This week we looked at different kinds of energy sources and how they affect the environment. We also learned about the rule of what you put into a source (money wise) needs to have at least a double output for it to be worth it (energy output). Below are questions given by my instructor. 1) How do you depend on mined resources? As you go through your day, list all the things that you use/ come in contact with that had resources that needed to be mined. I think my house is fully dependent on mind resources, Rocky Mountain Power is our power company and even though they had wind and solar options for your home, I don't think we participate in any of that. And even though I've been driving less I still drive a car that is solely dependent on fossil fuels to run, but I am thinking about starting to bike to work. 2) Pick one resource that is mined that you use and discuss the environmental, economic, and/or societal impact of the mines that are used to get the resources that you depend on. The energy for my house most likely comes from coal, this has a negative effect on the environment because the land is torn up and ruined to look for it. Then when it is burned it has a negative effect on the air. Oil and gas are the same, these materials are drilled rather than mined but it still ruins the area around it to get to the source. 3) If you were given supreme power, how would you design the energy resource mixture here in Utah? What limitations are there to going from where we are at now to how you would like to see our energy usage? I would like to implement a lot more solar panels, we are a desert and as such we get a lot of sun in the summertime. But it's expensive to implement solar panels and they only really work if the sun is shining and if they're not covered up by snow or debris. But the benefits could be that they provide shaded parking at amusement parks or zoos. Ultimately though I think no matter what we do, as long as we try to implement other sources it's a good thing. 4) Describe your photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo and what is it's connection to the topic of the week. I chose these pictures because we just bought a new dishwasher and this one is a lot more energy-efficient and conserves a lot more water than our old dishwasher. You can see on the yellow tag it has the Energy Star logo which helps you know it is an energy-saving appliance.
5) What was one thing that you found particularly interesting this week? I enjoyed playing the game, I knew what I wanted to do to make the energy more environmentally friendly but it wasn't always that easy. It also helped me put into perspective the amount of energy that is really acquired from re-new able sources like wind. It's a lot less than what I wish it was.
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This week we had a web conference with Representative Elizabeth Weight, we talked to her about air pollution in Utah and what Congress is doing about it.
1) Who are your state and US representatives and how can you contact them? Give the name and one contact info for each of the following: US Senator-Romney, Mitt (R) & Lee, Mike (R) US Representative- McAdams, Ben (D) Governor- Gary R. Herbert (R) State Senator- Kathleen Riebe (D) State Representative- Marie H. Poulson (D) County and/or City Mayor- Mike Peterson, mayor of Cottonwood Heights County Council member- Shireen Ghorbani for Salt Lake County 2) What is one issue that you personally might talk to your elected representative about and which representative from the list above do you think would be best to talk to about this issue? I used to be really active in Cottonwood Heights and would attend council meets, I think with the in-land port coming into Utah it is important to get cities to do what they can to cut back on carbon emissions. So, I would talk to Mike Peterson and the rest of his council to see if we could get Cottonwood Heights to be idle free and make sure it's enforced. Without having some kind of punishment for idling, nothing will change. 3) What did you know about the state legislative branch before our conversation and what was new/ interesting to you? I don't know a lot about politics, I have started to get more invested and pay more attention when I became a senior in high school but I fail to retain a lot about how government works. However, it was nice to hear from representative Weight that environmentally conscious people like herself are making the best out of situations they can't change. What I mean by this is the inland port, it will increase the amount of pollution being released and this can cause health problems from those that have to live around it. So it's the job of people like Weight to make sure that if they build it, they have to make sure everything they do is up to a certain environmental code. This will then decrease the total amount of pollutants caused. 4) How do you think air pollution impacts you? I know air pollution effects my health, in the winter as I go to school I can see the immersion sitting in the valley. Because my city is on top of a hill in the mountains it's easy to see that difference. And where I haven't seen a massive difference in my own health because of our pollution I also know that on days when it's really bad I try not to go outside and too much of staying inside isn't good; something quarantining has really helped me realize. 