Reflection: Weeks 15 and 16

We are finally done with this class! WOOHOO!!!! I am both excited and a little bit sad about this. This class has probably been one of my favorite classes. I have learned so much about the environment, and have really grown as a person. I have really loved having all of you in my web group, and have really enjoyed getting to know all of you.

Now on to the reflection...

During week 15 we had our last Advocacy assignment. We were assigned to make an online learning activity for the rest of our web group to complete in order for them to learn more about our topics. I found this assignment to be kind of challenging. It was harder then I thought to find interactive activities online. I now appreciate what teacher do more than I did before. This week we also had Sue Whitney come in to talk to us about junking. Sue seemed like a really great, down to earth women. On the last day of class we got to go outside and reflect on the class. This was a really fun way to end the class.

Week 16 was finals week so we didn't meet in class, but we still had assignments. We had to complete our last Eye Opener assignment, which was just doing all of the interactive activities that our web group made for us, and then writing a little bit about each one. This Eye Opener was really easy for me because I accidentally did all of the activities for the last Advocacy post instead of waiting until this week. Oh well...this way I got to do them twice. This week was just a wrap up week. I finished all of my Share and Voices and caught up on all of my commenting. Overall, it was a very relaxing week.

Well thanks for reading.

Have a Great Day!!!

Share and Voice: Recycle Caps With Aveda

I am really excited about this last share and voice for a couple of reasons. Of course I am excited about it because I feel like it is an interesting topic, but I am even more excited about this environmental issue because it came from an unlikely source, Aveda Salons.

They are choosing to do something about a serious recycling issue. Currently, most plastic bottle caps are not able to be recycled so they end up in landfills. Contents of the landfills often spill into our water supplies which then harms the animals that live in that area. Due to this problem, they "are building a new recycling program for plastic bottle caps in which caps are collected at stores and schools and then sent by Aveda to their recycler where the material is recycled into new caps and containers. Aveda has been able to work closely with their suppliers to develop ways to make new caps and containers from the recycled caps." Go to the website to read more about the type of plastic tops they are collecting. You can bring them to any Aveda Store/Salon and they will be repurposed into Aveda packaging. How cool!

To read the article go to: http://aveda.aveda.com/aboutaveda/caps.asp

Have a Great Day!!!

Eye Opener: Online Learning Activites

Valerie:Health Care Wheel of Fortune
For her game you needed to guess different letters to make up basic health care words. I did horribly on her game, but had a lot of fun doing it. It was really fun to go back to the basics, and try to figure out fun medical words. I think that this game would be a fun way for kids to start learning about health care.

Shannon: The Food Groups Game
Her quiz was focused on teaching kids the food groups. This went along well with her Advocacy topic. The object of the quiz was to drag and drop different foods into their correct food groups. I got 100% on her quiz and had a lot of fun taking it. I really enjoyed the "happy dance" that the food groups did after their servings were full. I think that young children would have a blast with this quiz.

Sam:Healthy Kids Quiz
Her quiz was also made for kids, and was focused on teaching them the importance of a healthy diet. After each question you answered you got some more information on each question, and if you got a question wrong, that you were able to go back and try again. I think that it is really important for children to get a second try. I feel that children would learn a lot from this quiz.

Noah: Health IT Puzzle
His activity was on Health Care Information Technology. He decided to create a crossword puzzle about this subject. I think that that was really creative him, and I am very impressed with his work. I was unfortunately unable to get his link to work on my computer. I think that you need some special software to download his crossword, but I bet it was really interesting and informative. I think that Noah's topic is one that I would like to learn more about, because it is something that could really affect our future.


Great Job to Everyone! All of your activities were FUN!


Have a Great Day!!!

Share and Voice: How Eau Claire is Going GREEN

So I went to Eau Claire, WI this weekend to visit my best friend and my sister. I told them about the stuff that we are learning in class, and asked if there was anything environmentally cool that was going on at their school.

