Reflection: week 8-14

Weeks 8-14 were filled with more practical, tangible things that we could do to get involved and take part in acting positively on our environment.

We learned about junk and stuff. When I used to say that to my Mom when I got home from school I got in trouble.... she was SURE they taught us SOMETHING more specific than that. Well, not this time. We actually did learn about junk and stuff.

We took a good look at "junking" and how people, as well as our self, could take someones junk and turn it into our own creation of new stuff.  A great way to save space in a landfill, save money, and use our creativity and skills. We head the opportunity to do this ourselves.

I took 2 silver wear chests and turned them into jewelry boxes.

Check it out!

Here... your old silver chest                               voilà... transformed into a place where                          
                                                                      jewelry can be have it's own little spot and
                                                                      not get tangled up with others.

I'd like to refinish the top and buffer out the scratches, but for now, it is just fine.


Here is the second one. This one is great because the knife holders work great for rings, as long as they aren't bands.
I was also able to stick some of my buttons on the top through the material as well.

Though I certainly am aware that people do great things with salvaging and re purposing, I didn't realize what a community it has surrounding it. I was pretty impressed with some of the things I saw on the Junk Market Style site. Very inspiring. 

Speaking of stuff... we also learned The Story of Stuff.  The Story of Stuff is a pretty awesome short movie about how much of the stuff we get and buy is made and ends up in a land fill.  It is definitely thought provoking and worth the watch. 

We took a look at responsibility VII for health education specialists that covers communicating and advocating for health education. We talked about what this meant and then picked a bill in the government that relates to Healthy People 2020 and the environmental objectives that we thought was important.  We gained understanding of that issue, laid out the facts and then set forth writing a letter to the appropriate government official that represented us presenting the issue and making a suggestion of what was needed.   Before doing this we put together a list of all the people and their contact information of the people who represent us in government. 

It was interesting to put together this list of people.  A great resource if one is going to be proactive in contacting officials having that information right at your fingertips for easy access. 

It was interesting to know about the governments Thomas Project that lists the bills, their summaries and where they are at in the process. 

We talked about photography and how pictures can really help tell our stories.  The video we watched talking about this was wonderful. I love pictures. I love taking then and having them bring me right back to that place in my head.  The video very much expressed that and put it in great words and amazing examples.  This along with the photo essay we did reminded me how I would love to spend more time working with pictures and photography. I miss it. 

The trip to Good Will was kind of an interesting coming together of many of the topics covered in the second half of the semester.  Good Will brings you to the land of stuff, stuff that is no longer needed, wanted, or is just homeless looking to be re purposed, given a new life, a new job and use. It is also a place where stuff, like mattresses and stuffed animals for instance, are being taken apart into their various parts, or smooshed together so they can be sent to places that can make new use or recycle them and save the space in the land fill. People are also getting the chance to have a job and perhaps renew their purpose and start a new record on their history.  They are also advocated for out in the work place to reintegrate them into a new work environment.  This isn't EXACTLY what our health education specialist responsibility is stating, however, it is a part of the bigger picture of the process of getting and keeping a healthy happy community. 

I learned a lot about Good Will that I didn't know.  They are a very interesting agency because they are doing so many pieces that are harmonious and responsible.  Providing a place people can purchase things less expensive things, a place to let go of the stuff they don't need to let someone else make use of it, redistributing items we, here are not able to use or don't want,  recycling materials, taking initiative to go an extra step, for instance with mattresses and really break them down to their parts so they can be properly recycled or reused, and beyond stuff they are helping people.   It was a more impressive and informative field trip than I thought it would be.  Knowing what I know now, I feel even better donating items as well as shopping there.

Reading my blog groups blogs as well as the share and voice entries have been really fascinating as well. It is so good to hear from peers and see what new exciting things they have to share or just what is on their minds.  I enjoyed that aspect of this class a lot. 

