Reflection: Weeks 3 and 4

These last two weeks have been going great! I FINALLY think I am getting a hang of blogging. It still isn't something I look foreward to do, but I also am not dreading it anymore. Yay!!! I think part of the reason things are getting easier for me is because i finally talked to Dr. V. and had her go over some of the blogging lingo that I still didn't understand, and she explained google reader to me, so that made things a lot less complicated and helped me save some time. Another reason why I think I am handling blogging better these last two weeks is becuase we are mainly doing posts now. The first two weeks were focussed on setting up our blogs, and that was WAY too much for me. So these last two weeks have been much easier.

These last two weeks we read an article on the use of documentaries on environmental issues. This article made me veiw documentaries in a different way. I still believe that they are important for the general public to learn about things that they don't have easy access to, but, I also now realize that what I am seeing isn't exactly what things may look like.

This last week we have been watching "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. This documentary is all about the effects of global warming. This film really openned my eyes. I had no idea how bad global warming can get, and had no idea how bad it has gotten. This film really put things into perspective, and I really am going to take this issues much more seriously from here on out.

Finally, this week we had our first Eye Opener assignment due. We were suppost to learn about ecological footprints and take three environmental quizzes and talk about our result. By the end of this assignment, we all knew what our ecological footprint was, and how many earths it would take for the world to live the way that we lived. This assignment was really interesting, but I was very let down and dissappointed with my results. I learned that I really am not living as "green" as I thought I was. This was really great for me to learn though, becuase now I can start to try different things that will help make my ecological foootprint smaller.

Have a Great Day!!!

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

Ok...so I just took the Earth Day Footprint Quiz, and if everyone lived the way I did, we would need 4.2 Earths. I am really shocked that I am making such an impact on this earth. I really thought that I lived a pretty green lifestyle. I ride the bus to school, I always recycle, I try my best to turn off the lights when I am not using them, and I try to conserve water. So in doing all of this I am really bummed that I still have such a high impact. The quiz made a pie chart for how my ecological footprint breaks down and I got a better idea of why my footprint may be so high. Food makes up more than 1/4 of my ecological footprint. The first question of this quiz was how often do you eat meat, and my response was every day. I think that that made a huge impact on my footprint. The second question was how much of the food that I buy is locally grown and fresh, and I had to say probably only half. I learned in Community Health that Duluth hardly makes any food locally, so I knew that a lot of my food that I purchase isn't local. I know that that also made a HUGE impact on my footprint. The other part of my pie graph that really stood out to me was that almost 1/2 of my footprint was made up of the services I use. I think that represented my house, electricity, trash, and bus usage. What I learned form this is that I really need to start walking more and begin to eat less meat.

The next quiz I took was the Air Polution Indicator Quiz. This quiz asked for my zip code, and then evaluated the air polution in my county (St. Louis). Apparently, as of 2002, St. Louis County had 20% of the worst/dirtiest air released carcinogens due to emissions from factories and power plants. Also, 6% of St. Louis County houses are at high risk for Lead Hazards. In 1999, Smog caused St. Louis County to have 10% of the worst/dirtiest air comparred to other counties, and that it had 20% of the worst noncancerous air emissions. These results really make me nervous about the air that I am breathing.

The last quiz that I took was the Travel Calculator. This one asked all sorts of different questions about how far you travel to do different activities, how many people you travel with, and what your mode of transportation is. This quiz made me feel better about myself. While I am at school I don't have a car, and I don't travel home too often, so I can understand why my results said I am better than average in my travel impact on the world. The only time I drive a lot is when I finally get to go home. I drive all the way back to south of the cities, which is about a 150 miles one way. Then I drive around to see my friends. I think that I can cut back on my driving when I go home and walk to some of my friends' places, or at least make sure that I carpool.

Overall I learned a lot from this activity. I learned that everyone really needs to be careful of the amount of resources that they use and REALLY try to minimize their impact on the world. I think that more people need to learn about their ecological footprint, becuase I bet that many people may feel the same way as me, and think that they are already doing enough. I learned from this activity that I am not.

Have a Great Day!!!