Share & Voice: Worry about more than just your water bottles

In my previous share & voice I talked about Sharon Szukis, a herbalist, coming to talk to our class about supplements.  There is something else she talked about that I was completely unaware of that is really significant information, especially for women.  We talked about cosmetics.

The first thing you need to know is that everything you put on your skin, ends up being absorbed into your bloodstream.  This is in part because the skin receives 1/3 of the blood circulation throughout the body.  This is important information because I'd say most women use numerous products on their skin daily.  This includes things like lotion, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, shaving cream, face wash, lip balm, and concealers.  So what's in all those products you have to watch you for?  Paraben and Propylene glycol are both used as chemical preservatives and stabilizers and they are also products of petroleum.  The funny thing about petroleum is that when it enters a human body it mimics estrogen.  They are called xenoestrogen (xeno is a Greek prefix meaning foreign or strange).  In our culture today men and women already have way to much estrogen in their systems coming from animal products, breathing in car exhaust, the water we drink, and plastics leeching chemicals.  These xenoestrogens are the same thing we worry about with plastic water bottles and yet no one is telling us, "Stop putting on lotion."  Estrogen caused cancers (such as breast, colon, and prostate cancer) are at epidemic proportions in the U.S. and no doubt the rate will continue to rise.  Estrogen in men can also lower their sperm count which could account in part for why so many couples have trouble conceiving these days.  Although it was mostly in jest, Sharon said, "In the 70s, that was unheard of! Everybody was getting pregnant their first try!"

So of course when I got home from Sharon's talk I went through a bunch of my cosmetics and toiletries.  Sure enough I found Propylene glycol in almost all of them and at least 1 or 2 others in a list of synthetics to avoid she had handed out in class. Sharon mentioned that companies make products that don't include these harmful synthetics, but it's just more expensive.  She acknowledged that being college students on a budget we can't afford to throw out our whole stash of stuff to buy new, safer products.  She suggested instead to maybe choose one product that you use the most, or over the most surface area on your body, and when that one is gone spend the extra 2 or 3 bucks on an all natural product.

A few other things to think about that leech chemicals that you may be ingesting:

• cooking pans - if your pans have a Teflon coating (or any other kind of coating) and it gets scratched and you continue to use it, you're ingesting that. Don't put these pans in the dishwasher!
  
• Cooking at higher temperatures can leech toxins into your food.  Never cook on high!
• Never use plastic wrap to cover your food in the microwave. Invest in some wax paper!
• Just putting plastic containers in the microwave in general is bad.  It's just the same (if not worse) than leaving a plastic water bottle out in the sun and then drinking out of it. Use ceramic or glass in the microwave whenever possible!

 

Share & Voice: My Women's Health Issues class

We had an extremely interesting class period tonight for Women's Health Issues (an excellent class, everyone should take it!).  An herbal and supplement specialist and owner of "The Essence of Health" named Sharon Szukis came in and talked to our class.  I'm going to highlight all the most important/interesting things I learned. 

First off, something that might not be that well known is that the FDA doesn't really supervise herbal and supplement manufacturers.  There aren't really standards or guidelines for what they're throwing into their products.  This means we have to be really conscious, smart, consumers.  Fortunately, the majority of the larger, reputable supplement makers came to gather to make their own rules and regulations.  Basically they police themselves and hold themselves very accountable to high standards.  If you want to make sure you are getting supplements from these reputable supplement makers make sure somewhere on the bottle it's labeled "GMP" which stands for Good Manufacturing Procedure".  If it says GMP you know that the labels are accurate and you can trust the list of ingredients to be correct.  Now on herbal products you should look for something that says "Standardized" which will also guarantee you quality and safety.  Sharon also suggested that if you're looking for something particular like Vitamin C it's okay to go to Target or Walmart, or a grocery store; however, if you aren't sure exactly what you're looking for you should definitely go to specialty store because that's where the specialist are who can help you safely find what you're looking for.  She used the example of a person on blood thinners who might not realize that some herbal products thin your blood.  This could be a dangerous combination, but a combination that would likely be avoided by going to people who know, and do this for a living.  Also in line with being a smart consumer you should be weary of supplement and herbal products that come from China because China's manufacturing is known as being ahead of their policing.  Not always safe!

