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!

Share & Voice: how about some travel!

Cleanest Countries in the World

I decided I wanted to do a little research on the cleanest countries in the world to visit because I am very interested in doing some traveling in the near future, and right now I could use a little narrowing down on my list.

First of all, I will more clearly explain my research and what I was exactly looking for. I have pretty bad asthma so the first item on my checklist was to look for countries with the cleanest air. Second, I was looking for places that ranked the highest in Environmental Performance Index (EPI) which would determine the cleanliness and environmental safeness of a country. The EPI in most basic terms is an index that ranks countries based on their environmental performance in categories such as water quality, air quality, biodiversity, their use of pesticides, etc. 

Just for the record, with 1 being the best/ cleanest and 140 being the worst, the U.S. ranks at a dismal 39th on the list. Not the worst, but for real?? How sad is that. For being such a "developed" country...I guess I'm just not even going to go there.

 Anyways, back to my main focus, there were a few different sites that all agreed on the same places and a few that only slightly differed from the norm.  When it comes to clean countries Switzerland takes the cake. According to Forbes, "Switzerland scores a perfect 100 in eight environmental indicators, including sanitation and water quality, forest health and pesticide regulation."  WordPress also indicated Switzerland as number 1 and stated, "The environment has been in the country’s interest as early as 1876 when it passed a forestry law...Nearly all electricity comes from dams and nuclear plants, reducing emissions caused by burning fossil fuels. Strict standards for exhaust are placed on vehicles to lower air pollution. The country is also one of the top recyclers in the world, with stiff penalties levied on offenders." 

Next on the list was Sweden, although all of the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway and Finland) nearly scored the same EPI. According to Forbes, "Sweden has low levels of airborne pollution, pristine drinking water and low per-capita emissions of greenhouse gasses" 

Costa Rica followed the Scandinavian countries, thanks to 25% of the country being under wildlife preserves.

Columbia, New Zealand, Japan, Croatia and Albania (due to the fact that has not yet become industrialized) all made it in the top 10 overall cleanest countries. 

If we are just talking air quality, Tasmania, Iceland and South Africa are all pretty safe according to Travel Leisure. Many of the cleanest air countries can thank their location; high elevation or wind direction can often prevent the movement of pollution from other countries. 

Of the places that I researched, several of them ranked in the top ten on my list of places I would like to travel, so that was awesome! I also believe that traveling to any of these countries and seeing how their daily lives differ from ours as well as how the government has implemented more environmentally friendly choices would be awesome to see first hand.

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

For my photo essay, I found several great ideas back at home this Thanksgiving weekend, so I decided I would combine them into an eco-chic Thanksgiving theme. Compared to past years, this Thanksgiving turned a new leaf; my parents have been making many eco-chic changes back at the homestead so I figured its time to document this awesomeness!

Decorating was my favorite part. My mom decided we wouldn't spend any money on decorations this year, so my dad and I explored our field and found some natural decorations. My dad is a botanist so we have tons of plants. Dried hydrangea's, berries, pheasant feathers and oak leaves made up 2 of our fall-themed vase decorations (pictured at left).

For other Fall-themed Thanksgiving decorations we lined our windows with wild dried grasses from our fields, and used gourds and mini pumpkins which my parents grew in our garden to hold it down (a much bigger garden than previous years!!). Our last decoration was a center piece I made with more colorful squash, mini pumpkins, and oak leaves, placed in a decorative bowl my mom had (pictured below).

For the meal this year, we had several dishes that came straight from our garden such as squash and mashed potatoes.

  

My mom also made her famous crunchy cream-corn dish, but this time with our own corn from the garden and eggs from our own chickens! We also had a green bean casserole with beans from our garden.

I also made my apple-banana bread which contained apples from our own apple trees.

We topped the bread with jelly my mom made from our own grapes in my dad's mini vineyard behind the house.

These are just a few of our eco-chic changes back home! Overall, I would say a very successful and tasty Thanksgiving!

Share & Voice: Go Dakota County!

"As Americans, we generate 1.6 million tons of household hazardous waste each year"

I was searching for articles on reducing chemicals in our daily lives, and was very happy to find that Dakota County's website is a great resource in itself!!

