will be the best meats for you because they were raised the right way. I was actually really surprised by my results because my meat intake was low but my diary products were high. Many people are under the impression that eating animal products does not really affect the environment when it is the exact opposite.

For this class we had to choose a book to read. I read "Last Child in the Woods" by Richard Louv. This book was great. Its main point was to address the lost connection between children and nature. Before reading this book I never even thought about this because it never affected me. This is not true. It turns out my generation along with several others are part of the children that never really experienced nature. This saddens me because I see now how much nature has to offer and I missed out. To this day I am guilty of taking nature for granted. As the saying goes, "You never know what you have until it is gone". I want to change this by starting to play an active role in the environment.

A couple of other interesting activities we did were made a graphical header and searched a cosmetic product we used often. Making the graphical header was a lot of fun. We were able to choose a photo then upload it onto a site called Picnik. This site has many ways to edit pictures from adding borders and text to changing the color to reducing red eye or exposure. The other activity we did was eye opening. We got the chance to search a cosmetic product we use often. I chose hairspray. My results showed my hairspray was moderately hazardous and could cause cancer, allergies, reproductive toxicity, or etc. This was scary because you never seem to question the products you use daily because they "seem" safe.

The movies we have watched so far have also been very eye opening. From chemical plants on the Mississippi River to clean drinking water to fresh foods. I have learned a lot from these movies but the one that stuck out the most was "Tapped". When Dr. V asked the question, "Who owns the water?", I had no idea. The first thought that came to my head was the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). When it comes down to it though, big corporations end up owning a lot of our water. What blows my mind is if we are able to drink water out of a facet for free why buy a bottle of water? Yes, I am guilty of buying plastic water bottles but that is going to change. By reducing the use of plastic water bottles we could dramatically lower the amount of garbage produced.

The last topic I am going to discuss is junking. Junking to me is when you take something you or someone else no longer wants and make into something new. I think junking is a great way to save money, make a homemade decoration, and be creative. By making something yourself it shows your original and talented while also helping out the environment because it is one less item you have to buy. I am very excited to start junking my own projects for when I get my own place!

Reflection: Weeks 1-4

These past four weeks of environmental health have been busy but fun! I have learned so many new things in this short time. Some of the things I have learned about are:

• Blogging (how to blog, using gadgets, making posts, following others, designing your own personal blog)
• What an ecological footprint is and why they are important
• How an eco-friendly building is built and why they are important
• My group member's blog have given me a lot of good information (especially the share and voices)
• Good food ideas

I have learned a lot about blogging. I love being able to blog about things that I want to talk about. These issues or events are what are important to me so to be able to share that with others is cool. Then being able to read what others think is a plus. Another plus of this class is being able to share food ideas. I like seeing what people come up with and why. I think between environmental health and health 4000 I am going to be getting a lot of good recipes ideas! :) Going to go to the Bagley classroom was also a lot of fun. It was interesting to hear about how the building was built and why. It is nice that UMD was so supportive of the idea of being able to be out in nature.

I have learned a lot about myself too. Taking the ecological footprint was a wake up call. I cannot believe how many resources I truly use. Before this class I used to think about the environment here and there but now I really think about what I do. It is definitely a lot different when you are constantly reminded about how important the environment is. I am now trying to become more eco-friendly by driving less or car pooling, recycling more often, and reminding others to do the same.

Welcome to Out and About with Alicia

Hi I am Alicia! I created this blog for my Environment Health class. My blog is going to be about being environmentally healthy. As you see the title of my blog is Out and About with Alicia and that is because I like to do almost anything, especially if it is outside. If weather permits I am always outside either playing sports, running, walking on the shore of Lake Superior, swimming, or etc! Soon there will be more on my page. Come back and take a look!

There are 6 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Read 'n' Seed
6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post has been labeled with all five kinds of posts. You will also see the number of each kind of post in my Labels Gadget at the top of the page. All post titles from now on will begin with one of the categories above.

The members of my web group are:

1. Brenda: Brenda@Barefoot in the Backyard with Brenda
   
2. Dane: Dane@Danes Trail of Health
   
3. JD: JD@Earth and Me with JD
   
4. Samantha J: Sam@Sustainability with Sam
   
5. Matt: Matt@Matts Smoke Free Zone
6. Molly: Molly@Mollys Rico Eco
   

You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete Profile."

This was my first time posting something on my blog! It was actually very easy and fun. This post was used to explain how you will be able to subscribe to my blog to follow me this semester.