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.