Reflection: weeks 15 & 16

Week 15
During this week we finished up our Advocacy Project by finding an online learning activity to help others understand the issues we have spent the last few weeks researching. This part of the advocacy project was pretty fun, although for some of the topics it was rather hard to find a related online activity.
We also had guest speaker Sue Whitney come in to talk to us about her experiences as a mom, a business owner, and a junker! It was very interesting to see what other people are doing to make the world a little less "garbaged", and take some of the trash out of the landfills. I can see why Dr. V. has such a strong friendship with Sue, they are basically the same person! =)
Finally, we had a little class activity outside on the last day where we gave Dr. V. our class gift and talked about what we learned in the class. I think this was my favorite day of enviornmental. I enjoyed being outside, and hearing what everyone had to say about their experiences this sememster. Of course, my honesty got the best of me and I was the ONLY person to say I learned more about people/humanity and life than I did the environment. But that is okay, my life is basically one big pillow talk!

Week 16
Well, let's be honest, there is no such thing as "week 16", its called FINALS WEEK!!! Why we are blogging, I am not sure...but it is better than a final that asks questions about water privitization and carbon dioxide in the ozone. During this week we got to do each others final advocacy online learning activities which was pretty fun, and we also have done some blogging. I don't think I have learned too much about myself, or blogging or the environment during finals week. However, I am going on a 13 hour road trip tomorrow and I am carpooling!! Go me!
Wish me luck as I drive into the sunrise? LOL, for four months of falling in love...ooooooh.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

Abbey’s Activity

The ecological footprint activity was so entertaining! I think that this website did a WONDERFUL job of teaching kids to be green in a really open, and simple learning environment.  Also of the three links you provided, I liked the website that showed users how to make a school greener the most.  I think that having knowledge about what our schools can do to make their facilities more environmentally friendly helps the citizens of those school systems advocate for change.  Both the second and third website also talked about environmental health as a whole, and health for children.  I think it is important to consider that all forms of health are interrelated and dependent on one another.  Good find Abbey, very educational activity!!

Autumn’s Activity

I thought this activity was super fun!  If I were a kid, I think I would spend the whole day playing this game.  Fun fact about Sara J: I am very bad at holding onto plates!!  Having information on the side after you pick your foods was very helpful.  It does a great job of explaining to game users exactly why choosing the foods they did was right/wrong, and gives options to make healthier choices next time.  I think educational activities such as this can help kids learn that nutrition can be fun, and is extremely important.  Integrating interactive activities such as this one in the elementary classroom could be very influential.  Good find Autumn! 

Ben’s Activity

I thought this activity was very interesting, Ben.  Right from the start it got me interested because it allowed me to build a home in the climate that I want.  I don’t think it would have been as effective if the activity didn’t consider the different terrains of our nation.  One thing that I found to be not only interesting, but enlightening was that the “green options” weren’t always the most expensive ones!!  For example, although gas heat was cheapest, wind energy wasn’t the most expensive option.  I think that building greener homes is a wonderful idea and that websites such as this can help people get into the swing of thinking greener.  

Katie’s Activity

I thought that this activity could be very appealing to kids.  The way this website portrays nutrition is really interesting, and I loved the little educational pop-ups to help kids learn about nutrition while they are having fun!  I think that it is important to find fun and interesting ways to teach kids about every topic, and this one definitely does the job for teaching children about healthy food choices and nutrition.  Hopefully if this activity is used in the schools like you suggested Katie, the teachers would find a way to add in information about how eating healthy can prevent many other health problems as children grow older.  Very good find Katie, I think this was my favorite activity!    

Ingrid’s Activity

I thought this activity was the most educational and informational activity that I have done.  Although it wasn’t kid-friendly and fun like the other ones (and wasn't supposed to be), it was super interesting to learn about how I am affecting the water supply on this earth.  I liked how the questions addressed all areas of the home, and after calculating my score  (which by the way was 75 gallons per week) I learned of very specific ways to reduce my water usage.  For example I could save 13 gallons a day just by taking a shower that is 1 minute shorter.  I could also save 17 gallons per day if I only used low-flow toilets.  Of course I can’t control the toilets that UMD has, but its good information to have for when I build my eco-friendly house that Ben helped me find!!!   Good job Ingrid, this water calculator activity was very cool!

Advocacy Project: Tobacco Facts Puke Page

Title: Tobacco Facts Puke Page

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to visually display the harmful effects of smoking not only on the mouth and lungs, but the entire body.  

