Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

Final hello to the "BKNVS^2" group members ;). (stands for Brenda's Environmental Health, Keeping it Green with Shannon, Noah's Greenlicious Environmental, Valerie the Spring Girl, Samantha Running with the Wild, and last but not least Sara H's Safe Environment).

Here's a brief description on our last hands-on class activity....

Sara H's activity:
Sara's activity was a quiz called "Quit Smoking". The quiz was a series of 10 questions that discussed the bad health effects linked with smoking. I scored 80/100 points. I think it was very informative and interesting to read over the facts even though some are basically "preached" by health educators. Good work Sara! Great job overall in the class, it was a pleasure being in the same group as you.

Samantha's activity:
Nice job Samantha; I think it's great that the test was designed in a way that we had to repeat wrong answers until we figured it out. Good job not allowing us to quit! :).....Overall I thought the info was legit, and "Kid's Quiz" could be played by anyone just for fun not just for kids; I think. Nice work overall with your project. You seem to be very into the whole "Keep Our Kids Healthy" challenge, and I think it's great. Keep working hard; it was a fun having you as part of my group.

Shannon's activity:
I think your activity was great, it took me a "second time around" to figure it out. It was fun, and it reminds me of the game I play on my cellphone all the time. It was very simple, yet nice to hear that "bip" sound whenever I figured out about the matching group of fruits. Nice work Shannon, and also it was nice having you as a group member. Way to go on your overall Advocacy Project. :)!

Noah's activity:
I didn't get a chance to play your activity because I encountered computer problems. I am sure it would've been a great CrossWord Puzzle. Anyways great job with your project, nice focus...;). It was fun working with you in a group.

Have a GREAT SUMMER you all.......

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

Hello everyone!

Since I work at the UMD Dining Center's dish room I decided that I would like share some of the environmentally friendly and unfriendly things about working there.

The DC is a decent place to eat at i think; it serves a variety of foods, for both vegetarians and regular consumers.






Like most dish rooms, its goal to clean all the dishes used by customers of the DC. When we receive a cart full of dirty dishes we make sure the left overs are well disposed. The left overs are well chopped by a machine, I am not sure where it is dumped.




Each dish, is well rinsed/scrubbed before they we run them through the washer.









When everything is cleaned and ready to use we place them here.



Overall, I think the Dish Room has been doing great staying environmentally friendly without even realizing it. The fact that everything is reused is great. I think they do a really good job keeping it clean as well. I think the Dish room needs to work on is water usage, there is SO much water used daily. I also think that we should use less disposable gloves and aprons. Maybe even use reusable plastic aprons.

Thanks for reading!

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

L'ORéAL DOUBLE EXTEND WATERPROOF LASH FORTIFIER & EXTENDER MASCARA, BLACK.

Ingredients in this product are linked to:
Cancer-Yes
Developmental/reproductive toxicity-Yes
iolations, restrictions & warnings-Yes
Allergies/immunotoxicity-Yes

Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes

This manufacturer::
Compact for Safe Cosmetics signer- No
Conducts animal testing-Yes

I chose a mascara because I use it pretty much everyday. I am surprise by what long terms effects that links to it. I never put any thought into the cosmetic products I use. I guess I have to now. What scares me the most is that using mascara links to cancer. I wonder how that takes place?
I hope I am going put more thoughts when buying anyy cosmectis. Maybe even search a specific for more info before buying it.

Eye Opener: Review of Reading # 10

I was assigned to read chapter 10 “Scientists Say a Quest for Clean Energy Must Begin Now”. It was a very short article but a little hard to understand. I got the main point but I had to read it twice to fully understand it. I was struck by a lot of the facts in the article but the opening of this article struck me the most. It stated that “to supply energy needs for 5o years from now without further influencing the climate, up to three times the total amount of energy now generated using coal, oil, and other fossil fuels will have to be produced using methods that generate no heat-trapping greenhouse gases, says the scientist in today’s issue of the journal Science”. I couldn’t help but imagine how much our current source of energy is hurting the environment.

The article mentions that the Kyoto Protocol would be a good way to go to produce clean energy; it includes binding deadlines for modest cuts in gas emissions. According to the article the Bush administration has refused to accept the Kyoto Protocol, calling for more research, which according to some experts would require way more attention and money.

I think it’s very unfortunate that the US hasn’t signed the Kyoto Protocol, considering that it is the nation that produces the most emissions. This article was very educational for me; I didn't know much about the Kyoto Protocol until now.


Terms


Kyoto Protocol:
An agreement on global warming reached by the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. The major industrial nations pledged to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012.

Eye Opener: CSPI

I chose to do do my eye opener on Score Your Diet. Mostly because I was curious to find out what my score would be, and also to find out where I need the most improvement regarding my diet. After I entered my servings of each a certain category of food I eat per week I found some outrageous numbers! According to the website 60+ is excellent. 15-59 is good. I didn't even get up to 15 at any column.

The food category I scored the highest at was veggies, beans/nuts totaling up to 9. I was surprised because I eat more servings of chicken/turkey each week. I scored lowest at the beef category putting me at a -5. I don’t really know why I scored that low. I’m guessing it’s because beef is not considered that healthy, especially the chemically grown ones, which I can’t distinguish grass fed beef and chemically fed beef. I found out that I need the most improvement at the Environmental section. This didn’t surprise me because unfortunately I don’t really think about the environment much when it comes to choosing my diet. The first thing that always comes to mind is my health, even though I don’t always do well with that either. I am going to try and look for the grass fed beef when I go to the grocery and buy that instead even though it might be more expensive.

These results were kind of an eye opener for me about my diet. I think I need to be more considerate about what I eating; focusing on the long-term effects rather than just because I am hungry and want to eat a specific type of food. I definitely need to keep the environment in mind when it comes to my food choices, since I scored so low on that column.

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

The quiz I took was EarthDay Footprint Quiz. While taking the quiz I thought I would have a decent score because I don't have a car yet, and walk to school since I live on campus, also I consume less processed food. I was astonished when my results said if everyone lived like me we would need 3 planets to provide enough resourses! Here I am thinking I know plenty other people who live like me; or even worse. What does mean to our poor planet? It also said it would take 13.5 global acres(14.1 tons of carbon dioxide) of earht productivity area to to support my life style; that struck me aswell. I was also suprise I ranked highest on service, I thought I would rank highest on food and shelter instead. I ranked lowest in mobity since i dont have a car. It got me thinking my results are bad enough righgt as it is; when I get a car how worse are the going to get? This quiz was definitely an Eye Opener for me. I don't really know how I can adjust my behavior but to reduce the amout of trash I produce.

Welcome to Valerie the Spring Girl

Hi my name is Valerie, I am not really sure what my blog is going to be about but im hoping to learn as much as i can about the Environmental Health and blogging. I am also that my blog will provide more knowledge to those who want ot learn more about our environment.

There are 5 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

• Advocacy Project



• Eye Openers



• Reflections



• Reviews



• 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 web group are:

1. Noah's Greenlicoius Blog



2. Keepin' it Green with Shannon



3. Sarah H's Safe Environment



4. Brenda's Environmental Health



5. Samantha is Running with the Wild

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."

Thank you for following my blog, good luck in this class!