Eye Opener: Online Learning Activity

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

After looking up ecological footprint on Wikipedia, I was surprised to find out that the term "ecological footprint" is a fairly new term that was first publicized by William Rees in 1992. I was also surprised to find out that the UN calculates the world's ecological footprint every single year to see just how resourceful/not resourceful we are being. The last record Wikipedia has of our ecological footprint is from 2006 at 1.4. I would be very interested to find out what our current ecological footprint would be.


I took the ecological footprint quiz and was surprised to find out that mine was 4.6!!!! I did pretty good in every category except for energy land used and services used. It was really disappointing to me to see just how much higher I was than the national average, even if that number is from 2006! 

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

For my photo essay, I chose to focus on unsafe living conditions in rental housing. The pictures I took are from a friend's house of mine whose landlord is very untimely with any problems they are having with their house. 

This first picture is of a panel that got pulled out in the basement in one of the bedrooms. As you can see there is moisture and mold behind the panel which is not safe for living and is definitely not up to code. 

These next two pictures are of the front door at their house. The doorknob is broken  and the lock doesn't work so the aren't even able to lock their front door! They weren't even given a key to that door when they moved in!                                                 

 

This is one of the many windows that are painted either partially open or shut in their house. Can you say fire hazard?

This is picture of their bathroom sink. As you can see it has been clogged for quite some time. Pretty disgusting if you ask me.


Make sure you know your rights as a renter. Don't let your landlord take advantage of you or your roommates. UMD has a pretty helpful website for knowing your rights and regulations. Check it out here:https://vcassl.d.umn.edu/kirby/off-campus-housing/

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

Part 1
Antiquing: Can refer to two different things. In the first sense, it means going out and shopping or looking for antiques in a variety of locations. In the second sense, it refers to applying special treatments to furniture to make it appear antique. Given that the two concepts have very different meanings, the intent is usually clear from the context.


Junking: The retrieval of ordinarily discarded things and materials. It is a way of redefining the usage of things... not to mention... a way of cleaning up our polluted earth. There are many types of junking, but the most common are street junking and scrapping, both of which can be done for fun or profit.


Flea Market: A flea market is a large, traditionally open-air market where people sell a wide range or goods, typically used. In some regions, people bring their own possessions to a flea market, setting up a small stall to sell various used goods. In other cases, a merchant may actually b e a dealer of used goods who either frequents flea markets or runs a store and travels to flea markets. The name, incidentally, is a reference to flea-laden used clothes which were sold at flea markets in the 17th century. Some people may also call a flea market a bazaar, connecting flea markets with the larger outdoor markets of the Middle East.


Thrift Shop: A retail establishment operated by a charitable organization for the purpose of fundraising. Also can be known as a charity shop, thrift store, hospice shop, resale shop, or op shop.


Upcycling: Converts waste materials into new materials or products of a higher quality or better "environmental value."


Resale Shop: The selling again of something purchased.

Part 2

The above terms are related to environmental health because they all involve the reuse of old products so new ones don't have to be made and also so the old ones aren't taking up space in a landfill somewhere. One's man junk is another man's treasure :)

Antiques: Antique Boutique

357 Canal Park Drive

Duluth, MN 55802

(218)529-7667

Junking: Sellers Auction

2103 1/2 W. 3rd St.

Duluth, MN 55806

(218)722-3360

Flea Market: Studebaker Drivers Club Swap Meet, Flea Market, and Classic Car Show

Lake Superior College

2101 Trinity Road

Duluth, MN 55811

Thrift Shop: Savers

1740 Mall Drive

Duluth, MN

(218)722-1894

Upcycling: Didin't really find anything related in the Duluth area

Resale: Goodwill

700 Garfield Ave.

Duluth, MN 55802

(218)722-6351

I definitely put stores like these to good use. I love shopping for clothes or other goods at places like Goodwill and Plato's Closet. I also love looking around antique shops for fun mostly but once in awhile I will find something that catches my eye that I can't resist buying.

Part 3

Freeze Frame  

I absolutely LOVE this project! I adore different and creative picture frames because you never have to worry about matching them with anything else and you can never have too many around! This is such a great idea!

Paris Lamp

I really liked this project because of the fact that you could put any design you wanted on the outside shade to match where you wanted to put it.

Sometimes It's Ok To Break A Dish... (Or Two)...

I really liked the page on mosaic projects. It's so easy to find really unique plates to use for projects and also left over random tiles. I especially liked this table :)

Images retrieved from: http://empressofdirt.blogspot.com/2007/08/make-your-own-old-tool-art.html

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

For this eye opener, we were asked to pick and analyze an everyday cosmetic product that we use. In order to analyze our product, we used the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. Using this website, you can search for different brands or products of cosmetics that you use, and it gives you a rating from 1-10 depending on how dangerous it is to your health according to the ingredients used. 


I chose to examine Garnier Fructis Style Sleek & Shine Anti-Humidity Hairspray. I chose this product because it is the one I use the most. I was really concerned at first when I saw that it was a  high hazard with a score of 7 out of 10. After looking at the ingredients, only the fragrance was in the high hazard zone with concerns of neurotoxicity, allergies, and immunotoxicity while and the rest of the ingredients were about half in the moderate hazard and half in the low hazard.


I have never had any problems using this product, and have been using it for a long time. I know this is a bad thing to say but even though it is considered a high hazard product, I probably won't stop using it.

Eye Opener: CSPI

For this weeks eye opener, I chose to do the 'Score Your Diet' activity. I was actually quite surprised at how bad my score was. I know I am not always the most healthy eater, but for the most part I thought that I did a pretty good job.

My health score was 54, my environmental score was -33, my animal welfare score was -19, and my grand total came to a whopping 2 which is definitely in the uh-oh range! I scored the highest in the vegetables, beans, and nuts category which doesn't surprise me because I like almost any kind of vegetable whether it be raw or cooked. I scored the lowest in the milk/yogurt category which doesn't surprise me at all either because I loooooooove dairy! I'm a Wisconsin girl and love milk, yogurt, and cheese, and eat at least one of them with every meal. The biggest downfall of that is the fact that I don't focus on buying low-fat dairy. I know it's bad for me but it just doesn't taste the same! 


I need to work the most on my environmental score. I'm not really sure if there's much I can do at this point especially because I'm a college student and don't have the money to spend on organic food or grass fed beef etc. I don't really like this website because I feel like they're trying to make you feel bad for eating meat. It seems like they're trying to say that you can't have that great of a score unless you're a vegetarian that eats only organic and all natural foods. I'm definitely not going vegetarian any time soon but I'll do what I can to help in other ways. 

Welcome to Barefoot in the Backyard with Brenda!

Hi! My name is Brenda and I am currently a senior at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I am majoring in Community Health Education with a minor in Psychology. I love being active and being outdoors as much as possible, but my absolute favorite activity is volleyball! I started this blog for a class I am taking called Environmental Health. Throughout the semester I will be writing about our impact on the environment. I will be looking at different ways of how to be environmentally friendly, and also how by keeping our environment healthy, we are helping to keep ourselves healthy too!

There are six possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project

2. Eye Openers

3. Reflections

4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change

5. Read 'n' Seed

6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post has been labeled with all five kinds of posts. You will also see the number of each kind of post in my Labels Gadget at the top of the page. All post titles from now on will begin with one of the categories above.


The members of my web group are:

1. Dane@DanesTrailofHealth 

2. JD@EarthandMeWithJD 

3. Samantha J@SustainabilityWithSam

4. Alicia@OutandAboutWithAlicia

5. Matt

6. Molly 

You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete Profile."


I am hoping to have a lot of fun blogging this semester and hope that you enjoy following along!