Reflection: Weeks 13-14 & Overall Course

I really liked when we went to the Goodwill and learn about how the company operates. I think it was really cool that they help people with disabilities and let them work there. It was also really interesting to hear how much they recycle and what kind of different things they recycle. It was pretty neat to walk around and see how they sort all the different kinds of product.

The online learning activity was good and a fun way to learn about different material. There was a lot of new information for me when I was doing the different activities.

I definitely feel like I learned a lot on this class. I think the documentaries taught me the most, especially the video called Tapped. It is really sad how much plastic there is in the ocean, and even sadder how the water manufacturers are taking our water and selling it back to us with higher prices. It was a really interesting video and after seeing it I haven’t bought any plastic bottles. Another thing that was really interesting and made me change some of my habits was when we did the Ecological footprint. I couldn’t believe that it would take 5 planets to support my lifestyle. I have started to take the bus to school or drive more with my roommates. I really enjoyed making the SMART goal and truly changed some of my habits. I am now drinking more water and only using my reusable water bottle. I also use my reusable bags whenever I go shopping so I don’t have to get plastic ones.

I think it was fun to make the junk project and see what kind of different things my classmates did.

This is my junk project, money bank.

 

Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

Air Quality Crossword Puzzle

I think this was a really fun learning activity. There were four websites that pertain to air quality issues both locally and nationally and I needed to read the articles to find the answers to the crossword puzzle. It was fun and I also learned a number of new things about our air quality.

Uncovering the Facts about Cancer

1. First visit the WebMD webpage related to cancer and find 3 facts about cancer that interest you or that you never knew. 

- I didn’t know that there are more than 100 types of cancer and that breast cancer in men is not uncommon. Also, I didn’t know that coffee is used to prevent gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, and breast cancer.

2. Next, visit the American Cancer Society Cancer causes webpage and read about the different known causes of cancer. Be able to list 3. 

- Tobacco, diet and physical activity, sun and UV exposure.

3. Once you feel you know what the causes/ risk factors are for cancer, go to this webpage from Preventcancer.org and read about things you can do to reduce your risk for cancer. 

4. Report 3 common causes of cancer and describe 3 of the ways you think you could best protect YOURSELF against cancer. If you already meet all the criteria, discuss changes you think are the most helpful in general. 

- Smoking can cause lung cancer. I have never smoked and I am trying to get my friend to stop smoking.

- Get screened. I need to make sure that I get screened using tests such as the Pap test and a mammogram.

- Wear sunscreen. Skin cancer is the most common and most preventable types of cancer. I usually use sunscreen, but there are times that I don’t think I need it. I really need to make sure that I use it more often.

By doing this learning activity I learned a lot about different cancers and what the risk factors are for cancer. I also learned what I can do to protect myself against cancer.

Health Insurance for All

I needed to watch a video and visit two different websites and play a game to learn about health insurance. After that I needed to share one or two things I learned from this activity.

By watching the video, I now understand better how health insurance works and after visiting the websites and reading about health insurance I understand how important it is to have health insurance in the U.S.

Emergency Contraception 101

After reading 10 Common Myths, Misunderstandings, and big Ol’ Lies About Emergency Contraception, please list 3 myths and why they are false.

1. The morning after pill is the same as abortion.

EC is called contraception because it is birth control: it can prevent pregnancy. That is what it is designed to do and all it is designed to do.

2. It's difficult to get.

In most areas of the western world, it's not difficult to get and in most of the world as a whole at this point, some form of EC can be obtained. In the United States, those over 17 can get it without a prescription.

3. It's hazardous to my health.

Less so than regular combination pill use, which is safe for users following the instructions and who do not have health conditions of lifestyle habits which make BCPs risky to use.

Next, do some research and find & list 3 places you could go to obtain emergency contraception in Duluth, MN.

1. Planned Parenthood

2. Women’s Health Center

3. SMDC Health System

I think this was a really good learning activity and I learned new things about emergency contraception. I think the 10 common myths were a really good way to learn about emergency contraception.

