Reflection: Weeks 8-14

I can't believe the semester is already over!  Time has flown by.  I have to say I found the last half of the semester just as interesting as the first half.  

I found the second half of this semester to be much more hands on, which I think made me enjoy this half better!  I loved seeing everyone's creativity come to life by re-creating something from what most would call "junk".  Here's my junking project below: cutting up old t-shirts and making them into headbands! If you click here, you can check out a site that gives you some directions to follow.  You basically just need to cut up a t-shirt and be creative!  You can braid it, make strips, create flowers, or mix everything to make one masterpiece!  My next task is to create a scarf or two over break!

Now, I need to make note of how I came across this tutorial.  I have recently joined Pinterest, a website created for people who want to search for just about ANYTHING.  You can look up recipes, clothing, wedding ideas, and obviously Do It Yourself crafts.  There are tons of different DIY crafts that relate to reusing "junk" to create something!  Check it out!

Aside from our junking project,  I think the second best part of these weeks was visiting Goodwill.  I have always been a fan of shopping at Goodwill for little nik-naks or some comfy "lounge" sweatshirts, but going behind the scenes at the store really opened my eyes.  I never knew the purpose of Goodwill and how they offer so many opportunities for people who may have trouble finding a job based on their mental status, age, or past.  It was so cool to see all the donated items sorted throughout the enormous warehouse.  I really enjoyed the mattress contraption-what a cool concept!  Seeing all those mattresses in the warehouse and thinking of how they would have ended up in a landfill is just shocking.  I'm very glad Goodwill takes the time and gives us the choice of giving them our old mattresses, rather than dumping them.  

I loved "The Story of Stuff" movie!  This movie (along with other "Story of" ones) are a great way to get the point across of environmental issues our country faces.  These movies could be shown to middle school students all the way up to adults.  It's definitely eye opening, interesting, and it even throws a little humor in!  I actually heard of these movies before this class because I used "The Story of Bottled Water" for another class I had to present in.  It was a great way to explain the issue of bottled water and how it is becoming a growing problem for America.

I also thoroughly enjoyed doing the Share 'N' Voice posts over the past few weeks!  It was cool to be able to share something I found interesting with the rest of the class.  I also liked that it was easy to access everyone's Share 'N' Voice by linking them all in one place!  I got to share some awesome things like the book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, the film "Forks Over Knives", and discuss the never ending parking issues at UMD and how this affects other transportation routes like the DTA.  

The Advocacy Project was a little more difficult to accomplish over the weeks, but it definitely taught me a lot.  As I focused on a bill for cleaner Great Lakes through regulation, I realized how advocacy works and what it takes to advocate for something you strongly believe in.  I never really knew who my local representatives were (unless I heard here and there on the local television), so it was nice to be able to recognize who they are and how I can contact them. 

What a great semester it has been!  I can see there has been some change in my views and way of life, whether I try to eat more vegetables or attempt at recreating something out of "junk".  This class has most definitely opened my eyes to a new world of ideas concerning our environment.  I can most definitely say I have transformed my environmental thinking into the operational stage of learning, where I myself have the ability to do something about an issue.  I hope to keep all my new habits throughout my life because they will ultimately help the environment and make me a better person!

Share 'N' Voice: UMD Parking and Transportation

After reading some of Lindsay's advocacy projects concerning using other means of transportation to reduce air pollution, it made me think about how transportation is handled around campuses like UMD.

I live at Boulder Ridge Apartments on Rice Lake Road near UMD.  The reason why I decided to live here is because they have a separate shuttle created for Boulder Ridge/Campus Park students to use.  They also have a bus stop for the DTA, so we can use this route of transportation, too.  I think it's a great way to travel to and from UMD since parking is so limited there.

While I love the fact that I reduce the amount of driving I do every week by taking the bus, I find it difficult to actually ride the bus sometimes.  Whether going to and from school, sometimes the bus is so packed, I'm surprised the bus drivers can even fit all the students on it!  I also have to deal with rushing to the bus after a class just so I can make it to the bus before it leaves (the bus will sometimes leave early if it is too full).

