Reflections: Weeks 13 & 14 & overall course

Well it is already the end of the semester, the last two weeks have flown by. Now all there is left to do is study for finals and get ready for the holidays.

In week 13 of class there was a fieldtrip to the charitable organization GoodWill. They help provide the less fortunate with things needed in everyday life. There was a tour of the facility followed by a kind of scavenger hunt activity. The next week in class was a show and tell of our junk projects. It was really fun to see what everyone else had been working on. We sure did have some creative folks in class; there were a lot of crafty homemade items to display around the house. I had the idea to somehow fasten a horshoe kind of on its side onto a wall and use it as a coat-rack. I came up with this because I was trying to find something to use as a coat-rack because mine are always thrown onto the couch or onto backs of chairs. My favorite item was a fancy looking blue wine bottle and she drilled a hole in the back and inserted some christmas lights. It was a very neat looking lamp. Then we sat in a circle and discussed things we were taking away from this class.

Overall Course:
When I first signed up for this course I was not sure what to expect at all. And I have to be honest, at first I was kind of nervous about the whole blogging part of the class. I didn't think I would get the hang of it and thought I would get frustrated from it a lot. But after only a few short weeks, I was able to blog no problem. That is a valuable computer skill I'm sure I will use in the future. I really enjoyed the closeness feeling of our small class, and it helped add to that feeling that treats were brought to class every week. That was a very good idea, it was interesting to see what kind of healthy snacks people brought. I also learned an incredible amount about the environment. More importantly things every one can do on a daily basis to help reduce our carbon footprint.  My 2 favorite things about the class would be the eco-chic lifestyle change and the documentaries we watched. The lifestyle change helped me see how easy it is to make a positive change in your life, and the documentaries really opened up my eyes to issues going on around the world that I was unaware of. I liked how every week this class was different; it was never the same and I didn't know what to expect each week.

Thank you Dr. V for making this class very enjoyable and have a nice relaxing break!

Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

I participated in three different online learning activities, on Keith, Kristin, and Amanda's pages.

Keith's Activity
Children as young as 8 years old are being diagnosed with diabetes? TRUE
Can some of these illnesses “actually” kill these children? TRUE
The doctors had to purchase 2 scales to weight children that were over 200 lbs? FALSE - 350 pounds
Daves dad died at age 52 from a stroke? TRUE
John Marx is in shape and healthy? FALSE
Parents are not to blame for childhood obesity? FALSE

Kristin's Activity
I actually scored 10 out of 10 on the Quit Smoking Quiz. A lot of the questions were pretty startling. Before I even took the quiz, she listed several statistics about child smoking that were very eye opening. Such as every day 3,000 new teens begin to smoke, and 1,000 of them will someday die due to smoke-related illness.

Amanda's Activity
I scored a 57 on the quiz, ranking me fitness savvy.

You're standing just outside the ranks of 'fitness buff', so don't stop now. Your score indicates that you've got a good general knowledge of fitness, but are a little hazy on the details. With the recent fitness craze, you should easily be able to find the information necessary to fine-tune your fitness knowledge. With the proper knowledge, you will not only be able to optimize your fitness routine, but you'll also be prepared to avoid injury.

Advocacy Project: Stopping Childhood Obesity in Schools

The project I chose for my advocacy project was aimed at controlling childhood obesity, more specifically the proposed bill STOP obesity in schools act of 2009. A figure such as 10% of children worldwide are either overweight or obese.

Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or wellbeing. Obesity can affect a number of systems in the child's body, including the endocrine, gastroentestinal, muscloskeletal, psychosocial systems. On a long term time line it can lead to such life threatening diseases as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep problems, cancer, and many other disorders.  Some early detectable effects are in the psychosocial system and can be such things as poor self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.

There are many causes associated with childhood obesity. One main reason being the diet the child consumes. There have been reports of school lunch food not following the Mypyramid suggestions and serving food high in fats. Also, the current generation of children has consumed higher levels of soft drinks and fast food than ever seen before. Another cause for childhood obesity is living a sedentary lifestyle. Countless studies have found large numbers of children not participating in enough physical activity. Schools have started to adopt more in depth physical education programs in response. People have protested that it is video games and TV that is leading children to these sedentary lifestyles. These are the two largest factors leading towards development of childhood obesity.

Questions
1. What % of children worldwide are either obese or overweight?

2. True or False? Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or wellbeing.

3. What are some early effects in the psychosocial system of childhood obesity?

4. The current generation of children has consumed higher levels of ______ and _________ than ever before.

5. True or False? Diet and Genetics are the two largest factors leading towards childhood obesity.

Read 'n' Seed 6: Final Review of "Silent Snow"

This semester I read the book "Silent Snow" by Marla Cone. This book focused on the many different arctic nations across the globe and the toxic pollutants that the animals and people living there are exposed to. The author spent time traveling to these different countries, such as Greenland, Canada, Norway, Russia, Alaska, and many more. While she was there she spent time living with different Inuit tribes or families, living as they do with sparce resources.  Some of th emajor topics dicussed were the history of and detection of pollutants in the Arctic throughout the 1900's, the specific compounds found in certain countries, the effects on the animals, effects on humans consuming the animals, daily life of inuit tribes, legislations currently trying to control these compunds, the future and new compounds causing new threats, and many more.

three most significant things

I think one of the most significant topics throughout the book was the continued mindset of the Inuit people regarding the issue of the food they eat being contaminated with toxins. They believe that their people have been eating this food for thousands of years and nothing has happened, therefore it must be safe. It is true that their sea diet provides excellent amounts of nutrition. The beluga whale blubber contains highly nutritious dense fat, rather than the animal fat consumed in America. But the diet also contains small traces of harmful toxins, such as mercury. Another significant topic in the book were the actual effects recorded. In a study done on infants through adolescense in a small inuit town, they were checking the affects of mercury on these children from their mothers eating the mercury tainted food while pregnant. The findings were mostly cognitive, hardly any physical, and were relatively minor; such as slightly lower IQ's and reaction time. As far as animals go, they found a couple polar bears with both male and female reproductive organs. However, they were not able to definitively prove that was a cause of pollution. Finally, a significant topic was the last section about what is being done about stopping or slowing the pollution rate. This section focused on new flame retardants used on electronics and furniture that has been found in the Arctic and is highly dangerous. It also outlined manufacturing bans that many countries have signed in an effort to control this dilema.

Why is it important?

The findings discussed in this book are important for everyone. It discusses at length possible future outcomes and affected populations, if the pollution rate to the arctic does not slow down. More close to home, the book talks about the extremely high levels of contaminants in the Washington state area and especially the Great Lakes. Parts of the Great Lakes are more contaminated than Arctic areas.

Recommend?

Because of the reasons in the previous section I would recommend this book for anyone. It addresses key issues across the globe today, but also provides never-before-heard-of (at least by me) descriptions how arctic people go about their lives. To me that was always the most interesting material, what they have to do to hunt, how they prepare food, what kind of technology they have, and what they do for recreation; All good things.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 10: Overall Project Reflection

My SMART goal for the project was to walk to school and work 5 times a week. I had great success in achieving my goal over the weeks. However, I did not change my goal over the course of the project. 

There were many things I found to help me be successful.  I would listen to music on my walk to help pass the time.  By the third for fourth week, once I got into the routine of walking, it became much easier.  After that I looked forward to walking.  Also, sometimes I would walk with a roommate to have someone to talk to.  I came across only a few challenges along the way.  One is in the past couple weeks it began to get very cold.  I would put layers and layers of clothes on but would always end up freezing.  Also, I started to be late for early morning classes a lot. I would never take into consideration it took longer to walk rather than drive. 

I benefited from this project in a number of ways.  I learned that it is easy to make lifestyle changes; by just making easily attainable goals. About myself I learned that I seemed to have more energy throughout the day when I would walk to my morning class.  Also, I learned that the hardest part about a behavior change is the first 2 weeks, before it becomes routine. 

The environment may have benefited from me doing this project simply by me driving a lot less and putting less emissions into the air. I am not sure if I will continue this goal into the winter. However, once spring time comes I will look forward to walking to school once again. Any advice to others wanting to make lifestyle change goals would be once again make small attainable goals.

Blogged for the Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 10 host by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/

Advocacy Project: Letter To Public Official

December 7, 2009

Mrs. Amy Klobuchar
U.S. Senate
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Ms. Amy Klobychar,

The current trend in America over the last few decades has been for the public getting more and more obese. To make matters worse the youth of the nation is right in the middle of all the statistics.  Children and adolescents have been the fastest increasing risk group for obesity in the Country for some time now. Something must be done to help secure the future of our country.

The proposed bill H.R.2044, STOP obesity in schools act of 2009, would be a great first step to take in lowering the obesity rate of children.  This bill will help children make daily smart decisions in their schools.  It is a problem that has continued to spread over the years; this bill will help stop the problem form one of its sources.

I appreciate you taking the time to hear my concern, and hope you support the stop obesity in schools act of 2009. I hope you continue to spread the word of bill H.R.2044.

Sincerely,
Jake Eastwold

Reflection: Weeks 11 & 12

I am reflecting on the last 2 weeks of class, weeks 11 & 12 of the semester. This semester has really flown by and finals are just around the corner. I was ill and could not attend class for week 12, but our class on week 11 was very informative.

We watched a short video called Story of Stuff that was very interesting. The narrator did a very nice job of explaining how things work in a very easy to follow format. She was discussed some very troubling facts about our country. Such as we only account for 5% of the world's population but we are using almost a third of the world's resources.  Also a lot about how we are always sending away problems from the U.S. to more under-developed countries and taking all their resources and polluting their land. There was also a very interesting theory she brought up about how american consumers are brainwashed into spending money always consuming more and more.

We also did a pretty entertaining activity about junking. It was fun to hear all the groups ideas about what to use the items for. There were a lot of really creative ideas and some funny ones too, such as a pet coffin I remember or a very large shot glass. We also did a photo essay project, and I chose to do mine on enivironmentally friendly things going on at my work, St. Luke's Hospital. I enjoyed walking around and taking picutres of this but it also made me think there is more they could be doing around the hospital. Such as install hand blower machines in some of the bathrooms, every bathroom had paper towels.

That is what has been happening to past couple weeks. I look forward to the upcoming weeks, and our trip to the Goodwill!

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 9: Weekly Update

My SMART goal has been to walk to school and work 5 times a week.  Unfortunately this is the first time I DID NOT complete my goal. 

This week I came across several challenges and few successes, completely backwards from my other weeks, here are soem of the challenges I faced this week. Well first of all I was home in the cities most of the week, because of the holday break. So that severly hurt my chances for completing my goal. But that wasn't the only thing that caused me to fail. I have also been pretty sick, came down with the seasonal flu. So I had to miss both school and work. Despite all of these challenges I did come across a minor success. I recently purchased a new pair of gloves and they kept my hands very warm the few times I did walk.

My feelings this week were somewhat disappointed in myself, that I didn't complete my goal. It has just been frusterating being sick, not being able to do anything as the semester winds down. But I am not getting too down, I know this is a new week and I am starting to feel better. Therefore, I am going to keep my SMART goal as it is and hope that I recover and am able to succeed next week!

blogged for the Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 9 hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

For My photo essay I decided to a theme of things I found that are environmentally friendly around my work, St. Luke's Hospital

St. Luke's has been a tobacco free campus since September 1, 2007. It has been a very positive change, but some employees have been mad and are forced to walk 200 feet away from the building if they wish to smoke.

This is a donation box in the cafeteria. You can donate old glasses or hearing aides here to others who can not afford them.

This sign is displayed next to the water/ice machine and this stack of plastic glasses. It says please help St. Luke's in reducing waste by using these re-useable water glasses and please return them later.

This little bin sits atop the garbage cans in the cafeteria. The cafeteria sells Yoplait yogurt, and they ask you to leave the lids in this bucket. Once it is full they send it in to Yoplait, because for every lid they receive Yoplait donates money to breast cancer foundation.

 This is a food recycling bin used in the kitchen. All of the food waste each night goes into the bin. A local farmer picks up the bins twice a week and uses it as feed for his pigs.

This is a confidential paper shred-it bin. The small print reads "each time this bin is filled, half a tree is saved in the forest."

 This is located near the cash register in the cafeteria. These re-useable water bottles are for sale to employees, and the sign encourages employees to re-use, recycle, and use less.

This is a flyer for the Pint for a Pound program St. Luke's is running through January 16th. For each pint of blood that is donated at St. Luke's, they will donate 1 pound of food to local food shelves. So get out there and donate before it's too late!



In taking these pictures throughout the hospital I noticed a common theme. St. Luke's is promoting the concept of re-using items a lot, including donating and re-using. There was also a sign in the cafeteria that said they go through over a thousand paper cups for the fountain soda machine a month, so they sell sturdy plastic soda cups that the staff can keep in their locker and reuse.

Read 'n' Seed 5: Fourth Quarter of "Silent Snow"

I have been reading Silent Snow by Marla Cone, for this read 'n' seed I finished the book reading pages 191-233.

This section of the book was all about solutions and predictions for the future. A chapter was all about a gathering of hundreds of scientists from all over the world at the Polar Environmental Centre in Tromso, Norway. They all had to decide what kind of harm arctic contaminants are doing to the artcic animals and people, then later present their findings to the environmental ministers of the eight arctic nations. This was a very long grueling process, since they had to condense such a high magnitude of information and thousands of pages of research down to just a few pages. 

This section of the book also explained new contaminants that have been rising around the world in the last decade. These include fire retardents that are being used on electronics and household item, especially furniture. Many countries have begun to ban the production of these new items, a small positive step taken, but they are still parts all over the world. A lot of popular furniture manufacturers, including IKEA, have vowed themselves to no longer produce any  of these materials.

There are a lot of implications to society for this section of the book. First, the U.S. was one of the original countries to develop the country-wide ban on the many fire retardent materials. However, once it was finshed they did not sign it, and became the one arctic nation that had not signed it. It was said that Preisdent Bush personally made the decision not to join in. Also, many scientists are dismayed that scoiety has learned nothing from the toxic legacies of the past and appears destined to repeat them over and over. Only the names of the chemicals change.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 8: Weekly Update

My SMART goal has been to walk to school and work 5 times a week. I had a good week and accomplished my goal!

This week was full of successes and lacking challenges all around. The only thing I faced that is somewhat of a challenge was one day it was kind of misting out, but that didn't slow me down. Some successes I had were to continue using my i-pod on the walk, makes it go by so much faster. Also, on early mornings I drank coffee in a to-go mug. It hleped keep me warm and awake in class. Lastly, the weather this week cooperated. A couple days were kind of rainy but that was no big deal.

I felt good this week about my success. I actually feel like I made a lifestlye change that is here to stay. I am just so much in the routine of walking and it doesn't bother me at all. My plans for next week are to continue with my current goal. The weather is supposed to start getting cold so that could affect my progress.

Blogged for the Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 8 hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

What is the Issue?

The issue I am foucusing on is obesity in children and adolescents. Currently 84% of these groups are moving away from the target Healthy People 2010 goal related to childhood obesity, that is a startling amount.

I found the bill H.R.2044, which is the STOP obesity in schools act of 2009. It focuses on reducing the current trend of obese children.

Who is affected by the issue?

I would have to say that the children and adolescents that are obese are affected most by this issue. The young children don't know any better, it is the way they were brought up in this "obese friendly" society today. These kids lose quite a bit from this issue; most importantly they could lose their long term health as a result of diabetes or another nutrition driven disease. They could also lose their self confidence by ending up being not happy with they way they are. Fast food industries and the manufacturers of snack food are the ones that gain from the issue. They care about one thing only, their profit. So they market purposely directly to young children.

What are the consequences?

The consequences for the people most affected are unquestionably the health concerns. Becoming obese in childhood or adolesence can lead to a long life of battling diseases; diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart disease, being obese is a risk factor for many diseases. Their families will struggle by having to witness their child go through this. The parents also often have a feeling that is their fault that this has happened. Society as a whole will also suffer from this issue. If it continues at this rate, there will be even more fast food chains and junk foods released, since this is what is selling they will continue to make more and more.

What is the economic impact?

The economic impact would not be good, it would consist of people spending, spending, and spending money. First you spend money on overly priced non-nutritious food, then you might have to buy new bigger clothes, then enventually you have to pay for expensive maedical costs. And it would be the consumers, the average families bearing these costs. Once again it would be the manufacturer of the foods and fast food chains that would be benefiting from this spending.

What are the barriers?

A barrier for this issue would be just to change the mindset of the youth. Adolescents would be veyr upset of soda machines were removed from their high school cafeteria, and it would be hard to convince a 5th grader to eat an apple instead of a bag of potato chips. I think the bes way to overcome this barrier would be to take small steps towards it. Gradually transition into providing healthier alternatives in the school lunchrooms, and perhaps begin teaching health classes and stressing human nutrition at an earlier age.

What are the resources?

A powerful resource will have to be just spreading the knowledge about healthy eating and living. These resources could be tapped in a number of ways. Perhaps having a person of authority addressing the importance of the issue, such as a mayor or principal. Another way would be to have programs in the community that promote good health, such as a walk for diabetes. Or even just programs at the schools, such as a week at a school where the kids can't use any electronics so they would be encouraged to be outside and be more active.

What is the history of this issue?

This issue has been gettin steadily worse over the past decades. The percentage of obese children in America has been rising each year. However, there has been past efforts to control childhood obesity. McDonald's and other fast food restaurants began to start offering healthier choices, such as milk and apples instead of soda and french fries. The percentage that children actually choose these healtheir choices is low however. Therefore there has not been much success in controlling the issue.

Allies & Opponents

 The list of supporters for this issue would be rather long. Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, children, adolescents, grandparents, hopefully politicians, and many more would all be in big support of this bill. Most of the people that would oppose the issue would be the people making money off of the way things are going and also non-obese kids/teenagers who don't think this issue affects them.

My recommendation

I would encourage policy makers to vote for the STOP obesity in schools act of 2009. It would hard not to see this epidemic going on all over the country, and to think of the many that would benefit from it. I would plea to the policy-makers to not only help the current struggling children but also do it for future generations.

Reflection: Weeks 9 & 10

Well week 10 of the semester is over and now it's time to reflect over the past 2 weeks of class.

A new project was introduced in class, the advocacy project. So far this consisted of researching who my political leaders are and obtaining their contact information. Then we were to pick a proposed bill and give the progress on how it is doing in the House. The one I chose to look into is about stopping obesity in schools, a very important issue. In researching this, it was startling to see how many children were moving away from the healthy people goal. We also watched a documentary segment called Unatural Causes. This video intorduced us to several people all of different social classes, but living in the same county. It started out showing the family of a wealthy hospital CEO and his lovely neighborhood and all the opportunities available there. It later ended showing an unemployed woman living well under the poverty line. It was just amazing to me to see all the different social classes living so close in the same county. It also caught me by suprise when it showed the lives of one couple who seemed like they were struggling finacially at times, living paycheck-to-paycheck, and they made the same amount of money as the average american does. We also started to talk about the upcoming photo essay project. I have done projects like this in the past and have already begun brainstorming what I should do.

I learned several things over the past 2 weeks of class. I learned just how many different social classes they are and how they can exist close together. I learned what some people in lower social classes must do to get by. And also, I learned that if you feel strongly about a subject that is going on, you can contact your political representatvie; that is what they are there for. I look forward to the upcoming weeks of class. Doing the photo essay and the junking activity this week in class.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 7: Weekly Update

My SMART goal has been to walk to school and work at least 5 times a week. I had a successful week and achieved my goal once again

Successes & Challenges

This week was very similar to the past few weeks in that I faced several successes and hardly any challenges. One new challenge I faced this week has been walking home from my later in the afternoon classes. A couple days I have to walk home between 5:00-5:30 and it is crazy how early it is getting so dark. So i guess it is not necessarily a challenge, just something new that is happening that I don't care for. Some successes this week was I started to drink coffee in a travel mug on the way to early classes. This helped save time by drinking it on the walk and helped keep me warm, even with the frosty mornings we've been having.

Another success I have been having is listening to tunes on the walk. It helps pass the time very quickly and makes me look forward to walking, so I can be alone and rock out. However, I did see some people looking at me at a stoplight when I was humming along.  I felt very good while walking and had an even bigger smile on my face than normal while walking with my i-pod.

Next Week

My plans for next week are to add a lot more music to my i-pod, and to make a few "walking"playlists, haha. Anyways, I will continue to keep my goal the same it is. I haven't made my goal more challenging yet, but for weeks now I have only had school 3 days a week and work 2 days a week. That is why I am going to leave my SMART goal the way it is. 

blogged for the Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 7 hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

I chose to look into the Nutrition and Overweight section of the healthy people 2010, because I feel that is such an important issue in America today.  Then I chose to focus on objective 19-3, which is Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese. This is one of the biggest problem areas in our country over the last couple decades. The 1988-1994 baseline for all age groups (6-11 years and 12-19)  was 11% and the 2010 target for both of these age groups is down to 5%. Unfortunately, the progress for this objective is not looking good. For both of the child and adolescent age groups -83% moved away from the target.

Looking at the elimination of health disparities section I found that race has a large influence on this objective. Then I looked at some opportunities and challenges and read that "Collective national action and community involvement are essential to promote healthful diets among all Americans and to reverse the trend in increased overweight and obesity." An opportunity mentioned for children and adolescents was the classroom; To focus on physical activity and nutrition education for children. Under emerging issues it stressed the idea of prevention rather than treatment (such as pharmaceuticals or bariatric surgery) was ideal fro controlling the childhood obesity situation.

H.R.2044 : To reduce childhood obesity, and for other purposes.

Title:To reduce childhood obesity, and for other purposes; STOP obesity in schools Act of 2009

Sponsor: Rep Lowey, Nita M. [NY-18] (introduced 4/22/2009) Cosponsors (None)


Latest Major Action: 4/22/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and also to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period that the Speaker will determine, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Recommendation: Vote Yes for H.R.2044 : To reduce childhood obesity, and for other purposes.

My Political Representative: Congressman James Oberstar

Read & Seed 4: Third Quarter of Silent Snow

For this quarter of the book I read chapters 8-11, going from pages 127-190.

Main Topics

These chapters covered a lot of interesting topics. Such as the changing climate and contributors of the Arctic Islands and the sudden evolution of the islands. These chapters also went into detail the effects of these contaminants on the people living there. One chapter focused entirely on the effects on sex hormones and immune systems, but there was one topic that interested me more than any other. 

There was extensive research done on the Faroe Islands, in northern Denmark on the effects on babies by mercury from their mothers eating whale blubber while pregnant. The experiment covered hundreds of babies and consisted of each child coming into the lab once a year and have extensive tests performed on him/her, each year until they are well through adolesence. It went through the process for one 7 year old boy. Each year the testing goes for 8 hours straight. They put these children through eveyr test under the sun; physical tests, brain tests, cognitive tests, intelligence tests, memory tests, everything you can think of. I just remember thinking it seemed crazy to put these children through this once a year, even since the scientists claimed that the effects they were looking for minor compared to the effects of alcohol and tobacco on a fetus. They also said they would not be able to make any conclusions from one child, so they had to test hundreds.

Implications

There are a lot of topics in this book that our society should be mindful of.  Such as the iron testing I talked about earlier. Those results would be important to people all over the globe. Their are other high mercury contaminated areas, such as Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes. It is also important to be aware of the minor global warming signs that are occuring in the Arctic. These can act as warning signs for the rest of the world.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 6: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to walk to school and work at least 5 times a week. I did great this week and completed my goal, actually I made the walk 6 times.

Successes & Challenges

This week I had more successes that I faced than challenges. I have been in the mindset of walking places so I did not put up a fight or make exuces of why not to walk. I started to wake up a little earlier on certain days, to help myself in not running late for school every day. Another great success I had was the weather in the last week, specially in the last 2 days. I was walking to school with only a sweat shirt on and fetl totally comfortable. This lead to the feelings I felt this week, which was happy and not cold. I have just been thinking a lot about the cold weather coming and how it is going to affect my goal but I'm still waiting.  I did not face many challenges this week, it was a very positive week. However, I did come to the decision that if I am going to continue to keep walking I should invest in some new shoes. Mine are wearing out and do not provide much comfort. So that is a challenge I can continue to work out in the weeks coming.

Plans for Next Week

I still feel that I am going to keep my SMART goal as it is. I did not complete it last week, but I did great this week. I looked ahead and I only work 2 days next week, so with my 3 days of school I should achieve my goal. If I worked more days I would consider making my goal more challeging.

blogged for the Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 6 hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives

President: Barack Obama (Democrat)

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

(202) 456-1111

U.S. Senate: Al Franken (Democrat)

320 Hart Senate office building
Washington DC 20510

DC Phone: 202-224-5641
MN Phone: 651-221-1016

Govenor: Tim Pawlenty (Republican)

130 State Capitol

75 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

St. Paul, MN 55155

Phone: (651)296-3391

U.S. Representative: John Kline (Republican)

101 West Burnsville Parkway, Suite 201


Burnsville, MN 55337

(952) 808-1213
 
 
 
 
 
 
State Representative: Joe Hoppe
                               317 State Office Building
                               100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
                              Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
                              Phone: (651)296-5066
 
Anoka County Board President: Dennis Berg
 
                                                 Anoka County Government Center


                                                 2100 3rd Avenue

                                                Anoka, Minnesota 55303-2265
 
                                                Phone 763-323-5700
 

Mayor of Andover, MN: Mike Gamache
 
1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW


Andover, MN 55304

Phone (763)757-6060

Reflection: Week 7 & 8

Like this whole semester, the last two weeks have flown by. In these 2 weeks we have done numerous activities and discussed several topics and I have learned a lot of useful new things.

Topics

One major topic we have been discussing has been the concept of junking. Before we dove into this subject I was kind of unaware what it was. I thought like most people that junk was junk, but when I saw some sculptors and pieces of artwork that people are making from other's trash I was amazed. Seeing this made me want to go hunting for some garage sales, so I could make my own creations. We also watched two documentaries, "Green" and "Thirst." They were both very interesting and presented strong topics, but the thirst film really stuck with me. Just how it said in some places water is being priced higher than milk, and I remember one individual protester said eventually we are going to have to pay gasoline prices for water, that is a very scary thought. I have been in the dark about this whole water privatization phenomenom. The film also followed a small communites efforts to stop this privatixation from happening in their town resulting in a lot of jobs been lost.

What I Learned

I learned a lot about environmental health in the past two weeks. Mostly just about the concept of junking, and how it really is all around already. In Duluth there are many thrift and resale shops, not to mention garage sales. I am for sure going to take advantage of these in the future. I learned that the old saying, "One man's junk is another man's treasure" really does hold true. I also learned a lot from the film Thirst, such as to be aware that this is going on and take small steps now that can help the future generations. I didn't learn much else to do with blogging, except I am doing good with it and no new questions have arised from blogging.

Eco-chic Lifestlye Change Week 5: Weekly Upadate

My SMART goal has been to walk to school and work at least 5 times in a week. Unfortunately this week I did not complete mt goal, I only made the walk 4 times. I only had school and work 5 times this week, so I drove once.

Succeses & Challenges

I major challenge for my goal is the upcoming weather. I am not excited to continue my goal once the weather is like it is in this picture. But I knew eventually this time would come, I have my hat and gloves ready so bring it on! The challenge I faced this week when I decided to walk to work was because I worked at 7am. I didn't sleep well the night before and it was cold, so I took  a step backward and did not succeed in achieving my goal for the first time. Otherwise, a strategy I used to succeed this week was to start to dress in layers on the walk; I wasn't cold one bit.

Feelings & Plans for Next Week

For the most part this week I felt really good about my goal while I was walking. I was proud that even on the windy chilly days I was still walking to school. The only time I was disappointed and upset with myself was on that drive to school that morning. Since I did not achieve my goal this week, I am going to keep my SMART goal the same. If I don't have any trouble achieving it this week I will consider making it more difficult next week.

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

For this eye opener I used the search engine dictionary.com to look up the following terms. Antiques refers to something of the past, not modern.  Also, antiquing refers to the process of shopping or collection antiques. Junk means any old or discarded material, anything regarded as worthless. Such as old metal, paper, or rags. A flea market is an outdoor market consisting of individual stalls selling old or used articles and antiques.  A thrift shop is a shop that sells used articles, especially clothing, as to benefit a charitable organization. Upcycling refers to processing used materials into new products, or the re-use of a defective product for alternative purposes, to prevent waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials. A resale shop is very similar to a thrift shop. It is a retail establishment operated by a charitable organization for the purpose of fundraising.

The defined terms above have a lot to do with environmental health. They are all ways that different things are recycled or re-used in order to prevent uneeded waste and that is what environmental health is all about. There is a flea market that my family has gone to many times in the past in Hinckley, MN right down the road from the Grand Casino. At this flea market there are lots of antiques, and also a lot of what some people would call junk. Throughout the Duluth area they are several Goodwill stores, these are charitable thrift/resale shops. Their website is Goodwill.org. There is one located at 700 Garfield Ave and 4883 Miller Trunk Highway in Hermantown. In the past I have donated things to Goodwill, such as furniture, clothes, appliances, even a grill. It is  just a nice way to get rid of things you don't need and feel good about it.

Next I visited Junk Market Style and found several interesting projects. I thought the Leafy Sail Sculpture is really cool and creative. It is a really neat looking scuplture that spins freely made entirely out of reused metal, brass, copper, and steal. The next thing that I found that was really interesting was All Hallows Eve Junky Movie. This is a list classic scary movies that are filled with junk, simple enough. I thought it was great because looking over the list brought back a lot of childhood memories of me being scared out of my mind. Lastly I found Another Crazy Lamp, this is a very creative piece of artwork. He took an old paint bucket and made it into a pretty neat looking lamp, with a paint scraper as the pull chain. This was a very clever way of turning some old junk into something very useful.

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second Quarter of Silent Snow

I have been reading the book Silent Snow by Marla Cone. This quarter of the book consisted of chapters 4-7, covering pages 53-127. This portion of the book mainly focused on the daily lives of the Inuit people, mostly in Greenland, and the far north of Canada and Europe. To say the least, learning how these people live was very eye opening. People in these areas, especially Greenland, have never seen cows, pigs, chickens, deer, squirrels, almost any wild animal you typically see in America, also they've never seen any grains, crops, or anything agricultural. In Greenland they have never even seen grass, which makes me wonder why it is called GREENland. So they must use the ocean waters as their primary cultivation of food. 

Through these chapters the reader followed several different families on their strenuous and often long hunting trips. It blew my mind that they hunt whales when they can. They go out in a handmade canoe with a spear to hunt sometimes 70 foot whales weighing several tons! It also went into detail what the Inuits think of Americans, and that was very suprising as well. One of them was under the impression that all we eat is KFC and Burger King. I guess that is what the world thinks of us. He also responded harshly to Americans "Save The Whales Campaign." Saying they have no other choice and must eat what is available. Another strong point he said was how the Inuits respect the animals they eat. They give the animals a chance to survive and defend themselves while hunting, saying it is a true sport. Then he critisized Americans how they treat chickens and cows, saying they are kept in cages and their sole purpose in life is to get as big as possible then get eaten by Americans. It was also said these people have been told about the contaminants in their food, but they feel their people have been doing it for so long and nothing has happened, so they just brush it off.

Reading how these people live their lives and how they feel about Americans really made me think about the American society. Especially what was said about the food we eat and how we eat. Also, how many countries are protesting about Inuits hunting whales, seals, walruses, polar bears, and other artctic animals. And it is simply true, that is what they have available so they must. Their diet is very nutrient dense, the fat they consume is highly nutritious compared to what Americans eat.  Some of the larger towns could purchase imported processed foods at super markets but at a unbelieveable high cost. And the other small villages simply have no choice. I look forward to learning more about these communities and hopefully more about the pollution they are experiencing.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to talk to school and work at least 5 times a week. I did good this week and surpassed my goal, making the walk 6 times.  I was a little worried this week about achieving my goal, but luckily the weather played along for the most part.

A new challenge I had this week was not leaving soon enough. It seemed like I was running late almost every time. In the upcoming weeks I'll have to make sure to learn to leave extra early to make sure I'm not late to classes. Still I am kind of worried for when the weather dips under freezing. But I guess only time will tell. A success I have had, or I don't know what to call it, but now I am totally in the routine of walking places I don't even think about driving. 

One feeling particular I remember feeling on a few of my walks was frustration. Walking around town you really get to see how much litter there is on the streets. There is garbage all over town. Other than that, I mostly felt satisfied with myself by doing what the commercials say, grooving my body at least 10 minutes a day. For the next week, I am going to keep my goal the same. I don't feel it is time to tweek it in any way yet.

blogged for the Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 4 hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

For this week's eye opener exercise we were instructed to visit the Environmental Working Group web site. This site contains a database where anyone can look up any cosmetic item you use and find out the real safety of that product. I chose to look up the information on Aveeno clear complexion daily moisturizer that I use.  I was kind of nervous of the results before I even saw them, but they weren't as bad as I had thought.  This moisturizer is labeled as a moderate hazard, scoring a 6 on a 1-10 scale.  The results showed that this product has been linked to violation, restrictions, and warnings, allergies/immunotoxicity, and several ingrediants showed concerns.  It also had an option on the sidebar to buy a different product online, saying that 77% of acne treatments have lower concerns.  That figure was kind of startling. I looked through the list of dangerous ingrediants and will be aware of their danger in the future.

Once again this activity was very eye-opening. I don't feel like I am in danger from the results on the moisturizer though, but it does make me wonder if I use any other products that could score a higher hazard. It is crazy to me that companies can sell products that are a hazard to the customers, even a moderate hazard!

Reflection: Weeks 5 & 6

We have done a lot in class over the past two weeks, very educational and intriguing things. It is crazy how fast time is moving this semester. It is already almost the end of October, and we've already had our first snow. Before we know it will be Thanksgiving, then FINALS time!



These two weeks we watched some very interesting videos that didn't sit well with me. The first one focused on farmers in the U.S. and what kind of troubles they have been facing in recent years. It showed how large grain corporations have trademarked certain seeds. These seeds seem to somehow make it all around the world. Showing up in Canada and North Dakota, even looked in Mexico. Then these large organizations were sueing small family farmers for illegally producing their seed. It was really upsetting to see these large companies destroy everything these family farmers have worked for, for generations. They did it all for money and without hesitation. The second movie was about the food in America. It had a lot of upsetting information about the food Americans typically eat, mostly relating to animal products. It for sure made me question some food choices I made. I never heard the story about the Baskin Robbins guy promoting healthy eating, that was very interesting and gutsy on his part.

 It was interesting to hear other classmate comments on the eye-openers we have been doing. These activities are great and do exactly that, open my eyes to something thats going on that I was unaware of. One that really stuck with me is the virutal food-tour I did, with all the slaughterhouse and food factory numbers, really troubling stuff. I didn't anything new about blogging, except how to make a blogger header. It seemed kind of confusing at first how to do it, but the in-class walk through really helped. Other than that the blogging things are going real well, I think or hope I know what I am doing.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

My SMART goal has remained To walk to school and/or work a minimum of 5 days a week.  I once again achieved my goal this week by making the trip 5 times. I worked and walked there twice, and walked to school my three school days.

I didn't face many new challenegs this week. Since I was already in the habit of walking places it was not hard for me to keep this behavior up.  However when I was walking to school today it was snowing.  I feel this will bring a challenge to my SMART goal in the future when the weather begins to get bad.  It is hard to say how much this will affect my goal now. I don't think it will stop me from acheiving my goal, but once the weather gets under freezing that could change things.

I felt a number of feelings when walking this week. I felt kind of hungry a few mornings because I was running late and since I was walking I had to leave earlier so I didn't have time to eat much. I will have to keep this in mind in the future and not waste any time in the morning.  Otherwise, for the most part I felt relatively good walking. It felt nice  and refreshing to get out into the fall air just for 15 minutes a couple times a day.  I can't think of much I learned about myself this week, but I did learn a few different routes to take on my way to school or work. Some that are shorter and some that are more scenic.

So far my plans for next week are to keep my goal as it is.  I haven't had trouble achieving it yet, but it hasn't been super easy for my yet either. I think I need to see how the weather affects my goal before I go ahead and make it more challenging.

Read 'n' Seed 2: First Quarter of "Silent Snow"

I have been reading the book Silent Snow by Marla Cone. So far I have read the introduction and the first three chapters, leaving me at page 53.  The introduction went into detail about the author's experience in the Arctic while researching the book. She described many villages and native Inuits she encountered.  It described the blistering cold she faced and some of the local cuisine she ate, such as seal and whale blubber. The first chapter was short and gave some background on how contaminents from anywhere reach the arctic in a matter of years or decades.  This chapter also described some of the more commin toxins that are being found in the arctic. The next two chapters went into lengthy detail on scientists research on the contamination level of arctic animals and Inuit people. 

These first few chapters were very eye opening for me. I learned lots of new things related to toxins and pollution.  I learned that the most dangerous compounds are known as polychlorinated biphenyls, most commonly reffered to as PCBs.  During the middle of the 20th century these compounds were used in mass quanities by electric companies.  By the late 1970's these compounds were banned in the U.S. and much of the world. I also became familiar with many other toxic compounds such as: DDT, mirex, dieldrin, and chlordane.  It was interesting to read that besides the arctic other dangerously polluted areas in the world were north seas in Europe and the Great Lakes.

What I have read so far could affect society greatly. It talked a lot about the effects on humans after consuming animals, mainly seafood, that have pollutants in them. It depends on the food chain, small algae contain dangerous compounds that sit on the bottom of the sea, then they are eaten by tiny fish, then those are eaten by bigger fish, until eventually humans eat the fish containing high levels of compounds. The book also went into detail about a study done in northern Europe on a population of pregnant women that ingested small levels of mercury from their food source. Their children were studied at 7 years old and showed many signs of affected by the mercury on physical and cognitive levels. People should care about this because it is happening in all parts of the world not just the arctic such as Europe, Alaska, California, Great Lakes.  According to what I have read so far there hasn't been much detail about what should be done to address it, just know it is happening is a start.  Since the fact that this whole dilema was underway  in the 1940's, detected in the early 1970's, and ignored until the 1980's. Scientists didn't think it matter much what was happening way up in the arctic circle.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART goal was to walk to school and work at least five times a week.  The first week went real well and I accomplished my goal by walking to school twice and to work three times. 

I have to admit it was kind of difficult to force myself to walk to school early in the morning and even just to work.  But by the end of the week that hesitation stopped and it feels like routine now to walk.  So I faced sort of a initial challenge to implement my goal but overcome it with little trouble.  I felt relaxed and accomplished while walking.  It was nice to have 15 minutes or so to myself while walking just to gather my thoughts.

I learned this week that there might be a little speed bump at the begining when trying to make a lifestyle chnage but once you make it over that there is no regrets or turning back.  My plan for next week is to leave my SMART goal as it is. I was able to achieve it the first week, so I don't need to make it more achievable and I don't think it is quite the time yet to make my goal more challenging.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/.

Eye Opener: CSPI

I chose to take a tour of the food I eat for this weeks eye opener.  This was a very informational exercise and at times very disturbing.  It presented facts of the processes foods go through, from the slaughterhouse, to the fields, to factories, all the way to restaurants and grocery stores.

The slaughterhouse section was one of the more disturbing sections. It talked about all the bacteria around from animal remains and diseases they can cause.  A troubling stat was last year 9 billion chickens and turkeys were killed for dinner-table-consumption, thats 30 birds for every American!  Another one is that the average american consumes 53 more pounds of poultry PER YEAR than he/she did in the early 1950s.  Just reading about the ways farm animals are treated sounds inhumane. 

This activity has definitely opened my eyes to the brutal world of meat and how it is prepared, even some troubling facts about pesticides and fertilizer. I am for sure going to think twice about buying or ordering certain foods form now on, just in the back of my head wondering where it really came from or went through. I now have a new large respect for vegetarians.

Reflection: Weeks 3 & 4

Woah the time really flys once school gets into swing again, it's already almost the middle of October.  It is has been an interesting last couple weeks of class. We took a look at a documentary I have seen several times, An Inconvenient Truth. Everytime I see it, I feel like my eyes get opened up to a new aspect of what it going on, really powerful stuff.  There was also a new project introduced, one I like very much.  The eco-chic lifestyle change allows you to make a healthly lifestyle change that maybe you have been wanting to chnage for some time, but never have a reason or any motivation. 

I have learned several new things about blogging over the weeks. I have learned how to maintain a blog with all of the followers, new posts, and commenting.  I learned things really happen fast in the viral world and I've seen you can do some neat things with advanced gadgets feature.  I have also learned about Google reader.  Before I signed up for it, I had never heard of it before. At first it seemed really confusing and messy. But now as people are commenting on posts, it is a super easy way to follow all of the comments and different posts in one place.  Finally, I learned that one person really can make a difference in the environment, all it takes is a simple lifestyle change.

Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART goal

I thought long and hard about what my SMART goal should be.  I kept going back and forth if I should do only using a re-useable water bater but I decided on something different.  I live fairly close to school and my work so I decided for my SMART goal to be I am going to walk to school and work at least 5 times a week for the next 10 weeks. I only have school 3 days a week and work 2 or 3 days a week.

This lifestlye change is eco-chic for several reasons.  Since I will be walking a lot more, I will be driving my car considerably less. This will result in me putting less car emissions into the environment by driving less.  That is something the environment would benefit greatly from if everyone tried to do. I will also be getting some exercise just on the way to school and work, and you can't complain about that.

I chose this particular behavior because I have been meaning to make this change for months now. Since I live close to work and school I have thought that I should walk both ways for a while now but never stuck with it. It will help to get some exercise on my way to work on really busy days when I don't have time to work out. This lifestyle change will be beneficial to me since I will be driving less, I will be saving money on gas. That will help me because I am trying to save money for a spring break trip and anything extra helps. I am excited to begin my lifestyle change today!

Eye Opener - Ecological Footprint

I was pretty unaware what an ecological footprint was befor this assignment.  Now I know it is a measure of human deman on Earth's ecosystems.  Most of what I have learned about ecological footprints, I have gathered from Wikipedia.

Within the last decade, quizzes have been developed to show individual's own ecological footprint. I took some of these quizzes found at Ecological Footprint Calculator.  The particular quiz I took calculated the number of planets it takes to support my lifestyle.  Most of the questions consisted of what kind of food I eat and where it comes from. There were also questions about my home and what kinds of transportation I use. The results were kind of surprising. It said that if everyone lived like me we would need 4.3 planets to provide enough resources. I am very shocked by the high number, I thought I was living a little more eco-friendly.

There are a number of things I can try to do to bring down the results from the quiz.  First of all, I could try to buy mostly locally grown non-processed food.  Also, I could try to drive my car less, and when I do drive I try to carpool.  Or instead of driving all together I can start to use some public transportation.

Read 'n' Seed 1: Silent Snow

The book I chose to read is Silent Snow by Marla Cone. In 1999, environmental journalist Cone was awarded a Pew fellowship to examine the Arctic paradox: "How," she wondered, "could the Arctic, so innocent, primitive, so natural... be home to the most contaminated people on the planet?" What she discovered is that pollution is as global as the economy, and that industrialized nations—with their "Save the whales!" movements—are poisoning those very whales with chemical drift. Cone's sympathy with the peoples of the Arctic and her admiration for the harsh, beautiful world in which they live make this an inspiring book. And we all carry some level of the same toxins; as one Inuit says, "The chemical threat is the ultimate threat... it reaches everywhere in the world."

I chose this book, because it is on a very interesting topic.  I was completely unaware of this slow poisoning of the artctic. I think it will be very educational and eye opening to read what is happening to the Arctic people, with all their resources diminishing quickly.

Here are some links to some information about the author and some reviews on the book:
Marla Cone
Book Review
Silent Snow documentary

The book has 246 pages and is split up into 3 parts with 16 total chapters.  I am going to divide the quarters into 4 chapters and see how it goes not following the books parts. I'm excited to learn what is happening up there.

Reflection: Weeks 1 & 2

A reflection about what we have done the past 2 weeks in class ,and what I have learned.

So far in class we have spent a lot of time discussing the society of America today and how ity relates to the Environment.  About the depelting  natrual resources and what Americans can do in everyday life to help the cause. We watched a very interesting vidoe clip about how the White House is censoring information that is being censored to the public about global warming.

I have learned a lot about the environment already through this course.  I already have several ideas I can do myself to live more "green."  I learned how big of an impact the government has on the environment, with all the policies they regulate.  This class has already taught me all about blogging.  Prior to this course, I had never blogged and was unsure of what it was. It was kind of tricky at first but I think I am slowly getting the hang of the gadgets and features.

I hope the next two weeks are just as educational and interesting.

Introductory Post

Welcome to Getting Green with Jake!

My name is Jake Eastwold, and I am currently a senior at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I am majoring in Healthcare Management with a minor in Health Education. I am originally from Andover, MN which is just north of Minneapolis.  This blog is going to be about environmental change. I will discuss how to "go green" and make a smaller impact on the Earth for future generations.

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



Advocacy Project

Eye Openers

Reflections

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change

Read 'n' Seed

Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post is has been labeled with all six 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:

Amanda@amandaswaterbottlewatch

Kristin@kristinsgreenworld
Keith@keithsgreenbike

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."


So that's it, I hope you enjoy my blog.  I hope it makes your day just a little better each time and helps you to make some environmentally friendly changes you've been thinking about.

"Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/?."