Share & Voice: Wellness Walk

This past summer I was given the opportunity to complete a portion of my internship at the YMCA in Eau Claire, WI.  Through this opportunity I developed their employee wellness program and worked along side the Health & Wellness Director at the YMCA along with may other individuals from community organizations.

This flyer, sent to all area businesses, advertises a campaign that our staff at the YMCA along with the Public Affairs Director for to Eau Clair Area Chamber of Commerce to promote walking during lunch break for employees along the route.  This event was staged as a promotion to kick off a total program that the chamber is going to implement starting late next spring.

Read 'n' Seed 5: Fourth Quarter and Final Review of "Exposed"

 

Image compliments of flavorpill.com

After completing the final three chapters of Exposed, I have once a gain been opened up to another realm suspicious events occurring within out own government. The final three chapters titled: Chemical Revolution, Transpacific Drift, and The New Diplomats; really summed up the purpose of this book and continued to reiterate the message that the author has been portraying.

Ch 7: Chemical Revolution

This chapter is broken into five categories, Human Test Dummies, Fall & Rise of the Environmental Mohicans, Chemical Reaction, Making of a Transatlantic Lobby, and American Missionary in Brussels. This first looks at the amount of toxic chemicals found in grandmothers and grand daughters and looks at the amount to toxic chemicals we as citizens are exposed do. The next section discusses REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals) and the Europeans effort to make this common practice. Making of a Transatlantic Lobby discusses the fact that the European Union’s biggest opposition is the United States and their huge contingent of lobbyist that represent major chemical companies and seem to always be standing in the way of what the EU is attempting to complete

Ch 8: Transpacific Drift

Through this chapter the main theme was ‘China and the Next Big Thing’ and how if the European Union is to make REACH work, the manufacturing powerhouses throughout the globe would have to be on board. The chapter discusses how China’s vast economic and ecological footprint are not only reshaping the global economy but also reshaping global climate. Since China is second only to the United States in Greenhouse Gas emotions, and the EU has pretty much given up on the U.S., the primary focus of environmental health throughout the world has now been shifted to china. The chapter concludes by stating how China was faced with the decision to go one way or the other with its environmental process and they chose to follow the path of Europe, once again leaving the U.S. with a lot of catching up to do

Ch 9: The New Diplomats

The final chapter of this book looks at how the United States used to play a groundbreaking role in the conservation of our environment. A professor at Brown University who was interviewed for the book states, “my students have no memory of U.S. environmental leadership. When I talk about how the United States was a pioneer of global environment standards, they look stunned, like I’m some kind of crazy Apologist for the U.S. government.” The remainder of this chapter continues to discuss how the U.S. used play a significant role in the preservation of the environment throughout our world, but some where along the line morals and value were traded for money and greed.

Overview:

After reading this book I was truly amazed at the amount of information I gathered. I assumed that it would be a lot more vanilla than it really was and the fact that it went hand-in-hand for some of the course work we have been doing helped out greatly. The three most significant things I learned would have to be the impact that the European Union has had on the safety of the entire world, the openness that every other country except for the United States has had to following the research and ideas of the EU, and finally the absolute blind-eye that the U.S. turns to certain issues, especially those that effect its citizens in severely hazardous ways. This book opened my eyes to see what truly is going on in ‘Corporate America’ and educated me to become more informed about the things I am not only putting into and on my body, but to all of the products that I encounter on a daily basis and what goes in to creating them.

As a whole I would recommend this book to others because of its educational purpose, but also because it cultures you to realize that other countries do truly care about their citizens and the appropriate measures are being taken to protect people in this world.

I found this review on Amazon.com, and I think it reflects my feelings on this book in almost an identical way:

I had not realized till I read this book that Europe seems more interested in health than corporate profits, as evidenced by how closely they watch modern products. The US used to be a leader in this regard, but now govt agencies are tools of big business. It's sad, but the hope is that the standards that the Europeans set (and by osmosis, Japan and China) will gradually improve the safety of products in the US. No company likes having two versions of a product.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

The product that I looked up on the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Safety Guide was Old Spice Hair & Body Wash.  The products on this website are rated on a scale from 1-10 (10 being the most hazardous) the scale represented 0-2 as low hazard items, 3-6 as moderate items, and 7-10 as high hazard items; here is what I gathered from my results:

My product was ranked a 5/10 and said to have a moderate hazard, with the ingredients being primarily linked to allergies/immunotoxicity.  The site stated that 60% of body wash/cleansers have lower concerns, along with 43% of shampoos having lower concerns as well.  The primary ingredient that had the highest hazard score was FRAGRANCE and it scored an 8/10 and was a high hazard. Nearly all of the hazardous ingredients in my product were linked to allergies and skin irritation and were in the low hazard to moderate hazard range.

As for my feelings on these findings, I have somewhat of mixed emotions.  I have been using this product for quite a while and never suffered any side effects from it, which is saying alot for a person who has allergy problems and has had issues with very dry skin.  However, it is making me reconsider alot of products I use on a daily basis and after researching one of them I can see myself looking them all up

Read 'n' Seed 4: Third Quarter of "Exposed"

Through this section of “Exposed” I am now 105 pages into the book and have completed two more chapters; Chapter Five “Genetic Boomerang” and Chapter Six “Rise and Fall of the Machine.”
Once again this book seems to hold strong to the same trends that it has in the previous four chapters. That being the United States’ lack of recognition for that other countries (namely Europe) have done to take action in protecting their citizens. Chapter Five primarily discusses Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and the ways it has significantly impacted not only farmers through the U.S., but also our countries environment as a whole. I find it very interesting how this book seems to be lagging by about one chapter from what we have been discussing in class; it helps me truly understand these issues. This chapter continued to discuss further the effects of GMO’s , such as the economical impact it has for our country as well as the dangers. As we learned in class when we reduce a specific product to just one or two simple strains in order to become resistant to certain hazards (pests, insects, disease), the product becomes resistant to some and more dangerous risks begin to evolve. Once again much of the world as began to follow the European Union’s lead and implemented regulations on this type of chemical alteration. Over thirty countries have imposed high restrictions on these GMO crops and even refuse to accept donated crops from the United States, including the African Union who used to receive donations through an aid program.

Chapter Six brings to life the reality of what we as U.S. citizens deal with regarding electronic devices. It takes a look at how convenient our devices are and how they have become essential for us in our everyday lives, but then breaks down the reality that things break and quit working and then what do you do with them? This chapter breaks down the importance of properly disposing of our electronic devices and no just sending them off to some land fill or local dump, where the chemicals inside further release and impact our environment. It surprised me that even Europe, who is supposed to be our cornerstone for this whole environmental health topic, had considerable trouble dealing with their electronic waste issue as well. However unlike the United States, they are taking a very proactive approach to this issue and trying to stop even bigger problems before they start. Further through the reading of this chapter It also provided an informative way to recycle certain household items such as electronic devices, this surprisingly went along with a field trip I had just taken for Community Health to Western Lake Superior Sanitation District (WLSSD). Towards the end of the chapter the author also looked briefly into the manufacturing of cars, mainly the production of more efficient automobiles and how it has impacted some of the major companies throughout the U.S. It provides insight from both spectrums on how cars are being developed, and the guidelines that are to be followed in their production. One thing that stood out to me was the Global Automotive Declarable Substance List (GADSL), this list was created by the Auto Industry Action Group. The GADSL is a list that provides a glimpse into the chemical insides of an automobile, and a sense of how absent the U.S. has been in regulating them.

Once again this book never ceases to surprise me on how slow the United States is to react to these extremely important and dangerous issues. It seems a bit pathetic to me that other countries can kick back and know they are protecting their citizens, while the United States (who is supposed to be the most powerful of all) does nothing to protect their people, but rather continues to chase the almighty dollar.

Share & Voice: Duluth Community Garden

Image Courtesy of Google Images

Today in class we briefly discussed community gardens, in regards to the movie Fresh we watched in class.  Community gardens are developed to promote healthy communities and provide food security for many low income persons. as well as strengthen community bonds, provide food, and create recreational and therapeutic opportunities for a community. In addition, they can also promote environmental awareness and provide community education. 

LOCATIONS OF DULUTH COMMUNITY GARDENS

Apple Tree Circle
Bertha's
Chester Creek
Cook Home
Emerson
Hannah House
Hillside
Liliput
Riverside
Rooftop
Sixth Street
St. Scholastica
Stony Ground
Strawberry Hill

New Blog Header

Here is the new blog header I have created using Picnik, and a sample photo that was already on my computer.  It is extremly fast and easy to use, I hope you all enjoy!

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second Quarter of "Exposed"

As I have continued my reading of "Exposed" I am now 83 pages into the book and have completed two additional chapters, chapter 3 "Sex & Plastic" and chapter 4 "Two Houses of Risk."

For this portion of my reading the same trends appear to remain pretty constant, that being the U.S. always being the last to act and the first to question these policies that seem to be common sense to the outside eye. Chapter 3 discusses a chemical in plastics called phthalates. This is not an essential part of the chemical structure of plastic, but instead is an additive used to make hard plastics soft. Throughout an average home these phthalates are all over, including shower curtains, shampoo bottles, and raincoats. However it makes its greatest impact in those items used by children, such as chew toys and other items used by infants. The most widely used phthalates is called dis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP. This phthalate has been discovered to lead “feminism” in boys due to the way it lowers the levels of testosterone produced by infant boys. Once again the EU has banned this chemical and has done so based on the research completed primarily by scientists in the United States. Yet the U.S. has refused to pass this ban and remains one of the only countries to do so, although the research and promotion of this ban originated in our country. The major toy companies lobbied against the ban and argued the findings by the researchers that they themselves had haired. There are certain companies that are stationed in both the U.S. and Europe that make the same exact toys but with different ingredients in order to abide by these specific standards.

Chapter 4 went almost hand in hand with the “Future of Food” video we watched in class on Monday, only with different chemical additives. These chemicals are included on the POPS (Persistent Organic Pollutants) list and once again remain banned from certain countries throughout the world. Many conference and international negotiations have taken place regarding this POPS list as well, and once again the United States is last to act and last to become involved. A majority of this chapter coincides with the video we viewed so we all understand the scandalous nature that our government goes about dealing with issues of this matter.

These issues significantly impact us as citizens of this country because the facts and research are there, and they all suggest that these chemicals negatively impact humans. The thing that irritates me personally the most about all of this is that there are safe alternatives to all of these chemicals and even if they may not impact us significantly in the long run, why take the chance!!