Reflections: week 7 and 8

The past two weeks have been really informative! 
I did a lot of personal research for this class for my share and voices, as well as for maintaining my lifestyle change.

 

Week 7 started with a discussion and a movie called "Green" which was about chemical plants near residential neighborhoods causing dangerous health problems to citizens who do not have the resources to just up and move. It was sad because it is a huge problem that seems to be far overlooked.
The activity (researching products at Skindeep) for this week actually got me started on browsing new, safer make-ups to try, which is really awesome because I learned that my make-up is actually terrible for my health, as well as many other skin products of mine. 
Week 8 started with the movie "Thirst" which actually inspired my last Share and Voice blog about the company Coca-Cola. The eye opener about "junking" for this week was also cool because I have always been into recycling and reusing materials, especially for art projects at school and home. Learning about different thrift shops and "green" shops was really helpful because I love browsing through second hand stores and seeing what I can find! I actually found different parts of my halloween costume at Savers and Goodwill, so it was nice to research and see other places around town I can go. I actually visited the "Green Mercantile" which had a lot of really neat, safe to the environment products! Everyone should go check it out!

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.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Weekly Update

The past week of my Lifestyle Change has probably been my best, decision-wise. 

My smart goal is to cut down on my meat consumption, specifically cut red meat from my diet, and eat less than 2 servings of other meats per week. Achieving my goal this week was much easier than I thought it would be thanks to certain situations. (one of which was not eating at home so I could avoid my barbaric roots as my halloween costume shows below) My meat choice of last week is the sushi pictured to the right. 

My challenges were that there were 3 situations in which meat was very hard to turn down, but my successes were that I chose no meat in each situation. My friend's birthday on Friday was at Mexican Village, and I LOVE their sizzling chicken fajitas... but I knew that I would feel much better choosing the all veggie fajitas. 2nd was at our Halloween party, we ordered pizzas, but I am trying to cut down on meat and dairy, so I  chose to get Chipotle (awesome burrito place!) before the party. That brings up the 3rd hard decision which was turning down my favorite chicken burrito at Chiptotle for a veggie burrito, but it was still really good! 

One main reason I have been successful, is that after I eat, I don't feel terrible or tired but rather energized! Another reason is having support from my boyfriend who has chosen to also not eat as much meat as long as I don't, so its nice to just not have that temptation around most of the time. For the most part, I haven't had any problems this week, it has been a good experience. I learned that once again, just making that initial decision is the hardest part; I never thought I could turn down meat as much as I have. At home, our meals were based around meat, that's just the way its always been, so this is definitely a good step for my health, and one that I never thought I could do. 

My plans for the coming week are to keep at it. My diet has been going really well and there is nothing else I am willing to alter, besides cutting down on the amount of dairy I eat.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.

 Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5

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. 

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second quarter of Newman's Own: Guide to a Good Life

The second quarter of my Read'n Seed, for Newman's Own: Guide to a Good Life was very intriguing!
The chapters were 3 (energy and water), 4 (communication) and 5 (money, credit and investing); pages 40-103.


The main topics I read about started with energy and water.  Dirty coal, the greenhouse effect, and the Kyoto Protocol (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) aimed at combating global warming) were all discussed in the energy section. Some suggestions for consumers were to use rechargeable batteries, use compact flourescent lights, and use solar lights outside to name a few. The water section brought up the fact that over 97% of the water on Earth is unavailable for human use. Some tips suggested were to not let water run, use full loads when washing clothes, and just be more conscious in general. I found the list of ten things to do instead of showering twice a day quite funny. For example, repopularize the Macarena or learn the way to San Jose. 
Chapter 4, communication brought up some interesting points such as printing responsibly-- its easy to print everything we need, additionally choosing recycled paper and recycling cartridges. 
Chapter 5 was very informative, especially for college students! Many terms were presented such as screening which is a criterion or set of criterion that helps you determine which companies' stocks will be included in a portfolio and which will be excluded. Additionally, shareholder activism which is when you buy a stock, you become part owner in a company and must be socially responsible. Lastly, community investment, which involves investing in municipal bonds that fund public initiatives. 
The most interesting things I learned this quarter were the reminders about saving energy and water, just being conscious in general. 
Anyways, I definitely found these chapters to be informative and important to address especially when our society is having all kinds of money problems and credit crisis's, but I find the energy and organic food chapters much more interesting. 

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. 

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

The following week has been going well with my SMART goal for the most part. My goal is to eliminate red meat from my diet, as well as cut down on my intake of other sources of meat. I have been doing pretty good about finding sources of protein without eating meat.