We have covered a lot in this semester.  I'm not sure what to say has been the most effecting piece or thing I have learned. What I can truly say is that I have learned more on all of these topics expanding my thoughts and views. I have enjoyed and really appreciate that. 

Share And Voice - Slow Food Lake Superior and Slow Food USA

I wanted to share information about Slow Food Lake Superior and Slow Food USA

I first became aware of this group and movement at UMD a few years ago when one of the leaders spoke about them and what they do.

Slow Food Lake Superior is a local chapter of the national chapter of Slow Foodd USA. Which is a smaller chapter of Slow Food, which is International.

There is so much great information contained on these sites.  The local chapter is going through some changes with their website so it isn't fully complete.

Slow Food's goals are around helping people ask questions, find answers, explore and understand their food and where it comes from as well as encouraging the benefits of eating locally and so much more.  If you are totally unaware or versed in organics and best growing practices, you are welcome here and will find nuggets of knowledge.

Joining slow foods helps the movement and also gets you access to more information and discounts on events they and others hold.  I don't recall what the cost is for the first year, but they sometimes have renewal offers on a, give what you can, bases to get and keep members coming back, being a part of what they have to offer and learning new things to integrate in your life.

They served a WONDERFUL local meal a few years ago at the Energy Fair at Bay Front Park. I learned then that Ratatoulille really WAS a yummy tasting soup, not just a Disney Flick.


Some interesting articles you will find on these sites...

Making it easier to feed our kids fruit than Froot Loops

The Versatility of Chocolate                     

An article from Italy 

The Paradigms and Paradoxes of Organic 

You can email them and asked to be added to their events list at this address - 

slowfoodlakesuperior@gmail.com

Check them out if you get a chance. 

Advocacy Project: Letter to Elected Official

December 10, 2011

Representative Chip Cravaack

House of Representatives

508 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20500

VOTE YES ON H.R.425: Great Lakes water Protection Act

I write to you today in efforts to express my concern regarding combined, untreated sewage dumping into Lake Superior as well as the whole network of Great Lakes.  I hope to secure your support on the issue of amending the Federal Water Pollution Control Act that would establish a deadline for restricting sewage dumping in to the Great Lakes and also to fund programs that would improve wastewater discharged into the Great Lakes. 

The Great Lakes provide 30 million Americans and also many Canadians, with drinking water each day.  Due to all the pollutants that are being dumped into the lakes, sewage is having a great impact on not only the concern of our drinking water, but it is threatening the health of the lakes and upsetting the circle of life that make them a part of a working system. The lake give us a fishing as well as a multibillion dollar recreation and tourism industry bringing in Duluth, and many other cities, a great income.  This lake is a precious piece of our city and its livelihood, and thus, needs to be respected and protected. It is a resource that we can not get back easily, if at all, once it is dead.

If this bill is passed, plants will have 20 years to upgrade facilities and ensure that their processes are running correctly and to specification.  Voting in this bill will also allow fines to be placed more easily on those plants that are currently not following the regulations already in place thus bringing in more funds as well as creating a catalyst for change. By not making this bill a priority, we run the risk of more lakes hitting the tipping point of their inability to dilute the billions and billions of tons of sewage that goes into the lakes each year.  This means not only dead lakes incapable of producing food and supporting life, but also toxic and unfit to swim in. Most noticeably, this will effect our ability to get potable, safe water and running the risk of various illnesses and diseases found in other places of the world where clean water can not be obtained. These health risks, if allowed to grow, will not only have detrimental effects on us individually but collectively as well.

Clearly there will be costs involved for the public treatment works to ensure they are up to regulation and to have the appropriate treatment processes and programs available. However, I urge you to think past this opposition and look towards being a voice for support of a creative solution.  We all have water to drink now - with twenty more years of toxic sewage dumping we shorten the life of our lake safety. Looking for a solution now and planning methodically ahead while we still have time to figure out how that can be made possible, the sewage treatment plants will save themselves the potential urgent demands and institution of fines that come with urgency and panic if our water hits the tipping point of safety. Saving funding now will only allocate the loss of funds, and health, somewhere else in the future.