5) Discuss challenges to reducing air pollution. What is one thing that you can and will you do to help reduce air pollution in the Salt Lake area? One thing I've done is stop idling when I can help it, traffic is something I can't help but if I'm at the bank or picking something or someone up or anything like that I make sure to turn my key. I have also made my friends and family do the same thing if I'm in the car and we're waiting without idling. And if it's cold I keep blankets in my car and if it's hot we roll the windows down and call it good. A friend of mine has also been telling me everything he's doing to be environmentally friendly and one thing is he bikes 30-mile rides and wants to start biking to work once things get going again. I have thought about biking to work too, I live 6 minutes away and it wouldn't be difficult. The thing that has kept me from it is that I like up a massive hill. 1) Reflect on this relatively unique set of experiences we are experiencing and how you are managing to stay sane and healthy. This is the first time all of my classes have been online and so far it hasn't been too bad. This is an opportunity to set my pace for my classes and get ahead if I want to. To keep my sanity and stay in the present I have been doing yoga every morning, today was day 8 and I'm not sure if it's helping as much now as it was in the beginning. I chose yoga because focusing on the breath is what draws you to the present and takes your focus off of the past or the future. I have also continued to journal nightly when I first started to journal I only did it when something really big would happen. Then as I switched to nightly I had wished for something exciting to write about, but this is not what I had intended. I have also tried to go on a walk every day but with it snowing in it makes it less desirable. As for staying healthy, I saw a video on the internet about how to properly wash your hands without missing a spot and now as far as I'm aware everyone in my household is using the proper technique. When I go to work I make sure to wash my hands often and have had to learn how to take a stand against clients who don't want to follow our no-contact policy. 2) Reflect on any concerns about your job, family, or education that you are experiencing right now. Things at home are getting a little weird, just last night my aunt called my mom and she was talking about how fights are breaking out in the parking lots up in Washington over toilet paper... she then recommended to my mom that we get a gun to protect the house in case neighbors get desperate. I do not see this as necessary because at least in Utah there is still a heavy religious moral compass. I also pointed out that none of us know how to use a gun so it would do more harm than it would help. At my work, we have been deemed an essential business since we are the only clinic in Utah that gives medical care to exotic animals. We have gone to no contact so we have people drop their pet at the door and we as reception bring the carrier in, wipe it down and then take it to the back where we handle all conversations with the owner over the phone. I like this plan because it helps us all stay healthy, however, this has lead to idling in our parking lot which frustrates me as well as people getting nasty and cross with us for taking the needed precautions. 3) On pages 7 and 8 of Chemicals, Cancer, and You FS.pdf, it discusses several risk factors that increase your risk of cancer. Which are factors that you can control? What are you doing to limit your risk? Reflect on your lifestyle choices. For example, are you consciously limiting your exposure to chemicals that might be carcinogens? Things like age and genetics will always play a part that we can't change, but things like behavior what I put in my body or on my body, exposure to chemicals what I bring into my house in my food or household cleaners & viruses and bacteria are kind of a factor you can control, you can control how you react to catching a cold or flu as well as what measures you take to ensure you don't catch them to start with. Breast cancer runs in my family, so when the scientists were talking about putting your phone in your bra increases the likelihood of you contracting breast cancer so I don't ever put my phone there or in pockets close to my chest. Other than that, the CDC says to limit alcohol consumption and not to smoke. And since I can't legally drink and I don't find smoking appealing I can say I am taking care of myself in that way as well. Since I'm not sure what carcinogens are out there other than the five mentioned in the pdf. I can't say for sure, however, we are super particular on what we buy and bring into the house. My mom has a deep knowledge of what chemicals to look out for in food so we don't buy it until we read the ingredients and know that what's in it isn't as harmful as it could be. Realistically living in America it is impossible to stay away from chemicals in food, lotions, and aerosols but we do try to do out best. 4) Describe your Instagram photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo and what is its connection to the topic of the week. I chose my dry shampoo because it took me an hour and 5 other cleaners before I asked my mom for help and she had all the good ideas of the stuff we use in our hair and how it affects us while we breathe it in. I didn't know that it would have butane, isobutane, and propane in it, I knew that all canned aerosol have so many things in them to make them pressurized and then able to spray and I know that all aerosol cans are flammable, but I was really surprised that it had things as flammable as propane and butane. By sharing this I hope to bring this awareness to other people. Here are my sources: FDA Cosmetic Info Effects of Butane 5) What was one thing that you found particularly interesting this week?