Sharon also told us that only around 5% of the population get the very basic vitamins that the body need.  That means 95% of us aren't even getting the basic, bare minimum of vitamins.  In light of this, she said that if she could suggest 3 supplements for women to take it would be a good multi-vitamin, calcium, and vitamin D.  Calcium is especially important  for those who drink soft drinks or any carbonated drinks because the carbonation is done with the use of phosphorus which basically eats away the bones.  On top of that caffeine interferes with calcium absorption.  I, myself have a bit of a soft drink problem so after hearing Sharon talk I'm already working on cutting down.  Vitamin D is also extra important for those of us way up north here (males and females)!  Vitamin D is intrinsically tied to our immune system and a deficiency in this vitamin is DIRECTLY linked to colon cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer.  Just some really interesting things to look in to! 

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

My SMART goal is to use reusable bags 100% of the time I shop.  I only slipped one time.  I don't exactly have a percent success rate, but I'd just say fairly well.

The only time I failed was because I was out of town and did not have my own car.  I also did not think to take one of my reusable bags with me; however, I did remember to ask them for paper so I can feel a little better about that :)  I also forgot a bag at the grocery store when I was just picking up a few items, but thanks to my overly gigantic purse I was able to avoid a bag once again! Success!  Purses are also quite reusable, haha!

I learned this week to be more assertive when people are trying to bag your stuff.  I know it sounds like a funny lesson learned, but why shouldn't you say, "I don't need a bag, thanks".  I've also been just getting used to the idea of bringing my own bag with me when I shop, or using my purse. Being more mindful was part of my plan from last week and I feel as though I've really worked on that.

I really have nothing to change.  I feel like I'm doing a good job and I feel like the more I work on this SMART goal the more it will just become second nature.  I will keep working on the mindfulness thing!

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight"

So far I've read the first quarter of my book, which has equaled out to 90 pages.  This translates into 8 chapters.  Mainly the author has focused on how the world has gotten to the state of complete ecological collapse.  We're running out of oil, we're cutting down all the trees (therefore running out of oxygen), we're running out of food (on land and in the oceans), and cheap and clean water may be an item of the past. To be honest, thus far the book is quite the downer.  It's interesting and important information, but it makes our current ecological crises look hopeless.

I learned a bit about the Carboniferous Period.  It occurred 400 million years ago and lasted about 70.  It was called the Carboniferous Period because there was significantly more carbon in the air during that time then there is today.  Also, the temperature was quite a bit higher than it was today.  Due to those conditions plant life grew like crazy!  The author described the vegetation as rising hundreds of feet in the air! This vegetation is what eventually would turn into fossil fuel (millions of years later).

I also learned that the U.S. only contains 6% of the population but uses 25% of the world's energy.  That's a pretty sucky statistic.  It's also desturbing that we are cutting and burning down our rainforests (thousands of acres every hour) when they are our major source of oxygen and carbon dioxide removal.  Still we continue to destroy them.  Another startling fact is that TB, a disease most people associate with third world countries, is alive and well even in the U.S. and kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria, and tropical diseases combined. 

So what are the implications of what I've read? The book pretty much says that unless we change our culture, and change the way we think we're going to destroy everything we have and I totally believe it.  So much of what we rely on just for day to day survival is on the brink of collapse and we still have a government unwilling to recognize it.  All and all, this book is painting a rather terrifying picture of the earth (or lack there of) in the very near future.  Most of the problems he's discussed in the book are likely to occur in our lifetime...scary.  We need to change. 

