Read 'n' Seed 5: Fourth and Final Review of Do One Green Thing

For the fourth and final quarter I read the last section or part of the book.  This time the primary topic of discussion was regarding ‘Transportation.’  This section included chapter 13 which expanded from page 215 to 225.

The overall main topic, as I mentioned, was about transportation the each chapter was focused on discussing walking, biking, and ride sharing.

After reading the fourth section of the book I would have to say there was 2 main pieces of information I found to be most significant and surprising.  


1. The book gave a list of online stores were you may donate any old, wearable shoes to those who really need them, such as orphans to AIDS victims in Africa.  on is http://www.hoperuns.org/.

2.  One way to 'cut back' on gas is by making sure your tires are properly inflated.  If everyone in the U.S. did this gas consumption would reduce by 3.3 percent (or $24 million a day).  Another interesting fact is that when it comes to driving try to reduce the amount of things you transport.  For every extra 100 pounds your car has to transport a 2 percent lose of gas mileage occurs.

What we can really take away from this is that knowing in the U.S. most people travel by driving a vehicle so these were a few precautions we can do if you have no other option but to drive.

New Terminology:

1. Polycyclics aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs):  potent atmospheric pollutants

I really enjoyed reading this book.  What I appreciated about it was that the book let you know of how you may become more eco-friendly in a number of different areas in your life.  The book explained how adapting these behaviors would benefit the earth as well as yourself and those around you AND it actually gave you names of products to choose over others, which has been super helpful.  The book is also not formatted like most books, so it has been very simple and fun to read.  This means a lot to me because I know I can easily access and look-up the information in the future whether I want to show others about the topic or simply remind myself of how I can be eco-friendly.  This book is very important since I would really like to be more cautious when it comes to taking care of myself and the environment.  This book has been such a useful tool that has really encouraged me to adapt new behaviors and consider making different life choices, which I know will help out everyone and everything in the end.  I would most definitely recommend this book to others and I actually have been encouraging my roommates to read the book!  As I mentioned before this book has broken down the facts about why and how it's important to take care of the earth.  It is also very simple and easy to read so I know the book won't be confusing or hard for them to follow.  I found this book to be very helpful and these are the three most significant things I have learned from it:

1. When it comes to washing dishes and wanting to save more energy and water, would you think hand-washing or dishwashing would be more eco-friendly?  I guessed hand-washing and I was incorrect in my assumption.  On average, using a dishwasher uses only half the electricity and one-sixth of the water than hand-washing does.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Share and Voice: Schiefelbein Farms

The above video is a brief documentary created last year regarding the history of Schiefelbein Farms - my family's farm back home.  I thought this might be informative for you since this whole post is regarding the farm I grew up on.  Just a side note, everyone that is in this video I am related to in some form - Frank Schiefelbein, who is interviewed, is actually my brother (people say we look alike)!


A few notes about my family's farm: 

• The farm is currently in the top five largest farms in the state; and about 22nd nationwide.
• The size of the farm extends to approximately 4,000 acres.
• We primarily raise beef, particularly black Angus cattle.
• There are an estimated 3,100 cattle head; 600 are cows and calves, 2,500 are used for meat

What inspired this post was the documentary we recently viewed in class on Monday.  After viewing the class video I really began to wonder, 'What precautions does my family's farm take in an attempt to be more environmentally friendly?'  So to find some answers I decided to contact my dad, Frank Schiefelbein, III who gave me a brief overview of what farms may do to be more environmentally friendly.


"When it comes to feeding the cows," said Frank, "We tend to let them roam about the fields and graze on the grass, and this may occur from the end of spring and into the beginning of winter (depending on when snowfall arrives).  The land they graze on is land we purchased that is typically known as having 'too many hills' or 'too rocky.'  Since our family's profession is farming we can actually afford to purchase land that has been labeled as 'eroded' and replenish it so that we use it as pasture land for the cattle or use it to grow crops."  Frank went on to discuss, "1/4 of the acres the farm owns are 'out of production,' which means that we do not use them and allow grass to grow in this area and the areas are rotated every year."


"Now once winter arrives, obviously, it's difficult for us to allow the cows to graze on grass so we then feed the cows bi-products.  These bi-products are often used by companies and then discarded so what we do is purchase the material that would be discarded and feed the cows.  The discarded materials are not harmful or 'bad,' the companies simply do not need them for their product and thus just discard them.  By us purchasing those bi-products we are able to purchase them at a discount rate and it also produces less waste for the environment.  Bi-products we use are 'wet-distillers' which derive from plants containing alcohol, these are known as 'wet-distillers, once the alcohol has been taken out."  More bi-products used include corn-gluten (a syrup often left-over once it's been used for pop) and sweet corn silage (made available by vegetable processing plants)."  


"We have also begun to use something called 'Earlage.'  This is where you take off ears of corn and chop them up.  What's great about this technique is that it does not really involving a combining tractor and no use of propane is used at all."  Frank went on to mention that once they have gone through the fields the cows then come through and graze the residue.


"Another  precaution we perform has to do with the cow's manure.  We actually collect the cow's manure and place it into a confinement barn, which we collect and store all winter.  Once it comes time to fertilize the land we use the cow's manure to naturally fertilize instead of purchasing pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.  We conduct a more 'natural' process and it seems as if it continues to work in a circle, where we harvest the land to feed the cows and the cows give us the fertilizer to harvest the land."


I know it seems that most farms are really harming the environment, though there are some farms that are trying to do their part in preserving the environment.  As health educators, we can use farms similar to Schiefelbein Farms to encourage other corporations to consider switching over to a more 'green' approach when it comes to farming.

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

To be completely honest, generally speaking, I do not tend to use a lot of cosmetic supplies. I actually had to look up on the Target store website to search through the cosmetics section in an attempt to find a product I 'use' that's probably lying in the bottom of my dresser's drawer. I do not wear any foundation creams or anything so the product I chose was CoverGirl Lashblast mascara, Black Brown. 


After typing the product's name into the Cosmetic Safety Database I was slightly discouraged.  It was revealed to me that the safety of my mascara was rated 5/10 (10 being the most toxic), which means it poses a moderate hazard.  The database continued on and revealed that some of the ingredients found in this product are linked to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, and allergies/immunotoxicity.  From that the most toxic ingredient in my mascara is Petroleum Distillates scoring 8/10 (10 being the most toxic ingredient).  Unfortunately some side effects linked to this ingredient include cancer and organ system toxicity (non-reproductive).  Followed closely behind Petroleum Distillate was Propylparaben scoring 6/10.  Negative side effects and links to this ingredient entail developmental/reproductivity toxicity, endocrine disruption, allergies/immunotoxicity, and again, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive).


When I view these results I am both shocked and disappointed.  Since I don't wear make-up very often I do feel I am less likely to develop any of the negative side effects, however, that being said, I do have a high concern about using the product now.  The next time I wear make-up instead of applying mascara I will be thinking that I am applying cancer to my lashes.  After using this database I have really realized how much I need to assess my life as a whole.  I feel as if I would like to go home right now and toss the mascara into the trash.  As I was browsing through the Target webpage I notice they carry an organic mascara, Physicians Formula Organic mascara.  I attempted to look this product up on the database, however, was unable to find any results.  This is a product I will be conducting more research on and will hopefully consider in the future.