I want to express my sincere appreciation for your time and attention to this correspondence, as well as to this very important issue. I urge you as a citizen who appreciates the beauty and gifts of the lake as well as a voting constituent. I sincerely encourage you to consider the issues at hand and the bigger picture and encourage your vote in support of H.R.425. I would be more than pleased to assist with further information as well as hear your thoughts, understandings and concerns.

Sincerely,

Judy B. 

Share & Voice Environments I Experiences when I lived in India

I had the great pleasure and fortune to live in India for 6 months with my partner Joel back in 2007.

I'm sharing with you some of the environments I experienced when I was there in pictures.  It seemed like there were many variations during our stay.


I'll start with a trip we took to Jim Corbett National Park which is in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains.  It was part of a team building trip with the group Joel was working with while we were there.

The picture to the right and the two below are views from the side of the stream where we spent most of our time when staying at the park and where most activities were held and about a 30 second walk from our cabin

In India there are stray dogs hanging out.  We could hear packs of them barking at each other occasionally at night.  There was a pack that hung round at one of the malls. At night they were given scraps from the butchers, or at least that was our theory.  They got very active at closing time.  They weren't really petable or people friendly.   This dog, however, was pretty calm and very pettable.  He was kinda full of flees but I took my chances and made it out without flea bits.







We got up for an early morning safari trip higher in the mountains in the park. It was REALLY COOL! Both Arthur Fonzarelli and in temperature when compared to Delhi where we were living while there.

We rode out in a caravan of a few Jeeps through the woods.







There were lots of interesting things to see. I have NEVER seen an ant hill so big! It was really hard to tell from the Jeep how high they were. I would not be shocked if they reached over 6 feet tall. They were HUGE! and pretty cool looking.

To the right and below are pictures of spider webs that were hanging between the trees.  

We stopped to look for tiger tracks...  

They tell us this was made just hours before we were there exploring.

We stopped at a stream up in the mountains.

It was beautiful and very pretty.

I enjoyed my time taking pictures of the cows running round.  I just LOVED them. 

Here is a picture of me taking a picture of a cow.  Very fitting. 

With all the cows that run loose in India I thought it was fascinating that I only heard one cow moo the entire time I was there. That was by a cow on this trip that was in a fence by our cabin.  Never a peep out of the free roaming cows. 

On our way back from the safari we were driving down a road in a town and turning the corner was a on his elephant.  We stopped and he "pulled up" behind our Jeep.  We took pictures with him and he had the elephant do tricks for us. The COOLEST part was watching him get ON the elephant.  He stood in front of the elephant who made a little chair with his trunk, the guy grabbed on and the elephant lifted and flipped the guy on his back. 

SO FUN! 

When we first arrived at our cabin, we were greeted by our roommate! 

Mr. Gecko.  He kinda freaked us out.

Of course, we also had one that got into our apartment in Delhi through the deck door in our computer room. 

We tried to be hospitable as he ran in and out of our vents before he got back to our computer room so we could shoosh him back out the door to freedom. 

Since he stayed for a while we thought he deserved a name and called him Art! :)  

He, he, he. 

Some other random fun things we saw on our trip to the park. 

Here our tour bus is at a tole booth waiting to cross city lines

I'm curious to know if they could reach the roof of the tole booth sitting on top of that truck. 

It wasn't unusual to see people and their sheep herds and  work animals crossing or traveling down the roads. 

This was on a pretty rural road. 

This was while driving down the highway. 

The picture below was from a different trip we took on our way to Jaipur -The Pink City. 

I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't show a picture of women in their traditional dress. In the cities like Delhi there is a greater mix of women wearing western clothing in with the women in their sarees. 

The very small out of the way towns you would see no western clothing but very traditional dress. 

