Share and Voice: Spring Break (part II)

For me, finding just one image that would be a great reflection of my spring break was difficult! So here's a few:

The first weekend was spent in Cumming, Georgia watching men's ultimate, in the rain...

Pier at the end of Jekyll Island, GA

Jekyll Island nature area


Spending a week with Allan in Georgia and Illinois :)...


and playing ultimate with some of my favorite ladies!

Advocacy Project: My Political Representatives

My Political Representatives

PRESIDENT

Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

CONGRESSPERSON'S

-House

James Oberstar

United States House of Representatives

2365 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515-2308

-Senate

Amy Klobuchar

United States Senate

302 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510-2304

GOVERNOR

Tim Pawlenty
Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

STATE LEGISLATORS

-State Representative
Thomas Huntley
District: 07A
Party: DFL
585 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155

-State Senator

Yvonne Prettner Solon

District: 07

Party: DFL

75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Capitol Building, Room G-9

St. Paul, MN 55155-1606

COUNTY BOARD PRESIDENT

-County Administrator
Alan Mitchell

- 1st District
Commissioner Dennis Fink
Board Chair
Room 208
100 N. 5th Avenue West
Duluth, MN 55802

- 2nd District
Commissioner Steve O'Neil
Room 208
100 N. 5th Avenue West
Duluth, MN 55802

- 3rd District
Commissioner Chris Dahlberg
Room 208
100 N. 5th Avenue W.
Duluth, MN 55802

- 5th District
Commissioner Peg Sweeney
Room 208
100 N. 5th Avenue West
Duluth, MN 55802

CITY MAYOR

Don Ness
Mayor's Office
Room 402, 411 West First Street
Duluth, MN 55802

Reflection: Week 7 & 8

Reflections: Week 7 & 8

Week 7:

• This week started with an eye opener, titled Environmental Working Group.For my facial product, I chose Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. I found out that there not many concerns that is product is linked to, but that there are concerns about it that were not listed in the activity. I went further into research, and found what Vaseline had to say about their animal testing and did a little more looking around on Vaseline's website.
  

• We also watched a documentary titled "Green". It is a documentary created by a grad student, and is about the controversies along "Cancer Alley" which is a 100 mile stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. All of the large corporations in this area are polluting the air, land and soil that many poor individuals and families find themselves having to live on, and try to raise healthy children. One fact that stood out to me about this that in some areas, the soil was contaminated 17 FEET under people's houses! This was causing many diseases and other health concerns to the people living in that area, and growing gardens for their families food supply. Worse of all, the people working at these companies believe they're doing their part at home because they have flower gardens and are providing a place for birds and other wildlife to retreat to.

Week 8:

• This week I was assigned the article review titled "Privatizating Water". Basically, this is an article that highlights the advantages and disadvantages of privatizing water. It also goes into detail some of the controversies certain areas of the country are facing, and clearly depicts a riot that broke out in the city of Chochabamba which is located in Bolivia. This reading was interesting to me because it stated that currently, there at 36 countries that have very minimal water supply and are using many different methods to preserve and catch their rain water. I was even more surprised when it continued to say that within the next 6 year, SEVEN more counties are going to join the rankings of having the least amount of drinkable water for their citizens. Something is wrong here...

• We also watched the documentary titled "Thirst" this week. Thirst is a documentary that depicts the real life issues, in our own country and throughout the rest of the world, about water privatization. It makes the watcher debate the question of "Is water a human right or a commodity to be bought and sold in a global marketplace?". When looking on the Thirst documentary website, I was shocked to read that "over a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Each year, millions of children die of diseases caused by unsafe water. The numbers are increasing." How can we fix this? How can the diseases and deaths numbers be reduced? Since the Thirst documentary has been released, there continues to be conflict and disputes, only they are now more intense.

Share & Voice: Spring Break

This year for spring break I am going to Atlanta and Jekyll Island, Georgia as well as Chicago, Illinois. I am driving down with my teammates from the ultimate frisbee team and we will be spending our time basking in the sun, playing a little ultimate (THREE days worth!) and camping for a week :)

This is a challenge... I want to know what each of you are doing over your break! Only don't just tell us what you did... post a picture and a short description of whatever you are doing, place you visit or people you spent your time with and I will do the same! :) It doesn't have to be something "environmental", just post ANY picture from your week off from school and show us what you had done :)

Hope you all have an amazing and safe spring break! :)

Review of Reading 31: Privatizing Water

On April 8, 2000 a riot broke out in a city called Cochabamba located in Bolivia. The riot had killed one 17 year old boy while hundreds of other protesters were injured. What was the riot over? Privatization of the countries water. The World Bank had threaten to withhold $600 million in the countries debt relief if they did not privatize their water. Because the privatization of water had not happened, water bills in the average house hold rose 35% per month. Protesters were able to declare victory. The city ended up privatizing their water, resulting in an end to the riot.