First of all, you can choose from a large category of different ways to protect the environment, and each category has many helpful tips. 

The categories I found the most interesting were "Reducing harmful products in your home" and "Reducing harmful products in your yard" 

Some valuable tips that I found from these were the importance of buying "green" cleaning supplies with non toxic, all natural or biodegradable ingredients. Also, multi-purpose products such as white vinegar can be used to clean many different appliances. Look out for words such as corrosive, toxic, dangerous... AND always pay attention to the label (more is not always more effective). Vacuum often if you have children playing on the floor, especially if shoes are not taken off at the door (many chemicals leach onto our shoes). Floor mats keep chemicals by the door, and can be washed as well. Do not cut grass too short, it allows for better tolerance. Allow the grass trimmings on the lawn to act as a natural fertilizer. Use phosphorus free fertilizers. Reduce chemical weed killers by pulling weeds by hand!!

Many other health tips are covered in their health section from food to environment and water, even a Green Guide, check it out!

There are many different areas to search within the website, and after searching it, I really wanted to advocate for more available resources in my hometown (county) AND help my county create a more helpful website like this one!

Share and Voice: how do you feel about Coca-Cola?

In class, we watched a video called "Thirst," which I will put in as short of terms as possible: a film about the mistreatment of water and those who deserve to use it. This video brought up an issue involving the Coca-Cola company and how they have plants in developing countries that are using up public water supplies and leaving behind toxic waste, as well as trying to sell coke products back to the community whom would rather just have their water back.

This issue really caught me off guard, I can honestly say I had no idea this was happening.

For this Share and Voice, I decided I wanted to show some claims against the Coca-Cola company, as well as their side and let you be the judge. 

When we see fun loving commercials for coca-cola, who doesn't get a positive feeling?

This is not the case in India.
This next video shows the extreme problems Coca-Cola has created in developing countries such as India. 

I did not know that the sale of Coca-Cola has actually been banned in many cafterias in India because high levels of pesticides containing DDT were found in it. Additionally, piles of toxic waste left behind were found to contain extremely high levels of arsenic as well as lead, causing dangerous health affects to many civilians. 

My final video contains arguments from citizens of India, as well as Coke's defense against many of the accusations. This video is slightly longer, but the epic music makes up for it. ;)

All in all, I am very surprised and disappointed that a powerhouse company like Coca-Cola tries to send off really happy, upbeat messages to their customers, yet at the same time ruin thousands of lives.

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

This weeks eye opener started with defining a few terms including the following...

antiques/ antiquing:of or belonging to the past; not modern; shopping for antiques

junk/ junking: Junking is the retrieval of ordinarily discarded things and materials

flea market: a market, often outdoors, consisting of a number of individual stalls selling old or used articles, curios and antiques, cut-rate merchandise, etc

thrift shop:  A shop that sells used articles, especially clothing, as to benefit a charitable organization.

upcycling: involves processing used materials into new products, or the re-use of a product with crippled functionality for alternative purposes

resale shop: like a thrift shop, used items can be re-sold

These terms all relate to environmental health in many ways. First of all, they all involve the idea of "reducing, reusing and recycling" which we all know are key concepts involved in environmental health. Reusing products can benefit our wallets as well as mother nature. Antique shops, thrift stores, and resale shops take your items (sometimes giving you money, coupons, or the feeling of giving to a good cause) and re sell them for someone else to use, which prevents these items from filling up landfills for hundreds of years and causing multiple other problems that go along with that. One interesting article I found on this subject is called Seven Reasons to Shop at a Thrift Store which also gives environmental reasons as well as personal reasons. 

Here are some local resources I found for each of the above terms:

Old Town Antiques: Duluth MN, (218) 722-5426

Chesney Salvage: Duluth, MN (218)721-4874

Cambridge Flea Market:  Main Street, Cambridge, MN 763.689.4888

Savers (Thift shop):  Duluth, MN (218) 722-1894

Green Mercantile (many upcycled and green products): Duluth, MN (218) 722-1771

Plato's Closet (re-sale shop): Duluth, MN 218-733-9455

I have gone to several of these places, its always interesting to see what you can find, and normally it's very affordable!