This is one of the views outside our apartment in Gurgaon, a close suburb of New Delhi. It was usually pretty dry and this particular morning not very clear. 

During the monsoon rainy season it would rain very hard for periods of time. As you can see the streets couldn't keep up with draining the intense downfall.  The water was dirty both from the dirt on the streets and from the dirt in the air. 

City Centre, below,  is one of the malls I spent some some of my time shopping. Certainly some signs recognizable from the U.S. 

The big orange thing in the front that looks like the babies head on South Park is actually an orange juice stand. 

Below is an outdoor mall.  the bull walking towards me was great. He just kept walking slowly towards me as I kept taking pictures of him.  As he was about to run into me I stepped to the left as he brushed by.  CLEARLY knowing who owns the roads around here. 

My Dad grew up on a farm with cows and bulls.  When he saw this and freaked out a bit.  

This is not to say that they are all friendly all the time. One of Joel's co workers was head butted and chased home from work by a cranky bull for about 3-4 miles. Counting my blessings I never ran into one of them. 

I may be alone in this, but any mall that has a cow laying around welcoming me to the bank... THIS is service I can get along with!  

He was so curious as to what was going on in there. 

Clearly, the outside of a mall is not exactly familiar to us.  HOWEVER, you step inside a T.G.I. Fridays and you feel like you feel like your at home.  Until you open the menu and look at the prices of the pork ribs.  There were other menu changes as well. 

I also want to share 

This was the view we experienced when ever I went to Joel's work.  This building, shaped like a ship, stood across the street from Joel's offices.  It was fascinating to see... not only in the middle of the desert, but also the fun connection coming from Duluth.   It struck me every time I saw it. 

OK! Enough pictures without animals!  Let's get back to the good stuff. 

Sometimes when your trying to get from point A to point B you find yourself needing to sit in the road and wait for the cows to move out of the way. 

Sometimes they will just flop down in front of your car and make you wait or figure out how you will drive around them. 

This was probably my favorite part of my trip!

On the way to the Taj Mahal there were people with monkey's.  As you can see I completely ignored the words of advice I was given about not getting out of the car and not touching the animals. 

LOOK AT THAT FACE!

Joel had legitimate concern that I was going to send him off to the Taj alone and hang out with the Monkeys.  

OK, just Two more random fun things. 

See below, a pretty normal roll of toilet paper, new out of the plastic wrapped packaging... nothing special, pretty average, right??

Ahh, but don't let your eyes deceive you!

I found myself unrolling this fine, average roll of usefulness only to discover...  

YUP! you guessed it. A MATH problem written in the midst of the roll. NOT on the end, oh no, that would only be KIND OF weird. This was REALLY weird. 

The math was correct!  So, ya know, that was a relief. 

AND!

Because I don't want to be the ONLY person in this class without a toilet picture on their blog.  

This was a square toilet at a fancy, dancy mall near us. 

If you are bored you can learn a lot more fun things about Our trip to India by checking out our India blog. 

Even more animal pictures and the funny coincidence that the phone number to McDonald's at one of the malls ends in 666. 

Thanks for reading!   :)

Advocacy Project: Fact Sheet

Many Pollutants threaten the Great Lakes. 

Facts about raw sewage threatening our water.

What we need to know…
The Great Lakes provide 30 million Americans with drinking water and support a huge multi-billion dollar recreation and tourism industry. (EPA – United States Environmental Protection Agency)

Many pollutants that get in to the Great Lakes remain there because it is a relatively closed system. (EPA Quality of Our Nation’s Water report)

Where does this pollution come from?
Pollution in the Great Lakes comes form multiple sources. A few of which are landfills, urban runoff, and combined sewer overflow. (EPA Quality of Our Nation’s Water report)

A study for the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition reports in 2009 five U.S. cities on the Great Lakes - “Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Gary, Ind.-discharged 41 billion gallons of untreated sewage and filthy storm water into the lakes”.