I loved learning about the health impacts of pollution, as homo sapiens we think we are so wise and what effects animals won't reach us at the top of the food chain (not everyone feels this way this is just a generalization). Yet not even we are safe from what we do to this planet and the lives around us. In the article that talked about the microplastics that were found in human fecal I wasn't even surprised, I did a project on microplastics and found that Washington D.C. has some of the heavily ladened plastic particles in their drinking water. I did not, however, think about it getting to us through in our air and through dermal exposure, that is really scary and interesting for me to learn. This week we learned about the impact of climate change and we went to Tracy Aviary to see what birds are the most affected by climate change. This was hard to do since none of the workers knew any of their birds who were specifically affected by climate change so not that I'm home I have only found data on the North American birds and I only have a picture of one of them so... I will just be gathering my images from photo sharing sites online. Below I will talk about three birds I found who are impacted, this will include their name and how they're impacted. Then the two standard reflection questions about my Instagram post and what I liked most about the week. 1. Baltimore Oriole They live in the Eastern/ Middle of North America, bird, as well as most animals, rely on their instincts, of the things that helps trigger what they're supposed to do are the seasons and by relation the temperature of the world around them. Warmer temperatures have lead birds to mate earlier in spring but as temperatures, warm caterpillars are hatching earlier than most egg clutches are laid and this causes birds to miss out of the peak prey season. As far as I can tell this hasn't taken a huge hit on the wild population but it is important to remember that what we do affects animals in our backyards as well as animals at the North Pole. Source: https://www.environmentalscience.org/birds-changing-climate#_ENREF_2 2. Dickcissels This bird where it is native to Northern America, they have become an invasive species in areas like North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Extreme weather caused by climate change could have pushed them to find a new home. Because climate change changes can cause intense weather such as hurricanes, floods or heat waves. This causes birds to want to move and find a friendlier place to live and then they become an invasive species. One way scientists are gathering data on this occurrence is by using different types of satellites, one of them takes a picture of the ground and they pair that with the data from weather satellites. Then if they see a bird species not where they should be they can look at its natural habitat and see if there was an occurrence that might have pushed them out. Source: climatekids.nasa.gov/extreme-weather-birds/ 3. Black-throated Blue Warbler This species is very dependent on insects as they might up their entire diet in the summer seasons. They there breeding grounds and hunting grounds are primarily in maple, beech or birch trees are losing their trees due to temperature changes chasing them away. Trees like oak and hickory and other southern (Florida, Mississippi area) growing trees that like the warm weather are spreading their seeds farther and are having a better chance at taking root due to their favorable temperatures. In contrast maple, beech and birch trees thrive better in cooler temperatures and so as the southern seeds invade and thrive these cool-climate trees don't have anywhere to go and so they are being pushed out. This then causes the birds to go further north to find the trees they need and so as they move to Canada they become an invasive species. Sources: www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/climate-change/effects-of-climate-change/on-birds www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/climate-change/effects-of-climate-change/on-natural-habitats/forests 4) Describe your Instagram photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo and what is its connection to the topic of the week. This week's post showed off the only bird at the aviary that I could relate climate change to, a lot of the others are because of habitat loss or illegal pet trade. And it is, of course, the Baltimore Oriole, I included the picture of its sign so others would know about its migration pattern, this high lights what I was saying about how their migration is affected by temperature change. This is also why I added the sign that brings awareness to the effects of light pollution on bird migration. The sign also has some great ideas to implement what kinds of bulbs have the least effect on them. 5) What was one thing that you found particularly interesting this week?