One success I had was last weekend, I still had some ground elk meat that my mom had sent, but I instead decided to make my chili without meat. It turned out great! I replaced the meat with corn and black beans, and made corn bread on the side. Delicious. 

One challenge I had happened last night. I had a million things to do including starting and finishing a self portrait, as well as finishing a paper; the challenge was I was at my brothers house working on these things, and he offered to make me dinner. This dinner was spaghetti, that had a beefy meat sauce, and there was no way I was going to turn down supper when I had no time to make my own! So, spaghetti was my one downfall, but it was the first time I have had red meat since I started my goal, so its not too disappointing. 

So, what I have learned this week is you always have to be willing to have some leeway when it comes to your goal; you never know when your going to be lacking even an hour in your day to make dinner! (especially if your brother is ACTUALLY cooking for you.)

I will continue with my goal as is for next week. Last week I had mentioned cutting down on my intake of dairy, which has been tricky, but good, so I will continue with that as well.


Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3  hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy

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?

Reflection: Weeks 5 and 6

Week 5 started with a quiz activity on Monday, followed by a movie on the "Future of Food," and a discussion. It was a really eye opening movie, sad as well. Farmers appear to be getting the shaft from large companies such as Monsanto, and GMO's are taking over America's food supply. We can't give in! Our discussion after the movie was informative as well, it was really interesting to hear everyone's take on this. 

As the week progressed, I delved deeper into Newman's Own and really enjoyed the facts on organic food, and incorporated some of what I learned into my diet to add to my Lifestyle Change project.

Week 6 began with "Diet for a New America" which was a film by John Robbins addressing how terrible many American foods are, and discusses portion sizes pertaining to meat and dairy. I learned that what is considered to be a "normal" meat portion here is 5 times greater than average in many other countries such as Japan. We as a society really need to make some huge diet changes if we all don't want to die from heart diseases and cancers in our 50's and 60's. 

Weeks 5 and 6 overall were very informative and interesting to me, and helpful in my aim towards cutting out meat and some dairy from my diet. 

Share and Voice: Enviro -Cool Blog Award

I received the cool blog award from Karly for my share and voice from an experience I had at Fitgers. This experience was great; I went out of my box and tried something new (that being a veggie burger) which I thought would never happen. AND to my surprise, it ended up being my first step to a healthier lifestyle because I discovered that it was actually good, so I went home and decided I wanted to try and make these on my own! I left the recipe on that blog if anyone is interested in trying it (it worked out well for me!) thanks Karly for the award! I am passing it onto Abby, for her share and voice: worry about more than just your water bottles. I thought this blog was very informative and shocking... everyone needs to see it! 

1. Leave a comment below so that I know you "picked up" the award.
2. Within 1 week, create a Share and Voice post that says you've received the award and indicate who the award is from (be sure to hyperlink).
3. Also indicate to whom you are going to pass on the award and why. Be sure to hyperlink the blogger (use main blog URL) and the blog title (use the specific URL for that blog post).
4. Copy and paste these instructions at the bottom of your post.
5. Publish the post.
6. Visit each blogger you've awarded and leave a comment telling them they've won.
7. Continue the process...

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

One more week down on my lifestyle change, and its going smoothly. 

My SMART goal was to not eat red meat, and cut down on my intake of other meats to less than 2 meals per week. This week was a success for several reasons. This past weekend I went home to celebrate my birthday and my "sister" Jessica's wedding which usually would mean a lot of tempting "bad" food. But, luckily Jessica is vegan so there were many options great for both of us! She actually made a vegan banana cream pie AND "chocolate" cake that were surprisingly delicious! So, I accumulated a couple new recipes.  :) On the challenging side, because of my birthday, my mom wanted to cook me a huge meal, which usually consists of a hamburger type hot dish. Luckily, my dad had been hunting and caught pheasant, so we had fresh pheasant which was awesome! I learned many more new things this week, especially from the movie in class as well as the discussion, and they all kept me positive about my goal. Specifically, when we talked about the mistreatment of animals, and how much grain it takes (12lbs) to equal out to 1lb of hamburger, I was satisfied with my semi-vegetarian choice. 

So this next week, I probably wont modify my goal, but of course I am going to try and turn down meat as much as possible. (pictured above, my mother, happy I finally came home, making home-made tortillas with a plethera of fresh garden veggies!) 
"Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy."

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.

Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of "Newman's Own Guide to a Good Life"

So far, I have read the rest of chapter one, and finished chapter 2 in Newman's Guide which is pages 14-39. The main topics I have read about at the end of chapter one have been organic food: why we should choose it, statistics, and what to look for when buying organic food. I especially found this last part particularly helpful. She talked about how we need to look for certain labels when buying organic products. These include three terms of certified organics: "100% organic," "organic," and "made with organic ingredients." Additionally, she mentions the importance of buying local produce in season, eating lower on the food chain, avoiding over packaged products, and buying for whole food stores. Several parts of the chapter discuss her opinions on the affects of society; one particular quote I highlighted was after she mentions people complaining about how expensive organics are and it states, "In terms of money, we have to learn how to cook food that is really tasty using vegetables. I don't think we know how to do that, we are so meat dependent. But vegetables and grains are very affordable foods...you pay for your health, and I want to give my money directly to the farmer." Like she suggests, when we pay for foods that have been over processed and shipped they are less healthy but cheaper, therefore you are paying for the depletion of our natural resources, and sacrificing your health. I think we need more information in public schools teaching health and more information in general on why eating organic foods and buying from local farms is so important! Chapter 2 was less interesting to me, but it still had some good information as well as helpful tips, such as how we can help the environment by keeping with the speed limit to save on fuel, not stomping on the gas and speeding off, taking care of our cars, carpool as much as possible, take the bus when you can, and try to incorporate an eco friendly car into your life.

  check it out!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

Week 2 of my lifestyle change has been going really well. My goal was to cut down on how much meat I eat, and completely rid my diet of red meat. The second part of my goal was to only eat 2 servings or less of chicken or fish per week, and that goal was also achieved last week. I actually made wild rice veggie burgers one day with an awesome recipe that I partially acquired and partially made up. *great success* 

For the most part, I have not faced too many challenges on my way to switching over to vegetarianism: I guess my main challenge has been the fact that my parents have a very small hobby farm and raise chickens, so of course my mom loves cooking chicken hot dishes and sending them my way, but at least it is organic and I can limit myself and save it in the freezer. I DO feel better about this choice I have made. Not only is it environmentally friendly and better for animal welfare, but also making wild rice burgers last weekend for my friends was awesome because they all really enjoyed them, and now they also have a healthy alternative to meat, that they can try it on there own as well. (specifically getting one of my stubborn roommates AND my brother to like them was a landmark occasion). I guess what I have learned so far was that once you put your mind to a huge lifestyle change like this, you realize that the hardest part is actually just making that decision ( I never thought I'd be able to give up meat), and I've hardly had any problem so far with my change.  My plans for this next week are just to keep up with what I am doing, I already believe I am challenging myself, yet I don't want to make it any easier. I would at least like to challenge myself to eat more organic foods. 

Here is an interesting website I found that has given me motive to keep up with my vegetarian choices.

21 reasons to become a vegetarian! 

( toothpastefordinner.com )

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)

Reflection: Weeks 3 & 4

The past two weeks have been very beneficial for me. During week 3, we figured out what book we wanted to read for our Read 'n Seed; I chose a book in which I had special interest. This book is called Newman's Own: Guide to a Good Life. We also made sure we had all blog requirements and learned how to use Google Reader. Week 4 started with questions we discussed in class, which benefited everyone because most of us had some uncertainty. Additionally, we watched An Inconvenient Truth which stars Al Gore. This movie is a documentary discussing the reality and seriousness of global warming. This movie was really an eye opener. The thing that stuck out the most to me, (it sounds weird because it's something really small..sort of) was an image of Lake Chad in Africa full of fresh water in 1963! I remember learning about this huge lake from 8th grade geography. The images below show how it has shrunk dramatically, nearly drying up! That really stuck out to me and made me sad. Moving on, Wednesday our Lifestyle Change plan was due, and in doing research on what my plan would be, I learned so many more reasons on why I want to be a vegetarian, as well as change many other aspects of my life to be more eco-friendly. This class has really been life changing even in the short amount of time I've been in it. This class will definitely be the push I needed to make all the lifestyle changes I have wanted to make. The ecological footprint activity showed me how disastrous my lifestyle really is, and that isn't my only motive. I have been researching on my own, as well as discussing with friends and classmates why we need to advocate these lifestyle changes and recruit as many people as we can! Even if its just simple things, like carpooling more often, taking shorter showers, and not eating red meat! Now, hopefully my mom wont be too disappointed when I don't eat her famous tator-tot, ground beef hotdish when I come home next weekend. 

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART Goal

Over the next ten weeks, I will reduce the amount of meat that I eat, more specifically I will completely eliminate red meat from my diet, secondly I will reduce my overall meat intake to chicken and fish: no more than 2 meals per week that include chicken or fish, starting today 10/6/09. 


I did some research on why becoming a vegetarian is eco chic, and I found many good reasons why everyone should! For example, many rainforests are destroyed in order to make grazing fields for beef cattle (more info here), much grain is shipped from countries over sea to feed our beef cattle and that takes energy to transport and could actually be used for starving people in these countries from which it is shipped, rather than to fatten our cattle. I also found this information from the same site: It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. If the US meat industry wasn't supported by the taxpayer paying a large proportion of its water costs, then hamburger meat would cost $35 a pound. I found many more interesting facts at Vegan net, including this fact: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the world's livestock herds are the largest source of human-induced emissions of methane which is a potent greenhouse gas contributing to climate change.
This particular lifestyle change is important to me for several reasons. One of which is because being a vegetarian is environmentally friendly as my explanation above suggests. Additionally, being a vegetarian has many health benefits for my personally. As quoted from a pro-vegetarian website I discovered, avoiding meat is one of the best and simplest ways to cut down your fat consumption. Modern farm animals are deliberately fattened up to increase profits. Eating fatty meat increases your chances of having a heart attack or developing cancer. Personally, the term meat usually makes me cringe; we don't always know what is in our "meat," especially "ground beef."  Also, we can avoid eating as many chemicals if we don't eat meat. For example, I know that cows are injected with loads of chemicals and hormones, it is terrifying that we can sell this poisoned animal as food. 
Overall, this change is something I have been wanting to do for a long time, and have been slowly stepping into; I have all the reason in the world to make the change now!

I thought this comic was funny, its definitely true. 

Eye Opener: ecological footprint

Ecological footprints are something I hadn't really thought about before this activity. It is scary to think that with our selfish lifestyles, we use  resources 1.3 times faster than Earth can regenerate them, and this number is doomed to get worse. "According to Redefining Progress’ latest Footprint Analysis, humanity is exceeding its ecological limits by 39%." I found this progress website to be interesting not only in the fact that we can calculate our own biological footprint, but it shows how to interpret results and how individuals and communities can take action to reduce their ecological footprints and inspire others.  We were asked to take quizzes and track our own ecological footprint. One website in which I took a quiz was at Earthday.net, my results were much worse than I had expected. Apparently we would need 4 planets if everyone lived like I do; this was a shock to me because I do recycle on occasion and don't feel like I use that much waste, but like I said, this was an eye opener! After seeing this, I looked at even simple everyday changes I can make by exploring other scenarios. For example, I can reduce the amounts of animal products I use, try avoiding products that use unnecessary packaging, and bring my own grocery bag when going to the supermarket. 

Read 'n Seed: Newman's Own: Guide to a Good Life

I have chosen to read two different books, but the book I will focus on for my Read 'n Seed is called Newman's Own: Guide to a Good Life. The link provides a website in which you can see details about the book as well as purchase this book or shop for other environmentally friendly products. Amazon provides a rating of the book, as well as a way in which you can view the chapters of the book for you to explore. Additionally, more specific information and a more in depth review of the guide can be found here. I chose this book because I feel I can use it as a personal guide to help me take steps in becoming healthier and more environmentally friendly. The first chapter I read is simply called "food." This chapter has so far been a reality check. I have tried incorporating organic foods into my diet in the past, but after reading this chapter, I now see even more importance to this goal. How many of us actually think about how everyday foods are delivered thousands of miles, packaged, processed, over processed some more, and the distributed with loads of plastic and chemicals. This not only hurts the environment, its slowly poisoning us and our families when we do not take that extra time to cook a fresh meal and spend a little more money on organic food. Another big problem with not using organic food is GMO's ! (a more precise definition by following the link). These are genetically modified organisms...which are a huge concern, but the have laid low until recently; they are largely unregulated, untested, unlabeled, and unannounced. I found the author's list of America's top contaminated fruits and veggies to be very beneficial. Topping the charts was strawberries and bell peppers, which in a way makes sense to me because when I grow strawberries they NEVER get as big as the ones in the store.  There are 227 pages in this book, and 9 chapters. I will finish the first chapter and move into the 2nd chapter for the first quarter, 2nd quarter will be 3rd, 4th and 5th chapters, 3rd quarter will be 6th and 7th chapters, and 4th quarter will be 8th and 9th chapters.  The other book I have purchased is called The Organic Food Guide. This one is more of a personal guide that I can use to make smart decisions when grocery shopping; it talks about how to "shop smarter, and eat healthier." If time prevails when I finish my first book, I would like to discuss what I learn in this 2nd book. In the pictures below I would like to compare a normal sized strawberry, like one I would find in my garden, compared to those I buy at the grocery store with GMO's. 
normal sized strawberry  at right  GMO strawberry below
(very large strawberry) just kidding, but you get the idea :)