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/?."