This week's topic was exciting for me because climate change is my jam, it is the one thing that I know all kinds of things about so a lot of what was discussed in our readings wasn't new to me. But I do still think it's interesting how many birds are affected by what people do, both through how we are changing the climate but also how something as small as what kind of light bulb we leave shining has a significant impact on them and their migration. My favorite thing Jessica said in class today was that climate deniers don't think that scientists have factored the natural change of Earth into their climate calculations, but in reality, they know that the Earth goes through fluctuations and that the orbit of Earth and it's tilt and its rotation change. And yet with all the natural change we still see big shifts in our climate which means it's not something that is meant to happen and we didn't do it and can't stop it. It means we do have an impact on it and in order to correct it, we need to do something different. This week we learned about waste management and I am shocked to find that there are different types of 'landfills'. There are places for green waste and this is where it will be decomposed and turned into mulch, there is a place for all mixed recycling to go and then there is the landfill for everything else. It's not just important to recycle but to know what to recycle, half of the problem with recycling is that people throw things in that can't be recycled and it contaminates everything else and causes all of the good recyclables to be thrown away. I think it's important we all know how to be smart recyclers to have the biggest positive benefit. Below are questions prompted by my professor. 1. Do you agree that recycling options lead people to waste more? Explain your answer with specific examples from your life. I do agree if people can get the sense that "oh it'll be recycled " it definitely leads people away from the idea of reducing, reuse before jumping to recycle but still gives them the good feeling of doing what's "right". 2. In our second week, we discussed 4 factors that are contributing to environmental issues (1. Human Population Growth 2. Wasteful and Unsustainable Use of Resources 3. Poverty and 4. Market Values for goods do not take into account the true costs). Describe connections between these factors and issues with resource use and waste management. For example, you could discuss how market values for goods do not take into account the true cost of people in other countries who are recycling resources from the US (think plastic in China and other Asian countries, textiles in Kenya, and electronics in Ghana. The US is far inferior in our recycling when compared to other countries in the world, not only are we bad at it as individuals but you can see the individual effect when looking at the country as a whole. When we do get material that can be recycled we then rely on other places to do the recycling for us, and now that places like China have said they aren't going to accept any of our trash the US needs to be less wasteful in what we already have as well as look towards reusable options. 3. Tackling wasteful and unsustainable use of resources is going to require that we each become less dependent on single-use or short-term use products. Document every single-use item that you encounter/ use in a 24 hr period. An OPTIONAL fun way to do this is to take a photo log of it and you can post it on Instagram if you would like. Reflect on this activity and a realistic alternative (i.e. something that YOU can actually do) to replace a single-use item with something that is more sustainable. In daily school life, I will have a protein bar for lunch when I don't make time to pack a lunch or if I don't want to carry a lunch box. Snack food wrappers are definitely an everyday trash item for me. And I know the alternative is to bring lunch in a lunch box with a reusable container, utensil and carrying bag. The next best thing I can do is find ways to make carrying and transporting lunch less of a bulky matter so then I'll be more willing to pack it. 4. Describe your Instagram photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo and what is the connection to the topic of the week. I chose the triceratops made from soda cans because it's impressive to see how many aluminum cans a glass bottle recyclery accumulates in their piles. Tracy Triceratops was created to raise awareness that sorting out your glass is important.
The blue bin is to raise awareness that your city might be paying momentum for FREE community glass pick up. I urge everyone to find out if their city does or not and start recycling! The third photo was just a bit of machinery that I thought was cool because it's all the glass crushed up to be moved on to be crushed smaller. The last was just to promote Clever Octopus, they sell art supplies at very discounted prices as well as take supply donations for the community. 5. What was one thing that you found particularly interesting this week? I found it interesting that there are different kinds of landfills and I think it's important to know the difference. First "dump" is not the correct term, a dump refers to dumping trash into a hole in the ground. This is NOT what happens at landfills, landfills are a lot more thought out and they have a lot of criteria they have to meet. One of these is protecting the groundwater from the infect waste that comes from landfills when it rains, this is called "leachate". To protect the groundwater they make sure the base of the landfill is covered in a layer of compacted clay and plastic to keep it from seeping into the ground. When a landfill is at it's maximum they they "dry tomb" the waste this is done by putting another water prevention layer on top as well as topsoil. This prevents the decomposing process but it also ensures that these materials can't infect the wilderness around it. I also think it's so cool to see how glass is recycled, I knew that class is the most recyclable material but now I can really see why. Plus the perk for recycling glass is that it can become a new glass of all varieties, the last destination for glass is to become plexiglass because the chemistry is in such a way that it doesn't behave like normal glass anymore. This week we looked at the problem of "how to feed our growing population" the resources this week were very interesting. We learned about what the population of the world looks like now and where we project it to go as well as what's keeping us from mass starvation. The answer is advanced agriculture which includes- improved plant breeding and the use of chemical fertilizers. This is a double-edged sword because as we leaned last week, the chemical fertilizers can have a great deal of damage on the ecosystem around because of the chemicals in it. This week we volunteer with Wasatch Community Gardens and helped them make new plotting beds for the planting season to come. Below are questions and answers prompted by my professor: 1) How does Green Team garden address the 3 pillars of sustainability? The three pillars are Social, Environmental and Economic Sustainability. For Social Sustainability: this pillar is all about the people to make a difference and make sure what we do will be able to be done for years. So for the community gardens, they do this with the fact that they are a community garden, people are able to get organic food for a lower price and sustainably and all it costs is the $30 rental fee and the time to care for the garden. They contribute to the environmental pillar with the fact that different people plant different seeds, this is good so one crop can't strip the soil. The plant diversity makes it so the lands will be able to be planted on for a long time. The economic pillar gets supported by the community giving back to one another, the recreation center that holds the plots of land get money to pay for the watering and management by the $30 plot fee. This makes it so the gardens can keep on functioning. 2) Feeding a growing population is going to require that we each become more mindful of our food choices. Look through your home and find one food item that you use. Discuss the "foodprint" of that food item and find a realistic alternative (i.e. something that YOU can actually do) for it that is less harmful to our resources. I have eggs and beans every morning for breakfast, I use eggs from my friends coop and pinto beans from Walmart. The only thing I could find about the pinto bean is that it requires more room to grow than pole beans like the green bean, but because it is used to warmer climates it can handle drought well so it does not require a lot of water. I don't think there is a good alternative to this because, if cooked right, it doesn't take as much green house emissions to transport and cook dried pinto beans as it does canned pinto beans. Canned beans cause more emissions because of the added weight of the expanded bean and the water it's in. When cooking dried beans, I soak them over night and then cook them for maybe an hour tops in the pressure cooker on my electric stove so I think I am making the best choice currently. 3) Reflect on the 5 ways we can possibly feed 9 billion people. Find an example of how we as a society are currently working on one of the 5 ways and discuss it using specifics.
4) Describe your photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo and what is it's connection to the topic of the week. The photos from this week are from our team being at the community garden, I chose these photos 1. because the boys in them are showing that they are having a super time and 2. because it shows that we were getting out and getting dirty and really working. It was a lot of fun, and I think it was because we had so many people working together that made it more fun than it would have been had this all been left to one person to complete. 5) What was one thing that you found particularly interesting this week? I thought the waste documentary we watched was the most interesting, this is because it touched on more personal things than the statistic "1 in 8 people don't have enough to eat". Where yes this is a data point for the world, I am fortunate enough to have enough to eat. So in the waste video, they talked about the food in the grocery store, how 40% of food grown for stores isn't eaten, how food is the #1 product by weight in landfills today, how if food waste were a country, it would rank 3rd in greenhouse gas emissions. These are things I can relate to because I see food waste, I work in catering and I cannot tell you how much food we throw away at the end of the night. How much food we waste because the guests didn't want it but we made enough so we wouldn't run out. Something that we all need to be aware of is "the average American household spends approximately $2,000 a year on wasted food". This is a waste of money for a household consumer, but also this is a waste of space in our landfills for food that's going to rot and release methane gas. Below I have attached the video for reference. This week in class we learned about water, an interesting fact is that where 70% of the Earth's surface is covered in water only 1% is freshwater. This means it is extremely important that we use the water we have as many times as possible. At the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility it is there job to clean water for a handful of cities, so yes they are technically the sewage filtration plant. It was really interesting to see the process that all waste water has to go through, a lot more goes into it than you might think. Below are questions prompted by my professor. 1) Look through your home and list all of the herbicides and pesticides that you use. Pick one of them and find an alternative for it that is less harmful to water resources. We own round up, miracle grow, and ortho max though I don't think we use these on a regular basis. I've decided to look up an alternative to miracle grow because I know that it's the most common brand to be found in the common household. The alternative I chose to compare it to is Pro-Gro-5-3-4, the things that make this a better products are 1) the amount of nitrogen, Miracle Grow has 11% with water insoluble nitrogen being 8.92%. Pro-Gro has 5% and 3.5% of it is insoluble. 2) Miracle Grow derives their ingredients from harsher sources, "Nitrate of Soda, Rock Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, and Copper Sulfate" just to name a few, you can look at all of the ingredients from their labels pdf here. Pro-Gro gets their ingredients from more sustainable sources, "Vegetable protein meals, animal protein meals, bone char, and pasteurized poultry litter" to name a few, the full ingredients list can be found here. I can see why the Pro-Gro-5-3-4 is better for our environment. 2) How much have you thought about your relationship with water in the past? How can you improve your relationship with water and make it more sustainable? The only time I really think about my relationship with water is when I take a shower and when I'm making dinner, the reason these two events provoke this thinking is because when I was in high school there was a scholarship opportunity that talked about how taking 5 minute showers can help conserve water. The scholarship gave me the task of making a shower playlist that is exactly 5 minutes long so when a specific song comes on you'll be able to track how long you've been taking. When I make dinner it drives me crazy to see people leave the tap on when they do dishes, or when they fill the entire sink instead of filling up the larges dish and making that your soapy water. It's just a huge waste of water. Even though I know that 5 minute showers are the best way to make showering sustainable, I have not been motivated to making that apart of my daily shower retinue. I know if I could make it to where my showers are only 5 min but I haven't been motivated to making the change. I can also change what I do with week old water, I often will just dump it because I don't think it's still good to drink (which isn't true) so I can either just drink it or use it on house plants or my yard. 3) Diagram the wastewater treatment plant and describe the process in your own words. I made a slide show that describes the water treatment process. 4) Describe your photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo and what is it's connection to the topic of the week.
