Reflection Post: Week 11 & 12

Week11:

In the eleventh week of Environmental Health we looked at The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. This video had many interesting facts such as the US uses 30% of the worlds resources but only takes up 5% of the world. I couldn't believe this, it just goes to show how the US needs to change a few things to catch up with current times. Another thing that was stated was "toxins in toxins out," what you put in is coming out and going into our bodies. This was interesting because a lot of what we put in out body, we do not know where is was produced or what surroundings it was in before it came here. This is especially important to think about when eating meat or chicken for a large meat producer. Overall it was important to take away from this short video that we should not to waste resources. In the second half of this class period we did a junking activity. It was a lot of fun! There were five different items that were passed around and we were to look at them and come up with ideas on what they could be used for now. Our group thought of a lot of cool ideas, mainly candle holders. It was really neat to look at these items and brain storm what you could make them into.

Week 12:

In the twelfth week of Environmental Health we shared out Photo Essay's with the class. It was really cool to see what everyone was able to come up with. I was glad that we were all able to share them in class because it made it more personal when hearing about their pictures. It was also cool because people went more in depth when talking about items and shared stories that were not in their photo essay. In class we also talked about how to a write a letter to the editor or a letter to your representative. I was able to get a lot of good ideas about what I should put in my letter to my political representative. One thing our class discussed was that it is important to put your sources in and add statistics. Overall I learned a lot for this activity, before we did this activity I was kind of a loss on what to say and how to get my point across. 

Share & Voice: Notebook Bottled Water

Here is a video I found on You Tube about bottled water. It is a very brief informative video by Katie Couric about using reusable water bottles. One thing that I found particularly interesting is that Washington State University in St. Louis actually plans to stop selling plastic water bottles by the semester when this aired. Therefore, this should have been put into place May 2009. America also drank 9 billion gallons of water from bottled water. An estimated 1.5 million tons of waste comes from these plastic water bottles each year. Learn more by watching this short video.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 9: Weekly Update

SMART Goal:

My SMART goal is to use a reusable water bottle instead of a plastic water bottle everyday for the rest of the semester and hopefully the rest of my life.I was able to achieve my smart goal because last week because I used my reusable water bottle every day of the week! I also took two showers in under 5 minutes again this week.

Successes and Challenges: 

This week I felt very successful in using my reusable water bottle and drinking lots of water. Although, it was a bit of a challenge to eat healthy over Thanksgiving. I am still eating left overs. I hope I will be able to get back into health eating this week and until Christmas. I also felt successful in being able to get my showers in, in under 5 minutes.My plan is also to get my family to drink more water by giving them water bottles for Christmas, I hope this works. As my mother lost her last water bottle, I hope that she is able to hang on to this one.

Feelings: 

I had good feelings about this week and know I will be able to continue to use my reusable water bottle for the rest of my semester. Knowing that I have made the permanent switch to reusable water bottles has really made me feel good about reducing my ecological footprint.

I Learned: 

I learned that it does take time to make a goal a habit. I realized that I am going to be able to do this for the rest of my life. I hope others in our class are able to make their goal a habit, if that is the change in their life they are looking to make.

Next Week: 

Next week I plan to continue my goal as is and use my reusable water bottle. I also would like to eat more servings of vegetables and fruit next week. I also will continue to two showers of 5 minutes or less.

 
Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 9 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

With the holidays just around the corner some of us might be looking for that last minute gift. This year, as I am a college student without a lot of money, I decided to look for ways to save money on gifts this year. There are many ways to give gifts everyone will love without spending a lot of money. The following are gifts I have come up with in order to save money this holiday season. The items include homemade trail mix, knit hats and scarves, calendar pictures, plants, and water bottles.

My first gift that I made to give to friends and family this holiday season was homemade trail mix. This is a very inexpensive gift, as some items you may even be able to find around the house. The items I included in my homemade trail mix were: raisins, Reese's pieces, milk chocolate M&M's, Cheez-its, sunflower seeds, almonds, and pecans. All seeds and nuts were unsalted which makes these things better for you even though other items in the mix may not be. I would also recommend adding pretzels to your trail mix, however I did not have any when making my trail mix.

Here is a look at the final product. I did not measure anything as I just put in the amount that I thought would work and added more as needed. It is also fun to personalize trail mix according to who you are giving it to and what items they like.

My second gift suggestions is learning how to knit and making a scarf or a hat for someone you know. I recently learned how to knit hats and now everyone I know will be receiving them for a gift this year. For this item purchasing yarn is the main cost. I was able to borrow the tools to knit the hats from a friend. If you do not know anyone with this kind of stuff there is the added cost of purchasing the kit. Here are some of the hats that I have made for this holiday season. 

The third gift item is a picture calendar and one that you can typically find around your house. For this gift a person can simply take their old calendar and use a picture from the previous years calendar and frame it. Some pictures you may have to cut in order to fit it to your frame. These pictures can be used as decorations around your recipients place.

The fourth gift is the simple gift of a plant. Plants are a great environmentally friendly gift that always brighten up a home. Plants that can be inside this season but need to be by a window are usually available at a reasonable rate. I recently purchased a plant that looks like a mini palm tree for $6.99 at Home Depot. If you choose to go with a small plant and need a holder for the plant, you can always use a milk carton that has been cut in half. This not only saves money but it is also fun to decorate these in order to make them look fun.

The fifth gift item is the gift of a water bottle. This a great way to promote healthy living to friends and family. Some water bottle are a little more expensive but there are some places where nice water bottles are about $5.00. Some others run for about $10.00, which usually have some kind of design or special feature. This gift is also environmentally friendly as it friends and family will not be using plastic water bottles, which end up in landfills. Water bottles are great gifts that everyone can use.

These gift item are great ways to save money and promote healthy living. Homemade trail mix, knit hats and scarves, calendar pictures, plants, and water bottles are all great gift items for someone with a budget this holiday season. I hope these items have given everyone an idea for a holiday or birthday present this season.