Share and Voice: Eco-Friendly Flash Drives

I was once again I was just looking for some more "green items" and found these cool flash drives that are made from 100% recycled PVC and some are even made from wood too! Totally cool I thought...something I think that we should get too (hint hint).

To find out more on these cool flash drives go to: Eco-Friendly Flash Drives

"It's not easy to be Green."-Kermit

Share and Voice: Eco-Friendly Watches

I was just doing some research just to see what "green items" I could find and I ran across this watch that runs completely on light power and never needs a battery! Pretty cool I know and you can get it at JcPenny but it does cost a pretty penny ($395) but it helps the environment and it looks classy too!

To find out some more check out the site on where I found out about it : Eco-Friendly Watches

"It's not easy to be Green."-Kermit

Advocacy Project: Letter to Public Official or Letter to the Editor

Ingrid K.

888 Lily Pad Lane

Waterville, MN 56812

April 27, 2009

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar

302 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510-2304

RE: Support for Bill S. 624.

Dear  Senator Klobuchar,

I highly recommend you to support bill S.624, which would provide 100,000,000 people with first time access to safe drinking water and sanitation on a sustainable basis by 2015 by improving the capacity of the United States Government to fully implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005. 

This bill would foster global cooperation on research and technology development, including regional partnerships among water experts to address safe drinking water, sanitation, water resource management and other water-related issues. It would also  establish regional and cross-border cooperative activities between scientists and specialists that work to share technologies and best practices, mitigate shared water challenges, foster international cooperation, and defuse cross-border tensions. It would also provide grants through the United States Agency for International Development to foster the development, dissemination, and increased and consistent use of low cost and sustainable technologies, such as household water treatment, hand washing stations, and latrines, for providing safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene that are suitable for use in high priority countries, particularly in places with limited resources. 

 Every year more than 5 million human beings die from illnesses linked to unsafe drinking water. Having access to safe water would decrease the rates of disease, such as malaria and tuberculosis. I hope that you decide to vote "yes" to bill S.624 that will provide safe water to those that are in dying need of it.

Thank you for your time Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Sincerely,

Ingrid K.

"It's not easy to be Green."-Kermit

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

Introduction

•  What is the issue/problem?
  

People not having safe drinking water access and sanitation.

• What current legislation has been proposed to address this? (Identify bill # and name)
  

S.624 Title: A bill to provide 100,000,000 people with first-time access to safe drinking water and sanitation on a sustainable basis by 2015 by improving the capacity of the United Stated Government to fully implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005.

Who is affected by the issue?

• Who is affected the most?
  

Poor people through out the world with out clean and safe water access.

• Who loses, and what do they lose?

Tax payers in the US, higher taxes

•  Who gains, and what do they gain?
  

The poor people through out the world, access to safe drinking water and sanitation

What are the consequences of the issue?

• For the individuals mostly affected?
  

Not having safe water to drink (which is a basic need of life) they would also would need it for sanitation and for hygiene needs as well

• For their families?
  

This could cause family members to get sick which could have some members to not be well enough to work or even cause them to die

•  For society?
  

Not having proper sanitation could cause a very unsafe place to live with parasites being everywhere and not having proper water access to keep clean would cause huge outbreaks.

What is the economic impact of the issue?

• What are the economic costs of the issue, and who bears these costs?
  

Tax prices could go up in order to fund this cause, which would not help out the economy in the US

•   What are the economic benefits of the issue, and who benefits?
  

The US would benefit with international relationships. This would also help out the economy in the countries that need the water by improving the over health with better water access

What is the social impact of the issues?

• What are the social costs of the issue, and who bears these costs?
  

Everyone everywhere will eventually be paying for water if we don’t act on this, which implies that people will not be able to pay for the water access, which will cause people being ill and dying. This could also cause mass riots and fights just to get access for water.

• What are the social benefits of the issue, and who benefits?
  

This would create fewer illnesses due to getting safe/clean water access. The US would also create alliance with these countries that we are helping out.

What are the barriers?

•  What are the barriers to addressing this issue?
  

The funding to get labor over there to fix the water issues. How much would the taxes increase and would this cause tax payers to get mad.

•   How can they be overcome?
  

Having alternative ideas to prioritizing water. Alternative plans for funding.

What are the resources?

• What resources will we need to address this issue?

Where the funding will come from

•  Where and how can they be tapped?
  

Increase taxes

What is the history of this issue?

•  What is the history of the issue in the community?
  

This is not yet an issue for our community because we have the access to safe/clean water still.

• What past efforts were made to address it?
  

There was the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, which addressed the same subject.

• What were the results?
  

It is still in the senate.

Allies & Opponents

• Who would support this issue?
  

Politicians, some citizens

• Who would oppose this issue?
  

The tax payers

Your Recommendation

• How do you want policy-makers to vote on this proposed policy?
  

Right now I do not think that it is a good idea for our economy at this point to have this bill passed. But I do think that this is a good idea for the future when our economy is stronger. Just at this point in time I do not think we have the funding for this and we just plain have enough problems here in the US to solve.

Please feel free to give me any insight on any of the questions. This was a little difficult for me so my feelings will not be hurt!!

"It's not easy to be Green."-Kermit

Reflection: Weeks 11 & 12

Week 11:

During this week we watched a documentary "Unnatural Causes." It was about how socioeconomic status may be one of the largest determinants of health. This documentary showed the big differences of socioeconomic statuses between the rich and the poor. It was very good to see how those with a higher economic status was healthier and those with a low economic status were not as healthy. We also did a post on our advocacy project that involved us picking a environmental related objective from Healthy People 2010 and research the progress that it has made.

Week 12:

During this week we did Reading 20 which talked about how the ozone layer will "fix itself" in the next three years. I really don't know how useful this information really is because it was published in 2002 and the people that published it is a christian group as well. We all got to see Dr.V favorite thing in the world to do (junking) which is where you just take things and remake it for another use! It was really good to see some ideas and in this economy.

"It's not easy to be Green."-Kermit

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

1.  

Goal: Promote health for all through a healthy environment

Short update: The safe drinking water; community water systems increased 55% towards the targeted goal (8-5)

2.    

Progress: The proportion of the population served by community water systems meeting EPA standards (8-5) increased from 84 percent to 90 percent, achieving 55 percent of its targeted change by 2003. Notably, 90 percent of the U.S. population is served by such water systems.

Disparities: None

Opportunities and Challenges: The passage of the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act in October 2000 amended the Clean Water Act to (1) establish a national grants program to improve consistency of water quality standards, beach monitoring, and public notification approaches and (2) strengthen national information collection. EPA established its BEACH program to promote greater consistency in beach health programs and to provide better information to the public. 

Emerging Issues: Beach monitoring programs are typically run by local health agencies, and programs vary by location. Monitoring results are inconsistent because agencies use different indicator organisms and varying monitoring frequencies. 

3.

S.624 
Title: A bill to provide 100,000,000 people with first-time access to safe drinking water and sanitation on a sustainable basis by 2015 by improving the capacity of the United States Government to fully implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005. 
Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] (introduced 3/17/2009)   Cosponsors (2) 
Latest Major Action: 3/17/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

My Political Representative: Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon and Senator Amy Klobuchar

In my opinion I think we should pass this bill because everyone needs water to live and no one should have to worry about getting sick from their water. Water is a basic needs if we do anything to help out other countries I think we should at least help them out with the basic needs of life...water being one of them. This would be a good starting place!

"It's not easy to be Green."-Kermit

Reflection: Weeks 9 & 10

Week 9

On Tuesday we had a  discussion about advocacy. We learned what advocacy is, how one can be an advocate, and broke down some common misconceptions about it. I even learned that you don't have to be a person shouting out your cause, you can just be a support that no one may ever see.

On Thursday we had a discussion on photography and the concept of Photo Voice. We also learned some photography skills that would be basic skills but to me they were new ones! I thought it was good to go over some of these skills to help us out in our photo essay even though I don't have such a great camera, but still very useful information that I will carry with me when I am taking pictures!

We also did a blog post that included our local political representatives with their contact information, political affiliation, and websites. I thought it was good to do even though I am not very political. Now I know who to go to if I want something done around here in Duluth!

Week 10

There was no class...but I had class outside the classroom by attending the AAHPERD convention in Tampa, Florida. I learned so much more than any classroom lesson could have ever taught me. I got to network with some people from other colleges and some that could be some potential grad schools for myself. I even found a grad student that was doing the same study that I am doing in Methods which was really crazy because we were having the same findings even though we are so far apart! I am really glad that I got to go to this convention and experience everything there that I did! I would highly recommend other students that did not go this year to start saving now so that you can attend next year! Also start doing some grant writing too to get some help as well because it is some good to know how to do as well as a good experience to put down on a resume!

"It's not easy to be Green."-Kermit

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

Florida's Eco-Footprint

For my Photo Essay I decided to do it on my trip to AAHPERD in Tampa, Florida. I wanted to see what kind of effort I could find for going green and what kind of Eco-footprint they were making.

In my first find of going green took place in some of the hotels in Florida. The hotel Howard Johnson that we stayed in they had the Project Planet. In Project Planet they wanted to conserve the water usage by only washing linen and towels that needed to be washed. It works out by having the guest that are staying more than one night, to place the the sign on the bed if they want clean linens. For the towels you just hang up the used towels instead of placing them on the floor. This was such a good idea if you think about how many people were staying in the hotel...then think about how many lines and towels were being used. That is a lot of water being saved along with energy that would have been used to clean too! I also found a hotel that used hand towels instead of paper towels to dry hands. I thought it was such a good idea once again because it not only saves trees but as it is less waste too!

My next find was at the convention were I first saw the sign promoting everyone to recycle their bottles, cans, and paper there. I give them two thumbs for that one there alone! Then after checking into the convention everyone that was signed up there received a small bag that was made from recycled materials. Now I thought that was pretty cool too that they chose to pick a bag that was Eco-friendly! 

My next finds took place all around Florida when were we out and about. My first sign that I found "Don't be a fossil fool rethink coal" was on the way to the 

convention and I thought it was a cool message to put up but I am sure if there was anything being done to back up the message, but still it was pretty cool. The next sign I found was at the Clearwater beach which indicated that they were using reclaimed water, that we all learned about in class so I thought it was a really good to capture this and share it with "you all" (just a little bit of southern talk for you). Then on the beach they had garbage cans placed along the entire beach which promotes people to throw away their trash in the cans instead of just leaving it on the beach but we found out that some people were just too lazy to walk a few steps to throw it in the can.

Overall I think Florida is making a pretty good effort to diminish their Eco-footprint which really made me happy :) but it also got me thinking if we could do the same things that they are doing to lessen our footprint.

I just want to leave you on a little reminder to "Be kind" to our earth and keep on thinking of ways to make your Eco-footprint smaller!

"It's not easy to be Green."-Kermit