Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

Dani: Waste-to-Energy Crossword Puzzle.

 This was a fun and interesting way to learn about turning waste to energy. I haven't done a crossword puzzle in quite a while so it was refreshing to do one, however it reminded me how little patience I have! haha I found it interesting that there are ten waste-to-energy facilities in Minnesota. I also found it cool that we can produce electricity from waste. There are so many things we can do to reduce our fossil fuel consumption, we just need to take the time and resources to do so. Hopefully more of these facilities will continue to spread so that we can reduce landfills altogether!

Elly: How Big is your footprint?

With my 2008 Pontiac G6 I got 19,312.128 km. = 4.12 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year. However there wasn't an option for anything newer than 2007 so I just had to select that. I know my car isn't extremely Eco-friendly but I had no idea just how much pollutants it was emitting. Some changes I can make to reduce this are to make more use of the trips I do take. When I drive into town from home make sure I am getting everything I need so another trip isn't necessary later. I have thought of switching over to a more efficient car, however I just purchased this vehicle a little over a year ago so switching now isn't very practical. Some changes I would like to see in our current environment are more bus routes and better upkeep of the sidewalks. This would help to encourage people to be more environmentally friendly when choosing methods of transportation.


Katie: Obesity and your everyday life:

My BMI came up just short of the average of 18.5. Since my weight is a little less than the average for my height. I think this is a decent way to estimate body fat however some people are taller than average or shorter than average and that can throw off your score. It was interesting to find out that being overweight can cause sleep apnea. I had no idea weight had any effect on your sleep. My Pyramid plan suggested I eat 6 ounces of grains, 2.5 cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruits, 3 cups of milk and 5.5 ounces of meat and beans. This was based off a 2000 calorie diet. It also suggested that I am for 6 teaspoons of oils per day. From doing the calorie burning activity I learned that from doing just some of my everyday routine activities I burn 291 calories. This included 10 for brushing my teeth, 21 for doing my hair, 63 for cooking, 97 for bowling and 101 for driving my car. I wasn't quite sure how I burned the most calories from just driving my car however. My favorite activity is probably bowling. Although I'm not so good it is a fun way to burn some calories and have fun with friends. I was surprised it only burns 97 calories however.

Kara: Energy Dustbin Game!

     

      1. My score was 27 the first time I played, I tried again and got 31.

2. I had no idea that Albert Einstein was an innovator for renewable energy. It surprising to see how far back the history is on this. I was also very surprised to find out that enough sunlight touches the earth in an hour to to meet the demands of the world in just one hour! Its unfortunate that we have no way to properly obtain it like the article says. I think sunlight would be the most efficient source just because its so readily available to us.

Jamie: Get Fit! 

 I scored 36 on the fitness quiz. According to the website I'm on the right track but there is always room for improvement. Most of my answers were pretty close to many other respondents that took the quiz. For the fitness section of the quiz I found I either fell within the range for my age group or somewhat above it for all the activities. I know I don't work out as much as I should, hopefully i can get into a routine of squeezing it into my schedule by setting a goal for myself and reporting on it each week like we did in class. That seemed to be very beneficial. Great activity Jamie!

Lauren: Workout Plan! 

According to the quiz I am 10% fit. I kind of expected this being I never really work out. I don't eat a specific diet because the things I eat don't have much effect on my weight. So overall I wasn't really surprised with these results.