My question to you readers is this:  Do you think this is a problem to be concerned about?  Should Boulder Ridge provide more transportation for all the students needing to go to and from class?

Thinking about this topic is difficult to me.  On one side, we are eliminating the amount of vehicles being driven and air pollution by having just two shuttle buses every hour.  One the other hand, sometimes it gets so crowded that it sometimes is difficult to take the shuttle.

Another issue I always think about when it comes to driving vehicles and UMD parking is whether or not UMD should spend the money to create more parking spaces for students.  Should we have more spaces to provide even more cars the ability to park on campus?  Should we have more opportunities for students to ride the DTA or other shuttles so they don't have to drive to campus?  Or should we simply make those who drive "suffer" the difficulty of parking, paying for meters, or paying to park in the pay lot?

Let me know what you guys think!

Advocacy Project: Letter to Elected Official

December 12, 2011

To Congressman Chip Cravaak

U.S. House of Representatives

508 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

VOTE YES ON H.R. 425 Great Lakes Water Protection Act

I am writing this letter to encourage you to vote YES for the Great Lakes Water Protection Act so we can keep our Great Lakes healthy for wildlife and humans.  Water is a necessity for life, so we must do all we can to help protect our fresh water sources by regulating and monitoring the amount of pollution being put into the Great Lakes.

According to the EPA, 24 gallons of sewage pollution are getting into our Great Lakes every year.  This staggering amount needs to be reduced in order to ensure the Great Lakes will be sustainable for life.  Polluting our fresh water affects not only humans being unable to consume it, but it affects our wildlife that consume it or live in it.  Pollution can also affect the amount of recreational use of the Great Lakes.  If we can't keep our lakes clean, we have nowhere to sail, fish, swim, and enjoy.

I ask that you stand up for the local communities that use the Great Lakes as a water resource and vote YES on the H.R. 425 Great Lakes Water Protection Act.

Sincerely,

Niki Johnson

Share 'N' Voice: Hot, Flat, and Crowded

I never thought I would be interested in a book I read to a client of mine for me Personal Care Assistant job.  He is a to-be law school grad student who is interested in politics and law.  He is taking a class which requires him to read the book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas L. Friedman, in which I read to him.  As I began to read him this book, I was quickly reminded of our class and how each aspect of the book relates to what we talk about:

• HOT:  Our world is showing climate change is becoming an urgent issue that needs to be addressed before it's too late.  This book describes this problem as global warming is Mother Nature's way to tell us to stop and slow down (relating to the factors that cause increased climate change).

• FLAT:  Globalization is taking over our world, and it's being taken over fast.  One example includes the huge problem of deforestation in third world countries for economic gains in our country.

• CROWDED:  Overpopulation is slowly making our world more difficult to maintain due to the increase needs for materials, food, shelter, water, and much more.

Friedman explains the major issues of our world and how our children will be affected by these issues if things are not changed soon.  He advocates for a cleaner, more efficient, more greener world.

I was surprised at how well this book was written!  He gets very imaginative and uses good examples to help create images as to what he tries to explain.  I recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding how our world is becoming hot, flat, and crowded.  It is an easy read and very informational!

Advocacy Project: Fact Sheet

What's the issue?  Who is affected by this?

Large bodies of water like the Great Lakes are suffering due to pollution.  This causes loss of fresh, clean water for all species and human use.



There are three different types of sources of pollution, according to Wikipedia:

Point-Source Pollution: Pollution that enters bodies of water directly.

Nonpoint-Source Pollution:  Pollution that enters bodies of water through runoffs, streets, streams, etc.  This is the hardest source of pollution to regulate and reduce.

Atmospheric Pollution:  Pollution that enters bodies of water through the sky, like smoke or debri from plants or buildings.



Some interesting facts from the EPA website concerning our Great Lakes:

-"Each year, 24 billion gallons of sewage pollution are dumped into the Great Lakes".

