Reflection Weeks 11 & 12

These last couple of weeks have gone by so fast! Just think everyone, we have 2 more reflection posts to write and its SUMMERTIME!!  I don't think I can wait. 

Week 11

During this week in class we watched a documentary titled Unnatural Causes.  It was about how socioeconomic status may be one of the largest determinants of health.  I really liked the way the documentary walked the audience through the life of different people with different socioeconomic statuses.  It was very interesting to see how those with a higher economic status were healthier, and those with a low economic status weren't as healthy.  There are, as with anything of course, many factors that determine health, but socioeconomic status has time and time again proven to be very influential.  

Also during week 11 we spent a class day talking about the next piece of our Advocacy Project. For this particular project we were to pick an environment-related objective from Healthy People 2010, and research the progress that has been made.  Then we were to use THOMAS to find a piece of legislation that represents moving towards the health objective we chose.  My topic was 100% tobacco-free and smoke-free schools in the US.  It was very interesting for me to learn about and to see what is being done.  When searching for a bill to use in my post, I learned that there are SO MANY BILLS it is unreal!!  I guess I never realized just how busy our congress-people are!

Week 12

For this week we had to do reading 20 which basically talked about how the ozone layer will "fix itself" over the next three years.  I liked this reading because it helped us to see that good things are being done, and a difference is being made on the environment.  However, it was amazing to see how our ability to critically think came out when we started to analyze the date the article was published, and who is was written by.  Our critical thoughts led into a really great discussion.  Well, maybe it wasn't just our critical thoughts...maybe it was our wonderful professor for the hour Shar!!! (Probably the best day of environmental so far!!)

What I learned about Sara Renaé Jandt:

• I can think critically now
• I am sort of a pro-blogger
• Ben Lee makes me laugh really hard when he says stuff like "Hey Babe to Dr. V.". HAHAHAHA
• I talk about the environment even when I am not in this class.  I am not sure if that is a good thing yet or not. It's good for the environment, sort of annoying for my loved ones. =)

What I learned about the environment:

• Maybe the world isn't going to fail after all? Maybe we are doing what we can now to make the world a better, healthier, and greener place in the future?  Go us...
• Health and the environment are very much intertwined.  Health and the environment and government are intertwined.  Health, the environment, the government and society are intertwined.... Should I keep going??

What I learned about blogging:

• I got to be careful about what I say, I may offend Dr. V!! =)  She might not allow me to come to class on the last day to share my opinion if I don't start filtering my blog thoughts.....J/K Dr. V. don't hate....

Share and Voice 9: HEATHER BELKNAP

Dear Heather B.,

I thought it was outstanding that you wrote a Share and Voice post about Shar Drew.  It basically made my day--entertaining yet related to the environment.  It was so creative to write about a classmate...and although Shar acted embarassed, we all know that a blog post dedication is one of the simple pleasures in life.  So here is my hooray! to you...

Love, Sara J.

I received the blog award from Abbey @ Abbey E's Environmental Endeavors for my post Share and Voice 8: WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY JACKSON!! I thought you did a great job Heather, so here are the instructions for you to pass it on to the next lucky blogger!

1. Leave a comment below so that I know you "picked up" the award.

2. Create a Share and Voice post that says you've received the award and indicate who the award is from (be sure to hyperlink).

3. Also indicate to whom you are going to pass on the award and why. Be sure to hyperlink the blogger (use main blog URL) and the blog title (use the specific URL for that blog post).

4. Copy and paste these instructions at the bottom of your post.

5. Publish the post.

6. Visit each blogger you've awarded and leave a comment telling them they've won.

7. Continue the process...

Advocacy Project: Healthy People 2010/THOMAS

Healthy People 2010 Goal 27: Tobacco Use

• Goal: Reduce illness, disability, and death related to tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Objective 27-11: increase smoke-free and tobacco-free environments in schools, including all school facilitates, property, vehicles, and school events.

Baseline: 37% of middle, junior, and senior high schools were smoke-free and tobacco-free in 1994.  

Target: 100%

According to the Progress Quotient Chart, the nation has moved 13% towards the target goal of 100% of schools being smoke-free and tobacco-free.  The following image shows how the 13% was calculated:

Progress: In 2000, 45% of schools reported smoke-free and tobacco-free policies, which is up from 37% in 1994 but less than the target (100%).  In addition, 45.5% of school districts and 13 states reported having such policies. Unfortunately, in 2006 Minnesota was not on the list. (According to the School Health policies and Programs Study)

Disparities: The disparities for Goal 27 were illustrated in three tables.

1. Race and Ethnicity
2. Gender and Education
3. Income and Disability
   

Objective 27-11 was not addressed in any of these tables because they refer to the population and not to an organization such as a school.  At this point, I am unable to find data that addresses if there are any school districts who fail to have smoke-free and tobacco-free policies based on disparities. 

