Share and Voice: Water Footprint Calculator

(Cartoon selected from the National Geographic website)

I figured since earlier this week we took an assessment based on the ecological footprint we are leaving I thought it would be neat to see what kind of a 'water footprint' we are leaving.

Surprisingly the average U.S. citizen consumes about 1,981 gallons of water per day!  The quiz asks you questions regarding water used in your home, in your diet, for transportation and energy, and also water used by your stuff and once you have finished it shows how much water you consume in each category.  I took the quiz - which took me no longer than 5 minutes - and I was informed I use approximately 1,315 gallons per day.  Compared to the average American my score is considerably low, however, I still feel that the number is large and I will be looking into how to reduce the number even more.

I really encourage you to take the Water Footprint Calculator quiz as well to discover what your average water consumption is!  The quiz is actually kind of fun to take because the duck does different things depending on what you check!

Just a side note, the National Geographic website also has a specific tab regarding the environment, which includes a broad range of topics from energy to natural disasters.

Reflection: Weeks 1-4

In the previous weeks I have primarily learned three key topics: how to create and utilize a blog, how much of an impact I am having on the environment, and what I can do to help sustain the environment.

Thus far in the course we have primarily discussed creating and utilizing the wonderful internet tool known as a blog.  Since I have started blogging I have realized how convenient it is for me to communicate with my classmates along with knowing that less trees are being consumed since we have no textbook for the course and most work is completed online.  I love to read and learn, however, I am not a huge fan of technology so previously I felt the best way for me to learn was through reading various books and texts though now I am looking into purchasing a 'NOOK' book - an electronic device that enables you to purchase and download books and magazines electronically replacing printed reading materials.

As one of our assignments for the course we were instructed to take an assessment called IUHPE Ecological Footprint.  For this assessment you have to answer various questions regarding topics such as what forms of transportation you use and where you primarily purchase your groceries.  Once you have completed the assessment you are then informed of how many earths it would take to sustain people if everyone had your lifestyle.  I was shocked to hear that mine was 4.8 earths!  So this assignment really made me think about how I am living and become aware of how even my small decisions leave an everlasting mark on the earth.  I've noticed in the past few weeks that before I purchase any services or goods I try to briefly go through how using this product will impact the earth.  For example, I had made a meal earlier this week and when I was putting the leftovers away I used a plate and placed seran-wrap over it, though after I did that I realized how much seran-wrap I go through.  Seems like something that doesn't really matter, however, it made me think about the fact that when I take out the meal again I end up tossing out the seran-wrap and thus I create a lot more unnecessary waste.  As a result, I have decided that I am going to use tupperware for my food more often instead of having the food on a plate with seran-wrap on top.

The final topic I have really learned is how to make small decision changes, such as the one I stated above, in order to allow the environment to sustain.  I am reading a book, Do One Green Thing, that is doing a fantastic job at teaching me how to make small lifestyle changes.  Each chapter begins with a challenge for the reader to do 'one green thing,' such as wash most of your laundry in cold water.  The author then goes on to inform you of why it is necessary to make this lifestyle change and how the change will benefit the environment.  The book also includes a wonderful list of actual items out there to consider when making these changes and which items to pass up.  This book has taught me to research and think about the future more when it comes to purchasing various goods.  The author provides many alternative goods to choose from instead of simply going with what you have always purchased.  I hope to try out some of these skills in the near future.

Share and Voice: St. Louis County Health and Human Service Conference

This past Tuesday, October 5th, I traveled down to the DECC to host one of the seminars scheduled for the Annual St. Louis County Health and Human Service Conference.  The topic of my seminar was 'God Does Not Take Sides,' however, that's actually not what I want to discuss.  What I found to be most interesting, or ironic even, about the event was what I witnessed on my way there.  I was walking down the street crossing over from the Famous Dave's parking lot over to where the little lift bridge is.  The bridge was up so I had to take a minor detour route to the right where I passed by numerous sail boats, past the Irwin Tour Ship, and into the parking lot of the DECC and the Duluth 10 Movie theater.  

As I was walking along there were several people headed in the same direction as myself and judging by the 'Recycle' tote bags they were carrying on their shoulders I could tell these people had been this way before.  Though regardless of the tote bags I noticed something else that was rather disappointing.  You see most of them were smoking as they were walking along!  As we traveled down the sidewalk I noticed that out of the eight people I was walking with 1/2 of them had a cigarette in hand.  I found this to be ironic in the fact that these people were attending an event about health, however, outside of the event most of them were smoking and puffing away their health.  Once I reached the entrance of the building I was kindly greeted by the second-hand smoke of several others who were sitting and waiting outside, again, smoking.  I briefly glanced into the cigarette trays placed outside the front doors and noticed that several new butts had been placed into it.  