This week I chose to share the pictures of some of the chronological steps in purifying the water because I think it's important to bring awareness to people about how much work it takes to clean our water. One of the pictures that I think is important is of the screening machine, this shows that people can't just throw away whatever they want to; it slows down the process. This relates to the topic of water quality problems, without all of these many steps when the water got released back it would cause numerous problems. The biggest being waterborne illnesses, 88% of all diseases are caused by unsafe drinking water. Another big problem would be the result all of the nutrients would have on the water, increased nitrogen levels are detrimental to ecosystems they are the leading cause of dead zones and death of aquatic life. 5) What was one thing that you found particularly interesting this week? I was astonished to find out that poor drinking water is such a horrific problem, it's easy to forget about stuff like that when you live in America where we don't have to worry about clean water. The fact that half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a waterborne disease shocks me! I don't even feel like the United States can get away from this, in the video we had to watch they showed that old filtering plants don't have the technology to filter out new threats to human health. I am most interested to see what happens and if America's water can stay on the healthy side so we don't see a rise of waterborne illnesses here. This week we talked about sustainable fishing and the affect that fishing has on our environment. We also discussed what biodiversity means for the plants and animals around us and the different ways we quantify the ecosystem around us. We all do this in a number of ways namely Use Values like: Direct, Indirect and Option or Non-Use Values like: Existence, Altruistic and Bequest. Below are reflection prompts provided from my teacher. 1-3) Describe 3 animals from the aquarium that are threatened because a. we eat them Giant Barb- over fishing is their biggest threat, 200 tonnes of giant barbs were caught in 1964, in 1980 that number went down to 50 and in early 2000 only 10 could be caught due to population decline. b. we eat their food, leaving only a little for them Gentoo Penguins- they rely on krill, squid, flatfish, Southern blue whiting and black southern cod. c. we destroy their habitat Both the Giant Barb and the Gentoo Penguins fit into this category along with thousand of other animals. For the Giant Barb they suffer from habitat pollution and breeding routes lost because of dams obstructing the rivers once used for their migration. Gentoo suffer from the effects of climate change and all of their food is losing their habitats due to rising water temperatures making it hard for reproduction . 4) Describe your photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo. In my post on Instagram the reason I decided to show the clouded leopard instead of the Giant Barb or the Penguins is because most people wouldn't stop to look at pictures of fish and everyone has seen pictures of penguins as they try to promote things like environmental change. With the clouded leopard they aren't an animal you typically see and the leaves provided more contrast making for a more interesting and eye catching photo. It also provided the opportunity to talk about the effect palm oil has on our environment and will hopefully bring awareness to the problem with understandably sourced palm oil. 5) What was another exhibit in the aquarium that you found interesting? I've been to the aquarium so often that it's interesting to me to see what's new, in the South America exhibit they have new sloths that live with their toucans and that was cool to see them because the zoo doesn't have sloths anymore. I also always like looking at the jellyfish because they're so weird. One really cool animal now that I think of it were these things called flash light fish that lived in the dark ocean area with the octopus and they were cool because they have bioluminescent bacteria under these flaps on their face so when they lift them they flash each other to communicate or for mating. Also one of the reason I've been at the aquarium so frequently is because my friends and I like to make silly iMovie trailers, so we spent three hours there making this video below. Enjoy! This week we learned about eh nutrient cycle and how Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Sulfur or (CHNOPS) are the essential elements of life and how the water cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle and phosphorus cycle are the cycles that drive life. We also had FFAC come talk to our class about what it means to eat sustainably. Below are questions and answers prompted by my teacher. 