Reflections Week 3 and 4

Aside from being extremely ill the past week, I have been learning a lot in my Environmental Health Policy book by David Ball. It was the book I chose and ordered off of Amazon to read for "Read n' Seed." It resembles a text book and isn't exactly a story, but a lot of information! Week 3 we didn't meet for class, just set up an appointment with Steve to make sure we were on track with our blogs. He helped me out a ton, I was really grateful and felt good leaving! I felt a little stressed and behind about blogging, but he showed me a lot of things that I was able to retain for when I am home on my own! Week 4 for me consisted of sleeping with a pile of kleenexes next to me, as I still am having to do. I've never had such a bad flu! I whistle when I breathe so it may be bronchitis, I'll be finding out soon. I still caught up with the class as far as what was on the calendar, by creating my SMART goal! I chose to stop drinking things out of cans and water bottles, but i didn't realize that that means I can't have my Guava Rockstars anymore! It'll be for the better though, and quite a change since I usually have one every other day atleast. I also did the eco-footprint quiz, and found out that I'm even less eco-friendly than I had thought! Some changes need to be made, and I am making a conscious effort to try! My lifestyle consists of eating a lot, so i feel that I have tons of garbage all the time! I am ready for week 5 and excited to learn whatever Dr. V has to throw at us! I'm also excited for the snacks. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Eye Opener-Ecological Footprint

An Ecological footprint is a measurement of how many planet Earths are needed to meet the human demand. Its designed to calculate the Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate. It does this by measuring a variety of things such as house size, garbage usage, gas mileage, car pooling, use of processed goods and other things that make an impact on the environment. I took the quiz thinking I was not going to say I need more than one earth, but it surprised me when it told me that there would need to be 5.7 Earths if everyone lived a similar lifestyle to me. I use a lot of garbage, and I do buy quite a few processed foods. I also drive a lot, even if its not that far. I really want to make a change, and I think it can be done, I just need to work at it! I also need 25.2 acres of the Earth's productive area. My house at home has 40 acres surrounding it, and I haven't seen most of it so I was confused by this area. I am thinking it means that with my garbage and buying of processed foods makes me need that area. Changes need to be made in my lifestyle, I want the Earth to be a healthy happy atmosphere for everyone that follows.
Take the quiz yourself! Theres a lot of eye opening ones. Take the quiz here

My SMART goal

Being Smart by making a SMART goal

My SMART goal for this semester was a tought choice between Dr. V's SMART goal which is to eat clean foods, and the general goal of the class, to stop using plastic water bottles. I figured that I won't be able to not eat anything but clean foods, due to my love for pizza so I went with the water bottle hype.

Therefore, my SMART goal will be as follows:

"I will not drink any canned or bottled beverages 100% of the time for the next ten weeks."

This is an eco-chic kind of change because it will reduce the amount of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and less water bottles and pop cans will be buried in landfills. I simply will just have to wash out the same container and reuse it time and time again! I'll also save a deal of money, which can go towards that doesn't harm the environment! Its not a difficult thing to do, just requires conscious effort.

This behavior is important to me because I've always known that water bottle usage is not environmentally friendly. Its just as easy to fill up a container to bring to school, and it can be used time and time again. I want to help the environment in any way I can and I also am getting my roommates to not use water bottles either. We all went out and bought new water bottles!