Reflection Post: Week 7 & 8

 Week 7:

In the seventh week of Environmental Health we watched a documentary called Green and discussed the upcoming smoking ban forum with our class and a guest speaker from the American Lung Association. 
Green: I was so impressed this documentary was done by a graduate student from Texas. Not only was the documentary well done but it also did a really good job of showing what was going on in the world and specifically on cancer ally as it was called in the documentary. Cancer ally is on the Mississippi River running from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. After the documentary we had a discussion on it, for this discussion we split into two groups, the people that lived in the city and the people/company harming the city with their chemicals. I was on the side of the people living in the city, I had a much easier side to argue than the other half of the class. This discussion was really helpful because it made you look at things in a different perspective. 

Smoking Ban Discussion: In class we were informed about what would take place at the smoking ban forum by a representative of the American Lung Association. We discussed the up coming smoking ban forum that would be going on at UMD on Tuesday October 27th. People voiced their opinions in class and what they would say if they went to the forum. I went to the smoking forum the next day and saw some of my classmates there and was very glad some people were able to go and of those that spoke at the forum. 

  Week 8:

In the eighth week of Environmental Health we, watched a documentary called Thirst and discussed the smoking ban forum and those who went talked about their experience. It was also Mal and my week to bring snack, we brought in raisins and almonds (which were not salted) for the class.

Thirst: One thing I really liked about this movie was the fact that they broke it up and showed both view points instead of just one. The two of the view points they showed were that of the community and their group and the mayor of the city along with the council members. The documentary discussed stopping the privatization of water, one point that was brought up by the people was that if they did allow the privatization of water in Stockton, California, they feared it would end up like gas prices. The citizens of Stockton wanted the right to vote on this matter, therefore they went to get signatures of people in the area. In the end they were not able to get enough signatures and were not allowed to vote. One thing I really questioned was the mayor's motives and what he was getting out of it. He did not seem to be for the people but rather looking out for himself, I am guessing he doesn't get reelected in Stockton.
Smoking Ban Discussion: The smoking ban was discussed  in class, for those that went talked about their experiences and those that did not were able to hear what happened even if they couldn't go. It was fun to hear about what other people thought of the smoking ban forum. I found that I agreed with what a lot of other people in the class had to say. Within this discussion it was was brought up the importance of not judging people based on appearance and what they say. I felt that at the smoking forum you could tell who smoked and who did not. I feel that I should have been a little more considerate before coming to these conclusions with perhaps not enough information.