I found out that Eau Claire is going completely tray free at all of their dining locations starting this fall. Christian Wise, one of the leaders of this movement was interviewed for this news article and shared some really interesting facts. Wise shared that, "trays account for a significant portion of our dishwashing — more than 6,000 are cleaned each day on campus, resulting in more than 396,000 gallons of water being used for this one purpose only." "Going trayless lessens the environmental impact we generate here on campus. A significant amount of water and electricity is saved, food waste is diverted from landfills and, above all, we make a small dent in reducing carbon emissions."

The best part is that students are really supportive of this movement. The article ended with a list of other things that Eau Claire is doing to be environmentally friedly. So please check out this article and read more about what Eau Claire is doing to help the environment.

Please go to this link to read the news article. This article is really interesting and pretty short: http://www.uwec.edu/newsreleases/09/apr/0403trayless.htm The article also includes contact information for Christian Wise if you have any questions.

I find this really inspirational. I hope that UMD can follow in Eau Claire's footsteps. What a great idea!
I hope you enjoyed reading!!!

Have a Great Day!!!

Share and Voice: Meal Time Challenge

Ok, so I realize that spring break was ages ago, but I still want to share with you guys something cool that happened while I was on my trip. Over Spring Break this year, I went to Gulfport, Mississippi, to participate in a service trip doing hurricane relief for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We did this service trip through PDA (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance). PDA has Volunteer Villages that people can stay in. They can hold up to 90 volunteers a week. Since they get so many people volunteering, they decided to do something about their excessive waste.

Their solution to this problem was simple, yet very beneficial. They asked us all to save our plastic cups that we used at every meal, and save our paper bags that we put our lunches in. This made a huge difference. Instead of me going through three plastic cups a day, I only needed to go through a couple during the entire week. The same thing happened with the paper bags. Instead of me using a different paper bag every day, I reused two for the whole week. The amount that I saved doesn’t really seem like a big deal; I saved roughly three paper bags, and roughly five or six plastic cups in that week. But now, take that amount of cups and bags saved, and multiply it by the 80 people who were there with me that week. That is a ton of waste that was saved. And even better, think about how many cups and paper bags PDA saves in a month, or even a year. This is amazing! I was so excited to hear that even though PDA is such a big organization, that they were still concerned about saving the environment.

Now I explained what we did that week…so lets talk about what we all can do to minimize our waste during the meal times.

• Silverwear: You can either use metal silverwear at your meals, or save the plastic silverwear that you get at the food court and reuse them the next time you eat.
• Napkins: If you take too many napkins when you go out to a restauraunt, take the extras home with you to use at your next meal.
• Lunch Bags: If you use paper bags to pack your lunch, reuse them until they rip. Or even better, invest in an insulated lunch box, that you can reuse for an extremely long time.
• Bring Your Own Food to School: The school must repackage everything in order to get them into personal servings. This produces a lot of waste.

Everything that I mentioned above will not only help in reducing waste, but it will also help you save some money; so why don't you try to help the environment and yourself out, and try to do one of the suggestions above to save waste.



To learn more about the organization that I volunteered through, you can go the the PDA website at: http://www.pcusa.org/pda/index.htm


You can also go to My Zero Waste and read the article, "How to pack a reduced waste lunch box". This article has a bunch of really cool suggestions.


Have a Great Day!!!

Advocacy Project: Discovery Health: Stop Smoking Quiz

I have always felt strongly against smoking. I really have no idea how this began, but I just know that it has always been something that I am interested in standing up against. I feel that the consequences of smoking are too destructive for both the smoker, and the innocent bystanders. I feel that it is important for everyone to have a basic knowledge of the effects of smoking, so that us why I chose to do my advocacy project on this issue.

