Reflection of Weeks 13-15 and Overall

Weeks 13-14

I cannot believe that we are already nearing the end of the semester. This semester seemed to fly by, not that it was not busy. Over the last two weeks of class we have learned a lot of new information once again. One of the biggest things that I learned was how to write a letter to a representative. I never really knew how much work went into it. I think that this will be a great skill for us to take with us when we start to apply for jobs, and when we get hired. I also think that it was a great activity because now everyone is more involved with current events in our country, even if it is just on specific issue. I know that personally for me that I will continue to advocate, even if it is just on a small scale.


In addition to learning how to advocate, I also learned a lot of new things from the fact sheets and the learning activities. At first I was really intimidated by the learning activity, but after I completed it I thought that it is really great that we used our health education skills and applied them by creating learning activities. This is something that many of us will have to do in the future so it is definitely good practice. I also found out information that I feel will be beneficial to me such as:

• The effects of the oil spill
• Ways to encourage kids not to smoke
• Food safety for college students
• Ways to recycle
• And links to smoking videos

I also learned a lot of valuable information by creating my own learning activity.  I had no idea that dust can be one of the main causes of asthma, and that it effects so many people lives on our country. Overall I think that everyone did a great job on their learning activities and I was really proud of them.

My favorite activity that happened over the last few weeks was taking our field trip to Goodwill. I cannot believe all of the great stuff that they have going on there.  It is really amazing all that they do for the community, and the environment. There mission states" It makes me want to shop there more and more just so I can support what they do.  Some of the my favorite things that I saw there was:

• the recycling of mattresses, down to the  springs
• how they sorted everything
• and the great opportunities that they offer their employees who may not ever get those opportunities

This was really fun and I am glad that some of my classmates found some cool items for their junking projects there as well.  I personally thought that the junking project was a great success too.  I could not believe how great some of them turned out.  Some of my personal favorites were Sonny and Dane.  They really did a great job.  I want to try to make some glasses like Dane did, I think that they would be a great gift.  The junking project has really taught me that I do not need to go out and buy brand new expensive things when I am going to redecorate.  I think that it makes us realize that we really can make due with something that has already been used.  I think it makes things look more personable, and not so cheap.

Overall Course:

As for the class overall I don't exactly know how to sum it up and give it enough credit for how it has impacted me.  I think that this class has been one of the most influential yet at my time here are UMD.  It may not have taught me skills on how to specifically do something related to being a health educator, but it has taught me things that are much more important than that.  Life long lifestyle changes is one of the main things that I have learned. I cannot believe how naive I was coming into this class.  We were all aware of what environment, recycling, and sustainability were, but I don't think many of us knew how to really put those words into action.


Starting from the begging I have learned so many new things.  Before this class i had heard of blogs and seen them, but this was my first time ever Blogging.  I think that this is a great way to interact with people and look forward to doing it on my own in the future.
  One of the biggest things I learned from day one was sustainability i really had no idea how unsustainable I was living.  But thanks to the carbon footprint calculator. That we took we were really able to open our eyes and see. It just something small that really catches your attention.  That personally made me think about everything as the class went on.  


Throughout class we watched many documentaries and they all seemed to leave a lasting impact on all of us.  I could not believe some of the things that go on in our world today.  Is there really a price on water, or is it a basic human right.  And I cannot believe the health effects that some of the factories are causing just to make our stuff.  

Even though I am not an avid reader doing our read n seeds really opened my eyes to alot

• The Future of Food
• Creating a graphical header
• Junking 
• SMART Goals
• What it means to be Eco-chic
• advocacy
• the food industry
• ourselves!

Overall I am really grateful that I had the opportunity to take this class this semester.  I have learned so many things.  One thing that I think that is important for all of us to do is to remember that though we know a lot about the subject, many others do not such as our family and friends.  I think that we should all try to educate others on the information that we have learned, using our advocacy skills, and try encourage change in others.  We can all make a difference even the small things add up weather they be good or bad, we do have an impact.  With that I would like to thank you all for a great semester and best of luck in the future.

Reflection of Weeks 9-12

I cannot believe that we are already in week 12.  Its scary how fast time goes by.  Its getting to the point now that we are all getting really busy and stressed out, but I also cannot wait until this semester is over.  Once again we have learned a lot on the last few weeks, but at first I did not even realize it.  I couldn't really remember what we had talked about, but when I looked back it all came back to me.

Advocacy
We probably learned one of the most important things this week.  I would assume that before this week most of us had heard of the word advocacy.  The problem is that I didn't know what it meant.  It can be defined according to wikipedia as aim to influence public policy and resource allocation  descions within political, economic, and social systems institutions; it may be motivated from the moral, ethical, or faith principals, or simply just to protect and asset of interest.

 Some other important things to remember include:

• advocacy is not a direct service
• does not need to involve conflict

I never really realized just how important this was expesially to our major. I also never realized that it was one of our seven responsibilities.  Im excited to see how the rest of it goes and hope to learn more because it definietely does not come naturally to me.

Another thing that I learned was more about my political represnetatives .  Being aware of who are leaders are is the first step in the advocacy process.  Also I was surprised at how much I didn't know, and doing the research really made me realize that I need to keep more up to date on that.  It was also really nice to see the different representatives from the different part of the states and the local governments.

Smart Goals:

We also learned about smart goals.  Most of us thought that we knew what they were exactly, but it turns out they were a lot harder than you think.  There are certain things that you need to remember when formulating one and they include:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely

I think its really great that we turned them into our eco-chic life style change.  I think that its a really good tool to use to motivate us.  I have been making concious efforts to try and meet my smart goal each week.  Its also great to see everybody else and how they are doing.  It makes you want to try out some of their smart goals too such as

• eating organic produce
• riding the bus
• taking shorter showers

One of my favorite activities that we did this quarters was showing our photo essays.  Im glad that we got to see everyones it was really great. I could not believe the neat stuff that some people just had laying around.  Its also really great to see the progress that people are making in being more environmentally friendly.

Overall I think that this class continues to have a great impact on all of us.  It has made us more aware of what we do and how we can change things that we don't like.  I look forward to the last couple of weeks.

Reflection of Weeks 5-8

As the semester goes on I cannot believe that we are already in week eight.  Its so crazy how time flies.  Throughout this course I have learned many things.  Much of these things build off what I learned during the first four weeks.  I am very grateful that the topics that we discuss in class open my eyes to many new things.  I think also that much of what we learn I am very passionate about, so it makes learning very easy.


To start I want to say that I am very glad that I have finished my book these last couple of weeks.  It provided so much information, that before reading it I would have never known about.  It made me convinced that I really want to cut meat out of my diet as much as I can, or at least try to.  From my book I also learned  how important it is that we do as much as we can to preserve our earth.  We only have one and it is not going to last forever.


Outside of my book we were also introduced to many other things in class.  I think on of my favorite activities that we did in class was making a graphical header.  I loved that we got to use picnik to design our headers.  It offered us so many options to use and added a creative side to our blogs.  Now they can really express our personalities.  In addition to that some of the other things that I learned about in class were

• The farm industry in our country
• Cancer Alley
• The  movies: about the water bottle industry (tapped)
• Other documentaries: "Green", "Fresh"
• how to embed a video into you blog
• the real ingredients in your cosmetics
• and how to find eco-freindly snacks in duluth

The snacks that we have in class is also a very interesting idea.  I love hearing how people came up with creative environmental food to bring to share, it makes for a lot of new ideas for snacking.

Another idea that came up and we have just started learning about is junking, or antiquing.  I cannot not wait until we get to make our own projects and show them to the class.  It will be a great new hobby that is also good for the environment.

Outside of in class discussion I have also learned a lot from my group members and the ideas that they post on their blogs.  Not only about their books, but about their share and voices.  Some of the ones that stick out are:

• Wake up to reality, by Alicia
• JD's One Hundred Months and Counting
• Molly's Personal Project
• Matt's Share and Voice Lake Walk

It has been a really fun last couple of weeks learning everything that we have.  I have truly become more aware of what I my self have to do to help sustain our earth.  I also have come to realize that what I do alone may not be enough.  If everyone could take a class that offered information like this I think that many more people would try to make changes.  However this is not the case.  Therefore it is important for us to educate what we have already learned to other people and voice our opinions.  And with that I know we can make a change

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.

Welcome to Sustainability With Sam

Hi my name is Samantha Jenson and I am a Senior Health Education Major. I love being around people and being able to strike up conversations with complete strangers. I think that getting to know people is very important in life so you can better understand who they are. I also enjoy going outside, enjoying nature, listening to music, and living an active lifestyle. I love to exercise and I love enjoying the outdoors. I just learned how to blog this year, but I am getting very excited be able to do it on a regular basis now. In this class my blog will be about why its important to sustain the environment and the resources that we have as well as many other important issues regarding nature, recycling, and environmentally friendly lifestyles.

There are 6 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 is 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. Brenda@Bare Foot in the Backyard With Brenda
2. Dane@ Dane's Trail of Health
3. JD@ Earth and Me With JD 
4. Alicia@ Out and About With Alicia
5. Matt@ Matt's Smoke Free Zone
6. Molly@ Molly's Rico Eco

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."


Overall I think that this will be a very good experience learning how to blog this semester.

I look forward to reading every body's blog posts and others reactions to them. I think that it will be a great and new way for our class to interact together and look forward to the results.