-"According to the EPA, during 2009, U.S. Great Lakes beaches had 3,300 days of closings and advisories.  Water quality monitoring showed that bacteria levels exceeded health and safety standards.  In many cases, the bacteria came from city pollution and under treated sewage".

-" Recreational swimmers using any of the Great Lakes are cautioned about exposure to chemical pollutants and disease-causing microorganisms from sources such as untreated and poorly treated sewage".

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

I had a hard time deciding what to do for my photo essay, but I was surprised to find out it was a lot easier to accomplish than I originally thought!  I decided to take some pictures of "stuff" at my grandparent's house over Thanksgiving.  My grandparents are avid rummage sale-ers, so they are always finding cool "junk" that people give away for practically no cost!  Some of the items they showed me were things I could re-purpose, and others were things they bought at the rummage sales that someone had already re-purposed them!  Check them out:

 

 I found these old decanters in their basement, which are used to store wine.  My grandma collects a lot of glassware like this, but she hardly uses them for any practical purpose.  I thought these could be a decorative vase for some flowers because of the great designs on the sides.  

 

My grandparents are pretty good on recycling, hence this giant bucket of crushed aluminum cans.  These were just lying in their basement, so I don't know if my grandpa was saving them or waiting to recycle them.  When I found them, I instantly thought of how you could make some pretty cool artwork with these, since they're all crushed up in perfect little circles.  It would be cool to make a pattern from the different colors around the sides and put it in some type of frame for artwork, or you could even make some kind of cool wind chime with them!

 Ever wonder how people used to iron those giant dresses and fancy outfits when they didn't have electricity or only had limited electricity?  Here's an old iron, which had to be used by placing over a fire so it could get hot enough to iron clothes.  My grandparents use these (they have a few of them) as doorstops or weights to hold something down.  I think they're pretty cool as decorations, too!

This was one of the items I found that was already re-purposed: a rock!  I thought it was pretty cool how whoever painted this was able to use the entire front half of the rock to create a fawn.  It's a great decoration!

 

These are my favorite antiques from their house!  Do you know what they used to be??  These glass objects used to be candy holders for children to buy at their local store.  The train is hollow from the bottom, and my grandma said people used to put little sprinkle-like candies inside it and place a piece of cardboard under it so they wouldn't fall out.  The donkey would carry its candy in the cart behind him. These are great to re-purpose because they are cute decorations by themselves, and you could still use them as candy holders today!

When my grandpa showed me this, he asked me what it was (this was before the box of matches was placed in it).  I thought it was some kind of bird feeder.. but it's actually an old match holder.  It even had slits on the side so you could keep the box in the container to strike the matches!  My grandparents said these usually weren't decorated so nicely, so they assumed someone else added the decorations.  Maybe the previous owner redecorated and didn't use it as a match holder?

This is probably my favorite antique/re-purposed item my grandparents have.  Can you guess what it used to be?  This used to be an old meat grinder (the handle part to grind the meat is hidden behind it).  The previous owner painted it and made little pockets on top of the "table" of the meat grinder to place matching salt and pepper shakers.  I thought this was definitely the most creative re-purposed item I've ever seen!

I think the most important thing I learned when doing this project is that you need to keep an open mind when trying to re-purpose things that seem like junk.  Once I got rolling on this project and found my first item, it seemed to be much easier because I began to get more creative in discovering these cool things!

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

           

           The issue at hand is that water is becoming less of a necessity to sustain and keep fresh, and companies and people are polluting our waters.  This makes water unlivable for life in the water, like fish, and undrinkable for humans.  The Great Lakes are a huge source of freshwater for Americans that live near them, so we need to keep them fresh and safe for all life.  The legislation has been proposed to address this issue with the H.R.425 Great Lakes Water Protection Act, which is to “amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a deadline for restricting sewage dumping into the Great Lakes and to fund programs and activities for improving wastewater discharges into the Great Lakes”.

