Reflection: Weeks 8-14

I can't believe that the semester is almost over! For this reflection I will be talking about the different things that I learned and have had an impact on me for weeks 8-14.

Share and Voice

For weeks 8-14 we created posts that allowed us to be creative and post almost anything related to environmental health. I really enjoyed the share and voice and thought it was very educational. We could post things like blogs we came across, pictures that relate to the environment, websites, or pose a question. This was great because it gave me a chance to think on a deeper level and explore environmental topics/websites/blogs on my own. I also had a great time reading the posts of others and learning from my classmates.

Blogging
I didn't think there was anymore to learn, but I was wrong! I learned more about blogging and I know there is still more for me to explore on my own. One new thing that we did to our blogs was create an "about me" page. It was interesting to learn that there is kind of a guide to follow when writing the "about me" page in order to keep your audience interested and educated but not bored! This is a way for my followers to get to know me on a more personally level so that they can relate better to my posts. Another thing that I learned was about linky's. This is a way to share your post along with others posts all in the same place! It is like organizing posts into a one-stop-shop! Lastly, I learned about favicons and I got to design my own for my blog. This was something that I really enjoyed doing and for me it was a great learning experience. I never really knew what the symbol at the beginning of a web address was or what it was for. Now I know that it is a way to for websites to have their own symbol and use it as a marketing piece. If you think about popular websites like Facebook, their favicon is known worldwide!

Advocacy Projects
For the second half of the semester we started our advocacy projects. This was really a learning experience for me. We started by learning about advocacy, what it is, and using it in health education. I learned how to look for current bills, which ones have been passed and which ones haven't. For my project I looked at "Enhancing Liveability of All Americans Act of 2011 and really looked at air quality and how it can negatively affect our health if our air is constantly polluted. We also did some research on our political representatives which was a bit of a struggle at first but then I found who they are and who they represent. We did this so we could write a letter about the bill we chose and send it to the proper representative. I learned about how we can let our voice be heard and stand up for our rights!

My Junk Project 
We learned about junking throughout the semester and now we got to put our learning into action. Everyone in the class made a junk project and it was really amazing how people reuse different items. I have some very creative classmates and picked up some tips about taking an item and restoring it or making it into something new. What I did for my junk project was took broken hockey sticks and made a shoe rack with them. Our team breaks sticks pretty frequently and for the most part we just throw them in the garbage. I cut the sticks and assembled them into a shoe rack. It is currently being used at my house and we love it. There are 3 of us in the house from the hockey team and it is a way to decorate and store our shoes. My coach has been bugging me to make one for the rink so this is something I hope to do when we get back from Christmas break!

This class has truly taught me so many different things. I notice that in my every day living I am constantly thinking about environmental influences and how I can make a difference in preserving our earth. This class has made an impact on me and I have made changes in my life that I plan to continue even once this class is done.

Reflection: Weeks 1-7

Blogging 

Through my environmental class I have learned a lot about blogging. I had no idea what blogging was really even about, but I learned quickly. I learned about the behind the scenes work that goes into a blog. Simple things like layout, posting, labels, and how to set up a blog. Then I learned more about blogging etiquette and how to truly make a blog your own. We have learned more and more tricks along the way and more recently I made a favicon. I think it is really cool because I didn't know that's what the symbol at the beginning of web addresses was, but now I do and now I have my own. I have to say that I do enjoy blogging and have even visited other blogs that are not required in the class. I think this might be something I will really get into once I am done college!

Films in Class

This class has truly opened up my eyes about many different aspects of our environment. Over the past few weeks we have watched a few different movies. These movies are one's that I wish everyone around the world could watch. They are truly inspiring and educational. They make me want to change so many things in my life and the choices I make. One of the films we watched was called "Fresh". It discussed things like food contamination, environmental pollution, and depletion of natural resources. The main idea was how over the years, agriculture has turned into an industrial model. We have changed the way our food is grown and processed and I think we are feeding ourselves all the wrong things. Another movie we watched was called "Green"and this movie shocked me! The documentary talks about 150 petrochemical plants that run along the Mississippi river and how these chemical plants have caused major health concerns for those who live near them. One area has been given the name "cancer alley", and listening to the stories is heartbreaking. So many families are suffering from the pollution that these petrochemical plants produce. The last film that I want to talk about is called "Tapped". This documentary discusses the bottled water industry and asks the question whether access to clean water is a human right or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other product. Ultimately companies are going into communities, pumping their tap water into their trucks then bottling it and selling it back to the communities. This is something that I disagree with completely. It is our tap water and companies shouldn't be allowed to put it in a bottle and sell it. Along with this issue is the fact that the empty bottles are ending up in the ocean and polluting our earth. The movies that I have watched in class are truly inspirational to really start to stand up for our rights and take the term "vote with your dollar" seriously. We as consumers have the choice to not buy certain products and in order to let our voices be heard, we need to start to do this. 

Other Topics

After every film we discuss our thoughts about it and how we as consumers can make a difference. Education! Most consumers don't truly understand what they are buying, where it comes from, or how it is made. It is up to us to educate ourselves about what we buy everyday. It won't be on the label, they won't promote the 'bad' in a product, so we have to make the decision to want to get to know what is truly in our baskets. 

We have also talked about other topics that impact our environment. Recently we discussed antiquing and junking. Sounds like trash? Think again! We discussed different ways that we can reuse old items and recycle many different things from one individual to another. Many items that we throw in the garbage could be something that another person could use. It is society's way of recycling. We need to learn how to do this much better as a society because our beautiful land is turning into a dump. Protect our earth, because we only have one! 

The Impact on Me

I could write so much about what I have learned so far in this class. I want to share with you a few of the things I have learned and have implemented them in my life. The first thing is changing a lifestyle to help reduce my ecological footprint. Over five week I challenged myself to turn off the lights in my bedroom every time I left my room. At first it was a struggle but now it is a part of my life. Such a simple thing, yet something that can have a huge environmental impact. Another thing that I have learned through the films is to read labels and learn more about what I buy. Now when I go to the grocery store I am more aware of what I put in my cart and I read the labels. I am making better choices in the food I buy and I am voting with my dollar. Another change I have made is using reusable bags. I was reading a classmates blog and that was her challenge over five weeks. After reading her blogs and learning about how harmful plastic bags can be, I now use reusable bags! We are half way through this class and I can't wait to learn more about how I can make a difference in preserving our environment. 

Welcome to Adventures with Haley

Ryan's Falls in Switzerland

Hi, my name is Haley Irwin and I am a Community Health major at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I have created this blog to share some of the things I will learn in my environmental health class, but will also be focusing on saving energy! I will discuss different ways to save energy, lower your electric bill, and how this can affect our environment.

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

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Share and Voice

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

Here are the members of my web group: 

1. Nicole@Exploring The Environment
2. Alex@The Geyser of Johnson
3. Dr.V/Kristen@Enviro-surfing with Amy and Kristen 
4. Alina@Splashing Along the Shores with Alina

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

I hope you will enjoy my blog and learn about eco-friendly ideas as we go on this adventure together. The environment is ours to take care of and we can make a difference one light at a time!