Smoking Fact Find

Instructions:
1) Review the links below.
2) Find 5 things that you didn't know before watching the video or things that really effected you.
3) Post the 5 things you learned. Can you think of any personal reasons why you have chosen not to smoke too? For example, parents would be disappointed, dont want to smell bad, ect. Please provide one reason why you have chosen not to smoke or have quit because of (if you feel comfortable sharing).

1. Annually, smoking costs Minnesota nearly $3 billion in health care costs.

2. Tobacco use leads to over 5,500 deaths in Minnesota a year.

3. Children of smokers are almost twice as likely to smoke as children of nonsmokers.

4. Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S.

5. China has more than 350 million smokers — 50 million more cigarette buyers than the entire population of the United States.

There are a number of reasons why I chose not to smoke. The main reason is because I want to stay healthy. Besides that, I absolutely cannot stand the smell of cigarettes. Whether it be after someone puffs a cigarette or how they smell afterwards, it’s all horrible. I thought this was an interesting learning activity and I learned some new information about smoking. This is definitely something I am going to show my friend who smokes to help encourage her to quit.

Advocacy Project: Childhood Obesity

Purpose

I would like to present this topic to you all because it is a major topic in our society. The epidemic of obesity within young adults and children has increased in the United States. We hear about it all the time, but it seems that people are not taking enough action to change it.

Background/Reasoning/Evidence/Resources

Obesity and overweight has increased in children and adolescents over the past decade. In the years from 2003 to 2004, over 12.5 million kids from the ages of 2-19 years old were overweight. http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/obesity.htm

Children at greatest risk are the ones who have both parents that are obese. Obesity varies by race/ethnicity. For example, white children are less likely to be overweight or obese than Black, Latino, or Native American children. In 1998, 21.5 percent of Black children and 21.8 percent of Latino children were overweight, while 12.3 percent of White children were. 

Childhood Obesity 

Obesity can cause many health related problems such as increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems, trouble sleeping, as well as emotional problems.

Obesity In Children and Teens 

Overweight children tend to have poorer social skills than normal-weight children have and this may cause overweight children to socially withdraw. Also, obesity has a negative effect on a child’s learning.

Childhood Obesity

The school system has made some positive steps to reduce obesity among children. School curriculum’s include health and fitness classes, and schools have reduced the amount of junk food that is available as part of the lunch programs.  

Reduce Childhood Obesity

Instructions

Click on Childhood obesity quiz below and it will transfer you to the website.

Childhood Obesity Quiz

Then click on Start Quiz.

After you are done with the quiz record your score and report back about what you learned.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Final Weekly Review & Overall Project Reflection

1. My SMART goal was: I will use my reusable bags 100% of the time when I go to the grocery stores, Walmart, and Target. I achieved my goal this week.
2. I was successful because I kept my reusable bags in my car at all times and I took them with me when ever I went shopping.
3. I felt like I accomplished something when I achieved my goal.
4. I learned that it is not hard to bring reusable bags when I go shopping and it is nice when I don’t have plastic bags lying around at my house.
5. At first my SMART goal was: I will drink 10 cups of water every day, 7 days a week. However, I felt like this goal was too easy for me so I changed it to: I will use my reusable bags 100% of the time when I go to the grocery stores, Walmart, and Target.
6. It really helped when I had my reusable water bottle with me at all times. I was constantly drinking water. Also, I had my reusable bags in my car at all times so I remembered to take them whenever I went shopping.
7. Some benefits from this project are that I am drinking more water now and I am using reusable bags whenever I go shopping. I learned about myself, that I am able to change my habits and achieve new goals. I learned about behavior change, that if you want to make a change it is possible, maybe not the first week but eventually you will be able to change your habits.
8. The environment benefits from both of my changes because I am not going to buy plastic bottles anymore and I am not going to use plastic bags anymore.
9. I will continue this behavior because I need to keep drinking enough water throughout the day and I want to be more eco-friendly and not buy plastic bottles or bags.
10. A lifestyle change will make you feel better about yourself and it can also save the environment.