Now, I neither want to give an unpleasant impression of the event, since the seminar I hosted was very informative; nor do I want to get into a big debate about smoking since I know it may be a sensitive subject, however, I just can't help but wonder what kind of a message we are portraying to the public.  What I mean is that if someone off of the street were to walk up to someone attending the event and ask what event the DECC was hosting I feel they may be slightly put off when they learn it's a conference based around health and notice all of the people smoking around them.  It's seems to be an oxymoron when you think about it.  I realize that we cannot ask people to not smoke entirely throughout the event, though I wonder if there isn't a better way to take care of the smoking situation. Two steps I thought could possibly be considered for next years conference would be to have a seminar topic of smoking and how to smoke in a 'healthy' manor.  The other would be to possibly have areas set up for the people to specifically be able to smoke in.  I'm not sure how likely those steps are, I just feel that at a health event more precautions could be taken when it comes to dealing with health to show people that we do take health seriously.

Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of "Do One Green Thing"

For the first quarter I had decided to read the first section or part of the book focused on Food and Drink.  This section included the first five chapters and finished on page 77.

The overall main topic, as I mentioned, was food and drink so each chapter tied into that category.  Chapter 1 focused on drinking water, chapter 2 on produce, chapter 3 on fish, chapter 4 on meat, dairy, poultry, and eggs, and chapter 5 on food storage and cookware.

After reading the first section of the book I would have to say there were 3 main pieces of information I found to be most significant and surprising.  

1.  If every American stopped purchasing water in disposable bottles then we would save a lot of water.  I'm sure this seems like a given point, however, I was not aware that it takes twice as much water to make the disposable bottle.  So you could say that every bottle of water actually represents three bottles of water.  This poses a problem not only because over 80% of disposable bottles end up in landfills, but this also uses up even more water than necessary.  What we can do to help diminish this issue is to purchase reusable bottles, such as steel or aluminum, and fill the bottles with tap water.


2.  Most of us are now aware that drinking wine, in moderation, is good for you.  Though people with asthma and allergies have something even more to look forward to.  Studies have shown that people with asthma and/or allergies often prefer white wines over red due to the lower quantities of sulfite, a common allergen, found in the wine.  USDA organic wine forbids any additions of sulfites in the wine.  So organic wine is beneficial for people with these health conditions since enables them to drink without the issue of breathing problems occurring.


3.  I've heard before that you should avoid purchasing 'Teflon', a nonstick coating on cookware, though I never really knew why.  After reading I learned that when overheated (above 500 degrees F) nonstick coatings can release hazardous fumes.  The chemical released is known as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which has been found in recent studies to cause cancers, reduce fertility, and interfere with fetal development.  The best way to reduce your chances of becoming ill would be to avoid using these products all together.  Though I did find it interesting that, when cooked at normal temperatures, Teflon pans may not necessarily cause human illness.


New Terminology - definitions provided in the link

1. Bioplastics
2. Biodynamic
3. Bisphenol A (BPA)

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

After taking the IUHPE Ecological Footprint calculator, I have discovered my ecological footprint is 4.8 Earths. Meaning that if everyone in the world lived like me we would need 4.8 planet Earth planets to provide enough resources. It would also take 21.6 global acres to support my life style.  My ecological footprint is mostly affected by the services I use regularly and the food I consume, relating to how my food is made, where I get the food, and how it is transported.

I was very surprised that my ecological footprint was so high. I'm not very big into technology and when it comes to transportation I either, generally, ride the bus or walk/roller blade. However, when I consider all of the services I use and the fact that primarily purchase my groceries from the grocery store instead of a farmers market, I am beginning to see how I could cut back on products even more.  I feel very disappointed in myself because I know that my behaviors impact how the world will function and, being a future health educator, I dislike knowing that I will be trying to encourage others to live healthier when I could do more for the environment.  The results showed me that I am using up the earth's resources quicker than it can reproduce and knowing that I am the cause for so much pollution and degradation of the world makes me not care about cost of services and food so much, but helps me focus more on how I can me even more conscious about how I'm living.
 
I have realized that I do spend a lot of time driving in my car and most often I am by myself! I grew up living in the country and so I had learned to create of list of goods that I would need the next time my family and I went to a bigger city, though, since living in Duluth I have not been as diligent with creating lists and waiting until others need to go somewhere  and carpool when I need to pick up my items.  i am also not the best at purchasing food from the farmer's market or organic food.  Seeing how much of a difference it would make for me to choose those instead of simply going to the grocery store really makes me want to change.

I also took the 'Carbon Footprint of Nations' quiz and it revealed to me that I am not too different from my country.  Our country creates 7,922,600 millions tons of CO2 on an annual basis, most of which are created from services (16%) and mobility (21%) and a grand total of 1,483,300 million tons on imports.  

Overall, I feel myself and the United States could do more for our world if we took the time to slow down and observe how we can help each other instead of viewing what's most convenient for ourselves.  As what my photo for this post is supposed to symbolize, we need to lend a hand and work together if want to make the one world we do have last a lifetime.