Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

The product that I chose to look up was my favorite, Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Mascara.  The ingredients within this product our linked to:
- cancer
- development/reproductive toxicity
- allergies/immunotoxicity
- use restrictions
- Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: 
Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation,Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs),Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns,Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes

I feel along with what we have learned about everything else so far...nothing is going to be good for us.  I can't believe something so small can lead to so many other hazardous things.  Although, each person's susceptibility is different & each of the ingredients is only a small amount, there is always that chance that something could happen.  So far so good though.  Maybe i'll have to take a look into other options and brands out there.  (For those of you who didn't know...The Whole Foods Co-op has there own line of makeup products!)

Read 'n' Seed 4: Third Quarter of Trash Talk

I read Part Four of the book.  Pages 179 through 182.


There is hope.  Although it is a big task to change the thinking of such a mass population, there is hope.  Our collective actions are much more powerful than that of any one high-ranking person.  We can force changes by making changes.  


Recycling has really caught on and already we can measure the results of our combined efforts.  Recycling paper reduces the paper industry's energy use by 35% and its air pollution by 95%.  For every ton of recycled paper, 17 trees and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space are saved.  If there was a maximum recycling participation over one year, we would save 21.93 thirty-foot trees, 8,389 kilowatts of electricity, 28.86 cubic yards of land fill space, and 77.4 lbs of air pollution.  


We are all connected and we must continue to develop, create, and enhance our behaviors/actions in order to conserve our wildlife, habitats, and planet.  

New Header

Hey everyone!  Here's my new blog header and design.  I hope you enjoy it!   I love the bright colors and enjoyed the picture a lot so that's why I chose to go along with it.  Plain and simple! :o)

Share & Voice: Halloween...not so fun...

With Halloween just around the corner, I'm sure we're all ready to get a little festive.  I love the decorations, the candy, and of course the costumes.  One thing I always am looking forward to are the arts & crafts and yummy halloween treats you can make at home. 

One thing I was going to do for all my little dancers that I teach was make some yummy Halloween Cookie/Cupcake sort of thing.  One of the things it required was something called "orange coloring mist."

So I went to Michaels and found this orange coloring mist and was excited to spend my night making these fun things for my students. I was just about to put the finishing touches of mist on the halloween treats & just happened to look at the ingredients....

My jaw dropped...Ethanol was the number one ingredient.  Next up arsenic.  And the list kept coming!  What the hell was I doing?!  Why would anyone produce something that people ingest containing all these chemicals?  Those things went straight in the garbage and I'm never not checking the ingredients of things again.  Never would I ever want to put that sort of mixture into my students.  There is the proof that we are killing our children...the next generation.

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second Quarter of Trash Talk

I read part three of this book.  It included pages 151-176.  


Part three included sections on: trees, magazines, books, and other paper products.  


The most effective thing someone could do for our planet...plant a tree.  Plant life is the one thing that allows us to survive here on earth and is helping to absorb the "bad" things such as air pollution and fossil fuels.  We can continue to save trees by using our laptops, flash drives, and the new E-books that are available to us online.  With our new technologies we are able to go paper free.  
Many of us are very on top of our recycling habits.  At school and other offices we need to continue this support.  For every ton of paper that we take out, is saving over 380 gallons of petroleum.  We must continue ways to reduce consumption and begin reusing as much paper products as possible.  
One ton of magazine paper uses only 7.68 trees.  We can make efforts in various ways to reuse book and magazines before they're recycled or write to editors to begin creating online subscriptions.  Newspapers on the other hand use of 247,000 acres of forest to meet the demands of consumers.   Again, it's common knowledge to recycle these products.  Producing from recycled paper uses 30-35% less energy and generates 95% less air pollution than making paper from trees.  


So in the end...Reuse Reuse Reuse...paper can be used as many different things before being put into the recycle bin.  Be creative and continue with your recycling habits.  :)

Eye Opener: CSPI

The eating green tour had lots of good facts.  I focused on reading more about the animals.  The cattle has a small lifespan.  They are being be as much "special" grain which causes them health problems & the cattle is producing more fat & so when we eat that meat, we also are intaking that excess fat.  They're brought to the slaughter house where millions are killed each year.  In general, the overall cleanliness of these animals & how they're taken care of is very dirty, wasteful, and causing more problems than we think.


I enjoyed the eating green calculator.  I went off of my last weeks eating habits (which weren't too good or healthy.)  I was pretty disgusted in how much manure was produced by the animals I eat.  I definitely was not expecting that information to be included.  But talking about waste/garbage, manure is a whole other factor of waste we have not really considered how to dispose of.  I think how much chicken/meat I eat a year might have been more effective of the burden it's causing...


Uh-oh!  I need help with my eating green score.  Whether it's my overall nutrition, environment, or animal wellfare that needs work i'm not sure.  I just didn't score so well.  I think again we can just relate it back to making sure we are used locally grown foods from local farmers & just being more aware of who and where the food we're eating is coming from.

Reflection: Weeks 1-4

Over these first four weeks I have learned many new things.  This Environmental Health course has brought many subjects and topics to my attention.  There's a saying..."you always learn something new every day"...Well with this class I have.  And I have been able to apply what I learned throughout my daily life.


Blogging isn't something I would have expected to be doing.  Never have I ever even considered starting or writing my own blog.  Now look at me; I have to comment and write on it every single day!  I've learned you can do many different things with your blog.  You build it to fit your own personality and style.  You are the one who gets to choose what to write about so your readers are able to see through your eyes.  Everyone has a different viewpoint.  Reading all these different posts & topics shows all the different options out there and how no one thinks alike.


Each week, we were given a new task, such as: Eco-logical Footprint, Read 'n' Seed, and Share & Voice.  The Eco-logical Footprint allowed us to see how much of the earth we use up and waste.  I found out I'm wasting way more than I imagined.  I now am constantly aware of the choices I make with recycling, garbage, and wasting other materials.  The Read 'n' Seed allowed us to hear the opinions and ideas of other voices trying to be heard outside the classroom.  We each are reading a book and describing it so our group members are also able to understand that there's other ideas that can help.  The Share & Voice was my favorite.  It allowed us to see how our group members are each individually taking a stand to help out.  I would not have heard of half the stuff our group talked about if not for this blog.  


Everything is new and intriguing.  There's always room for change and new experiences.  Now we know that we are here to support each other and continue coming up with new ideas in order to sustain and remain here on this earth.