Advocacy Project: Letter and Fact Sheet

December 6, 2010
Marcia L. Fudge
House Energy and Commerce

1513 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Vote YES on H.RES.996 Expressing support for the designation of September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.

I am a student at the University of Minnesota Duluth and my major is Health Education. I am very concerned about the obesity epidemic in our nation, especially childhood obesity.  There are many different approaches that have been taken to help reduce this problem, but very few that have to deal with affording resources. With that being said, I am pleased to hear about the proposed bill expressing support for the designation of September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.

This act provides to recognize the importance of preventing childhood obesity and decreasing its prevalence in the United States. I think this is very important because during the past four decades, obesity rates have soared among all age groups, increasing more than fourfold among children ages 6 to 11.

In the past, you have demonstrated support towards the decrease of childhood obesity. I encourage you to vote for expressing support for the designation of September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.  If support or any type of assistance is needed, please feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you for your time and support.

Sincerely,
Heidi

Fact Sheet

The U.S has been struggling with obesity for over 20 years now. Comparing the 1970's to the 2000's, the prevalence of obesity has increased for children of all ages at least 3 times over to about 20% of our population less than 19 years old. A Bit of History 

In 1998, 21.5 percent of Black children and 21.8 percent of Latino children were overweight, while 12.3 percent of White children were. Childhood Obesity 

Obesity can cause many health related problems such as increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems, trouble sleeping, as well as emotional problems. Obesity In Children and Teens

Overweight and obesity medical expenses accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998. To put this in a numerical value, the expenses were $92.6 billion in 2002. Approximately half of these costs were paid by Medicaid and Medicare. Economic Consequences

Overweight children tend to have poorer social skills than normal-weight children have and this may cause overweight children to socially withdraw. Also, obesity has a negative effect on a child’s learning. Childhood Obesity

Share & Voice: Environmental Kids Club

I found this good website for children to learn about how to become more eco-friendly.
I want to be a teacher when I go back to Finland and one thing that I want to teach to my class is how to save the environment. I think this website is great for children to read and learn about the environment.
Our environmental class has taught me a lot and it is actually my first class where I have learned about recycling and other things dealing with how to save the environment. I think it is important that children learn early enough about how to save the enviroment because then they will more likely to do the right things through out their lives.
Check out the website here: http://www.epa.gov/kids/index.htm

Reflection 9-12 weeks

Reflection 9-12 weeks

These past couple weeks we watched a lot of documents. I don’t usually like to watch videos in class, but these documents taught me a lot about different issues related to the environment. We learned about what is advocacy in Health Education and we did a little presentation about it. I really like to do the eco-chic lifestyle change. My SMART goal was to drink more water and only use my reusable water bottle. During these past weeks I haven’t bought bottled water and I am going to continue to use my reusable water bottle to help save our environment from plastic bottles. Another thing we did was find out our political representatives from our home town. I think it was really interesting to find out who are the political representatives in my town because I didn’t know them before. One of our advocacy projects was to pick one HealthyPeople 2010 goal in which we are interested and then we used THOMAS to find related bills. I think that was pretty cool to learn how to do that. Overall, I have learned a lot these past few weeks and I have been able to change a couple of my habits to be more eco-friendly which has been great.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

1.      I will use my reusable bags 100% of the time when I go to grocery stores such as Walmart and Target. I did really well this week; there was only one time when I went to the Target and I forget my reusable bag.

2.      I was successful because I had my reusable bags in my car so I remembered to use them. One time I went to Target with my friend and we used her car so I didn’t have my reusable bags with me. I didn’t want to use a plastic bag but my friend did so I just put my stuff in her bag. 

3.      I felt really good every time I used a reusable bag when I went to the store. I felt better about myself because I was saving the environment.

4.      This past week was my first time using the reusable bags and I really liked them. I learned that if you keep them in your car at all times, you will use them.

5.      I am going to keep this same goal because I didn’t do it 100% last week and I really want to make it a habit that I always use reusable bags.