Last but not least, a visit to Junkmarketstyle.com! check it out! You can find some very interesting project ideas.

I really enjoyed the vintage jewelry project, I personally love vintage styles and this jewelry looked so authentic! My artistic background definitely contributes to my attraction to this kind of stuff. The creator, Gretchen, really had an eye for designing these awesome pieces! Another project I enjoyed had a very similar appeal, which was the Paris themed necklace collection, also by the same creator. These had a slightly different style but still very cool! It definitely makes me want to start designing my own stuff rather than spending money on it! Last but not least, was another project that caught the attention of my artistic eye. This project made chandeliers out of junk! They are gorgeous and also have that same vintage look; I have always been attracted to chandeliers for some reason. 

Share & Voice: website and debate

I found a really interesting website called Our World 2.0
There is a lot going on and a lot to explore! Climate, Oil, Food, Biodiversity and About, are the categories.
Under each category, you can find really interesting articles and pictures about each topic.
The home page shows the newest articles and highlights those in pictures at the top of the page.

I really was puzzled by "Debate 2.0: Meat or the climate? Pick one!" but in a good way. This article by Brendan Barret poses a question to the reader about their diet. It talks about our diets affecting global warming: specifically eating meat.
The opening statement of the article reads "Meat free Mondays has to be the way to go. Former Beatle Paul McCartney backs it. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, advocates it."

This previous statement, is first backed and then questioned. Some health ministers do not believe that our meaty diets affect climate change enough to matter, but others say that cutting out meat would have a great affect. They specifically link an article called Livestock's Long Shadow, which suggests that 18% of our greenhouse gases come from meat production. 

This is all very interesting to me, and I personally am all for "meat free Mondays," but it seems like quite a difficult task! I'd definitely like to see how it is advocated. 

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

I am just going to start out by saying this eye opener has made me challenge my everyday routine, but in very good ways.

The activity was to visit Skin Deep an environmental working group that tests the safeness of products that we put on our skin. I did this activity last week and after seeing terrible results (a 9 out of 10 on a scale in which 10 is the most hazardous) for my eyeshadow, I decided to test all of my make up. I found that 90% of my makeup is an 8 or higher; I have 2 other products that ranked 7 and 4. After seeing these results, I decided that I needed to make a huge change unless I am okay with "Cancer, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level change" among others. 


I had no idea how terrible make up really is to my body; its something that I've been using since highschool and never thought twice about; an everyday ritual! After seeing my results, I am now aware of these dangers and have began to research different products that are safer. I realized that it is somewhat hard to find reasonably priced makeup that's actually alright for your skin, but I did find out that the New York brand isn't all that bad when I searched a couple of their products and got in the 3-5 hazard range. This link provides New York's consumer safety page from their website.  
I have already made a couple changes due to my results from this activity including throwing away some of my eyeshadow. I ordered sample products from a company called "Rejuva Minearls" which offers natural and organic skin products and makeup (and receives 1, the lowest hazard level of all the makeup I checked) and I liked the two products that I tried! So, I would suggest this website to anyone wanting to change their makeup!

Share & Voice: article!

So, to begin, I found an article that I had to look at 3 or 4 times and still have a hard time believing, but if this really is the plan, then heck yes! (Even if its not, its at least the right idea!) 
The website I came across is called guardian.co.uk. The website appears to be legit, and has many interesting articles, world news, sports, etc. The article I happened to come across was called "Countdown to Copenhagen," which is a MUCH bigger countdown than one would think. 
Am I the only one in the dark here? As quoted in the heading, "Europe offers to cut emissions by 95% by year 2050 if deal is reached at Copenhagen." This is a very clear message; Europe is making the first move and wants everyone else to follow! Like I said on one of my previous blogs, just taking that first step and making the initial decision is oftentimes the most difficult part, once you make that decision, you have somewhere to start! 
This article was posted just last Wednesday, the 21st, and the importance is that Copenhagen has 6 weeks to sign the pact, after 27 EU countries have already finalized a common position. In addition, the proposal also states that a 30% cut in carbon emissions will be the goal by 2020. One major setback is the few developing countries involved may have some financial burdens and over-reliance on coal, so these problems are still being discussed. 
This seems like a huge deal, and Europe deserves a pat on the back for making the first move. 
I did find another older article ("Carbon Offsets") that also talks about Europe's plans to cut emissions 20% by 2020, but this more so mentions their plans to delay this project. 
Anyways, I just found this to be really cool even if it is a few years down the road, has anyone else heard about this?

