Well I must say that the past couple weeks have flown by and here we are into the second round of reflections. In this reflection of weeks 5-8 I will be summarizing everything that we have learned.
In week 5, we completed an eye opener activity called Score Your Diet. This was a quick way to see how our diet scored on "nutrition, the environment and animal welfare". My score ended up as a 71, which is classified as excellent. After completing this eye opener, I realized that I consume more processed food than I thought I did.
Week 6, we learned how to create a graphical header for our blog. We were allowed class time to play around with Picnik to design our own creation. If you look above, you will see that I had some fun in editing a picture I took of my sunglasses taken on a rock at Gooseberry Falls. Also in weeks 5 and 6, we blogged about the third and fourth quarters of our Read 'n' Seed books. It was really cool to read my blog group's posts on each of their books. Everyone had such interesting books that I actually looked forward to hearing more about them each week.
In week 7, we were introduced to Junking. We also had to complete an eye opener on theEnvironmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database website. Here, we had to pick one piece of cosmetic or personal care product that we used daily and enter it into their database. I chose to use my Physician's Formula Mineral Foundation. It then showed us a full review on our product, including the hazards that can be caused by using it. It was a real eye opener for me because I found out that the products used to make my foundation were known to cause cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity and other contamination concerns. This was a great resource to use to find out which products really are safe for us to use on a daily basis. Week 7 also was our final post on the last quarter of our Read 'n' Seed. I think everyone got a great educational experience from their books and it was cool to hear their final recommendations on what they read.
In the final week 8, we watched a documentary called "Tapped". This showed us the global effect that bottled water/plastic products are having on our environment. It's so crazy to think about the power that some companies can have over us without even realizing it. It truly made me think about never wanting to purchase a bottled water again! In addition, we also had to complete an eye opener called, Junk on the Brain. We learned about several terms related to Junking and were able to research local vendors and second-hand stores. My favorite part of this assignment was to visit the Junk Market Style website. Here, we had the chance to explore the site and find three different junk projects that inspired us. It was really neat to see what everyone found and to read about why it had inspired them.
Well, there is weeks 5-8 all summed up! Each and every week is filled with a plethora of environmentally friendly information and I cannot wait to learn even more! We are now being arranged new group members so I am also excited to view some new blogs for these next couple weeks.
Katie, I could not agree more that these last few weeks have flown by! We have done so many things from watching movies to reading our books to learning how to "junk" old things. The movies we have been watching in class have been very eye opening especially "Tapped". I never want to buy plastic bottles again! It is crazy how much one simple thing can effect our environment. Another activity I am very excited to start is our junking projects. I have always wanted to try this so I am glad it is an assignment because it makes me do it! I too am excited for these new blogging groups, it will be interesting to see differences between both groups! :)
ReplyDeleteI am excited to have a few new members in our blog group too! I also loved reading about everyone's books. It is so great that we all got to read different books and learn from each other, rather than read a textbook. I can't wait to see everyone's junk!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about never wanting to drink bottled water again- I thought that movie was really well done and eye-opening. It should be exciting to have new group members and continue to learn even more.
ReplyDeleteKatie, nice job getting an excellent score on the score your diet, I'm sure a lot of people didn't score to high on that one and I'm probably one of them. I also thought Picknik was pretty cool and hadn't used it before this class. The read 'n' seed posts were also very interesting to read and I know that I learned a ton from my blog group's posts along with my own. I was very shocked to read about all the hazards that my product can potentially cause using the cosmetic's database and I'm seriously considering changing some of my cosmetic products. I agree with you very much that the semester is flying by so fast but I'm learning a ton of very interesting and beneficial information from this course and I too am skeptical about purchasing any bottled water. Awesome post.
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