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

My photo essay is about recycling. I chose this because I think it is important that people recycle at home. These pictures are from my house here in Duluth. We place plastic and aluminium in different garbage cans, and then we have one for every day trash. I know there are many another things that you can recycle but these are the ones that my house has.

 This garbage can is for every day trash.

 

 These ones are for plastic and aluminium trash.

 This one is for plastic garbage.

This one is for aluminium garbage.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

1.      I will drink 10 cups of water every day, 7 days a week. I achieved my goal; in fact, I actually think some days I drank more than 10 cups of water.

2.      I think I was successful because I had my reusable water bottle with me at all times.

3.      I don’t know if I felt any different but it was nice to be able to achieve my goal.

4.      I don’t know if I learned anything new this week. Like last week, I learned that buying bottled water it bad for the environment and you really don’t have to do buy them. All you have to do is carry a reusable water bottle with you.

5.      I am going to change my goal for the next week to have a more challenging goal. I will use reusable bags 100% of the time when I go to the grocery store or Wal-mart/Target.

Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

Introduction

What is the issue/problem?

Obesity and overweight has increased in children and adolescents over the past decade. In the years from 2003 to 2004, over 12.5 million kids from the ages of 2-19 years old were overweight.

http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/obesity.htm

      What current legislation has been proposed to address this? (Identify bill # and name)

HF2793 Healthy school lunches funding provided.

Who is affected by the issue?

Who is affected the most?

Children at greatest risk are the ones who have both parents that are obese. Obesity varies by race/ethnicity. For example, white children are less likely to be overweight or obese than Black, Latino, or Native American children. In 1998, 21.5 percent of Black children and 21.8 percent of Latino children were overweight, while 12.3 percent of White children were. Childhood Obesity

Who loses, and what do they lose?

Those with low socioeconomic statuses have shown to have limited resources to healthy food choices. This can obviously affect their health because the chances of becoming overweight and/or obese from having poor diet choices is significantly higher.

Who gains, and what do they gain?

Those with a high socioeconomic status have shown to have more resources to choosing healthy dietary choices. Because of this, they have a better chance of preventing obesity by nutrition alone. They are more likely to live a healthier life because of those dietary choices.

What are the consequences of the issue?

For the individuals mostly affected?

Obesity can cause many health related problems such as increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems, trouble sleeping, as well as emotional problems. Obesity In Children and Teens

For their families?

The parents whose child is obese may spend a lot of money on medical bills, treatments, and rehabilitation programs. It is very common that if someone within the family is obese or overweight, there is a high risk that the rest of the family are overweight as well.

For society?

The epidemic of obesity has an effect on everyone because insurance plans increase, making the population pay for health treatments.

What is the economic impact of the issue?

What are the economic costs of the issue, and who bears these costs?

Overweight and obesity medical expenses accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998. To put this in a numerical value, the expenses were $92.6 billion in 2002. Approximately half of these costs were paid by Medicaid and Medicare. Economic Consequences

What are the economic benefits of the issue, and who benefits?

Because obesity and overweight has increased, many fast food restaurants have started to sell more salads and low-fat or fat-free choices. They are usually more expensive so fast food restaurants make good profit selling those products.

What is the social impact of the issue?

What are the social costs of the issue, and who bears these costs?

Overweight children tend to have poorer social skills than normal-weight children have and this may cause overweight children to socially withdraw. Also, obesity has a negative effect on a child’s learning. Childhood Obesity

 What are the social benefits of the issue, and who benefits?

As I mentioned before, fast food restaurants have benefited, as well as everyone who can afford to buy healthier choices.

What are the barriers?

What are the barriers to addressing this issue? 

      The biggest barrier is that parents don’t have enough money to buy healthy foods for their children. Another thing is that parents don’t have enough time to participate in physical activity with their children at home. Study finds barriers to prevention of childhood obesity

      How can they be overcome? 

One way to overcome is to educate parents to make healthier choices for their children and find the healthiest food they can afford to provide. Parents should have time for their children and be active with them. Parents need to learn time management skills so they will have more time to participate in physical activity with their children.

What are the resources?

