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!!!

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!!!

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!!!

Reflection: Weeks 9 and 10

These last two weeks have gone super fast and have been pretty easy. We branched out from our regular documentary viewing and article reading, and started to learn about advocacy and good picture taking techniques. This was really interesting to me, because I recently have been really interested in advocacy, but haven't taken the chance to learn more about it. I really enjoy speaking about controversial issues and speaking up for people who don't have a voice, so I think I will be really great at this advocacy project that is coming up.

So in week 9 we learned about advocacy and then did our first post for our advocacy project. Our assignment was to look up our political leaders and find their contact information and political affiliation. I thought that this post would be super easy, but finding our political leaders was harder for me than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed doing this assignment because I got to learn who some of our more local leaders are, and I had no idea who they were before this project.

In week 10 we did not have class. I really enjoyed this, just because I think that all of us are starting to get really burnt out, so I think that we all just needed a little break. Now I feel recharged and ready to hit these last six weeks hard. During this week we had our Photo Essay Eye Opener due. Our assignment was to pick an environmental issue and describe the problem through photos. This project was really hard for me because I am not a very creative person. But after I finished this assignment I felt really proud of myself, so I am really glad that we had this assignment and that I had this chance to push myself.

Overall I really enjoyed these last two weeks!


Have a Great Day!!!

Reflection: Weeks 7 and 8

Wow...another two weeks have gone by. This class is still really interesting to me. I am learning about so many different environmental issues. Before this class, I thought of environmental issues as recycling, air pollution, conserving electricity and alternative forms of power. I never really thought about plastic factories, chemical spills, water privatization, cosmetics, etc... We covered these topics these last two weeks throughout our readings, class assignments, and the documentaries that we watched in class.

During week 7 we were assigned Reading 16: Ill Winds: The Chemical Plant Next Door. This reading was about life in a small rural town and the results of having a chemical plant near by. This was really interesting to me because I haven't lived in a small town, and I have always wondered why people just don't leave if things are so bad. Ii have a better understanding of their lives now. We also watched the documentary, "Green", in class this week. This documentary was about "cancer alley". This documentary was really hard to watch because it showed how horrible our government is and how people are getting sick or hurt because of it. This is just really upsetting to me. We also did an Eye Opener on the environmental effects of one of our favorite cosmetic items. This was really interesting because I have never really thought about how my cosmetics effect the earth.

Week 8 was a little less busy. We were assigned to read Reading 31: Privatizing Water. This article was about how water privatization is starting to become a larger part of our world. The article mentioned the pros and cons of water privatization, and why certain areas would be benefited by this option. We watched half of the documentary, "Thirst", this week, which was about the water privatization issue that we had just read about. The second half of the documentary didn't work, so we spent the class period talking about environmental issues. I really thought that that was a fun way to mix things up.

Overall, I really enjoyed these last two weeks. Thanks for reading, and I hope you guys have a great spring break!!!

Have a Great Day!!!

Reflection: Weeks 5 and 6

I swear this class just keeps getting better and better! I feel like I am really getting a hang on blogging, finally. I now know how to add color, bring in picture, hyperlink, and even bring in a youtube video. I am super proud of that last one. YAY!!!!! I really never thought that I would be able to handle having a blog, and now I think that I can.

In class these last two weeks we have watched some really interesting documentaries. I really enjoyed "Diet for a New America". It was facinating to me that 12 pounds of grains produces only one pound of beef. I honestly don't think that I will ever forget that. And I am going to try giving up beef for a while becuase of that fact. We also just finished watching "Future of Food", which is all about genetically modified foods. I honestly didn't know how much of our food is modified, and I had no idea that these modified foods were/are making people sick. How scary!

These last two weeks we have done reading reviews and eye openers, like usual. I really liked the Eye Opener: CSPI. In this one we learned about how our food choices are affecting the environment. I thought that that was really cool. I was appauled by some of my results, but I feel like that is what was supposed to happen. I now think more about what I am putting in my body and how it will affect the environment.


Have a Great Day!!!

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!!!

Reflection: Weeks 1 & 2

During the first week of class we created a gmail account and looked at a couple UMD Environmental Blogs. In class we were introduced to the class and participated in a rope activity. This activity was used to represent environmental issues that we are facing today.

During the second week of class we learned about the basics of blogging and blogging etiquette. This week we started actually working on our blogs and learning about the class assignments and requirements for our blog. Our assignment for this week was to completely set up our blog according to Dr. V's requirements. I found this to be kind of challenging. There is just a lot of new terms and processes that I need to get used to. So far I find this class a little overwhelming, but I think once I get more practice I will become more comfortable.

I don't think I have learned much about the environment in these first two weeks, but I definitely know that I don't know much about it, and I am really excited to start learning more. I took Computers in Education last semester and we just briefly touched on how to make a blog, so blogging for this class is much more complicated. I have learned a lot so far. I know that the technology aspect of this class is really going to challenge me because I am not super tech-savvy, but I am ready to give it a try, and I am hoping for the best.

For class we had to read about blogging etiquette, and I am going to make sure that I follow proper etiquette for my blog. I will be passionate about the environmental issues that I write about, I will always give credit to other blogs or resources that I get my information from, and I will always be respectful to fellow bloggers. Well thanks for stopping by!

Have a Great Day!!!

Keep it Safe With Me!

Hi, my name is Sara! I am a Community Health Education major at the University of Minnesota Duluth. This blog is going to focus on different ways to keep the environment safe.

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: Noah's Greenlicious Environment

2. Shannon: Keepin' it green with Shannon

3. Brenda: Brenda's Environmental Health

4. Samantha: Running with the Wild

5. Valerie: Valerie the Spring Girl

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."

Thanks for visiting my blog! I hope you keep coming back to help me discover and share new ways to keep the environment safe!