Reflection of Weeks 1-4

Reflection

When asked to sit down and reflect on what I have learned over the last few weeks I couldn't believe how much came to mind.  Starting out in this class on day one I was very excited and ready to learn more about it.  I had heard great things about this class and also have an interest in the environment so I was very optimistic coming into it.  However after the first day I have to admit I felt a bit overwhelmed. So much information was being thrown at us and I was fairly new at blogging so I was nervous.  After a few days things did get better as I got the hang of things. The list of things that I have learned about blogging so far include: 

• how to create a blog
• blogging etiquette 
• how to create a gadget
• format of a blog

These are just some general things I had learned about blogging, I have also learned a lot about my fellow bloggers and some important environmental issues as well.  One thing that sticks out in my mind what I have learned is about Industry and how much they actually control what we think about our world,  what we eat, and how we feel about whats healthy.  It's very scary to think about it almost seems like in a way that we are being controlled by the norms of our society.  I know that its comfortable to follow those norms but I also think its very important to be educated before you make decsions.  Since reading my book The Food Revolution, many important issues regarding my diet has been brought to my attention.  I never really realized how much eating certain foods actually effect not only ourselves but our world around us.  I think that this is a great book and actually unbiased in the way its written.  It includes many scientific facts and I definitley think its a book you should check out.

Another thing that I have learned during the first four weeks of class is how great it is to interact in groups such as our blog groups. I love reading each persons posts because I feel like they give me an idea of what they personality would be like and kind of tells me their own interests. Each group is very diverse, which helps to give an array of topics to talk about.  After reading all of my group members posts I feel as if so many new issues have been brought to my attention and even sparked my interest in some.  I have learned about each of their different books with topics that include:

• Drunken Girlhood
• Children and nature
• Fast Food
• How to survive in emergency situations

each of their posts has really taught me new things that I think are very interesting and I look forward to reading them every week.

In addition to learning about my group members and there books I have also learned about the environment and my self.  One thing that I thought was interesting was the ecological footprint topic.  I couldn't believe that our class had such high numbers.  After talking about it though we all realized different ways that we could be more eco friendly and make our footprints smaller, which is great to see that we all want to make progress.  Other topics that I learned about that were of interest to me were:

• opinions of west Duluth
• more smoking bans in Duluth
• the great pacific garbage dump video
• how the white house controls what information can be released about the environment

I think that the biggest thing that i learned about my self is that I really do have a passion in certain things, whether is be environmentally related or not, its important find more out about it because you never know what you might find.