1.Which of the following moderate activities did you do for at least 10 minutes at a time without
stopping during the last 7 days? Walking fast (3-4 mph) 
2. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do a moderate physical activity for at least 10
minutes at a time without stopping? 2 days.
3. On those days that you did moderate physical activities, how much time did you spend on average
doing the activities? About 20 minutes per day.
4. Which of the following vigorous activities did you do for at least 10 minutes at a time without stopping during the last 7 days? Running.
5. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do a vigorous physical activity for at least 10
minutes at a time without stopping?  1 day.
6. On those days that you did vigorous physical activities, how much time did you spend on average
doing the activities? 45 minutes per day.
7. Compared to how physically active you have been over the last 3 months, how would you describe
the last 7 days:Less active
8. Yes No a.  Has your doctor ever said that you have a heart condition and that you should only do
physical activity recommended by a doctor?
Yes No b. Do you feel pain in your chest when you do physical activity?
Yes No c. In the past month, have you had chest pain when you were not doing physical
activity?
Yes No d. Do you lose your balance because of dizziness, or do you ever lose consciousness?
Yes No e. Do you have a bone or joint problem that could be made worse by a change in your
physical activity?
Yes No f. Is your doctor currently prescribing drugs (for example, water pills) for your blood
pressure or heart condition?
Yes No g. Do you know of any reason why you should not do physical activity?  
9.  I intend to become more physically active in the next 6 months.
10. What are the 3 biggest reasons why you would consider increasing your physical activity? Improve my health, lower my stress feel good about taking care of myself.
11. Would any of your family, friends, or coworkers encourage you or help you get regular physical
activity, perhaps by helping you take care of some of your other responsibilities? Yes. My family can all help me by reminding me or offering to work out with me.
12. How confident are you that you could increase your physical activity if you decided to do so? Somewhat confident.

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

For my photo essay I chose environmentally friendly eating. I kept track of all the things I ate this past week and my results were so so. While I was keeping track of my meals I noticed I tended to eat more foods that were less environmentally friendly when I was eating at school or when I was at work. While at school I drank more beverages from bottles because they were the most convenient. (Don't worry, no bottled water!) While at work I ate more fast food mostly because I either forgot to pack a lunch for the day or simply forgot.

Before school I tended to eat more quick things like cheerios, yogurt, and toast. I recycled the containers from the yogurt, and the boxes from the cheerios so I tried to be as environmentally friendly as possible when eating packaged foods. 

 

For some of my lunch meals, at work and at school, included some fast food items such as Domino's marinara pasta bowls, ( they are soo delicious!)  taco johns, and a cheeseburger and fries from the burger hub. Most reasons I was eating this foods is simply because of convenience. I only eat at school Monday's on my long days and with all my books and computer I already drag along its really discouraging to also bring along a packed lunchbox. Looking back I want to start eating more salads or soups on my long Monday's. 

However, while I was at home for lunch or had more time I chose my healthier, environmentally friendly choices. Such as leftover ham from thanksgiving, fresh salads, and vegetables. I made sandwiches out of the ham we had left over, so even though eating meat still isn't as good for the environment I made sure we were not wasting it by eating the leftovers.

For some of my dinner meals I had spaghetti, beef stew, vegetables, macaroni and cheese, and of course for thanksgiving ham. I noticed many of my meals included meat which I was a little disappointed because I never really paid attention to how much meat I consume. I would like to reduce this in the future because its not very environmentally friendly. However, I did consume quit a bit of vegetables, mostly due to my SMART goal, but this made my meals a little more friendly for the environment.

Overall, by keeping track of my diet I realized I really need to start watching what I'm eating. I need to start setting aside time to pack lunches for work or even pack them the night before because that's where I seem to do most of my unhealthy eating. Many other people order lunches while were there so its usually the most convenient. Also, my SMART goal has really been helping me to increase my vegetable intake so I hope to keep up with that.

Eye Opener: Junk On The Brain

PART 1. Using a search engine, define the following terms (be sure to provide links to sites on which you find the information):

• antiques/antiquing: made in or typical of earlier times and valued for its age.
• Allouez Antiques 4101 E 2nd St Superior, WI 715-398-0529 http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Allouez.Antiques.Superior.WI.715-398-0529
• junk/junking: Discarded material, such as glass, rags, paper, or metal, some of which may be reused in some form.
• Pick-n-Pull: 866-302-7678 http://www.picknpull.com/
• f:lea market: an open-air street market for inexpensive or secondhand articles.
• Appleton Darboy Club Flea Market Appleton, WI 414-734-7010 http://www.iantiquesguide.com/staticpages/index.php?page=2004020920323439
• thrift shop: A shop which sells used goods (especially clothes) at low prices. 
• Salvation Army Thriftstore. 1621 Broadway St, Superior -
  (715) 394-5331 www.salvationarmy.org
• upcycling: Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.
• I couldn't find any local upcycling resources.
• resale shop: the act of selling again. 
• Platos Closet 5115 Burning Tree Road Duluth, Minnesota 55811
  (218) 733-9455. http://www.platoscloset.com/

PART 2: Answer the following questions:

1.  These terms are related to environmental health because it is reducing waste by reusing items. Things people want to throw away because they no longer have use for them, can sell them to others who want to use them for something else.
2. I do some of these things. I do admit I'm not big on antiques, but I do rummage sale every so often. My grandma goes every single Friday and knows where all the "good" sales are. She has a whole bedroom devoted to all her finds.