I had a really hard time finding an interactive activity about smoking, and when I did find something, it was for Kindergartners, and asked questions like....is smoking bad for you? I was a little frustrated, but then I found another quiz that was for adults, and it had some really great questions. I learned a lot from taking this quiz, so I felt like it would be a great interactive learning activity. Please take the quiz and read the additional information that comes up with the answers. I bet you will learn something new. Please write down the most interesting thing that you learned by taking this quiz.

To take this quiz go to this link: http://health.discovery.com/centers/addiction/smoking/quiz/smokingquiz.html

For more information on smoking and second hand smoking, please go to....

• What Smoking Does To Your Body: There is another link at the bottom of this website that is about what smoking does to your loved ones. I think that link is really cool as well.
  
• Facts on Passive Second Hand Smoking: This one is intended for youth, but I feel like it has a lot of really good basic informaiton for you to all know about second hand smoking.
• Smoking may be Banned in Cars: I included this link becuase it is the exact focus of my Advocacy Project. This link is really cool because there are extra links that allow you to test your knowledge.
  

I hope you all learned a lot! Thanks for doing my activity!


Have a Great Day!!!

Advocacy Project: Letter to Public Official

May 15th, 2009
Senator Amy Klobuchar
U.S. Senate
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Klobuchar,

I am writing to you because I am concerned about the health of children. Smoking has become a problem that not only affects the person who is smoking, but also effects innocent bystanders. Too often the innocent bystanders are the children of the parents who smoke. Second hand smoke is even more detrimental to a child's health because their developing lungs are more susceptible to damage. I realize that people have the right to smoke, but I feel that they do not have the right to make other people sick from it. According to American's for Nonsmokers' Rights (ANR), second hand smoking can have the following affects on children: low birth weight, higher rates of SIDS, cognitive impairments, respiratory problems, asthma, and other repercussions as an adult. Some even view smoking around children as child abuse. I feel that it is our responsibility to look out for their rights until they can. I read in an article from abc News "that the concentrations of tobacco smoke in cars will frequently be three to five times what they are in offices or in a bar". With this information, it seems obvious that something needs to be done. I feel that there should be a ban on parents smoking in the car with their children.

Other states such as California, Maine, Louisiana, and Arkansas have already passed laws on this exact issue, and it has gone over fairly well, even with parents who smoke. If it can work in other states, I feel that it will be able to work in Minnesota. I hope that you will write a piece of legislation that will ban smoking in cars with children. With your help, children will have a better chance of living a life without the consequences of second hand smoke. You can help make children healthier and happier.

Sincerely,

Sara H


Have a Great Day!!!

Share and Voice: Enviro-Cool Award

I would like to thank Derek for giving me the Enviro-Cool Award for my Share and Voice on the Fourth Annual City-Wide Spring Sweep.

I am excited to pass this award on to Christen for her Share and Voice on the ESG Highway Cleanup. I as well am a part of Eta Sigma Gamma (ESG) and was unfortunately unable to make it to the highway cleanup, so I am really excited to hear that Christen did a Share and Voice on her experience doing it. I think that picking up trash is such a great way to make the environment better. I think that it is very respectful for people to pick up other people's trash. Way to go! Check out her post!


Award Instructions

1. Leave a comment below so that I know you "picked up" the award.
2. Create a Share and Voice post that says you've received the award and indicate who the award is from (be sure to hyperlink).
3. Also indicate to whom you are going to pass on the award and why. Be sure to hyperlink the blogger (use main blog URL) and the blog title (use the specific URL for that blog post).
4. Copy and paste these instructions at the bottom of your post.
5. Publish the post.
6. Visit each blogger you've awarded and leave a comment telling them they've won.
7. Continue the process...


Have a Great Day!!!

Reflection: Weeks 13 and 14

Yet another two weeks have come and gone. I cannot believe that we only have two more weeks left of this class. This class has really wound down, which I am really grateful for. I was really sick last week, so I am a little behind on some assignments, but I will be getting them done this weekend. Sorry group!