A 2006 study revealed that 20 cities containing one third of the regions population produced three trillion liters of waste a year equaling 1.2 million Olympic swimming pools of waste a year or 100 pools a day.

Every year beaches are closed due to combined sewer overflow contaminating lakes. (Great Lakes Commission)

Why does this happen?
Heavy rains often overwhelm combined sewer pipes, forcing cities to discharge untreated sewage and storm water into the nearest lake or river. (Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition report and safewater.org)

What is happening around this issue?
The EPA is suggesting “blending”, allowing untreated sewage blended with rain water to be dumped in the lakes. Currently the clean water act strictly prohibits this due to the health risks raw sewage imposes. (FreshWaterFuture.org and the EPA)

What is being done to help preserve our water and resources?
There are bills H.R.425 and S.147 proposed to more easily assess fines currently in place for breaking the law, and to instill new fines giving 20 years to upgrade sewage treatment infrastructure. (Illinois Review)

What can we do to help?
All or any of these…
Ask your House Representative to vote yes on bill H.R.425 or your Senator to vote yes on S.147, the Great Lakes Water Protection Act.

Contact your local environmental agency and let them know this is important to you.

Nationally, contact the EPA directly. Ben Grumbles, Assistant Administrator for Water is the point person for blending. 202-564-5700 or email grumbles.benjamin@epa.gov.



SOURCES

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/491FE2D9B0BB77CF852578E600640125

http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/cwa/305b/upload/2002_04_08_305b_92report_92summ.pdf

http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article96926.ece/BINARY/Healing+Our+Waters+-+Great+Lakes+Coalition+report

http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=5

http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/integratedplans.cfm

http://freshwaterfuture.org/news/glnews429.html

http://www.great-lakes.net/humanhealth/other/bacteria.html

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2011/01/kirk-durbin-lipinski-dold-stop-dumping-in-great-lakes.html

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

A Look at How My Household and What I do to  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Re-purpose.

I wanted to look at the efforts we take in my house that help the environment in some way. It was kind of fun and exciting because as I started to look around and as I was taking pictures I started seeing even more things that we were doing to attempt to create or add to the balance for all the things we do to use resources.

Below are pictures to share with you what I found.

First of all. I have a little bucket by my sink that I stick food scraps in when I'm cooking and cleaning to get them to the compost bucket.  

BONUSES!! The bucket I use is a left over plastic bucket I purchased with hemp hearts that I ate, putting it to a handy use.  You see that I'm pouring loose leaf tea leaves that I used in a reusable strainer so I'm not using individual tea bags that not only take up more room in shipping, cost more to purchase, as well as use bleach to bleach the bags so they look fresh and not their natural off white color. (I do still use tea bags tea for some teas and if I'm traveling, but at home I try to use loose leaf.)

Here I'm taking the contents of the small bucket by my sink and throwing it in my larger bucket that I'm currently using for compost holdings. 

BONUS!  The bucket is an old cat litter bucket. 

Here is the worm bin where the compost from the cat bucket will end up.  Joel (my husband) has been using our compost in this bin for a few years, experimenting with vermicomposting to get the most result from the least input work - with the condition that it never causes any bug issues, smell, or let the worms escape.  So far, so good.  The brown spots on the top of the bin are from vent holes for air, which some very few, very small things also get out, but they also almost instantly die out in the drier air outside the bucket, so they have not been a threat to the no bugs free in the house condition.  The brown stuff can be easily wiped off by a rag with regular house cleaning.... right honey! :-) Hint, hint.

If you look carefully you can see some little reddish worms in the dirt on the white paper. They normally live below the surface away from the light but some of the lower dirt was brought to the top so you can see the little worker worms.

On top of the worms we threw the compostable plates from class last Monday.  You can break them up but Joel is doing some experimentation to see how throwing them in whole will work.

You can also use an ACTUAL composting bucket, like this one that Joel uses at his house. The  charcoal filter on the top REALLY WORKS!