PART 3: Get your junk on!

• Visit JunkMarketStyle.com and find three junk projects that inspire you or that you simply find cool.
•  How to build a pumpkin person: I found this project cool and inspiring because it is just in time (or was) for Halloween. Making your own decorations is a good way to help the environment. 
• Santa Snow Globe: I found this project interesting because it is a good/cheap way to make gifts for family members. Some of my aunts collect snow globes so it would be a gift they would really appreciate. 
•  Simple Monday Floral Arrangement:  This seemed like a good project for me because I love flowers and having simple floral arrangements can be a good gift or even just simple decoration for your own home.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

 For the cosmetic safety review eye opener I chose to use my shampoo (TIGI Bed Head Moisture Maniac) as the cosmetic product. The results I got from this were kind of scary. It said that ingredients in this product have been linked to cancer, allergies/immunotoxicity, and developmental/reproductive toxicity. This really makes me think if I should be using this product. I continued to scroll down to read some more of the details and I saw that some of the things it was linked to, such as cancer, had little evidence. So it makes me think if one person out of 1,000 got cancer and just happened to use this shampoo is that what they're using in this study? Also, much of the evidence was at high doses, although it doesn't specify what they consider a high dose, I don't believe washing my hair once a day qualifies as a high dose. Yes, I need to probably look for a shampoo that doesn't have such high ratings but I also think more studies need to be done to better prove the evidence.

Eye Opener: CSPI

Eating Green

 I chose to do the Eating Green Calculator to see the amount of environmental burden my lifestyle causes. According to this, I use up 1.1 acres of grain and grass in one year, in order to feed the animals that are used to make the food I consume. I considered this a lot until I saw my results for the amount of manure created by these animals was 7,458 pounds. I was surprised that only .2 pounds of pesticide were used to grow the animal feed, that seemed like a pretty low amount until I sat that 26.7 pounds of fertilizer is actually used to grow animal feed the feed the animals. After improving my diet I found that actually .6 acres of land could be grown from decreasing some of my servings, my pesticide use decrease to .1 pounds, fertilizer fell to 15.2 and manure fell to 3915. If everyone could improve there diet and eat more locally grown fruits and vegetables our environment would be so much better off. Changing this would actually lower cholesterol by 49 milligrams, which is a good factor for me because high cholesterol runs in my family.

What this really means to me is that by just decreasing my servings of meats and dairy I can help the environment over a year. By just decreasing 1 or 2 servings from these categories went from using acres of land to actually growing back land. Its amazing to see how much impact it would have if everyone just made these small changes. We could preserve so much more of our planet and also be much healthier people.

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

In doing the earth day quiz about how many planets it would take to support my lifestyle. I found it would take 6.5 planets. My reaction to this way wow. I never even realized even the little things I do and use have such a big impact on the earth. Just from eating meat 1-2 times a week can kills so many animals, and buying foods that aren't locally grown. In order to adjust my lifestyle to help and reduce my footprint I could eat foods more locally grown, try to cut down on meat products that will kill animals,use less electricity by shutting off lights when I'm not using them. I could also shut off water when when brushing my teeth and cutting down shower time. If everyone on earth did this we could extend the life of our planet and the resources we need to live.

Welcome to Ashley's Fresh Air Atmmosphere!

My name is Ashley Roske. My blog is going to be about all the things I'm learning in my Environmental Health Class.

There are 6 types of possible posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
3. Eye Openers
4. Read n' Seed
5. Reflections
6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post is 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 group are

1.  Kristen@KristensAtmosphere
2. Calista@Eco-Friendly With Calista
3. Casey@Casey'sGreenDaydream
4. Heidi@Heidi'sHealthyEnvironment
5. Kara@Kara'sComingClean 
6. Dani@TreeHuggingWithDani
7. Sonny@SonnyDaysAhead

You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete Profile."

Thanks for dropping by, come back soon!