Reasoning: Will our public schools ever be smoke free?  The Nemours Foundation sponsors a website titled: KidsHealth Smoking Stinks!, which addresses the harmful effects of smoking on kids.  After knowing what smoking, especially secondhand smoke does to our youth, why would a complete smoking ban in public schools not be in place?  Currently, 30 states have banned all tobacco-use and smoking on public school grounds, and according to the Healthy People 2010 report, all 50 states should have this policy in place by 2010.  Of course it is encouraging that action is being taken, however what will happen if progress towards this objective falls through? What could happen to the students of our society if they continue to be reinforced to adopt a tobacco-use behavior by watching their own faculty/school staff/parents use?  Take a look at this online game, get interactive and click around to see the future of the students who think smoking is okay.    

Instructions:

1. Click on this link: Tobacco Facts: Puke Page
2. Click on each picture to read about how smoking and secondhand smoke can affect one's body.
3. Reflect on what you learned and decide if a complete smoking/tobacco ban in public schools is necessary.  Could a smoking/tobacco ban in public schools now prevent our youth from obtaining these health problems in their futures? What are your thoughts?

Reflection: weeks 13 & 14

Week 13

On Tuesday we watched the movie the “Story of Stuff”, which I thought was extremely informational.   This movie was phenomenal, and although it was biased, many interesting points were made that help us as consumers gain some insight on what we are doing to the planet.  The movie was animated in a way that was appealing, and the host was very easy to listen to. 

On Thursday we did a little navigational activity through Bagley to learn a little bit about using compasses, and spending time in nature.  I am not sure how I felt about this activity.  It was a little bit far fetched for me, but I think that the photo op at the end was a lot of fun, and I learned to “follow Fred and put red in the shed”.  ??  Hopefully during grad school in Colorado, I get lost in the mountains one day with my man and I can bust out my compass usage skills. 

For our blogs in week 14 we had to post an “issue overview” portion of our advocacy projects.  I actually liked reading these because they helped me to think about a wide array of environmental issues and whom they could possibly affect.  I guess you could say my mind has somewhat been trained to think in a way that “follows the money”, I know this skill will be crucial to have in my future career.  I didn’t really learn much about blogging this week.  I guess that means I am a pro, I am not really sure what other assumptions to draw…

 

Week 14

On Tuesday we had a guest speaker come in from the Civic Engagement office at UMD to talk about his experiences with environment and health outside of undergraduate school.  I really liked this presentation because I think it gave a lot of students some direction in life after college.  I especially liked learning about the different organizations our speaker was involved in and how he would recommend going about graduate school/a professional career.  

On Thursday we had a little repurposing day were our web groups had to think of a bunch of different ways to turn random objects into useful things for a home.  This day was by far my favorite day in environmental health.  I know our web group had so much fun being creative and giggling at those who had some bizarre ideas as well.  Maybe I will become a junker one day as well??

For blogs this week we had our letter to a political representative due for our advocacy projects.  I thought it was great to read through these and see how many different approaches we took as a class, but how effective each letter could be.  They will definitely serve as great resources to use in the future if I ever need to write a persuasive letter regarding an issue I want to be addressed.  

Advocacy Project: Letter to a Political Representative

April 21, 2009

Senator Amy Klobuchar

United States Senate

302 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510-2304

Senator Amy Klobuchar,

Our nation is currently in dire need of a tobacco policy that will protect our children and youth from the harmful effects of smoking environments.   For that reason, I urge you to vote yes to S.579 “Federal Tobacco Act of 2009”.   This bill, which was created to establish a comprehensive Federal tobacco product regulatory program, to create a Tobacco Regulatory Agency, to prevent use of tobacco products by youth, and to provide protections for adult tobacco product users through the regulation of the tobacco products manufacturing industry, has very promising effects for our society.  The implementation of this policy will have major implications for the American youth including reduced exposure to tobacco products/smoking and child/youth protection through the Tobacco Regulatory Agency.  This policy will provide mechanisms to help create smoke-free and tobacco-free public places, especially including public schools.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that 92% of American smokers begin smoking before the age of 21.  Decreasing the amount of smoking and tobacco-use children and youth are exposed to could play a major role in reducing the number of adult smokers in years to come. The Healthy People 2010 Report includes objectives to both decrease the amount of smokers, and to make 100% of American public schools smoke-free and tobacco-free environments.  Without the implementation of a policy such as S.579 “Federal Tobacco Act of 2009”, reaching these goals may not be possible.  Organizations such as the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society cannot advocate for such change alone.  The American government must jump on board and support the efforts to make the public environments our children and youth are exposed to tobacco and smoke-free.  I understand that many others will be affected by the decision to implement this policy.  Smokers who work, or spend time in public places, especially public schools, will lose the privilege to smoke or use tobacco products on these grounds.  However, with the inability to smoke or use-tobacco, the policy could help jumpstart a smoking-cessation movement by the American public.  I acknowledge that many states, including Minnesota, have already taken action regarding the issues of tobacco-free and smoke-free environments.  In fact, 45% of schools in 2000 reported being completely tobacco-free and smoke-free, and 13 states have some from of public area smoke-free policies.  I hope you understand the necessity for the S.579 “Federal Tobacco Act of 2009” and vote yes to create a safer, and healthier public environment for the children and youth of our nation and the American people as a whole.
If you need any additional information or would like to contact me, do not hesitate to do so. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Sara Jandt