In 1992, when world leaders at the Rio earth Summit recognized water as an "economic good", they were mainly acknowledging the failure of their government to provide clean drinking water to over 1.1 billion people. The government saw this as an opportunity to collect profits, even though water should be considered a human right.


Currently, there are 36 countries (which are all in Africa, Asia or the middle east) that do not have a large enough water supply to meet the needs for industrial, municipal, and food production purposes. By the year 2015, seven more countries will join these rankings. See something wrong here?


In the United States, we have been rather slow in privatizing our water systems and if we were to privatize more of our water, our country would have the chance to attract the" private capital and expertise needed to build and expand expensive water system, and help connect the millions who currently make do without piped water". Could you imagine NOT drinking water from a pipe, and pulling it up from the ground yourself, from a well or some other way?! Small and poor communities are continuously drinking from questionable water resources and expensive suppliers. Poor residents in El Alto, Bolivia are drinking water from tanker trucks, which is MORE EXPENSIVE than the piped water wealthier residents are drinking from!


Many countries, people believe that water should be delivered at a low cost, or for free. Do you agree with this? As cities grow and expand, it is much more difficult to raise money to maintain or expand current water systems.


"Privatization of water has resulted in drastic rate increases, significant job cuts, fewer environmental safeguards, dropped conservation initiatives and halted service to poor or remote communities".


The gist of it, privatizing water does not benefit anyone but the supplier. If water is privatized, there are less employees working in a company which results in a larger profit for them and in return the population receives less than par service, little to no water depending on the salary of a household, higher water bills and a loss of local control and accountability.


My thoughts: There should not be counties in this nation that are going without water. Can you imagine how horrible you would feel not being hydrated?! Imagine living in a country like Africa or somewhere in the Middle east where temperatures are not comfortable and not being able to have a refreshing glass of water to cool down... I have lived out in the country before, and the water we had gotten in our house then came from a well. Still, it was running water, through piper, and had been fortified with vitamins. I could not imagine having to fetch my own water, or drink water from Lake Superior without it being filtered and okay to drink. No one should have to drink from a sketchy water resource! Although I believe that water is difficult to maneuver from place to place, it should not be so expensive since it is something we, as humans, need to survive! I understand that it is expensive for water treatment plants to run and expand, but shouldn't the health and hydration of all people be a priority?! Personally, I think other countries are in more need than we are. To have 35 countries running low on water and seven more about to join those rankings by 2015 is devastating. What do you think we can do to help?!


Terms:
World Bank- committed to reaching the poor with a sanitary water supply

International Monetary Fund - Temporarily finances countries

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

For this eye opener, I chose something that I use daily and sometime multiple times throughout the day... Vaseline petroleum jelly! I use Vaseline nightly on my lips and on my eyes for a little extra hydration and when my lips are really chapped, I am applying it many different times throughout the day.

Here are my exact results from the Cosmetic Database Website:

Ingredients in this product are linked to:

	Cancer
	Developmental/reproductive toxicity
	Violations, restrictions & warnings
	Allergies/immunotoxicity
	Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Contamination concerns

After doing this assignment, I am pleased to see that there are not many concerns with using this product (at least not a lot listed) that would effect my health. It is however, a shame that the company conducts animal testing. After further research on Vaseline's website, here is what I found regarding their animal testing:

"Our first priority is to our consumers and, where required by regulators for safety reasons, we carry out limited tests on some ingredients and foods to ensure our products are safe and suitable for their intended use. However, we will not use animal testing when we have available either an accepted alternative test or other information that allows us to sufficiently evaluate safety. We will continue our work for alternative methods by participating in industry and scientific programs, and we will continue to support legislation that promotes the elimination of animal testing through the development of alternative methods."

Share and Voice: Pampers

This weekend, my boyfriend was playing around on Hulu and came across a video I found really entertaining.... It's a "commercial" for Pampers that was on the show Saturday Night Live...

Check it out! :)