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.