On top of the plates we added the mucky half composted stuff from the green caddy above.  Joel was out of town and the food in the green container had been in there too long; weeks in fact.  It hadn't been opened, and was well composting into a liquid and smelled quite unpleasant.  Worse than I have ever smelled before. Drastic measures had to be taken...

We broke out the incense and a fan briefly and then the smell was gone. Lesson.... add the sealed composting to the worms BEFORE you go away... or take it outside!

Joel adds a bag that he puts some water on to keep moisture in the bin, the light out for the worms and this seems to be a huge help to having the smell not come out of the bin.  The worm bin does not have an odor even when you stand right by it.  Not even after all the unpleasant smells that we added.  The worms will also eventually use the bag for food and break it down as well.

HERE, finally, is the goal and benefit of this process. When you separate out the worms from their castings, you have worm poop. Also known as extremely good nutritious dirt; the Cadillac of the dirt world.

What do you do with all this dirt you might be asking?

Here is one option.  In this growing container Joel just started basil.  Along with the dirt/worm castings that our little worm workers made, in this pot there is organic potting soil, a soil additive called perlite and Peat Moss that the basil will grow in.

  

 

These are starter cubes that have been watered with nutrients and have other properties that make them ideal for the purpose of starting new seeds. The ones you see are baby Kohlrabi and in the back in the 4th row you can just see is lettuce. 

Joel usually uses these cubes for putting in his hydroponics garden that basically uses water, nutrients and rock that these are planted in.  Some of these, however, will be added into the white soil container above. He is experimenting with new plants and different ways to grow them. 

There you have the circle of where the food goes and helps us make new food in my house.

 

Just for fun... these are Kohlrabi seeds.  They are super cool because they are silver and shiny. My Dad grew Kohlrabi when I was a kid but I don't think I ever saw the seeds.

Let's go back to some other things we are doing. 

This is the filter I use for my pod coffee maker. I like it because the amount of coffee grounds I use is considerably less even compared a small coffee pot.  I can buy little cups all ready to go, but this allows me to drink the coffee, or coffee combinations I want.  I also don't have to commit to a whole pot if I just want a small cup.  

BONUS!  If you look to the top left you will see the coffee I purchased at the farmers market by a local roaster. YUMMY! To the right of that is an old spaghetti jar that I use as my water glass.  And, hey... another bonus! The fancy feast box beyond that is now used for a tea holder on my counter for easy access. 

Speaking of jars.... I look in my cupboard and see all sorts of jars re-purposed for bulk items I get at the store. Everything from peanut butter, Jelly and frappuccino bottles.

 

I re use my plastic bags that I get from some of the stores, if I forget to bring a reusable bag, for cleaning cat litter. (You would think my 17 year-old, Nikita, would be cleaning up after herself by now... but NO! Darn the lack of opposable thumbs.)

BONUS! The UMD store bag hanging on the door knob is the long time litter scoop holder.

Of course we do the typical recycling... using litter buckets, again, as the in the house recycling buckets. They are much easier to carry up the big scary hill in winter, to the recycling can.

We make good use of our old litter buckets. They used to not be recyclable and it felt horrible not to try to re-use them.

I realize the obvious is, of course, get litter in bags, right?  This is a good idea, however, for some reason the good litter sales seem to be on the containers rather than the bags for some reason.  So, we weigh that piece out when purchasing too.

And last but not least... for my FAVORITE re-purposing of all!!!  :)

MY KITTIES!!!!

Nikita on the left and Alex on the right! They were both shelter cats. Nikita was given to the shelter when she was around 6 months due to too many pets. Alex was a wee baby when I picked him out. 

They even come with a BONUS!!  Nikita is re-purposing a cat food box for her special chair.  And Alex is laying on his favorite toys... paper that came from packing in a shipped box, from the backing of plastic used to winterize a drafty window and a Whole Foods paper bag that broke. 

Happy recycling in what ever form that is.