What resources will we need to address this issue?

Providing research, facts, data, and studies for the parents are great ways to supply resources.

Where and how can they be tapped?

Organizations, universities/colleges, and businesses can all provide real life studies, research, data, and facts.

What is the history of this issue?

What is the history of the issue in the community?

The U.S has been struggling with obesity for over 20 years now. Comparing the 1970's to the 2000's, the prevalence of obesity has increased for children of all ages at least 3 times over to about 20% of our population less than 19 years old. A Bit of History

What past efforts were made to address it?

The school system has made some positive steps to reduce obesity among children. School curriculum’s include health and fitness classes, and schools have reduced the amount of junk food that is available as part of the lunch programs. Reduce Childhood Obesity

What were the results?

All the efforts and changes have had positive results for reducing childhood obesity.

Allies & Opponents

Who would support this issue?

People who would support this issue would be the families who are obese, health advocates, medical personnel, and the general public. I think everyone would support any approach that is successful to decrease this issue.

Who would oppose this issue?

The people who would oppose this issue would be anyone who doesn't want to spend money for prevention or treatment. This could be parents who directly have to pay for their children, or it could be for those that don't have a relative or family member with the disease but have to pay for prevention and treatment programs.

Your Recommendation

How do you want policy-makers to vote on this proposed policy?

I want everybody to vote yes for this policy!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

1.      I will drink 10 cups of water every day, 7 days a week. I did really well this week. There was only one day that I only drank 8 cups of water.

2.      I think I was successful because I remembered to bring my water bottle with me almost everywhere I went.

3.      I felt really good during the day because I drank enough water. Sometimes when I don’t drink enough water I might get a headache or just feel really thirsty.

4.      I learned that I don’t have to buy bottled water; I just need to carry my water bottle.

5.      I am going to keep the same goal for next week and my plan is to carry my water bottle everywhere. I think I am going to change my goal after the next week so it is more challenging for me.

Share & Voice: Green Hotels

Green Hotels and Environmentally Friendly Lodging

http://www.istaygreen.org/
I think this is a pretty cool website. You can search for hotels that are making efforts to be environmentally friendly. All the eco-friendly hotels are rated by how green they are. Next time you are planning on staying in a hotel, you should check out this website and support the hotels that are making efforts to be more eco-friendly.

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/Thomas

1.

Nutrition and Overweight
One objective is to reduce the proportion of children and adolescence who are overweight and obese. According to the Progress Quotient Chart, 6-19 years old has negatively gone away from target by 83%.

2.
Progress:
My objective has not met or exceeded it's target.
Progress Toward Healthy People 2010 Targets

Disparities:
Overweight and obesidity has declined within Mexican American and black non-Hispanic children between the ages of 6-11 years old. However, for children 6-19 years olds, the prevalence was 50% lower in white non-Hispanic populations than the Mexican American and black non-Hispanic populations combined.
Progress Toward Elimination of Health Disparities

Opportunities and Challenges:
A few tools are being implemented with trying to reverse the affects of overweight and obesity rates in children. One of them is the dietary guidelines have been revised in the Food Guidance System MyPyramid. Another tool is to educate the public (children) on the food label to demonstrate choosing healthier diets. Food Labeling and Nutrition Education Tools

Emerging Issues:
The best way to implement reduced obesity rates is simply by prevention. By educating and putting in the positive effects on having a healthy diet with advertising and making actions are great ways to promote the importance of nutrition. Because obesity rates have increased, they have developed a couple new treatment options, pharmaceuticals and bariatric surgery.
Emerging Issues

3.
H.CON.RES.11

Title: Recognizing the disproportionate impact of the global food crisis on children in the developing world.

Sponsor: Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] (introduced 1/8/2009) Cosponsors (None)

Latest Major Action: 1/8/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Recommendation: Vote yes for H.CON.RES.11 Recognizing the disproportionate impact of the global food crisis on children in the developing world.