During week 13 we watched the short movie, The Story of Stuff, which explains how the accumulation of "stuff occurs". We also went to Bagley Nature Area this week to learn how to navigate with compasses. That was really fun for me because I had never learned how to use a compass before. I always just thought that it was used to find north; I had no idea about finding your bearing, or anything else like that. This day of class was really fun because we got to get out of the classroom and do something different. Our assignment for this week was to do the third part of our Advocacy Project: Issue Overview.

During week 14 we had someone come in to talk to us about his work with Americore. This was extremely interesting to me because I have just recently become very interested in joining Americore or the Peace Core for a few years after I graduate. We also had a really fun "Junking" challenge this week in class. It was really fun to see what kinds of ideas each web group came up with. I also thought it was really fun to work with our group, because we really haven't gotten to know eachother that much in class. Our assignment for this week was to do the fourth part of our Advocacy Project: Letter to the Public Official.

Well thanks for reading! I hope you all have a wonderfull weekend! See ya in class on Tuesday!

Have a Great Day!!!

Share and Voice:Fourth Anual City-Wide Spring Sweep

So today I was trying to pay some of my bills when I ran across this really cool add in my Comfort Systems bill.

This add brings up the great question..."What do you do with sand that is plowed up onto your sidewalks?". The add continues to explain that raking or sweeping sand into the street is bad for our streams because anything that is on our streets ends up in creeks. All of this water ends up in Lake Superior. The add mentions some of the main problems with sand and grit ending up in the water. "The sand and grit fills in and destroys habitat for fish, insects and aquatic life; sediment clouds streams...which means that trout cannot see their food; and sand and grit carries other pollutants like oil, grease, and nutrients".

So here is the Solution: Participate in this Fourth Annual City-Wide Spring Sweep!

When: During Spring Cleaning. (Early April through May)
Where: Sidewalks, boulevards, gutters and ditches around your home
What: A community effort to sweep up sand and dirt
Why: Protect our streams and Lake Superior
How: Collect sand and grit and bring it to a neighborhood Road Sand Collection Site

To find a drop off site near you call 218-730-4130, or come find me and I can let you look at the brochure for possible drop of sites.

PLEASE join me in the Fourth Annual City-Wide Spring Sweep! I had no idea that sand and grit was bad for the environment, so why not do something about it. Use the collection sites that they have created for this issues, and try to make our lakes safer and cleaner.

The add is for the stream protection project and is brought you by the City of Duluth and the South St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District, through funding from the Great Lakes Commission.


The Western Lake Superior Sanitation District was also mentioned in this add to help with any of your other sanitation needs.

If you want to learn more about where you can recycling, garbage, wastewater, polution, composting, and more environmental issues, please check out the Western Lake Superior Sanitation District homepage at: http://www.wlssd.duluth.mn.us/


Have a Great Day!!!

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

Introduction

-The issue that I want to discuss is consequences of second hand smoke, especially on children. For my advocacy project I would like to ask that new legislation be made in Minnesota to protect children from second hand smoke in cars. There have been some great steps being made towards protecting people from second hand smoke. According to American's for Nonsmokers' Rights (ANR), second hand smoking can have the following affects on children: low birth weight, higher rates of SIDS, cognitive impairments, respiratory problems, asthma, and other repercussions as an adult. This really proves the need for new legislation to be made in order to protect children from their parent's smoking. Some even view smoking around children as child abuse.

As of October 1, 2007 all indoor public areas have been made smoke free thanks to the Freedom to Breathe Act of 2007. Also, in a couple different states there are laws that ban smoking around foster children. Other states have even made laws against smoking with children in the car. Each state that has made a law of this type has slightly different consequences for breaking this law, and slightly different age limits of children that cannot be in the car with a parent who is smoking. I would really like for Minnesota to have a law like this.

Who is affected by the issue?