1) What was one thing you learned from the Factory Farm Awareness Coalition? How will what you learned change your behavior or perspective? I learned that chicken live in worse conditions than I had previously thought. I know that all factory farmed animals live the saddest life that you may not even wish onto your worst enemy but I had only see pictures of chicken crowned in one big space, I didn't know that so many of them get crammed into one long horizontal cage where they try to pluck and fight each other. And the only things that make a chicken 'free roam' is 'access' to the outdoors that they don't use, and because they can roam they have to get their beaks clipped so they don't fight each other. I have switched to a mostly plant based diet but I am still a flexitarian meaning I'm mostly plant but will have meat when convenient. I thought chicken was the least evil out of all of the meat options and I am still wrong. They all get treated like garbage and I have decided I'm going to stop buying eggs for my house and in the wild if I can get a vegan meal than I will if I can't then I may not go there anymore. 2) How might agendas and biases influence the way information is presented? What agendas/ biases do you think both FFAC and your professor have? Do biases inherently make the information false? How can you be confident that the information that you are receiving is accurate? Why does it matter to think critically about the information that you receive? How do you currently critically evaluate the information that you gain? How confident are you in the accuracy of the information that you are presented with on a regular basis? Be specific. The dairy industry has spent years and millions of dollars making sure we all know that 'milk is great for growing children' when in scientific evidence it's not everything they make it out to be. Based on FFAC's mission statement, "Empowering people to help save animals, the environment, and our health through our daily food choices" this tells you all of their biases. The first, "to save animals" they want to save all of the animals that are forced to live in these cruel conditions and make sure that the next generation of animal doesn't have to live the same way. The second, "the environment" they want to help our environment and they're approaching this by taking out a prime source of methane and carbon dioxide. Cows take a lot of resources and only give back three percent of the protein you need and give off a lot of methane from their burping and farting, then when you take their meat and distribute it you're producing carbon dioxide. Third, "our health through our daily choices" this is referring to two things, the first is how all of these farms are dealing with all the waste that comes from housing so many animals. They make huge cesspools for all the sewage and once they fill up some of them release the mixture in their sprinklers. This can be caught by the wind and drifts to the neighboring homes and makes them sick, think the plot to Erin Brockovich still with the polluted water but the neighbors know what's going on but they can't be caught by the law. Second eating meat at every meal has long term affects on ones health, such as high cholesterol and heart disease. I know my professor has a pro environmental point of view because of the classes she teaches, so she is anti factory farming. Information today is more abundant than it's ever been, anyone can post it or edit it. If you do not cross reference where your information is coming from than risk looking a fool or spreading information that is not correct. You know a source is reliable if it comes from a .org or .gov source that is well heard of, .coms can come from anywhere and are not very reliable when it comes to information. If you think about the data you find then you reduce the risk of getting faulty information, it's important when on the internet to never take things at face value. When I'm getting information I always look at where it's coming from and where the citations are coming from, then I also try to find as little biases when possible. An example is when I get my news, I use third party news sources like Google or Apple news that are not swayed one way or the other they just report what's going on. On a regular basis I'd say I could believe about 65% of what I read on the internet, and about 85% of what I'm taught in my classes. I bring up school because we live in a time where things change so fast it can be hard for school curriculum to keep up, thus making their data out of date and incorrect. 3) What were your recommendations for helping your soil pH, salinity, phosphorus, and potassium? pH: if you want to increase its pH add Lime or Wood Ash, to lower the pH add sulfur, Sphagnum Peat or Mulch/ Compost. Source Salinity: you need to manage the area that it occurs, Managing salinity involves striking a balance between the volume of water entering (recharge) and leaving (discharge) the groundwater system. Source Phosphorus: Plant phosphorus fixing vegetables, these are typically vegetables that are high in nitrogen, also can use phosphorus free fertilizer. Source Potassium: Drain and filter the soil or switch types of fertilizer. Source 4) Describe your photo and why you chose to take and post that particular photo. I chose to post this picture because I think it's important that we all regain awareness of the reality around us. I also wanted to be able to write about them bring awareness of them to the people that follow me on my Instagram, I hadn't heard of them until this assignment and I was sure this is true for other people as well. The reason I only took one this week was that I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of how the animals are housed, those photos have an impact and I didn't want anyone who had not signed up for that to look at them.