            Everyone is affected by the issue of polluting freshwater sources like the Great Lakes.  It may affect those living near the Great Lakes sooner than other Americans, but it would eventually affect everyone if the Great Lakes ever became too contaminated to use and drink.  This also obviously affects all the wildlife that may live in the Great Lakes or drink from them.  Life in the Great Lakes can grow tumors, become deformed, get sick, and even die.  Humans that consume life living in the Great Lakes can become sick with Persistant Organic Pollutants, too.  Children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems are affected the most.  We ultimately, as Americans and humans, lose a huge resource for freshwater if we keep polluting it.  The only thing anyone can “gain” from this issue is that large companies or people that are polluting them can “get rid” of the junk they are dumping in the lakes (1).

            The biggest consequences for people that live close to the Great Lakes is we would have to find other resources of drinking water and take that from somewhere else, which will affect the people we are taking from as well.  Losing such a large amount of freshwater would affect families because some may want to move away from their homes near one of the lakes, since the water is not safe to use.  As a society, it would affect the towns near the Great Lakes because, as I said before, we would need to find another source of safe water to us (1).

            Economic costs concerning pollution in the Great Lakes would be loss of commercial fishing, which causes problems for the fisher and the public.  There is less local fish available for the people to purchase, and fishermen are either limited to what they can catch or may not be able to fish at all depending on how much pollution there is.  There can be higher costs to treating the water to make it consumable for humans, and if there is a large spill of a harmful chemical or substance in the Great Lakes, it would cost a lot to clean that up.  The only people that “benefit” from the Great Lakes being polluted would be the companies.  These companies might not have to pay a large fee (if anything) to dump their waste into our lakes, streams, or anywhere else that the pollutants might someday reach our lakes, which makes it very desirable for them to do so (2).

            As for social impacts, this affects the public and their health.  People living near the Great Lakes may not be able to swim or do other activities in the lakes, and they might not be able to drink the water if it was polluted enough.  Higher health services would be needed if the pollutants became a health issue to humans, too.  In my opinion, no one socially “benefits” from the Great Lakes being polluted (2).

            The barrier of this issue is trying to monitor what goes into the Great Lakes and who puts it there.  In reality, anyone could just go up to Lake Superior and dump some sort of nasty chemical into it.  This makes it difficult to point the finger on who the exact culprit it.  One way this can be overcome is by enforcing the Great Lakes Water Protection Act.

            As for overcoming this water pollution problem, we (Great Lakes locals) can be the resources to help correct this issue.  There is a website I found that offers 12 great ways to help clean up our water.  Some of the tips include properly disposing of hazardous wastes, using natural fertilizers, and be an activist.  Being an activist is probably the best way to get new laws and regulations built for water pollution control (3).

            The Great Lakes becoming polluted is actually what caused the Great Lakes Water Quality Act and the Clean Water Act to come into action in the 1970’s.  Pollution became a huge issue in the summer of 1969 when the Cuyahoga River caught on fire due to the high pollution.  This river runs from Cleveland, Ohio, which makes its way to Lake Erie as well.  Although these two agreements have been put into order and water pollution has gone down since then, there is still pollution that exists in our Great Lakes (1). 

            I believe that all local residents in Duluth would approve of fixing this issue by voting “yes” for the Great Lakes Water Protection Act, as well as all the other local residents living near any of the Great Lakes.  The only people who I believe would be opposed to this issue would be any large factories or companies that are actively dumping their wastes into the Great Lakes.  I think the best way to get a “win-win” situation out of this issue is to get companies that are dumping waste into the lakes more aware of what they are doing to the Great Lakes.  Communities living around these lakes should become more aware of the issue, too.  I think creating better resources for companies and other people dumping waste into the Great Lakes would help the pollution problem.  If these people knew of a place where they can get rid of their waste without harming the environment, this would help the pollution problem immensely. 

            My recommendation is that everyone should vote “yes” for the Great Lakes Water Protection Act.  Tighter restrictions on water pollution control will benefit our communities and the Great Lakes.

Resources:

1) http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/pollution/water/water1.html

2) http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch8en/conc8en/table_waterpollutionexternalities.html

3) http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/gsteps.asp

4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act

5) http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/glwqa/usreport/part2.html