Reflection: Weeks 9-12

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Wow, we are already at weeks 9-12.  We have covered so much already!  Some things we focused on were advocacy, SMART goals, Eco-chic lifestyle changes, THOMAS, junking, environmental literacy, and blog hops.

The most beneficial thing we identified in this section of the course was the piece on advocacy.  We learned so many new things.  First of all, we covered what advocacy actually is, and were able to choose an issue we are passionate about and advocate for it.  Through this process we identified a Healthy People goal and a House Bill using THOMAS.  We then went on to do in-depth research relating to the issue and share and overview with the class.  I was also able to incorporate my Photo Essay into my advocacy project and have really enjoyed this part of the course.  This was my favorite thing we have done so far in the semester. 

The other really awesome thing we have done during this portion of the course is are Eco-Chic Lifestyle goals.  Everyone was able to create a SMART goal relating to something they felt could use a change in their life.  My goal revolves around drinking water out of a reusable bottle from the faucet or drinking fountains.  I used to buy tons of bottled water and now I don't!  It is so exciting for me and the environment.  I really like how all of our goals can be different and we all get to focus on one area in our life to change to better then environment.  One of the films we watched, The Story of Stuff, was probably one of the most beneficial videos I have seen.  It was a pretty simple film and very easy to understand.  It got straight to the point and was a great learning resource. 

JUNKING!  This is one of the most exciting aspects of environmental friendliness, in my opinion at least.  Junking is basically taking an object that was once thought of as junk or unusable and turning it into a completely new item.  We have to do Junking piece and I have to say I am really excited for mine  At first, I had no idea what to do and didn't think I would find anything in the garage that I could use.  But luckily Thanksgiving night, I found these old salt and pepper shakers (Great Grandma style old).  I had no idea that's what they were even used for, they just looked like empty jars to me.  I intend to turn them into bookends so stay tuned!

The most recent thing we learned about that was pretty neat is called blog hops.  It allows you to link up with the host blog and then copy a code to your own blog which allows who linked to be displayed on your blog post.  So now when you click on my Photo Essay post, you also are able to see all the posts done by my classmates on the same project.  I think that is really beneficial for Internet purposes because then you can see what others are doing on the same topic. 

As you can see we have covered a lot in this portion of the class.  I have come to actually enjoy learning about all these topics of Environmental Health.  I had no idea some of the impacts we were making on the environment.  We learned how we can all make a difference for the environment too.  I definitely utilize this knowledge in the future!