Showing posts with label Advocacy Project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advocacy Project. Show all posts

Friday, May 8, 2009

Advocacy Project: Environmental Learning Activity "Water Calculator"




Title: Water Calculator

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is show how much water that you use everyday and people in other countries don't even get the chance to have safe access to this amount of water.

Background/Reasoning/Evidence: After doing your calculations for your own water usage you can see how much water is needed for life. According to the Department for International Development, one billion people do not have an access to safe and affordable drinking water, and 2.4 billion people live in conditions lacking adequate sanitation. Each year about 4 million people die of waterborne diseases, including 2 million children who die of diarrhoeal. More than 800 million people , 15 % of the world population is malnourished, due in part of insufficient water for crops. Now think again how much water you use... Guinea Worm Disease (GWD) is an extremely painful parasitic infection spread through contaminated drinking water. Infection occurs among people living in impoverished communities in remote parts of Africa that do not have safe water to drink. According to the CDC, over 9,500 cases of Guinea Worm Disease were reported in 2007. Now think of what those people in Africa and what they could do with that amount of water you use... According to the WHO, over 40 billion work hours are lost in Africa to the need to fetch drinking water.  Now think if you had to over 40 billion hours to fetch your water...would you still be using the same amount of water?

Instructions: Just go to Water Calculator and type in your numbers then at then end hit the "update total" button. 

Other Activities:
During my search I found some other activities that I thought were good but not really suitable for the age group that I was aiming for. But I still wanted to share it with you because they are good.






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

Monday, April 27, 2009

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

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

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


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

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

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives



Local Political Representatives

President
Political Affiliation: Democratic
Contact Information:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Phone:

Congresspersons (Senate & House)
Political Affiliation: DFL
Contact Information:
585 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Matin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
Phone: 651-296-2228

Political Affiliation: DFL
Contact Information:
Duluth Federal Building Room 231
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: 218-727-7474

Political Affiliation: DFL
Contact Information: 
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Capitol Building, Room G-9
Phone: 651-296-4188

Political Affiliation: Democrat
Contact Information:
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2304
Phone: 202-244-3222

Governor, State Legislators (Senate & House)
Political Affiliation: Republican
Contact Information:
Office of the Governor 130 State
Capitol 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
Phone: 651-296-3391

County Board President
Phone: 218-726-2448

Political Affiliation:
Contact Information:
Room 208
100 N. 5th Avenue West
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: 218-726-2359
Web Address:

Political Affiliation: DFL
Contact Information:
Room 402
411 West First Street
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: 218-730-5230
Web Address: dness@duluthmn.gov



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

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Introduction:





Welcome to Ingrid's Al Fresco!

My name is Ingrid Kezar and I am a Community Health Education major at UMD. This blog is going to be a place where I and my fellow classmates will be able to talk about a wide rage of environmental health issues.

There are 5 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

  1. Advocacy Project
  2. Eye Openers
  3. Reflections
  4. Reviews
  5. 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. (Use the "label actions" feature in the edit posts tab to add the labels.) You will also see the number of each kind of post in my Labels Gadget at the top of the page. (Place labels gadget below blog header but above blog text). All post titles from now on will begin with one of the categories above.

The members of my web group are: 

  1. Katie @ Katie Kares 4 Environment
  2. Sara J. @ A Leaf of Sara's Life
  3. Abbey @ Abbey E's Environmental Endeavors
  4. Ben @ Ben's Virtual Ecosystem
  5. Autumn @ Autumn's Atmosphere

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." 

I am excited to get this blog going! I hope you have enjoyed your stop here in Ingrid's Al Fresco and I hope you come back real soon!




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