My Political Representative: Congressman Anthony "Tony" Sertich

Share & Voice: Eco-Friendly Clothing Options

This is a very interesting video and article about Sproutlings store in Duluth specializing in eco-friendly products for children. I think it is great that we have an eco-friendly clothing store in Duluth. Hopefully this kind of clothing store becomes more popular and more people start buying eco-friendly clothes.
http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/s1799364.shtml

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART Goal

1. I will drink 10 cups of water every day, 7 days a week.
2. This lifestyle change is eco-chic because I am going to carry my water bottle every where with me and I am not going to buy bottled water. Not buying bottled water will save the environment from the trash and recycling process.
3. I chose to change this behavior because I need to drink more water during the day. Sometimes I forget to have my water bottle with me and I buy bottled water. To change this behavior is important to me because I want to be more eco-friendly and not buy bottled waters.

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives

The president of Finland is Tarja Halonen. Her political affiliation is social democrat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarja_Halonen

Congress persons of my area are listed in here:

http://www.eduskunta.fi/triphome/bin/hex3000.sh?VAALIPIIRI=Pirkanmaan%20vaalipiiri&kieli=su&otsikko=Pirkanmaan%20vaalipiiri&vasen=vp

The governor is Rauno Uolevi Saari. His political affiliation is social democrat.

Email: rauno.saari(at)eduskunta.fi

Phone number: 0718 74 2101

http://www.laaninhallitus.fi/lh/lansi/home.nsf/pages/10E23FA078EFD220C2256D510035C6A2

State legislators are listed in here:

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampereen_kaupunginvaltuusto#Puheenjohtajat

In Finland we don’t have a county board president; we only have the city mayor.

The city mayor is Timo P. Nieminen. His political affiliation is national coalition party.

http://www.tampere.fi/english/administrationandeconomy/mayor.html

I could not find the president or the city mayor contact information.

Share & Voice: Eco Friendly Ideas

I found this interesting and really helpful website about eco friendly ideas. It helps you to make environmentally friendly choices when considering your home, office, travels and holidays, food and shopping, gifts or presents. It even helps you make greener choices for your wedding and kids! I think it is a great website.
Check it out: http://www.ecofriendlyideas.net/

Share & Voice: A Healthy Environment Starts at Home

I found this interesting website while I was looking for information about healthy environment.
It tells you about different household hazardous products and suggests the use of non-toxic alternatives whenever possible. It also tells you what you should do with the paints and solvents instead of just dumping them down the sink, pour down a storm drain, toss in the trash or pour on the ground because they are a hazard to the environment. The website gives you alternatives for how to properly discard automotive batteries and pesticides. This website is really usefull when you want to become more eco-friendly and take care of our environment.
http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/03sewer/trac/athome.htm

Reflection: Weeks 5-8

I learned how to create a graphical header for the blog. I think it was really unique to learn and it’s great to use it in my blog.
I think it was fun to find out my ecological footprint and how many planets it would take to support my lifestyle. It was a shock when I saw my result. I couldn’t believe it would take 5 planets to support my lifestyle. I have started to take the bus to school or drive more with my roommates.
I chose 1 cosmetic item that I use and I used the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database to find out about the safety of that product. I found out that my product might cause cancer so I decided to find another face cleaning product that would be safer to use.

I learned about antiques/antiquing, junk/junking, flea market, thrift shop, upcycling, and about resale shops. I found out where you can find all of these in Duluth and what kind of interesting things you can make from junk. I think this was really cool because I realized that you don’t need to buy new things all the time, you can be creative and make new things from your old things.

I think the video we watched about plastic bottles and manufacturers was really interesting and it really opened my eyes. It is really sad how much plastic there is in the ocean, and even sadder how the water manufacturers are taking our water and selling it back to us with bigger prices. It was really good that I saw this video because I used to believe that bottled water is pure and safer to drink than tap water, however, it is just the bottled water companies way to advertise their product.

After learning more about the environment, I have really tried to be more eco-friendly and use the bus more and car-pool. I have never really bought bottled water and after seeing the video I am never going to. It’s actually to the point that if I see my friend having bottled water I am going to tell about the video and what I learned.