Share & Voice: real or fake christmas tree?

Well, I may have some personal bias with this issue, but I wanted to look into whats more eco-friendly. A real or fake Christmas tree? My parents own a tree business and we sell REAL Christmas trees this time of year. I believe families getting together and picking out a tree is a great way to spend time before Christmas, we see tons of happy families come in and sometimes spend hours outside deciding what tree is perfect for them. I see a lot of my classmates from high school even come in when I work there which is cool because this is something families of all ages enjoy doing!


This video takes a look at why many believe cutting down real trees is actually more eco friendly than getting fake trees, EVEN after the fact that fake trees can be re-used. 







I love the fact that many towns re-use the trees in many different ways, I didn't even know that was happening.
I personally agree with this video; I love having a real Christmas tree in the house, they smell so good and they're refreshing. And looking at sales this year, it seems as if the Christmas tree business is still prosperous in rural Minnesota :)


Have a wonderful holiday season everyone!

Reflection: Weeks 13 & 14 combined withReflection: Overall Course

The last two weeks of this class went by way too fast, and I am sad that its almost done :(


Week 13 started with a tour of Goodwill, which was insane!! I had no idea that place was so big, nor did I know how much they recycle used items. Our tour guide was very informative, he knew the business in and out and gave us a great tour. He talked about jobs they give to people with disabilities and how much their company saves our landfills. Our letters to a public official were due as well, and I got an response from Al Franken, I believe it was a pre-written response but still cool, inviting me to a breakfast at the white house with his committee. 

Week 14 began with our junk project show, it was cool seeing what everyone came up with! I took the motherboards from a couple computers that my friend had and decided to used them as end table-tops. They look really intricate up close. We had a discussion about the overall things we learned in class and it was really nice, even though I've spent all semester with these people, I felt like I got to know them in a different way and like we were more unified after this discussion, it just seemed more personal and we all were comfortable saying whatever as we sat in a circle. 


Overall Reflection: As I stated in class, this class has hugely impacted my life. Not only do I feel healthier, but I've nearly turned into a vegetarian due to this class. I see life differently. I think that every freshman coming into college should take this class! We need to see these issues that we learn about first hand, and this class shows us and puts us right there! The eye opener about skin products was probably the 2nd most important activity to me personally because I learned about how dangerous my skin products were, so I'm slowing incorporating safer, more environmentally friendly products into my life and I feel much better. 

Advocacy Project: Sanitation, online learning activity

Sanitation Overview Lesson:

I chose the topic of sanitation for my project because it is something I will be working with in my future.

The issue of sanitation is both an issue we face in our day to day lives as well as a global crisis.

For this lesson, I would like to focus a little bit on both of these spectrums.

The purpose of my first part of this lesson is to show how much of a global problem poor sanitation is STILL causing.

My main purpose is that I would like this lesson to show students how necessary it is to have public health inspectors, and that even in our society we need more of them! There is so much that goes on behind closed doors that so many people are unaware of. We need cleaner, safer food for the average consumer.

I have chosen three videos as part of my activity, and I have asked response questions for each.

Everyone is affected by poor sanitation, many of us just don't realize it and take clean air, clean water and clean food for granted. Somewhere, at some point, someone checks these things to ensure our safety. The question that I have is when did this come about? Think about the different decisions that had to be made.

What happens if there is no policy, no regulation, and those who do have the power aren't doing anything?

Think about these questions as you watch the following video.

In the video below which is brought to you by WECF (Women in Europe for a Common Future), we see women uniting to try and find solutions for poor sanitation problems. I chose this video because it features several countries across Europe. Usually when I think of Europe, it seems more developed, more on the ball! There are so many European countries that need help!

After seeing this video, how do you feel about the fact that this whole European program, creating better sanitation for all, is developed and carried out by women?

Poor sanitation in the U.S. still exists as well. We may have more policies, regulations and enforcers, but that does not mean all is well at the home front. Has anyone noticed the high amount of serious foodborne diseases in the recent years? Some of these foods still make me cringe a little bit when I buy them!

On September 14th, 2006 the FDA warns consumers to "not eat bagged spinach due to serious E.Coli breakout." The FDA keeps updating more and more cases of people getting sick up until March 23, 2007! Thats a long period of time to not eat a product that I eat religiously.

THEN, in June 2007 the FDA gives a nationwide recall on certain tomatoes and jalepeno peppers due to a Salmonella outbreak...this one lasted until the end of July before we could start buying tomatoes and feeling *better* about eating the tomatoes that weren't even on the list. We continue to be skeptical about certain types of peanut butter and pistachios both recalled within the last year, but why is this happening so often?

Don't we have policies, food inspectors? How do these recalls affect those selling these products? Think about these questions as you watch the following two videos.

There are gaps in the system.This is a serious problem, and that is why the bill I am supporting (S.1269) is to get more regional food safety centers and put our consumer safety first. These recalls don't only hurt the people, but they greatly affect those marketing these recalled products that are actually safe (i.e. the tomato growers from the video!)

If you are concerned about foodborne outbreaks check out FoodHaacp which is updated daily and has an extensive database of past outbreaks.