Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

Dining Decisions by Autumn

For my dining decisions I picked:

1. apple

2. sandwich

3. cereal bar

4. yogurt

5. salad

I got everything but protein which I need to build bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood. It's also needed to repair injuries and make body chemicals like hormones. So I should look for lean meats, fish, beans, and nuts.

Little D The Dragon Exercise by Katie

For my score on feeding the monster I score 100 on my second try. While I was feeding the monster I learned about interesting facts about each item I feed him like how the plants grow, what kind of source of nutrients it is and much more.

Build your own virtual "green" house by Ben

For my climate I picked: seasonal

For construction I picked: recycled

For energy I picked: solar panels/heating and geothermal heating

For efficiency I picked: energy efficient lighting, energy star appliances, efficient heating/cooling, materials recycling, water recycling, and smart home technology

Conclusions: I spent $96,500 and my home's efficiency rating is 180%

Tobacco Facts Puke Page by Sara

After viewing the puke page and I think there should be a complete smoking/tobacco ban in public schools. I don't think it will prevent youth from using tobacco completely because there are other factors like families but knowledge is power and it might make kids think twice before using. I personal think that those pictures were gross but hopefully it helps kids choose the right decision before they use tobacco.

Bobbie's Foot-O-Meter by Abbey

After completing the questions asked during the activities I score a 6.5 acres on my carbon footprint and would also take 1 and 1/2 earths to support my Bobbie's habits. A good insight on things that I could change that can reduce my footprint like opening a window instead of using the AC and eat more local foods.

"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

Eye Opener 4: Environmental Working Group

The Product:

For this eye opener, I decided to do the face cleaner that I use everyday which is Clean & Clear Blackhead clearing scrub. The results were not in my favor and pretty much made me want to throw it away and never use it again!!

Results:

-The face wash scored 6 out 10 on the hazardous scale.

-The ingredients in this product are linked to: cancer, violations, restrictions & warnings, allergies/immunotoxicity

-Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: neurotoxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity, miscellaneous, multiple, additive exposure sources, irritation, enhanced skin absorption, contamination concerns

-They also conduct animal testing (which I had no idea they did!!)

What I learned:

I was really shocked on how bad this product is...I had no idea they would even test face wash on an animal. That fact right there just makes me sick to my stomach! I will never again use this product. I even typed in some of the other products that I use everyday just to see what they would score too. Well pretty much everything that I use everyday is horrible and well I plan on changing this when I get done with college because the things I use now are usually on sale and really cheap. I use to use the Burt bee's but I guess my skin really did not like the product because I broke out from it but I am going to try some other products that are more natural.  From now on I am going to do some research before I go and buy some product!!

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

Eye opener Summary of Reading #33: GM and Ford Pressed to Cut Greenhouse Gases

Summary:
"Facing losses in their profits and reputations, U.S. automakers are being pressured by shareholders to cut their vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. has failed to sign on to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a move which shareholders fear could become a future liability in the global automotive market (Lobe, 2002)." That statement there pretty much sums up what the whole article is all about. The article talks about how General Motors and Ford have still not signed on like the other motor companies have. It goes into saying that greenhouse gas emissions from trucks, van, and cars currently make up about 20 percent of total U.S. emissions, which contributes 25 percent of annual emissions worldwide. Now those are huge numbers we are talking about and why would they not do anything about it?!? The article kinda blames President George W. Bush for refusing to sign on because substantial reductions in greenhouse would harm the U.S. economy. Well take a good look at our economy it really is not that good right now...so was this the right decisions or was it the wrong decision? The article goes further into talking about that by not signing on the car makers are falling further and further behind competitors that have decided to make a change like the Japanese manufactures that have developed new energy efficient automobile technology. The article also went on saying that is was not the first time that Ford and GM faced this problem either. What does that tell you about the two companies...not looking so good anymore in my eyes at least!

What I have learned:
After reading this article I feel really ashamed to be a owner of a Ford. The two companies are well aware of the problem but yet they still do nothing about it and refuse it as well! They even tried to debunk the claims that greenhouse emissions were contributing to global warming! What a disappoint they really are to me and to the rest of the U.S.! Instead of fighting against they should have been the bold ones that first used the new energy efficient technology, instead they are stuck in their old ways which basically have left them in the dust! All I have to say after reading this is that my next will NOT be a Ford or a GM because of this!

A question for you:

Which car is really better for the environment now Ford or GM?

Other sites on this topic:
Here is a good site to go and visit and see what changes the New President is doing, which happens to be a 180 from President George W. Bush: 

Obama set stage for national standard to cut auto greenhouse gas emissions

Here is some more good sites to also go and visit to see what Ford is doing now which seem to be in the right direction now:

 
This is news: Good PR for Ford

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility



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

Eye Opener: CSPI

For the activity I choose to do the Eating Green Calculator. In this activity I had to put in how many servings of pork, beef, chicken, eggs, milk and cheese I eat in a week. After putting the servings that I eat in week, the site gave you the results of the environmental burden of animal products you eat in a year. My results were shocking...I had no idea the impact I was making that big of an impact on the environment. I found it really crazy because I really don't eat that much meat in my diet but I still had bad results! I don't know if I could go vegan because I need that dairy in my diet to grow strong bones!!! This was a good eye opener but I still feel that everyone needs a little bit of protein in their diet for health reasons...just my opinion.


I will try and eat fewer meat products and dairy products (even though I am pretty much in love with cheese and eat it with everything). I am for sure always trying to increase my fruit and veggies servings. I have already did the good thing with only buying whole grains products.


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

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