Reflection: Weeks 1-4

Throughout the first four weeks of this course, I would say I have learned more than I even thought was possible.  From the beginning, we learned the obvious things such as what is environmental health?  How does it affect you?  Why is it necessary to learn about it?  We have also looked at many technological items that are very new to me such as google reader, blogger, and dashboard.  I feel so much more confident in these areas now, only four weeks in, than I did at the beginning.  At first, I was terrifed, technology and I don't usually mix well but so far I have to say it isn't so bad.  Another important thing I have learned is about your ecological footprint.  I had no idea there was such a thing or what kind of impact I was leaving on this planet. 

I really like the aspect of web groups.  It is fun and interesting to read other people's post and see what they think about the environment.  I think one of the best ways to learn is from peers, so this is an excellent example of that.  Another aspect of the course I am fond of is the Read 'N' Seed section, I love my book and feel like I would read it even without this class. 

Regarding the environment, I have learned about new buildings that are environmentally friendly and LEED certified.  I have also learned that recycling is not enough to care for the environment.  If we do not do something extreme soon, eventually the planet is going to be no more.  I should start eating foods grown locally, buying things with less packaging, and carpool more often.  I think I will really benefit from this class and I am looking forward to the rest of the experience. 

Read 'N' Seed 2: First Quarter of Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

For the first quarter of my book I read about the months of March, April, and May.  This covered pages 1-64.

Basically, so far in the book we have looked at some of the challenges they are facing with starting the 100 Mile Diet.  For instance, they live in Canada, having weather much like Minnesota.  So the biggest thing they have had to deal with so far is snow.  Since they are trying to get most of their food grown out of the ground, the snow is becoming a huge problem.  Another thing authors are having issues with is the variety of food they have to eat.  They have not been able to find bread so they have been eating potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes.  Interestingly they created potato-bread.  In a more general sense, the first three months of the book deals with their beginning journey and search for local foods that fall into the 100 mile area. 

Some new terms that I came across in the book are traceability and externalities.  Traceability in this case basically means to be able to identify the location of where the food came from.  Externalities refer to cost and benefit related to the sale of products.  They discussed this in the book in relation to farmer's markets costs, which were often more expensive.  Some significant things I have learned is how far food travels to actually get to different grocery stores and such around the world.  Typically it is up to 2,500 miles or basically saying California to New York.  Another important thing I learned is really just looking at your diet.  What are you consuming?  Do you NEED to be eating this or that?  Or do you just WANT it?  Alissa and James (the authors) realize that they no longer go by what they want, but rather what they need to survive.

Even though I am only a quarter of the way into the book, I already feel so passionate about this topic.  We are wasting so many of the world's resources by transporting food across nations just because we are too lazy to do what they did 80 years ago, which was live off the land they were on.  Sure it may be hard at first because you need to determine what is grown in the area but think of how it will affect your local economy.  It would be very beneficial, and would be saving the entire planet. I really hope I can encourage others to really be aware of the traceability of their food.  Where is it coming from?  Do you really need apples that come from New Zealand?  Wouldn't you be just as satisfied with apples from Minnesota?  My answer is yes, but my assumption is that no one even pays attention.  It is the small things we can do with our diet that can benefit us all in the long run.  I think it relates to our discussion in class about being wasteful with our own resoures, if we DO have food grown locally but do not opt to use and instead get our food elsewhere, we are wasting what is right in front of us and one day it won't be there.  Thus I would hope that others pay more attention to where your foods are coming from.  Maybe even keep of list of different locations, I bet you would be surprised of how far your food is traveling.

Share and Voice: Sesame Street: Outdoors with Jason Mraz

I found this great video put on by Jason Mraz and Sesame Street. Obviously it is targeted towards a younger population but I think it is really important to spend time outside and enjoy the environment we have because one day it might not be as beautiful. This video is important because too many kids these days just sit inside and play video games. Now I don't know about the rest of you, but as a kid, I played outside a lot. Our parents practically made us, weather permitting. I think we need to get back to the good old days when people enjoyed the outdoors.

Watch the video and really listen to the lyrics :) My favorite line "mother nature deserves to be loved" Let me know if you find any favorites too.

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

Before this class, I had never heard the term ecological footprint before.  But surprisingly it has been around since 1992.  Your ecological footprint represents the amount of land and sea needed to regenerate the resources you consume and waste. 

I took the EarthDay FootPrint Quiz   It was really shocking to me to see the effect of my lifestyle on the environment.  I was surprised to see some of the questions on the quiz, because I never expected them to have an effect on others or the earth.  For example, asking specific questions about which types of meat I eat was an interesting question.  I am sad to say that my ecological footprint results say that if everyone lived like me it would require 4.5 earths to have enough resources.  After seeing the numbers, I really want to live more earth-friendly.  One thing that impacted my score was my flying time.  Reduce how much I fly was a way I could improve my score, but due to family situations I have to fly every year to go visit them.  Therefore, I must adjust other parts of my life to make up for transportation costs.  Some other suggestions they made were to ride public transportation one day a week, or purchase items with less packaging.  I am currently reading The 100 Mile Diet, so now especially after taking this quiz, I would like to try to consume more foods that are produced locally.  I also took the Travel Calculator Quiz, which also said that I create a lot of pollution from transportation.  The last quiz I took was the Carbon Footprint Calculator, which is actually based on the UK.  This one came up that I was average for my CO2 use. 

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting experience.  I learned a lot about how my life is effecting planet earth.  I need to make a lot of changes in my life so I am more environmental friendly.  This was definitely an eye opening experience for me.  I hope that from our posts more people will take these quizzes and realize how much they are affecting the planet we live on.