Check out this really realistic video about the end of the earth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZMwKPmsbWE

Share & Voice: BigBelly Solar Compactor

We all make trash and then that trash has to be collected.  Well what if it had to be collected less often?  Less frequent collections would mean reducing carbon emissions from giant waste management trucks.  How do we make this happen?  Well UMD already is!  Our campus, along with many others across the nation, have started to use something called a "BigBelly Solar Compactor".  This thing is the smartest trash can you'll come across!  As it fills with trash it uses the power from its solar panels to compact it.  By compacting the trash right where it sits BigBelly goes from a normal garbage can holding 35 gallons to having the ability to hold 150 to 200 gallons of trash!  Not only that, but it sends a text to the city when it's full and needs to be collected!  No extra trips and it frees up city workers to do other things.  Besides having BigBelly trash cans, the campus also has BigBelly recycling bins.  This is great for all the same reasons as the trash can, but the added bonus of street recycling!  You don't see as many recycling bins when you're walking down the street as you do trash cans, that's for sure; however, BigBellies are a part of the solution.  Look for UMD's BigBelly Solar Compactor outside the Sports & Health Building!

One group who has had a lot of success with the placement of BigBellies throughout their city is Philadelphia. They're estimated to save $875,000 a year!  Check out BigBelly for yourself, all the information came right from their website!   http://www.bigbellysolar.com/ 

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART goal is to use reusable bags 100% of the time I shop.  I would say I had about a 66% success rate this week.  This is because I went shopping three different times.  I went to grocery stores two different occasions just to pick up a few small things and I went to target once.  The grocery store was the first place I went after creating this SMART goal.  I only bought two things and I didn't have a reusable bag with me so I just used my purse so that was one plastic bag I easily avoided.  I went to Target later in the week and picked up a number of items.  Of course I forgot my reusable bag in my car, but I was reminded of my goal as soon as I went up to the registers because of the reusable bags they sell. I bought one for $1 since I didn't want to fail at my goal and I figured I needed a few more anyway for when I do my serious grocery shopping.  However, it was yesterday when I went to the grocery store that I messed up!  I went with a friend and we took her car so I didn't have my reusable bags in my back seat as a reminder.  I went up to the register and didn't even think about it.  It wasn't until the cashier was throwing my things into a plastic bag that I just thought "Crap!".  The funny thing was after the put my items into a plastic bag he asked if I wanted paper or plastic.  I mean a little late to ask, right? I would have said paper (because it can be easily reused and recycled), but he didn't even give me a chance.  I was kind of pissed.  I was mad at myself for forgetting, and mad at the cashier for not asking me.

I learned from this week that I just have to be more mindful about my goal.  Also, maybe if I got my roommates and friends into the idea of only using recycled bags they would all start keeping them in their car.  This would not only help me, but I would be helping the environment by sort of paying it forward I guess...haha!  That will be my plan for this week!

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

Eye Opener: CSPI

For this eyeopener I took a tour of our food supply.  This actually coincides pretty well with the section of my book I'm reading.  It's all about our food supply, water supply, and the cattle industry.  After reading some of the facts about our food supply it seems to me that many of our problems involving food and how it relates to the environment stem from the cattle industry.  We clear and burn down much needed rainforests just for grazing ground for more cattle that will eventually be shipped to the US, we use trillions of gallons of water to grow feed for them, and we pump them full of antibiotics that end up creating strains of micro-organisms that are antibiotic resistant meaning that when they infect humans, treatment becomes very difficult.  A fact that I found even more stunning is this: "Livestock are often fed newspapers, industrial sludge, sewage, and other trash. The feeding of cattle remains back to cattle, a practice now banned, led to mad cow disease, which causes always-fatal brain disease in humans."  Although something might be "banned", it doesn't mean it still doesn't occur.

When I leaved in England for 9 months many of their meat and dairy products offered choices entitled "Free Range".  This means that the animal who laid this egg, or this piece of steak is from an animal that wasn't caged up, feed trash, and pumped full of antibiotics.  I never really paid much attention to it, but now that I've gained some environmental knowledge from this class, I realize the importance of free range animal products. Click here to check out an article about the EU banning antibiotic use!

