Reflection: Weeks 13-14 Combined With Reflection: Overall Course

Reflection: Weeks 9-12

Wow, I know I say the same thing to start every reflection but WOW the days are just flying by! How is it week 12 already? I don't even realize how much stuff we have actually done until I do these reflections and actually take the time to look back on the past weeks. 
My favorite thing that we have done lately is our eco-chic lifestyle goal. I am glad that I finally had some motivation to get my butt in gear and start taking the bus to school. I only live eight minutes away from school but it has been amazing to me the amount of gas that I have saved over the past few weeks. I am actually pretty proud of myself for keeping up with my goal so well. I am constantly setting goals for myself but if they end up falling through it's never a big deal because I'm usually the only one that knows. Having other people tracking my progress has really kept me on track with this goal and it has made me reconsider changing my goal setting strategies for the future. 

Coming in at a close second place finish would have to be the photo essay we did. It was fun to let our creative sides out a little bit and practice our picture taking skills :) It was awesome that we got to share our photos with the entire class and let them in on what we had been working on. 
Another thing we have been working on is our advocacy project. I know it's bad to say, but I am horrible at keeping up with the political aspect of things. I am glad that I was able to take a look at some of the important people that help to make the decisions in Wisconsin and realize how easy it is to get ahold of them and make your voice heard. 
Over the past few weeks we have also watched a few films in class. Which I also really enjoyed. I really like watching the documentaries we have been lately because it's great to get to know a lot of the facts and not as much fiction about certain topics. 
Overall it has been another great couple weeks and I'm looking forward to finishing out the semester :)

Reflection: Weeks 5-8

Over the past four weeks we have done such a great variety of things in class. From checking out and using new and interesting websites, to watching some very eye-opening films, there hasn't been a dull moment yet!

Some of the films we watched include "Future of Food" and "Tapped." I really enjoyed both of these films because they cover some very controversial topics that hit very close to home for a lot of people whether they know it or not. 


Two of my favorite websites we checked out during the last few weeks include Picnik and the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Base. I had never used Picnik before and absolutely loved it. I definitely have developed a new obsession for editing my photos, and how can you go wrong when it's free! I also really liked the Cosmetic Safety Base. Of course being female, I have a ridiculous amount of cosmetic products. It is really great to know that there is a place I can go to look up just how dangerous some of the products are to my health. 


I can't believe how fast the first half of the semester went! It's exciting that we changed up our groups a little and I am really excited to get to read some new blogs! Can't wait to see what the rest of the semester brings! :)

Reflection: Weeks 1-4

WOW! I can't believe how fast these first few weeks have absolutely flown by! It's amazing how fast everyone has picked up this blogging thing and gone on a role with it! I love all of the different topics the share and voices are covering and have found myself looking forward to when the next ones will be posted! I like that a lot of the share and voices are interactive in the fact that people are posting links and videos to check out. 

I think that for me class has been fun so far mainly because of the fact that we have so many people that are willing to voice their opinions not only strongly but also in a respectful way at the same time. In a lot of my previous classes people are either too scared to say their opinion out loud, or it's just the opposite in the fact that they have their opinion, which is not subject to change by the way, and they make sure everyone knows it. I am really looking forward to the rest of the semester to see all the other types of interesting things we will be learning and discussing about. :)http://www.earthfriendlymoving.com/images/icons_sidebar.jpg

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!