It’s hard to believe we’re all done with the second portion of this course already! I found these past few weeks to be really interesting and fun. Here’s a summary of the things I learned these past few weeks:
We all had a chance to finish the books we chose for our Read N’ Seed assignments by week 7. I think we all had the opportunity to learn a lot from this experience, not only from reading our own books but by following our group members posts as well. The book I chose, The Organic Food Guide: How to Shop Smarter and Eat Healthier, helped me learn a lot about organic foods (why they’re better for you, how to incorporate it into your diet, how to find good prices, etc).
We also had the opportunity to learn from several eye-opener activities. First, we all looked up one or more cosmetic products we use frequently and entered it in the environmental working group’s cosmetic safety data base. The website then calculates the relative safety of any of the products you enter (in my case, Aveeno moisturizing lotion) by telling you the toxic ingredients, and what possible health risks may be associated with the contents of the cosmetics. Overall I learned a lot from this activity and I think it encouraged many of us to change the products we use on our body every day.
The other eye opening activity was related to junking/reusing old products for new purposes. For this assignment, we began by looking up local resources where we could find used clothing, goods and services. I found this aspect of the assignment particularly interesting and practical because many of these resources we can all put to practical use (I plan on checking out a few new thrift stores and shops in the near future). For this assignment we also had the opportunity to access the junkmarketstyle webpage peruse the variety of projects posted there. We then got to choose at least 3 projects that interested or inspired us which I’m sure gave many of us a lot of excellent ideas regarding how we can reuse things we would normally throw away (and it probably helped us get ideas for our junking projects).
The videos we watched in class were also very interesting and I felt like I learned a great deal from them. We watched the documentary Fresh in week 6, which discussed industrial farming and agricultural practices in the United States. I learned a lot from this film about the harmful aspects of this type of farming and mass industry, and also had the opportunity to learn about the benefits of local, more sustainable farming practices. We also watched the documentary Tapped which discussed the detrimental aspects of the bottled water industry in the United States. This movie basically opened my eyes to the fact that the bottled water idea is actually really way too expensive, toxic, harmful to small communities, unregulated (for the most part, by the FDA), and CRAZY.
Overall I learned a great deal the past few weeks, from the course material, eye opening activities, and my fellow blogmates. I think these environmental health topics are really exciting and inspiring and I look forward to learning more throughout the rest of the course.
Isn't it amazing how much we are all learning and growing? I enjoyed following your book over the past few weeks. It is crazy to think that we are on the downhill of the semester. Tapped was one of the documentaries that probably hit me the most. It was crazy to see all of the negative effects of the bottled water industry.
ReplyDeleteI agree that bottled water is crazy! I honestly had no idea that it affected our environment like that! I think this semester is flying by, but we are learning so much that we can apply to our everyday lives.
ReplyDeleteI too have learned so much in these last few weeks! Your book sounds like it was very informational. I enjoyed my book but I wish I would have read more about organic foods. After everything we have talked about in this class, organic foods are high on my grocery list. Another topic I agree with you on is the movie Tapped. Isn't it crazy how bad plastic water bottles are for our environment. I think this movie should be incorporated into high schools and other college courses.
ReplyDeleteEmily, it's crazy how fast time fly's by isn't it??? I agree with you that most people long with myself learned a ton of beneficial information from not only our own books but the books of our blog members as well. I too learned a lot of information that I was clueless about from the cosmetic's database. The product I chose was a moderate hazard and I'm thinking about switching to some more natural alternatives to the items that I currently have. I too was amazed by the videos that we watched especially the Tapped video because of just how harmful and unsafe to the environment bottled water is. I seriously didn't want to purchase a bottle of anything for a while after watching that video. Along with you I too have learned a crazy amount of stuff from this class regarding the environment and hope to continue to do so as the semester rolls along. Nice post.
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