- I feel that children are affected the most by smoking that goes on in a car. In the research that I did on this issue I learned that children are more at risk from second hand smoke due to the fact that their lungs are still developing. This leads to more respiratory problems in their future.

-If a law is made to ban smoking in cars with children; children will be healthier, and have less medical problems. I realize that parents that currently smoke may have some issues with this new law, but I think that if they really care about their child's well being, they will accept this new law.

What are the consequences of the issue?

-I feel that the consequences of this issue are mostly positive. I think that a smoking ban for cars with children will not only positively affect the child' s health, but it will also positively affect the parent's health. This ban will most likely lead to the parents smoking a few less cigarettes a day. I realize that this ban will be a huge challenge for some parents, but I honestly feel that they will get over it.

-I think that this ban will also positively affect society. If less cigarettes are smoked; the air will be healthier. I also realize that cigarette companies may not like this ban because they may lose some sales.

What is the economic impact of the issue?

-I think that the economic costs of this issue would be less money coming into the economy from cigarette sales or even medical bills.

-I think that the economic benefits of this issue would be healthier people that will be able to work more.

What is the social impact of the issue?

-I think that the social costs of this issue would occur for people who smoke. They may not have the same social opportunities as they used to have.

-I think that the social benefits of this issue are healthier people.

What are the barriers?

-I think the main barrier to this problem is the parents of children who do smoke.

-In order to eliminate this barrier, the parents will need to either find other times and places to smoke, or figure out how to quit smoking.

-Quitting smoking would create many barriers for many people. There would be issues of money, time, childcare, and transportation. In order to get rid of a few barriers, maybe there could be free smoking cessation classes with child care provided.

What are the resources?

-We will need the support of the community and the State Senator. We will need legislation to be written by the Senator. In order to get the support of the Senator, we will need the people to write letters to her that show the importance of this issue. These letters will need to be well researched and written.

What is the history of this issue?

-There hasn't been any history on this particular issue in Minnesota, so that is why I am wanting new legislation to be written on this issue. Other states such as California, Maine, Louisiana, and Arkansas have already passed similar laws, and it has been very well taken.

Allies & Opponents

-People/Groups who would support this issue would be:Families of non-smokers, families of smokers (I read that even parents who smoke feel that this ban would be a good idea), and Non-Smokers' Rights Groups, such as ASH or ANR.

-People/Groups who would oppose this issue would be: Parents/Families of smokers and Smokers' Rights Groups, such as Minnesotans Against Smoking Bans and The Smokers Club.

My Recommendation

-I would really like to have Senator Amy Klobuchar propose some new legislation that would ban smoking in the car with children.

Have a Great Day!!!

Reflection: Weeks 11 and 12

It's FINALLY sunny!!! YAY!!! What a great start to this weekend!

The last two weeks of class have just flown by. During Week 11, we watched the documentary, "Unnatural Causes", in class. This documentary was incredibly interesting to me. The documentary basically explained that power, money, and economic ranking all relate to a person's health status. I did a review on this documentary, and loved it!!! This was by far my favorite documentary that we have watched in class. We then learned about the goals of Healthy People 2010 and found out that we were going to choose one, and find some Environmental Legislation, using THOMAS. We used that information to make our next advocacy post.

In Week 12, we talked more about our Advocacy Projects. We also were assigned Reading 20 from our book. This reading was about the fact that the hole in the ozone layer is closing. We had a great class conversation on Thursday about how we are used to hearing the bad about the environment, and that it is also really important to hear about the good that is coming from all of our hard work. If people start thinking that what they are doing isn't making a difference, they will eventually give up. I think that this article really brought our class' spirit up.

Earlier this week we received reusable cloth bags from Super One, so in class on Thursday we took a class picture and made a thank you note out of a recycled Super One paper bag. I think that the whole class had fun with that, I know I did.

Well, thanks for reading! I hope you all have a blast this weekend!!!!!

Have a Great Day!!!

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

The topic that I looked into was Tobacco Use.