5) What type of service project most interests you? Do you have an idea for a service project? What are your major limitations to doing a service project? I prefer the kind that has an environmental impact, this could be picking up trash by rivers and lakes or planting trees, or spending time to educate others on the environmental impact their actions have. My biggest limitation is the time, I have gotten in contact with SLiCE and I am going to help with their Earth Day events but I'm not on the council I would like to be on because it conflicts with my class schedule. This week for class we went to Catholic Community Services (CCS), they empower the most vulnerable with programs that serve those experiencing homelessness and hunger, and newly arrived refugees and immigrants. Here is a link to their site if anyone is interested in volunteering with them. Below are the reflection questions prompted by my professor. 1) What prior knowledge or experiences have you had with CCS or similar programs? How has your orientation to or opinion about this issue changed through our service at CCS? This was my first time volunteering with any kind of organization like this, I have done a lot of volunteering in the past but this was different. Most of my other volunteering is from my times in our cities youth council and I would help host marathons. This experience made me feel like I was doing more and it was more meaningful and it helps expose myself to people I wouldn't normally get the chance to meet. As far as the service went my feels have changed and I see this as being more meaningful, but as far as the issues of homelessness go, I didn't get a chance to really talk with any of the people who came in so it hasn't been affected. But it is good to know that a lot of people want to make a difference in the lives of people who have a lot less than I do. And with them not having to worry about food in my mind it helps them be able to focus on other things that can help move them forward. 2) Why is there a need for your service at CCS? What do you perceive as the underlying issue, and why does it exist? What social, economic, political and educational systems are maintaining and perpetuating it? CCS has a lot of people who need them and they get a lot of food donations but without having people who can help them execute their mission than the food won't get prepared and it'll all be wasted leaving a handful of people without resources they need. The issue is that so people need more help than others and if it is not Christmas than no one is willing and wanting to give their time to help make it happen. As far as the social and economic and political influencers go I don't really know a lot about any of those fields to say one way or the other. But, I would say that where you have heard people say "those homeless people just need to try harder and get jobs" they are not speaking out of a place from understanding. It can be easy to forget how good so many of us have it and that is one thing I've loved about SLCC, they have really opened my eyes to people who have less than I do. So it can be hard to stick up for those who have less in an environment of those who want to rag on them out of their own naivety. 3) What similarities do you perceive between you and the people you are serving? How do you think you are perceived by the people you are serving? What do you think a typical day is like for the people you serve? What pressures do they confront? We are all people living in Utah trying to do the best we can in our own ways. I like the people we were helping serve might look at us like we don't really care or want to serve and just are doing it because we have to for a grade. I do hope not everyone felt that way or at least not about my attitude about being there. I tried to see what else I could do and show that I wanted to be helpful and I wanted to make them achieve their mission. I'm sure a typical day starts with breakfast or lunch at the community center then they hit the streets to find either a place to stay for the night or a means of keeping themselves warm and fed that night. Then if the community center is serving dinner they probably finish their days there and then have to go back out into the cold to sleep on the street. I'm sure in every day they have to deal with people who stare at them like they're animals or who catcall to them to "get a job" or "try harder" and on top of all of that, I'm sure that on a weekly basis they have to deal with the police relocating them or taking their stuff because they don't want them to camp out in certain areas of downtown. Then right now the biggest pressure is how do they stay warm when it's no cold outside. 4) How does the service experience relate to class material? I see how this service fit into last week's lesson on food waste and the tragedy of the commons, where a lot of the food CCS gets is from food banks or food that would be thrown away for being past its best by dates. Also, homeless people are some living proof of things like the tragedy of the commons because were someone wasn't looking for the long term benefit of the whole these people got shorted on the resource in some of their cases. 5) Name three things that stuck in your mind about the service experience. It was a chance to get to know the people around me, I learned more about my peers and about the people that work there. I learned that it really does take a lot of hand working together to get something of this caliber done, especially the dishwashers nothing in the kitchen could keep getting done without them. And some people were born with the need and drive to help others, one of the kitchen managers said he moved here from Las Angeles and he loves to make food and help people. Below are the photos I included in my Instagram post about the CCS |
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