(contact info)

Share & Voice 10: Real Quality People

My Environmental Peers:

We have some real quality women in our class. Their names are...drumroll please.....

Heather Belknap

and

Shar Drew

These two lovely ladies came up with a wonderful way to thank SuperOne Foods for their generous donation of reusable grocery bags.  For those of you who dont know, The SuperOne Grocery store in the Kenwood Shopping area donated each member of our environmental health class a reusable grocery bag. Heather and Shar came up with the idea to use a brown SuperOne paper grocery bag as a card, have each of us students sign it (And Dr. V. too!), and hang a picture off of it with our entire class holding our donated "green grocery bags". (No pun intended of course!)

So, another drumroll please....

Three cheers for the real quality people in Duluth...

Heather Belknap *cheer*

Shar Drew *cheer*

and SuperOne Foods!! *cheer*

Thank You and Goodnight,

Sara J. 

Share & Voice 9: I'm a thinker...

Okay this is going to be a short and sweet Share & Voice post because basically I just want your input on my thoughts. 

Today in class we were discussing how to write a letter to a political representative.  As I was following along the webpage, I noticed there tends to be a very specific layout to this sort of letter.  In fact, the website referenced in class (and linked above) gives examples on how to write something appropriately.  So I got to thinking: what if our political representatives look at the format of the letter the same way employers look at resumes, and throw out all of the one's that aren't formatted/addressed properly?

I know it sounds arbitrary but heres the problem.  I am a smart girl, and I know how to research, and how to influence people.  However, before today I did not know how to properly write a letter to a political representative.  If I had written a letter to a political representative previous to my knowledge of how to do so properly, would they have even cared to read what I wanted to say?

If we take it a step further, who's voices are the loudest?  I would be willing to bet those who are highly educated, and know how to properly write a letter make a much bigger impact than those who do not.  In regards to all of the enviornmental injustice we have, those who are most negatively impacted by environmental burdens are citizens of low socioeconomic classes.  Socioeconomic status goes hand in hand with education level.  So to put it simply: the people who are taking the brunt environmentally are also the people who don't have the means (computer/internet access) or the knowledge to send a proper letter to their political representative.  So are their voices being heard?  In my opinon...they aren't. What's your opinion?

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

Introduction

What is the issue/problem? A policy mandating Smoke-free and Tobacco-Free Schools in America

What current legislation has been proposed to address this? 
S.579 Federal Tobacco Act of 2009 (Introduced in Senate)

Title: A bill to establish a comprehensive Federal tobacco product regulatory program, to create a Tobacco Regulatory Agency, to prevent use of tobacco products by youth, and to provide protections for adult tobacco product users through the regulation of the tobacco products manufacturing industry.

Who is affected by the issue?

Who is affected the most?  I believe that those who are affected the most are faculty, staff, and school visitors that smoke.  The only students who are legally allowed to smoke are at least 18 year olds (mainly senior classmen); therefore the issue does not negatively affect the majority of the student body. 

Who loses, and what do they lose?  School faculty and staff lose the ability to have smoke breaks on school grounds or keep their tobacco products in their cars parked on school grounds, or in the building (offices, classrooms etc).  Parents and school visitors lose the ability to smoke while on school grounds, which includes smoking in their vehicles while dropping students off or picking students up.  Students who are 18+ and smokers/tobacco users, will lose the ability to smoke on school grounds, keep their tobacco products in their cars parked on school property or lockers. 

Who gains, and what do they gain?  Those who attend school in the building or are employed by the school gain an environment with smoke-free air.  They also gain a tobacco-free environment.  Janitorial staff will gain time to spend on other projects once cleaning cigarettes off of school grounds or changing cigarette disposals isn’t a necessary duty.

What are the consequences of the issue? 

For the individuals mostly affected?  Not as much for school visitors, but for faculty, staff and student smokers/tobacco users, quitting may become a much more important decision to avoid penalties and fines.  They may also experience withdrawal symptoms at first, which could negatively affect their ability to work, teach, or learn.

For their families?  Their families could quite possibly benefit from the policy if it forces their loved ones who use tobacco to quit.  However, it could affect their families negatively, because smokers/tobacco users tend to use tobacco as a stress-reliever or calming agent.  Without the ability to relieve stress or calm-down throughout the school day, faculty/staff/student tobacco users may soon have negative effects of unrelieved stress, which could spill over into their family lives.

For society?  There is one very important consequence for society: community smoking cessation programs may gain more clients and program participants. Tax dollars that fund some of these programs may become insufficient. 

What is the economic impact of the issue? 

What are the economic costs of the issue, and who bears these costs? Cigarette and tobacco product sales may drop.  This could affect the profit of tobacco selling companies, especially privately owned gas stations and tobacco shops.  Money spent on smoking cessation programs may increase, which ultimately affects the taxpayers.  

What are the economic benefits of the issue, and who benefits? The schools/communities may have an additional form of revenue due to tobacco use violation tickets.  This could benefit taxpayers if enough revenue is generated to require less property taxation for school funding. 

What is the social impact of the issue?

What are the social costs of the issue, and who bears these costs? Socially, the smoking ban will impact the communities of school volunteers, parents, teachers, faculty and students.  The way they interact with one another may change due to a social network link (smoking together) being broken. 

What are the social benefits of the issue, and who benefits?  The school society as a whole benefits from the smoke-free air in regards to their personal health.  Those with respiratory diseases triggered by smoke (such as asthma) will benefit the most from this policy.

What are the barriers?

What are the barriers to addressing this issue? One of the barriers is the implementation of an enforcement policy if the bill were to pass.  One of the criticisms of the smoking ban is that it may move smoking elsewhere, this may also be a barrier to overcome.

How can they be overcome?  The first barrier can be overcome by creating an enforcement policy prior to the implementation of the smoking and tobacco ban.  The second barrier can be overcome by putting smoking ban policies in place for all public places and using the same enforcement strategies throughout.

What are the resources?

What resources will we need to address this issue?  There are two main resources we will need: information and money.  We will need information regarding smoking and tobacco use, secondhand smoke and air quality, number of hours spent on cigarette clean up, number of smokers/tobacco users that will potentially be affected etc. These resources can be tapped through research studies, books, and organizations such as The American Lung Association.  Resources will also need to be obtained from unbiased organizations, books, and researchers.  

We will need money for enforcement officials once the policy is in place.  This money can be accessed through private donations and advocacy work of supporting organizations such as The American Lung Association.  

What is the history of this issue? 

Minnesota enacted the Minnesota Clear Indoor Air Act in 1975, making us the first state to ban smoking in most public places.  At first, this act required restaurants to have a No Smoking section, however bars were exempt from the Act.  On October 1, 2007 Minnesota enacted a complete ban on smoking in all restaurants and bars statewide called the Freedom to Breathe Act of 2007. The city of San Luis Obispo, California became the first city in the world to ban indoor smoking at all public places in 1990.  In 1998, California enacted a statewide smoking ban in the workplace, and its success encouraged other states such as New York to implement bans.  Several states began to start implementing smoking bans in all government buildings throughout the late 1990’s.  The smoking ban and tobacco ban in schools followed shortly after.  Currently, there are 30 states who have a smoking and tobacco ban in public schools (Minnesota being one of them), however not all 30 states have a complete smoking/tobacco ban.

Allies & Opponents

Who would support this issue? The American Lung Association, the organizations who offer smoking cessation programs, anti-smokers/tobacco user groups, youth smoking/tobacco prevention organizations,

Who would oppose this issue? Tobacco industries, gas station/convenience store owners, pro-smokers/tobacco user groups

My Recommendation

I want policy-makers, especially our US senators, to vote yes to S.579 Federal Tobacco Act of 2009. I also want our policy-makers to support The American Lung Association in any project they sponsor or put on regarding smoke free and tobacco free schools.