Eye Opener: Photo Essay

For this photo essay I decided to do it on how the school helps with reducing plastic bottles.

One of the things the school does to help is sell water bottles as an alternative use.

Another thing the campus has done is put in water fountains that only specifically fill up water bottles. In the upper right hand corner is counts the number of plastic bottles we have kept from using and putting into the environment. 

The last thing I found that the campus does to help was recycling. All over campus there are recycling bin for plastic bottles. 

The UMD Campus has and is becoming more Green. All over you see different ways recycling bins, new water fountains, and water bottles.

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

As defined by Wikipedia, antiquing, although there are several meaning, is a shopping activity. And an antique is an old collectable item.  Junking is defined as discarded material, some of which may be reused in some form, this definition came from a free online dictionary. Also defined by Wikipedia, a flea market is a type of bazaar or merchandizing area, where inexpensive or secondhand goods are sold. Also using the free online dictionary, a thrift shop is defined as a shop that sells used articles as to benefit a charitable organization. About.com defines upcycling as the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value. I couldn't find an exact definition of a resale shop but the free online dictionary, defines resale as the acting of reselling something. Also when I typed in resale shop definition into Google, a bunch of thrift store popped up. So I think I'm save to assume that a resale shop is similar to a thrift shop, in that it resells used items.
These terms have to do with environmental health because it's all about recycling and/or reusing. It helps the environment to reuse old items so big corporations don't have to go through making new and improved ones and releasing potentially hazardous toxins into the environment, although its still happening, it helps. And the more people who reuse and recycle, the need for new and improved decreases.
A local antique shop called Antique Boutique is located on 357 Canal Park Drive Duluth, MN 55802, their phone number is (218) 529-7667. Jadco Special Haulers Inc. is a junk yard located on 4011 Rehbein Road Duluth, MN 55803. Their phone number is (218) 724-5538. There is an annual flea market on the second Sunday in August located at Lake Superior College 2102 Trinity Road Duluth, MN 55811. This organization is state wide so there is no phone number but you are welcome to email them. A common thrift store in Duluth is Ragstock located on 9 west Superior st. You can contact them by phone (218) 722-1201. I couldn't find a store that provided just upcycling products but I found a website with a list of stores that sold upcycled furniture. The are several named stores with contact information on the website for anyone's use. Dannie Duluth is a consignment shop located at 932 E 4th st Duluth, MN. You may contact by phone (218) 724-8507.
Back in my hometown Hayward, WI there is also an annual flea market every summer. Although I don't go every year, I have gone before with my mom and have shopped around. I have also made good use of Goodwill which is another consignment store with several locations. I have gone antiquing before with my mom, and it is one of my least favorite childhood memories, although I may enjoy it now.
"It's a Salad Spinner" It is a big round piece of metal being used to hold salad ingredients on a table and it spins! Avoiding the problem of having people to pass the salad. I grew in a family where entertaining was a big thing. Having big family holidays and parties on the weekends for our closest friends. This would be great for a big family dinner. It's easy and there is no passing the salt or butter. I also find it cool that the bowls fit into the holes in the metal, I didn't even realize there were holes in the metal until I looked at the side pictures. Another project I absolutely love is the this organizational window. I'm all about organization. I think this is not only cool and creative but a very well use of an old window frame. I'm a lover not a fighter, this next project I also love. It is called "Must me L-O-V-E!". They are wooden blocks painted red and then the designer added a dictionary page with the definition of love on it to the blocks. I like this as a great decorative piece.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

The product I chose to find on the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database was the shampoo that I use which is Garnier Fructis. The health concern for my shampoo was moderate, which isn't THAT bad but after looking at some of the facts and ingredients I did get a little freaked out. The first two ingredients  that were the highest scored in the hazard concern was the fragrance and some chemical I can't even pronoun but after reading a little bit it sounds like the chemical is Formaldehyde. Although reading about the hazard scoring about my shampoo, I'll probably stick to buying it. I like my shampoo and I feel like no matter we do these days, there are going to be health concerns or risks. It does, though, scare me that there is formaldehyde in my shampoo.

Eye Opener: CSPI

Some of things I learned after reading the facts on all the different components that go into raising and killing cattle are that cattle suffer health problems from a diet that is high in grains. So far in my career of learning about nutrition is that grains, especially whole grains, are very good for you; so it surprised me that cattle actually get health problems from eating too much. I suppose, though, too much of anything is bad. A couple more things I learned was cow manure is equivalent to 33 million cars' carbon dioxide and that manure lagoons break open and spill during a storm or something. One of the most shocking facts I think I read though was that there are far more antibiotics given to cattle than to people! That's a lot of antibiotics.
My results from the Eating Green Calculator were that 2.8 acres are used for growing grain and grass in order to feed the cattle, 58.9 pounds of fertilizer are used to grow the animal feed, 0.3 pounds of pesticides are used on the fields, and 17,732 pounds of manure is produced from the cows. The number of acres and pounds of fertilizer and pesticides doesn't sound like a lot to me, but the number of pounds of manure produced sure surprised me. I can't even imagine that amount of manure. I wasn't able to see the results after clicking "Click here to improve your diet and protect your environment", therefore, I wasn't able to see and decide on the pledge.
After scoring my diet, some foods that gained me points were eating extra-lean beef, fat-free dairy, fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Some foods that lost me points were eating high amounts and/or low amounts of beef, chicken, egg, milk, cheese, and ice cream. The area in which I need the most improvement on is environment. One thing I can do to improve is eating more organic foods.
To me this means I'm a bad influence, bad influence on the environment and I believe it. I know that some of my actions cause harm to the environment and there are actions I can take to help improve the environment but at the same time I feel like I can only do so much. Although I can maybe buy some organic items such as meat and milk every month, I can't afford to buy all my groceries organic because after all, I am a poor college student. I do, however, plan to do more when I can afford to do so.

The results of my Ecological Footprint came out to be that if everyone lived like me we would need 4.4 earths to provide enough resources. I'm surprised because I actually thought I would use up a lot more "Planet Earths" than the results said I would. I feel like I use a lot more water and energy but then again the quiz didn't calculate the amount of water or energy I use, it just wanted to know if my house had energy or not. I think if the quiz calculated the exact or estimated amounts I would use a lot more resources. Some ways I could reduce my ecological footprint would to drive less and car pool, walk, or take the bus more and definitely use less water. Some examples would be, take shorter showers, turn the water off when I'm brushing my teeth, etc.

Welcome to Fun in the Sun with Andrea

Welcome to Fun in the Sun with Andrea

My name is Andrea  and I'm studying Community Health Education. Something I love to do is to be outside in the sun biking, hiking, or just being a beach bum. This blog is going to be about having fun outdoors, under the warm sun while being environmentally friendly! There are 5 possible types of posts on my blog. They Include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Share and Voice

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

The members of my web group are:

1. Amy and Kristen@Enviro-Surfing with Amy & Kristen 
2. Sarra@Sarra's Notes in Nature
3. Jamie@Jamie on the Big Lake
4. Caleb@Caleb Cares About Contamination 

You can follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete Profile." I hope everyone learns to have just as much fun in the sun as I do!