Share & Voice: idea and experience

When I decided I wanted to start incorporating more vegetarian meals into my diet, it all started when my boyfriend took me on a date to Fitgers in Duluth. We were browsing the mall there and a lady greeted us in an outerwear store. We got to talking and said we were headed to the Fitger's diner for a date, and she got all excited and said "oh! I would suggest trying the wild rice veggie burgers! Even though I'm not a vegetarian, they are amazing." I looked at Michael and cringed a bit. The idea of veggie burgers has always put eerie pictures in my head. So anyways, I got there, and got to thinking, and I decided to let go of those horrible feelings and trust this lady I had just met because I had been wanting to convert to a mostly vegetarian diet. After trying it, I was in awe. How could a burger that doesn't have any "burger" not be completely worthless? Well, apparently you can mock the taste of a burger and its consistency by using wild rice and other veggies...Yes. It's true. I went home and actually looked up their recipe. Which I could not find. I'm sure its a secret, but I was able to guess on most of what was in it, as well as find mock recipes. So, finally Michael and I tried making these beasts and had a little get together with some carnivorous friends who all gave us the thumbs up after trying. (Here is a link to a Sue Redmond's  wild rice burger recipe I found, but I would suggest adding mushrooms and onions on top after you patty up and cook the burgers). This share and voice may seem minuscule compared to some, but for me, it was the first huge step into a diet that I thought would be impossible, and I really wanted to share my positive experience. So, if you or anyone you know, wants to become a vegetarian but just can't seem to make that first move, show them this website (as soon as possible) AND take them to Fitgers (directions here) for a wild rice veggie burger. 
Becoming a vegetarian is very eco-friendly. Seriously. check out the website I have posted above if you haven't (or here). Some of it seems hard to believe, but a lot of the information I found on there, I found on many other sites as well, but this particular website is very straightforward and isn't here to make you feel good about eating cows and "hot dogs" all-American style.

Eye Opener: CSPI

For this weeks eye opener, I chose to do the "Score Your Diet" activity. At Center for Science in the Public Interest, you can rate your diet using a drop down menu that rates the amounts of different food that you eat, and gives you a total health score, an environmental score, and an animal welfare score. The options also allow for whether you eat organic food or low fat foods. 
My score showed an overall excellent health score, but my animal welfare and environmental scores both need improvement. Vegetables were my highest score by far, fruits came in second and whole grains came in third, which makes sense to me because I do eat a lot of veggies and legumes to make up for my lack of meat. My worst scores were in the amount of yogurt and cheese that I eat, which is apparently too much, but I feel like my diet works well and I wouldn't really want to give up anymore dairy than I already have after switching to soy and almond milk (tastes better than it sounds!) 2 years ago. My lowest scores overall were under environment, and I am not sure how to make sense of this because I got negative points under environment for eating fruits and vegetables, and more negative points for grains, so this rating was slightly confusing. My total score overall was 52 which ranked "good."
 I do eat organic some of the time, so my goal will be to slowly incorporate more and more organic food into my diet. What this activity has shown me, is that there is always room for improvement, and you have to alter your diet in the areas that work best for you, as well as what works best for the environment. I believe my personal diet improvements have come a long way and they will only get better.  It wasn't that long ago that I would eat just about anything in the spectrum...

(obtained from toothpastefordinner.com)

Welcome to Danielle's Discoveries

I am Danielle Wall, an art and community health student, and I am all about discovering the beauty in our natural surroundings. So far I have highlighted my interests in art and nature, and I would like to tie that into my blog and doing my part in preserving our natural environment, and helping others become healthier, well informed decision makers!



Thanks for checking out my blog, I hope you enjoy!

Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy