Well, that's the last four weeks in a nutshell. I look forward to learning so much more about our environment and the impact that we have on this planet!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Reflection: Weeks 1-4
I honestly can't believe it has been 4 weeks since we first started class. So far I have learned so much about environmental health and this is my first reflection piece. First off, we learned how to create a blog. This not only included making a google account but it also showed us how to design our layout and draft our blog profile. In addition to making our first blog we were also shown how to make an avatar. An avatar is a cartoon picture of ourselves. The next week we learned about blogging etiquette, adding different gadgets, posting to our blogs and commenting on other blog members of our group. It's nice getting feedback from my peers because it let's me know that people actually care about what I write about as well as my findings. In the third week we were introduced to google reader. This is a cool site because it allows you to put all of your group members under a subscription so that you can see which profiles were recently updated. This is especially helpful when you have to comment on their new posts. This past week we got the opportunity to visit the Bagley Outdoor classroom. It's amazing how eco-friendly the building is! I was personally amazed by the toliets. It's so neat that they don't actually flush but are sent instead to a compost container. We were also opened to how much we affect our world by finding out what our ecological footprint was. This was discovered by taking a test online that our professor, Dr.V, discovered. Even though I learned that it would take 4.1 planets to supply the amount of energy that I consume, it opened my eyes and made me realized that I need to modify the way I live on this earth. In addition, we also started reading our Read 'n' Seed books. The one that I chose was Don't Eat This Book: The Supersizing of America. So far it talks about the negative effect fast food industries have on this country. I am excited to read more about this and share it with every.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Read 'n' Seed: First Quarter of Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America
In "Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America", I covered the first four chapters, pages 1-58. The book first starts out by talking about the problem our nation has encountered with the tobacco industry. Everyone now knows that smoking kills, and the tobacco industry has been slapped with countless lawsuits for lying to the public about the health effects of smoking. Smoking has ceased to being the leading cause of preventable death in America. We are now uncovering a new problem: overconsumption of food and the rise of obesity.
"The United States is the fattest nation on earth. 65% of American adults are overweight, 30% are obese." Not only are adults suffering with weight gain, but they are impacting their children too. "Obesity rates in children have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents and teens in the last twenty years. 16% of American kids are now overweight or obese" Keep in mind that these statistics were from September 2004, at the rate our nation is going just think what the numbers are today! In today's society, fast food is everywhere. From the moment we walk out our front door, to that car drive (notice no one is walking anymore) to work, to ads on tv and the internet... fast food is surrounding us. Everything about our lifestyle is centered around food. Portion sizes have tremendously increased and that's playing a huge toll on our waistline. Not only are we "getting more bang for our buck" by supersizing our meals or getting that all-you-can-eat buffet, we are training our bodies to eat more along the way. The more fat-induced meals we consume throughout the day, the more our body craves them. Making us eating bigger caloric meals, more often.
Not only are we consuming more high-fat meals, we are also exercising less often. "Studies show that almost 60% of Americans exercise rarely or never". That is astounding! Since the new era of technology has dawned, we are spending more time in front of our computers and less time moving around. Kids are consumed by video games and tv shows rather than playing outside or shooting hoops with their neighborhood friends.
To top it off, our major health organizations, American Heart, American Lung, American Cancer, etc are all focused on selling you medications to "cure" your already developed symptoms due to a lifestyle of unhealthy habits. What ever happened to promoting healthy habits to prevent these illnesses and diseases from happening? Well, money is the answer to that one. Our population is spending billions of dollars on pills and medications each year. Just think how much money we would save if we would put more time and effort into educating healthy lifestyles and preventitive measures instead of trying to cure them once they've escalated.
Until next time, here's a challenge for you. Pass up that fast food joint and add an extra day onto your life. Trust me, you'd be doing yourself and this country a favor by not funding the "Fat Food" corporations.
"The United States is the fattest nation on earth. 65% of American adults are overweight, 30% are obese." Not only are adults suffering with weight gain, but they are impacting their children too. "Obesity rates in children have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents and teens in the last twenty years. 16% of American kids are now overweight or obese" Keep in mind that these statistics were from September 2004, at the rate our nation is going just think what the numbers are today! In today's society, fast food is everywhere. From the moment we walk out our front door, to that car drive (notice no one is walking anymore) to work, to ads on tv and the internet... fast food is surrounding us. Everything about our lifestyle is centered around food. Portion sizes have tremendously increased and that's playing a huge toll on our waistline. Not only are we "getting more bang for our buck" by supersizing our meals or getting that all-you-can-eat buffet, we are training our bodies to eat more along the way. The more fat-induced meals we consume throughout the day, the more our body craves them. Making us eating bigger caloric meals, more often.
Not only are we consuming more high-fat meals, we are also exercising less often. "Studies show that almost 60% of Americans exercise rarely or never". That is astounding! Since the new era of technology has dawned, we are spending more time in front of our computers and less time moving around. Kids are consumed by video games and tv shows rather than playing outside or shooting hoops with their neighborhood friends.
To top it off, our major health organizations, American Heart, American Lung, American Cancer, etc are all focused on selling you medications to "cure" your already developed symptoms due to a lifestyle of unhealthy habits. What ever happened to promoting healthy habits to prevent these illnesses and diseases from happening? Well, money is the answer to that one. Our population is spending billions of dollars on pills and medications each year. Just think how much money we would save if we would put more time and effort into educating healthy lifestyles and preventitive measures instead of trying to cure them once they've escalated.
Until next time, here's a challenge for you. Pass up that fast food joint and add an extra day onto your life. Trust me, you'd be doing yourself and this country a favor by not funding the "Fat Food" corporations.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Share & Voice: Boxed Water
I found this product while I was browsing on the internet. It is called Boxed Water. I honestly have never heard of this before and thought I would see if anyone else had?
"About 76% of the Boxed Water container is made from a renewable resource, trees, that when harvested in a responsible, managed, and ethical way serve as an amazing renewable resource that benefits the environment even as it's renewed. We ship our boxes flat to our filler which is significantly more efficient compared to shipping empty plastic or glass bottles to be filled. The flat, unfilled boxes we can fit on 2 pallets, or roughly 5% of a truckload, would require about 5 truckloads for empty plastic or glass bottles. Our cartons can also be broken down to their original flat state, and are recyclable in some areas. We're also giving 20% of our profits back to the resources our product is composed of - water and trees. Not only does it simply make sense, but we really enjoy supporting water and forestation organizations as it's part of our company's ethos and way of thinking to give back and participate".
Let me know what you think about this new product!
Source:Boxed Water is Better
Monday, October 4, 2010
Share & Voice: Duluth's Scenery
Duluth is gorgeous around this time of the year. Even though Fall is my favorite season and I absolutely love all the Fall colors, I decided to capture some pictures of the sunrise and sunset down in Canal Park.
I hoped you enjoyed looking at my pictures of Duluth's scenery! I highly recommend everyone to go out and experience it for themselves, it truly is breathtaking!
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