Reflection: Weeks 3 & 4

Well, there isn't much to say about week 3.  I had a short meeting with Steve.  It was truly helpful though.  I learned of a few things I hadn't done yet, and a few things I didn't even know I had to do!  I'm still kind of playing around with google reader.  So far so good!  I think remembering to keep up with comments is my most significant battle with blogging.

We had an excellent class period during week 4.  We started class with a little question and answer session (prizes included).  I mean, I didn't walk away with tampons, but I guess a paper tablet is pretty good too.  The most significant thing we did on Monday was view a movie called "An Inconvenient Truth".  Al Gore is the narrator.  The film is about global warming and how it's progressing so rapidly. When the data is laid out so plain and simple like that, it's pretty scary.  What's even more scary is how our government seems to be doing so little.  They think by taking a stand on global warming, our economy will suffer.  On the other hand, if we don't do something, we may not have an earth anymore.  How is there even a contest?  It's frustrating because I feel like if our government set some policies in motion more Americans would start taking notice and work to be more eco-friendly.  I guess for now I'll just have to do my part and hope everyone else does as well!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week1: My SMART Goal

Over the next 10 weeks I will use reusable bags 100% of the time I shop.  This will include picking up items at grocery stores, convenience stores, and retail shops.  I will keep a reusable bags in my car, and if need be, use my purse.

This is completely an eco-chic lifestyle change!  I did some research on using plastic bags and we really abuse this resource.  I mean, it takes billions of gallons of oil to create them when that oil could be used for fuel, or heat.  Not only that, but they aren't biodegradable.  They say it takes up to 1,000 years for one plastic bag to degrade in a land fill, but really it's just breaking down into a bunch of tiny toxic particles that get absorbed into the soil and water table.  Also, animals often ingest the stuff so these toxic particles enter the food chain.  Another super interesting fact is that in the U.S. we use approximately 380 billion plastic bags a year, 100 billion of those being from retail stores.  The production of only the bags from the retail stores cost over 4 billion dollars.  People often choose paper as an alternative to plastic.  This is also not the most eco-friendly choice.  We use 10 billion paper shopping bags each year.  That's adds up to a lot of forest chopped down for our food to sit in for a few minutes on the way home from Cub!  Check out this website for these and other facts about plastic bags: http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/reusablebags.htm

I wanted to change this behavior because it's totally realistic.  It's not a very big lifestyle change, but it's one with a big impact.  It's something is attainable.  For me this is a goal that I can accomplish and maybe even influence some of my friends while I do it!  When I lived in England, there were a few grocery and retail stores that would charge you 10 cents for each bag you used, and now it makes perfect sense why!  I can't imagine how much oil and money we could all save if every American started using only reusable bags.  I mean, when I go to Old Navy at the mall and only get some socks, or a t-shirt, why do I even need a bag?  It's not like I don't have an enormous purse slung over my shoulder!  I'm excited to make this change!

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

Wow...this assignment was almost scary.  If we are using up the earth's resources at a pace1.3 times faster than they can be renewed what's going to happen to us?  It's almost like we're carrying out our own death sentence.  The fact of the matter is, I imagine this information isn't totally common knowledge.  I know I've heard the term "carbon footprint" and I got the general idea, but what I didn't realize is how large of a footprint I was leaving until I took a few quizzes.  One of the quizzes I took was called "Redefining Progress".  My results stated that, "If everyone on earth lived your lifestyle, we would need 4.59 earths".  That really sucked to hear.  My lifestyle is the reason our earth's resources are running out.  It's hard when you finally realize you are to blame for all the current ecological crises.  What's even more interesting, I really didn't think my lifestyle was that outrageous.  I mean, I walk to school 9 times out of 10, I carpool whenever I can, I recycle, I don't even eat meat everyday.  The results are just so staggering, it seems out of my control.  Like, I don't even know where to go from here to make this better.  The problem just seems so urgent and yet I know there is no immediate solution...talk about an eye opener! 

Read 'n' Seed 1: The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

The title of the book I chose is called "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and what We Can Do Before it's Too Late".  It's written by a man named Thom Hartmann.

The first part of the book is pretty much describing the current crisis earth (and therefore all of humanity) is in.  He especially focuses on the world's oil supply crisis.  Once we are out of oil this will lead to many other crises including famine, water shortages, and war.  After he illustrates our present state of affairs and gives an extremely gloomy look into our future, he offers suggestions for change.  After all, would good would terrifying the reader with all of this "world is about to end" stuff if there was no way to improve our circumstances?  To put it simply, Thom tells us that we have to change the way we relate to earth, we have to change the way we relate to others, but most importantly, we have to change the way we think.   

I chose this book because I'm pretty much in the dark when it comes to our oil crisis.  I've always thought of it as something someone way more qualified than me would find the solution too.  Until that someone told me what to do, I was just going to keep living like I was living.  I realize this is a terrible mindset.  I want to be more proactive.  Out of all of the choices, I think this book will make the biggest impact on my life. 
 
Check out these sites to learn more about this book:
1. Author's Website
2. Book Review
3. Book Review

There are 358 pages of reading in this book divided amongst 38 chapters that vary in length.  The book is also sectioned into 3 parts.  I think I'm just going to separate my reading into 4 big chunks over the 4 quarters, just to make it even.    Can't wait to start reading!

Reflection Post: Week 1 & 2

I enjoyed the first week of Environmental Health.  The ropes activity was a creative way to get us to be critical thinkers.  It’s a good reminder to always look at things from many different angles and to know that problems may very well have multiple solutions.  I feel like that might be a good summary for how this class is going to play out for me.  This was also an important class period because we learned the basics of blogging.  This was definitely a harder concept to grasp than the activity (at least for me)!  However, I’ve found that the more you play around with blogging, the more you learn.  It’s a learn as you go sort of experience!

During week 2 we did a number of things.  We started class with a small slideshow reviewing famous sayings mostly involving gardens and flowers.  We related those sayings to environmental health on a larger scale.  After that we watched a video clip from 60 Minutes about global warming.  Specifically, it was about the government censoring what scientists tell the public about the effects of global warming.  I was really disgusted to find out that the man in charge of editing these reports before they are published was a petroleum lobbyist previous to working in the White House.  Honestly, how can the public make educated decisions when the information isn’t all there?  Also, maybe if they did put out the real information about global warming and how serious it is for our environment people might be more apt to do something about it.  Lastly, we discussed our Read ‘n’ Seed books and our introduction post.  I was excited to choose a book.  When I did take a look at the list I even read the synopses for the books that were already chosen just because they sounded so interesting.  I would definitely add a few of those books to my reading list.  I chose a book called “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight”.  In the description it said that this book was the inspiration for a short video called “Global Warning” in which Leonardo Dicaprio is the narrator.  I checked it out and it was pretty cool.  It pretty much just lays out the problem of global warming plane and simple so that anyone can understand.  You should all check it out!

Happy Friday!

Welcome to Abby's Earth Experiment

Hello! My name is Abby and I'm from East Grand Forks, MN.  I'm a Community Health Education major here at UMD and I also minor in foreign studies and psychology.  I'm a first time blogger, but I'm pretty excited to begin!  My blog is going to focus on what I learn this semester about the environment as it relates to health, and how I implement that knowledge into my life.  I also hope to dig up some interesting things related to environmental health and share them with all of you!  

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 six 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. Pam @ Pamvironmentally Friendly
   
2. Danielle @ Danielle's Discoveries
   
3. Abby @ Abby's Earth Experiment
   

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."

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog!  I look forward to an informative class and an interesting experience this semester!  Come back again soon!

Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy