Reflection: Weeks 7 & 8

Week 7
This week for class we read Chapter 16 in our books titled III Winds: The Chemical Plant Next door written by Becky Bradway. The article was about the Bradway’s childhood of growing up in Buffalo, Illinois and the way the face of the town changed as time went by.  “The chemical plant next door” she refers to is Borden Chemical. The reading of this article lead to a lot of critical thinking on my own behalf.  I grew up in Monticello, which is a town known for the nuclear power plant.  Literally, the plant is in my backyard.  The good news is, I have a lot of backyard!!  Honestly though, to give you guys the idea: my backyard extends to I-94 the distance from my house to the freeway is about 1 mile.  The distance from the other side of the freeway to the power plant is about 500 feet.  A.k.a my backyard. This article made me think about how everyone in my town growing up loved so many aspects of it, while majority of adults and my parents have hated it the entire time. 
The eye-opener project for this week was to visit the Skin Deep website which is run by the Environmental Working Group and evaluate a cosmetic product we use daily.  Check out my blog post on the results this website gave me regarding my shampoo!  In class we had a pretty great discussion about the eye-opener.  Basically this is the issue: each of us is single-handedly contributing to the chemical industry and the problems they are causing (for humans and for the environment) by using the products we use.  I think that it has become MUCH more important for me to consider the products I am using and how I am changing the face of the earth and the lives of thousands of people.  I have been inspired to change the cosmetics I use to ones that aren’t contributing to the problem—wish me luck on my research in finding these products!
In week 7 we also watched the documentary “Green”.  This documentary was done by a student as a graduate project and it was nothing less than amazing.  I can understand where you are coming from Dr. V. when you say that this documentary inspired the format of this class.  It was EXTREMELY eye opening and made my entire mindset on chemical products and their effects not only on the environment, but also on the people take a 180.  I was assigned to do a review of this documentary, if you want to read more of my thoughts on it, visit my documentary review blog post!!
Week 7 was really, really eye-opening for me.  Honestly, I care so much more about people and humanity than I do the trees and animals and grass. (I know, I know, you can all yell at me all you want but it is the truth).  The topics covered in class this week really challenged my thinking and basically slapped me in the face.  Sure, I enjoy the products I use, but I do not enjoy knowing that what I am doing to the people directly affected by the production of these products.

Week 8
This week in class we started out by talking about Reading 31: Privatizing Water, written by Curtis Runyan.  Before class, I didn’t really understand what the article was exactly talking about.  After the class discussion, I felt like it left me even more confused.  Not because of terms/concepts but because of the issue at hand.  I am still a little on the fence with this issue because I can see where both sides are coming from.  Something that helped to set me straight on this issue was reading Kathy’s Review of the reading post.  She did a really great job helping me figure out what was really going on.  To be honest, I think I am still somewhat ambivalent towards the issue.  I wish for everyone on the planet to have free access to clean water whenever they need it.  Clearly, my wishes aren’t going to be coming true anytime soon so it is time for me to figure out ways I can help in the time being.  Maybe but opposing water privatization will do some help??
We also watched the documentary Thirst. The movie itself was only somewhat interesting to me.  I thought the best part was watching the 3rd world countries survive by collecting their rain water.  It was so innovative!  However, since we didn't finish the movie, it left us with a great opportunity to have a very in depth class discussion.  I thought we had a great discussion and it was a really good way to leave for spring break!! 

Concepts that Challenged My Thinking
Basically week 7 made me think about my daily life in a whole new way.  Week 8 wasn’t as impacting on me, but both made me consider a few things:

1. It is time to switch a lot of the products I use.  I am not a fan of "cancer alley", I am not a fan of the petrochemical plants in LA, I am not a fan of people dying from rare forms of cancer on my behalf. 
2. I have reconsidered my childhood and the way I grew up viewing my town.  Although the nuclear power plant is "very clean", and there "aren't any toxic pollutants", this information has been delivered to me by city officials and plant workers. Hmm, could this information be smudged?
3. The documentary Green was amazing.  I want to go to grad school and make a documentary like that. (I know this concept isn't really "environmentally-related" but seriously, I was basically inspired to go out and change the lives of under-represented populations).
4. Water is water.  I like that it is cheap, I like that in majority of places it is VERY easily accessible.  The fact that this can be taken away scares me.  But the fact that if something isn't done soon we will run out of water scares me more.  
5. If water is privatized I will probably get a well. Just throwing that out there... 
6. America needs to stop telling other countries what to do when we can't figure our own stuff out.  Seriously, we don't have all the answers.  It appears to me that people are smart enough to figure out how to get water, even in extremely dry areas of the world. Maybe it is innate to figure out ways to get water, after all water is essential to life??
7. The documentary Thirst challenged the way I think about politics.  Honestly, water becoming a political and economic issue?  I can't wait until my kids are in school and they start learning about the amount of oxygen rationed per person... sick. 
8. Becky Bradway, the author of reading 16 lives in Denver, CO! Maybe over spring break I will go pay her a visit?!?!

Well, I hope that you enjoyed my reflection, and everyone has a WONDERFUL and safe spring break!!