Opportunities & Challenges: Public health efforts are partially being offset by several factors that encourage smoking, such as lack of indoor air regulations, discounted tobacco prices, advertising and promotions by the tobacco industry, and smoking scenes in movies.
The loss of funding for State tobacco prevention programs and national countermarketing campains may be another factor that slows or reverses the effects of the positive trends.

Emerging issues: There are numerous emerging issues regarding tobacco use.  There are three that specifically apply to school-aged youth:

1. Smokeless tobacco use
2. Internet sale of tobacco products: internet vendors have weak or nonexistent age verification mechanisms, potentially allowing underage youth to access tobacco products. 
3. Youth access to tobacco: access to retail sources have declined, but access through other sources such and friends and family has increased. 

Currently, school tobacco-free and smoke-free policies are implemented at the state level.   According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention School Health Policies and Program Study (SHPPS), Minnesota has already adopted a complete smoke-free and tobacco-free public school system policy.  This means that Minnesota prohibits tobacco use by it's students, faculty and staff and school visitors in all locations, and prohibits tobacco advertisements in school environments, through sponsorship of school events, and on apparel worn or merchandise carried by students. Since Minnesota already has this policy in place, I decided to do a national level search for any legislation regarding tobacco-free and smoke-free schools.  The following bill is the most current advancements made at a national level. 

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.
• Sponsor: Senator Burr, Richard [NC] (introduced 3/12/2009) 
• Cosponsors: Senator Hagen, Kay [NC]
• Latest Major Action: 3/12/2009 Referred to Senate committe. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
• My Political Representative(s): Senator Amy Klobuchar

As a concerned citizen, the actions I recommend take place would be to support the American Lung Association's tobacco-free schools model school smoking policy. The American Lung Association is valued in the United States, and their recommendations are supported by research.  I believe there are two ways to make a difference: 

1. By writing letters to our US senators. Senator Amy Klobuchar would be the political representative that I would contact to share my opinion with and ask her to vote yes to S.579 Federal Tobacco Act of 2009.
2. By supporting The American Lung Association in any project they sponsor or put on regarding smoke free schools. Support can be in the form of advocacy, financial contributions, or volunteerism.  

By taking the above actions, I believe we will be able to meet the Healthy People 2010 national health objective of having 100% smoke-free and tobacco-free schools. 

Share and Voice 8: WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY JACKSON!!

On Wednesday, April 1st 2009 my first nephew was born!!

Jackson Charles Rockey

9 pounds 6 ounces, 21 inches

Born at 3:53 PM

Here he is with his Mom, my sister Justine, minutes after he was born!

Baby Jackson and his proud father Andrew! Andrew lives in Alaska so his family wasn't able to make it for the birth, but Jackson will meet his other side of the family in 3 weeks when Justine and Andrew take him to AK...

Jackson and his aunt Amy (my little sister), with Carter (Justine's Godson).

Jackson and his aunt Mantha (my youngest sister). 

Here is Jackson at 1 week old...

He is a beautiful, healthy baby boy who has already proven himself to be the most down to earth and relaxed person alive!  I was SOOO excited (still am) and when I met him I came to this conclusion: Jackson is such a little stud and I can't wait to spoil him for the rest of his life!  

Anyways, I just wanted to share the good news with all of you, and to thank Dr. V. once again for her post: Share and Voice: Rocket Fuel Contaminates Baby Formula.  =) 

Reflection Weeks 9 & 10

Week 9

On Tuesday of week 9, we had a class discussion about advocacy.  We learned exactly what advocacy is, how one can be an advocate, and broke down some common misconceptions about it.  One thing that really stood out to me, is that advocacy doesn’t necessarily mean you have you been on the front lines holding signs in the faces of our political representatives.  There are numerous ways to support a cause behind the scenes and make just as big of a difference by contributing in ways that are often unnoticed.

On Thursday, we discussed photography and the concept of Photo Voice.  The background information on Photo Voice was extremely interesting to me. I really enjoy how as a society we are always coming up with new ways to impact our political representatives that include technology and alternative ways of thinking.   During this class day we also learned some photography skills that to a professional may be considered “basic" but were entirely new concepts to me. Although I think it is interesting to learn about new hobbies and interests of other people, this discussion on advanced photography features didn’t really relate to environmental health and I was somewhat disappointed that class time was spent on it.  I think I would have rather read a little tip sheet or watched a YouTube video in my own time than spend class time talking about photography.  I think it would have been really beneficial to see some examples of Photo Voice projects-- especially some that have been presented at a national or international level and what impact some of those projects have made.

During week nine we also had to do a blog post that included my political representatives with their contact information, political affiliation, and websites.  I thought this assignment was really great.  I never knew how many people represented me, and I never knew that so many people were in office doing what they can to make the environment I live in better. 

