Eye Opener: Photo Essay

I never took the time to realize all of the little things UMD has to offer when it comes to being environmentally friendly and promoting recycling right here on campus. I would always see various items throughout the halls as I would glance at them, but when I really took the time to look I realized there actually is a lot of different ways in which UMD promotes helping the environment. I had never noticed all of the different recycling bins compared to garbages, and all of the little signs placed throughout campus as well. I was actually surprised to see all of this, and in a way I guess I took it for granted, and never really appreciated the efforts that were being put forth right in front of me. All of the pictures that I found were in the parts of the schools where I usually am, and I was able to find all of this! I am definitely going to explore the rest of the school and see what else UMD is doing!

 Burt's Bee, organic shampoo and conditioner that is offered right in the student store. Along with this there was also lotion, and chap stick as well. This is an easy investment, and very accessible to all students. It also wasn't too expensive, so it would be appealing to students as we all go for the cheaper items. The colors were also something that caught my eye as I was wondering around.

 There is a section in the freezer in the student store dedicated to organic and naturally grown frozen foods. I have to say the enchiladas, pizza, and mac & cheese did look quite delicious. I actually ended up buying an organic pizza (never had this before) and ended up loving it. This was a great investment that I will be buying more of.

 "Go Green" light bulbs that were also found in the student store. All of these were energy saving bulbs that were on sale. This is the perfect idea for everyone, especially the students who live right on campus and need a bulb for a desk or bed lamp. I also bought one of these for my lamp at home.

 "We Recycle!" This is a just a simple recycling bin (as there is a ton of these throughout the school) but a little effort goes a long way. The top of the bin is shaped so only paper could fit into it, which saves a lot of time in the long run because people get lazy and if it were bigger any type of garbage would be thrown into this. This saves time and money by not having to sort all of this out when the garbage is taken out.

This is just a simple recycling bin, but I saw so many of these ones! In the gym and athletic area alone I counted 9 of them! This is just a simple gesture but is easy to do and makes it impossible for there to be liter around, because there are so many garbages scattered throughout the school!

 Right outside of the gym and weight room there is a station to refill a water bottle. This is a great idea to have after everything we learned about the pricing and garbage that comes from plastic bottles. This idea is very beneficial, because instead of buying water it is easily accessible right when you are done working out! I use this piece of equipment almost daily.

 To go along with the idea of having your own reusable water bottle instead of a plastic one that would just be thrown away I found these cool UMD ones right in the student store as well. There was a lot of different kinds, like the color scheme and design, but these just happened to be my favorite! This is a great idea to invest in one because you are promoting your school and have easy access to water all throughout the day, which is the most important nutrient for you to ingest.

 This was what I believe to be the best idea when it came to recycling that I saw. This was located right outside of the library, which is the perfect spot as many students (or should) go there. There was 4 different compartments, each with a different place to recycle from bottles & cans, trash, aluminum, and plastic. This would make it simple to sort out off the garbage and recycling if people would just take the extra effort and put there trash in the right spot. I definitely believe this to be the best idea!

"Be bright. Turn off the light" This was on the light switch right in a bathroom. This is a great idea to have this sign here. There are many times I go into the bathroom, or even our locker room and no one is in there, but the light is still on. If we would simply put this sign there we would be saving a lot of electricity. I actually put a sign like this in our locker room right by the switch, just so we could help to conserve energy when we are not in there. It is already catching on, which is very exciting to see!

The University of Minnesota-Duluth is home to all of us, and really is making an effort to help keep our school and community clean with offering so many ideas and various equipment to help, so there really is no excuse to not have a beautiful school. Let's all do our part and help keep UMD environmentally friendly!

Check out everyone elses's ideas!

Reflection Week 1-7

         I know this class is only halfway done, but I have already learned so many things about myself, the environment, blogging and just my surroundings in general. It is actually crazy to think about how much this class has already impacted my everyday life and behavior, especially in these last two weeks!
         Over the last two weeks I have learned about myself as a person. I had always thought that I was a good person, and good to the earth for simple reasons, like taking out my garbage, recycling basic items in my house, and not littering. However, I have learned that it goes much deeper then just these simple tasks, even though they are good starting points. My SMART goal was to not use paper toweling, or paper products, which I am proud to say that I no longer do. I only use only the minimum amount of toilet paper that I actually need when going to the bathroom. These are simple habits that I had never really thought of you. Also I have learned that if I really want to make a change that I will, and from that it will in turn change all of my other habits. After doing the "Junk on the Brain" activity I have found myself looking at everything in my house and finding so many different uses for it. I've cut old t-shirts and used them for rags. I now used an old coffee can to hold flowers in the house. If this would of been me two weeks ago I would of simply thrown all of my garbage away when I was done with it, and never even thought of all of the possibilities of different uses that could come from it. I am really proud of my new outlook on life, of saving, reusing, and recycling a lot of things I have.
         Two weeks ago when we watched the movie GREEN, that really hit home a lot for me. I grew up by a lot of small farms and had always heard and thought that yes farmers work hard, and am ashamed to say that I took their farming for granted, and thought it was something easy they did to save on money. I now see that I am very wrong for this idea, and am embarrassed that I ever even had this idea. From that video I saw that our environment is a very precious item, that should not be taken lightly. It would not be kept the way it is if it wasn't for the farmers producing foods, and keeping it healthy with all of their fertilizing and maintaining of their crops and gardens. Farmers help reduce some of the need for factories, which ruin our environment with all of the pollution they produce. I now have a whole new respect for farmers, and all of the hard work they do for us. I would actually like to go and work on a farm for a few weeks, so I really can get the true experience, I think it would be very humbling and a good idea for me. I have also learned that we are all responsible for our environment, since we are all living here. I believe that actions are contagious. I now try to pick up one piece of garbage everyday that I see (which there is always a ton on my 5 minute walk to school). I believe by doing this that if someone sees me they will pick up the habit, and do it themselves, and if everyone would do this then our world would really be a different place. I also like to do my part with helping to GO GREEN so I have taken a vow to only drive my car when I absolutely need to. I now walk to school everyday to save on not only gas, but the pollution as well. This change has been going on for a little over two weeks now, which I am proud to say that I am helping our environment.
         Within these last few weeks I have found a new love, blogging! In the beginning I was a bit skeptical about blogging, but have found that I really enjoy it. I find myself just going through everyone's blogs and reading of all of the great work that they are doing, and it is so exciting to read and learn from them! I really do enjoy this, and find it inspiring to try some of their new lifestyle changes, or get ideas from this. I really have liked Niki J's idea of trying to eat more vegetables! This has been something I have always wanted to do, but never really found the motivation to do so until I started reading her blog, so if it wasn't for blogging I would still be in phase one of just wanting to change, but not really doing so.
         I can easily say this is my favorite class that I have ever taken here at UMD. I really have never learned so much about our world that I have in these few weeks. I had always taken everything I had for granted, and always expected it all to just be there for me, but never really learned how things work, and the simple tasks that I can do to help our world. I am also excited that form this class I went to Whole Foods Co-op for the first time last weekend, which was such an exciting experience for me. I found myself just wondering around reading the labels on all of the foods, and when I found something that was GM free I was very happy to see that. I bought a lot of organic foods which I am very excited to try, especially a delicious Boca Burger that I just made the other night. I really have enjoyed this class, and am learning so much, and am very excited and happy with the person I am becoming and all of the new different behaviors I have acquired as well!

Eye Opener-Junk on the Brain

Part 1:
Antique: an old collectable item
Junk: any undesired thing or substance
Flea Market: swap meet, place where secondhand or inexpensive good are bartered
Thrift Shop: retail establishment run by a charitable organization to raise money
Upcycling: process of converting waste material or useless materials into new products or materials of better quality or higher environmental value
Resale Shop: the act of selling again to a different party, secondhand selling

Part 2:
All of these terms directly relate to environmental health. They all describe different ways we can reuse our everyday items that we think are trash and find different needs for them. Also, we can go to different places that sell other people's "junk" but find ways to use them for ourselves at a cheap price instead of just throwing everything away. In the end it saves us money, but also it saves the environment from being polluted.
1. Father Time Antiques (antiquing)
395 S. Lake Ave. #1 Duluth, MN 55802
(218) 625-2379
2. Junkers Blog (junking)
Ki Nasseur
From Minnesota, currently living in California
http://junkcamp.blogspot.com/2009/04/calling-all-junkers.html
3. Minnesota Flea Market (flea markets)
Lake Superior College (Annual 2nd Flea Market second Sunday in August)
2101 Trinity Rd.
Duluth, MN 55811
4. GoodWill (thrift shop)
700 Garfield Ave.
Duluth, MN 55802
(218) 722 3050
5. Christopher's Lowell Upcycled Furniture from Local Homes
Found in the Sears Dept. at Miller Hill Mall
1600 Miller Trunk Hwy
Duluth, MN
(218) 725 0395
6. Savers (retail shop)
1740 Mall Dr.
Duluth, MN 55811
(218) 722-1894
I do not do any of these things. I honestly have never really thought of any of these ideas actually. When I have garbage, or something I think I can't use I just throw it away. I have never taken the time to actually look at it and see all of the possible options I could use it for. Also, I never think to shop at thrift stores. I have always just went to Target, so whenever I need something my first thought is to always go there.

Part 3:
1. How to Display Pumpkins, I find this to be cool because I just carved pumpkins this past weekend, and some of them didn't turn out like I invisioned it, but instead of throwing it away i could plant flowers in it, and make it into a fun fall decoration for my front porch! It is also right in season, so the weather and timing is perfect for this idea!
2. Happy Father's Day Eve, I really like this idea, because I always want to get my dad something memorable, but I can never come up with a good idea. I never have a lot of money to spend, but yet I want to get him something meaningful. I do have old glass bottles and jars laying around I can easily decorate and make bright, and put a picture of me on it. He can then put it on his desk as a pencil holder, and always see me, it's cheap and easy to do, and I know he could actually use it!
3. Candle Holder 101 I just really like this idea simply because it just looks awesome! I love decorating my house and having candles all around, especially different scents during specific times of the years, but I never know where to put them. I like the idea of the old rustic sheet metal. I just think it looks really cool and vintage, and when I get more of a permaent residence I want to decorate my house like this, it's very pretty! I like the idea!
I LOVED this website! There was so many cool ideas, and projects that I can do just with stuff I have laying around. I have never really thought about half of this stuff, but now my wheels are spinning on all the endless possibilities I have on decorating!

Eye Opener-Enviromental Working Group

I took a chapstick out of my pocket and decided to look at that, not really knowing what to expect. It was just a plain Chapstick Lip Balm Regular, a common everyday product that I would never even think would be harmful to me or the environment at all. After looking I found that it was between low and medium (closer to low) but still had a bigger red line on the graph that I would of though. I mean, chapstick, I never would of thought something like this would be harmful at all. It also has a small cancer rating, which was very surprising to me as well. The allergies and immunotoxicity was between moderate to high. I never really think or hear of people being allergic to something simple like this, but it makes sense. Also, it stated that there was no information of the use of it and animal testing policy.
I was happy to see that animals were not harmed in the process of making the chapstick I use to test subjects for it. I am absolutely against the testing on animals, because I believe they are just like people and should not subjected to many of the experiments they are put through. But, then I think of all of the other products I use and I know that animals are tested and harmed in the process, which does make me sad and wonder if I really need to be using these products or if there is alternative options. Now everything that I do I find myself really thinking about, which is something that I never did before. My overall behaviors and attitudes are changing a lot from this class, and I find it very intriguing to me.

Eye Opener-CSPI

I really liked this website and found some of the statistics really surprising actually! I was shocked at the general overview of how much fertilizer and pesticides is in the everyday foods around us. After calculating the foods I ingest I found that 465 grams of manure are created by the foods I eat, .1 acres of grain, 0 pounds of pesticides and 2.4 pounds of fertilizer for animal feed. I am a vegetarian and also do not eat eggs or cheese, so I was not surprised after my servings were calculated. I do eat a lot of fruits and vegetables which are healthier and better for the the enviornment, which I already knew. After I scored my diet I found that the highest numbers were in the fruit category (60). I eat a lot of fruit, usually multiple servings everyday. I am trying to cut back on the sweets I do eat also because I know they are not healthy, and are also expensive to make and package. The fruits I do eat are made cheaply, and are good for the land, which is why I am trying to eat more of them, and more organic foods as well. My overall score was 75, which was excellent. I was pleased with this score, but also know it has a lot to do with me not eating meat, and trying to stay away from the packaged foods, like chips and cookies. I really didn't have any low scores, the lowest one was -2, which was in the sweets category. I can always improve my overall diet again by cutting out the sweets I do eat, which is something I am working towards, but sometimes ice cream is just too tempting for me! I was pleased with my overall score and with the results of the foods I am eating. It was pretty interesting to see how after changing my diet how little the whole process takes, and the little amount of energy I am using. It is definitely a good feeling to be helping more than hurting our world! I also did take the pledge, because I want to do my part and help in anyway that I can. Also, I realized that I am not the only person living on this earth, and essentially everyone is affected by my actions in someway. I am going to work on improving my diet (eating less sweets) as well! Wish me luck!

Eco-Footprint-Eye Opener

After taking the test on how much of the earth I really do use I was not too surprised by my results. At the beginning of the summer I spent two weeks in Australia, and was literally "roughing" it compared to my normal lifestyle. This was easily the best experience for me, helping me change my behaviors that I still continue to do today. We did not have any running water, and would use "drop dunnies" to go to the bathroom, and everything we ate we picked from the garden. After living this way I really learned to be grateful for all that I do have. Today, I walk or ride my bike and rarely use my car, unless it is necessary. I also compost the food I cook, and reuse any and everything I can. I take short showers, and in the winter stock up on blankets and sweats. I think if I hadn't went to Australia and actually lived like this my habits would not of changed as much. I am so grateful that I did get to go, and now I live more "green" and help the people around me change their habits as well! I still do think it is crazy though how much we really do waste without evening knowing it. I believe if we all spent a little more time thinking of our actions we could all make a huge impact on the earth and its resources.

Lindsay's Loving Land

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Lindsay, a junior at UMD enrolled in the class HLTH 3500, which focuses on the importance of cutting down our resources and preserving the earth! The focus of my blog is to learn and discuss ways we can all go green and help the earth we live in! There are many simple everyday behaviors we can change and work on to not only help ourself, but everyone else around us as well! I know for me personally I am very health conscious, but there is still many things I can work on!

My blog will contain these types of posts:

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

The members in my web group are:

1.  Sierra W@See-Air-Ah
2. Dr. V/Kristen@Enviro Surfing with Amy and Kristin
3.  Chnice@Eco Summit With Chnice
4. Duzong@Duzong's Treehouse

This is the beginning of making life style changes to help our earth, and also a great way to find out different ways my fellow classmates are making changes as well. I believe if we all work together we can really make a difference!