Goal: Reduce illness, disability, and death related to tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

I am really concerned about second hand smoking, so I chose to focus on the areas in this goal that relate to smoking its effects on the outdoor and indoor environment that people live in.

From the Progress Quotient Chart I found the following progress on this goal:

section 27-10: Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: nonsmokers 4+ years, has been met by 136%.

section 27-11: Smoke-free and tobacco-free schools, is 13% towards its target.

section 27-12: Worksite policies prohibiting smoking, is 6% towards its target.
section 27-13: Smoke-free indoor air laws:
a. Private workplaces are 8% towards the target

b. Public workplaces are 12% towards the target

c. Restaurants are 6% towards the target

d. Public transportation is 6% towards the target

e. Day care centers are 10% towards the target

f. Retail stores are 4% towards the target

i. Bars are 4% towards the target

To see the graphs for the goal's progress you can go to this link: Figure 27-1. Progress Quotient Chart for Focus Area 27: Tobacco Use

Progress

• All of the sections of my goal moved towards their target, and one of them even exceeded its goal.
  

Disparities-I found the following information from Healthy People 2010

• The Asian or Pacific Islander population had the best rate of working in worksites that prohibit smoking.
• Exposure to tobacco smoke at home among children showed persistent disparities by race and ethnicity and by income level.
  
• The Hispanic population had the best rate in 1998, with half as many Hispanic children aged 6 years and under exposed to tobacco smoke as black non-Hispanic and white non-Hispanic children were.
  
• Among populations by income, children in poor and near-poor families were twice as likely to be exposed to tobacco smoke as children in middle/high-income families were. Poor families have over 100% greater health disparity compared to high income families.
  
• Black non-Hispanics had 100% health disparitydifference for exposure to tobacco smoke at home in comparison with the best group Latinos or Hispanics.
• Black non-Hispanics also, increase their health disparity over 50% when it comes to exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.

Opportunities & Challenges

• None
  

Emerging Issues-I found the following information from Healthy People 2010

• Potentially Reduced Exposure Products (PREPS) deliver lower amounts of toxic, carcinogenic, or addictive agents to the user compared with conventional products.
• Youth obtaining tobacco from other sources as it becomes harder for youth to access tobacco from retail sources.
• Smokeless Tobacco-example: Hookah, can lead to use of other carcinogenic things.
• Internet Sale of Tobacco Products- weak or no age verification mechanisms.

Related Bill
I was not able to find any current national legislation relating to what I would like to advocate. I was looking for a bill on second hand smoke relief or smoke free homes and cars. I was unable to find any legislation on these topics through Dr. V.'s links, so I am going to do some research on my own, and find something I would like there to be legislation on. I am leaning towards a ban on smoking in the car with underage children. My next step is to contact my local representatives and ask them to propose new legislation on this issue.

I will be calling Minnesota Representative:Roger Reinert and Minnesota Senator: Yvonne Prettner Solon and ask them to create some legislation on this issue.


Have a Great Day!!!

Documentary Review: Unnatural Causes

The documentary that we watched this week was Unnatural Causes...is inequality making us sick? The section of this documentary that we watched was, "In sickness and in wealth". The main themes of this section were how jobs, wealth, etc.. affect our biology, and why some people get more sick than others and die sooner.

Summary
The documentary went around to four different neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky and interviewed someone who lived there to see what their life was like in that area. They first went to a North East neighborhood and interviewed a man named Jim Taylor. This area was a very high income area. The people who lived in this area were in the top 1% of income, which was more than the bottom 90% of people's incomes combined. Jim says that he feels safe in his neighborhood, and that there is no excess death in this area. The people in this area actually have a life expectancy that is two years over the national average.
Tonya was in the second neighborhood that this documentary looked at. This neighborhood was in southern Louisville, and was mainly middle class citizens. There was one thing that divided this neighborhood, and it was education. Apparently college graduates live two and a half years longer than people with just a high school diploma. College tuition keeps on increasing, so this division is a situation of money. Not everyone can afford going to college, therefore, people in this area have unequal lifespans. The people in this area will live four years less than the people in the really rich neighborhoods like Jim.
In West/Central Louisville, Cory was interviewed. This area was poor and had the median wealth of Louisville. In this area diseases sets in earlier, and people live six years less than the people in the really rich neighborhoods like Jim. In this neighborhood there aren't many businesses, all there is are liquor stores and fast food places. People who lose their jobs may need to leave home in order to find another. This is really bad because home ownership builds financial security.
The last neighborhood that was visited was farther West in Louisville. Mary, who lived there, never graduated from high school and is living at, or below the poverty level. There is also a lot of crime in this area. People who live in this area will live nine years less than people in the richest neighborhoods like Jim. She lives off of social security and eats what can fit into her budget. She often eats only one meal a day in order to make her money last. Many people in this area are unemployed and feel like they have no control over how their lives are going to turn out. Here is an example of a problem that occurs in an area like Mary is living in. Mary currently needs medicine to be able to work, she needs to get health coverage in order to afford her medicine, but she needs to have a job in order to receive health coverage. This is a vicious circle, and there really isn't any way that she can stop this from happening.

The rest of this documentary explains the main reasons for unequal health in our nation. Life expectancy relies on resources available to people, like education, money, or your economic ranking. Social class influences events that impinge on people's lives. Poverty decreases control of one's life. No control leads to stress which leads to the body releasing cortosol (which puts your body on alert for survival), which increases heart rate and blood pressure, which accelerates aging and leads to an early death. Also, the higher demand of job you have, the more stress you have. There is more crime in poor areas, which also leads to a more stressful lifestyle. The documentary mentioned that the differences that people have are not natural, they come out of social policies that produce inequality. There is a lack of equal access to resources. Also, the more education someone has, the longer they live. I have heard all of these things before, but I have never actually seen proof of why this is. This documentary was really moving to me because of that. It really made me think of how lucky I am for the lifestyle that I have.

What Challenged My
Thinking
The first thing that really struck me was that we always see America representing good health, yet we spend tons of money on medical care, and still live shorter and sicker lives than any other industrialized country. We are ranked 30th for life expectancies, and more babies die here than in really poor places. Also, there are 47 million people in America that don't have health care coverage.

People who are in the top 1% of income have more money than the bottom 90% of people's incomes combined. I think that that is ridiculous.

I found the following to be really interesting. People who are poor and smoke are worse off than people who are rich and smoke. The same thing is true for stress. If two people are eating the same exact diet, but one is really stressed, the person who is stressed will form more plaque in their blood vessels, which will lead to an earlier death. This really explains why health is unequally distributed. Finally, black people that live just as well as white people, will still live less long. The reason for this is discrimination. Discrimination puts someone on constant guard, which leads to higher stress, which leads to an unhealthy lifestyle.

The more education, money, and status you have; the less stress you have, which means that you release less cortosol; which leads to less immune issues, which leads to better health. This proves how people who are poor and less educated have such a lower life expectancy. The relation between these traits are incredible.

The thing that I find really sad is that on top of the fact that rich people have less overall stress, they also have the money and resources available to reduce the stress that they do have. They have the time to exercise, the money to go on vacations, the money to eat healthier, etc.. This really is unfair becuase the people who have the most stress, the poor, don't have the resources they need in order to reduce their stress. This means that they most likely have at least twice the amount of stress that wealthier people have, which means that they will live relatively shorter, less quality lives.


Additional Resources
I found an article called, "Health, Income, and Inequality", written by, Angus Deaton. This article was written through the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research).
http://www.nber.org/reporter/spring03/health.html#N_*_

You can also visit the following website to learn more about the documentary, "Unnatural Causes".
http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/video_clips.php

Have a Great Day!!!