 

Week 10

We didn’t meet for class this week because Dr. V was at the AAHPERD convention in Tampa, Florida (JEALOUS!!).  It was a nice break from class because I spent ridiculous amounts of time working on a presentation for my Methods class.  This week the Photo Voice projects were due.  I did mine on the disconnect between the natural environment and the man-made environment regarding food and diet for children.  It sounds intense, but it isn’t too hard to follow  Visit my post on it and leave a comment with your thoughts on my project!  I have enjoyed viewing everyone’s Photo Voice posts, as a group we came up with such an array of interesting topics!!! One thing I learned about blogging this week is that adding numerous photos into a post with text in-between can be quite the task! However, I prevailed and got it done and I am really proud to say that I can now successfully add as many pictures and as much text to a post as I want!  

One thing that I learned about myself this past week is that I have a acquired the ability to think much more critically than I ever have before.  I am somewhat intrigued by the fact that my mind has the ability to conceptualize so many different ideas now that I am so far into my education.  It just goes to show that as a human, I will continue learning for the rest of my life, and have amazing brain capacity that I don’t yet know how to use.  

Have a good weekend everyone!

Eye Opener 5: Photo Voice Essay

What is it with the disconnect between the natural environment and the man-made environment?  Think about it: as children we are told exactly how to talk, act, and even eat due to the man-made environment which includes media (advertising), buildings, roads, etc. We rarely learn from the natural environment. 

While I was in Colorado, one of the ritziest malls in the state, Cherry Creek Shopping Center located in Denver has a brand new play-land for children.  What is the play-land made out of? Breakfast foods.  But not fruits, vegetables and whole grain breads for breakfast; just some fat, oil, meat, produce and sugar... Are these young children learning to eat from the natural enviornment, or from the man-made environment?

Right next to the play-land is an advertising kiosk for HealthONE related to heart health for adults.  Below is a picture of the display within the kiosk.  Once again, if children see this, how do they learn with such a disconnect? Is heart disease just as fun as that play-land 20 feet away?

Advertising and food--another huge problem.  Kids these days see other children their age all of the time advertising foods.  What sorts of foods are their peers advertising? Artichokes or Kraft Mac and Cheese? Which one looks like more fun to you if you're a four year old?

What about bananas or Pop-Tarts?  One is natural, one is man-made.  Are children learning how to differentiate between the two, or are they only being given one side of the story?

In class when we  discussed how hard it would be to give up our "normal diets" of meat, cheese, eggs, dairy etc. after learning from reliable sources not to consume such foods, we established that we partially eat the way we do because we grew up knowing nothing else.  Why would it be so hard to phase our "normal" diet out?  Because we enjoy the food so much, or because as children we played in breakfastland and saw kids just like us all over TV and the magazines having fun with man-made foods?? I would have to say before any of us were even educated about what the environment can give to us nutritionally, we were taught to abuse it.  We supported the petrochemical industry, the breaking down of the ozone layer, global warming and the over full land-fills looooong before we even knew what we were doing.  

So, once again with the disconnect. Evaluate yourself, why do you eat the way you do?  Do you have enough time to maybe start over and learn about the natural environment before you feast off of the man-made one?

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives

President Barack Obama--Democrat
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Phone: 202-456-1111


Switchboard: 202-456-1414


Fax: 202-456-2461

To email: fill out form provided on www.whitehouse.gov/contact
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

US Senator Amy Klobuchar, Junior Seat

Democratic/Farmer/Labor

Northeastern Office: 

Olcott Plaza.Suite 105
820 9th Street North


Virginia, MN 55792


Main Line: 218-741-9690, Fax: 218-741-3692

Washington, DC Office 

302 Hart Senate Office Building


Washington, DC 20510


phone: 202-224-3244, fax: 202-228-2186

http://klobuchar.senate.gov/ (email form provided on website)

US House Representative James L. ‘Jim’ Oberstar,District 8 

Democratic/Farmer/Labor

Washington D.C. Office

2365 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone: (202) 225-6211

Duluth Office

231 Federal Building

Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: (218) 727-7474

http://oberstar.house.gov (email form provided on website)

Minnesota Governor Timothy J. Pawlenty- Republican

Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard

Saint Paul, MN 55155

Phone: 651-296-3391
Fax: 651-296-2089

Capitol Email: tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us

http://www.governor.state.mn.us/

State Senator Yvonne Prettner, district Solon 07--Democratic/Farmer/Labor

75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 

Room G-9
St. Paul, MN

55155-1606

Telephone: 651.296.4188

http://www.senate.mn/members/member_bio.php?district=07&status=active

(email form provided on Website) 

Thomas Huntley, District 07A-- Democratic/Farmer/Labor

585 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.


Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155


Phone: 651-296-2228 


E-mail: rep.thomas.huntley@house.mn


http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/members.asp?district=07A

St. Louis County Board 1st District
Commissioner Dennis Fink, Board Chair


Room 208
100 N. 5th Avenue West


Duluth, MN 55802


Phone: (218) 726-2458
email: finkd@co.st-louis.mn.us 

Duluth Mayor Don Ness

Mayor's Office
Room 402, 411 West First Street
Duluth, MN 55802

Phone: (218) 730-5230
Fax: (218) 730-5904

email: dness@duluthmn.gov

http://www.duluthmn.gov/mayor/