Personal Change

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This class has immensely changed my outlook on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Of course, no one is perfect, nor does everyone have the same educational background that is required for certain decisions. I believe that education is key for change. As people become more aware, they change their actions. Citizens need to have the necessary tools to make informed decisions on their environment and health.  As college students, we are lucky to have this information at our fingertips. The material from this course inspired my personal change. I have stopped using plastic bags. I’ve began bringing my own personal, reusable bags each time I go to the store or pharmacy. I have kept them in my car so I don’t have an excuse to forget. After living in a house with three other girls for two years, I have seen a great amount of plastic bags pile up from endless trips to the grocery store. This is only from one household in Charleston. In reality, “the average reusable bag has a lifespan equal to that of more than 700 disposable plastic bags. One person using reusable bags over their lifetime would remove more than 22,000 plastic bags from the environment.” (from https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/25-reasons-to-go-reusable/) Our actions obviously have large impacts. If everyone thought this way, we would be making the world a better place. Not only are using reusable bags beneficial for the environment, but also enriching personally. After this course, i’m more aware of a sustainable environment and if I can help in any way possible, I like to. It’s nice to know that you’re making a difference in the world.

The first week of my behavior change was the most challenging. Not challenging as in hard to do, but actually hard to remember to bring in my reusable bags in the first place. Like previously mentioned, keeping them in my car helped. What was even better was that I didn’t even need to go purchase reusable bags. I have about five from clothing stores in the area and around King Street that actually give you them when you make a purchase. Because of this, I believe that people have more reusable bags than they think. These include tote bags and even reusable plastic bags. At times when I forgot my reusable bags, it actually made me realize how many plastic bags are wasted. This began to actually make me angry and therefore not forget my bags. I am upset with that fact that I am just now making this change. I suppose that it is better late than never. I am sure that I will stick with the change for the long run. I hope to inspire my friends and family to change as well. Using reusable bags is such a simple change in a person’s life that has numerous positive benefits for the environment. For others hoping to change their actions, I would say to have a positive attitude and keep reusable bags in multiple locations for convenience. Everyone has the ability to change if they want to.

Personal Change: Coffee mug!

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The one main change that I worked on this semester was bringing a reusable coffee to drink my morning coffee in . I am so proud of this accomplishment. Truth be told, I did break like two mugs this semester so I gotta work on handling my mugs with care. I think this was a good change because I am not contributing  to pollution and trying to live more sustainable. This change has helped make the world a better place because I drink coffee every morning and by using the same mug every morning I am saving a lot of to go coffee cups. I am also producing less trash this way too. It will enrich my own life because just to let you in on a little secret, coffee is a $1.10 if you bring your own mug at stern food court and the Education Center. Not only am I saving money but I am inspiring others to bring their own mugs too. If people see me using my coffee mug than hopefully they will get their own, instead of purchasing those starbucks disposable cups. The first week, it was hard, I am not going to lie  and I did forget several times. So in order to help myself, I would not drink coffee that day on campus. Also, we read an article on coffee and that was very hard to digest all of that information. I am a coffee lover so to hear how far my coffee has traveled was eye opening. I am not sure how I am still living with the fact on how much labor went into making my one cup of coffee, but I am going to come up with a way to find that out. I wish there was a way to see where I can find some coffee that is from here and not one that traveled so far. Anyone know a place here in Charleston? Or at least somewhere near here? The whole bringing my mug thing has become a habit. So personally, I think if you want to make a change you gotta take baby steps. So in January I forgot to bring my personal mug a lot. In February, I forgot it once in a while, but in March and April I just carry one in my bookbag.This is a change that I will stick with because I want to rescue my own mug. I do not have a favorite mug. I just grab a mug at random from my kitchen cabinet in the morning or use the one in my book bag. To some this whole bringing my own myg might sound silly or a small change but for me personally, it is a big change. So imagine, if our entire classroom of students did that. Then our whole building and then all of the students at CofC. These little steps could eventually spread all around. I think it is those small changes that makes a big difference. I am so glad that I made this change. I will forever remember, whenever I am drinking my morning coffee that I am saving our beloved planer earth one coffee mug at a time. 🙂

Nature Inspiration : With two little cuties !

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Honestly, I am not very connected to the natural world. It changed a lot, I think last Thursday, when I realized with the help of two very special girls. It is important to connect to the natural world because if you do not than what is the purpose of life. You are going to become like a robot if you do not connect to nature in some shape or form. Well it is interesting to sit down and observe your surroundings, once in a while. So last Thursday, my baby sister (9 years old, third grade) and my cousin’s daughter (6 years old, kindergarten) visited me on campus after our Environment and Sustainability class. It was a wonderful surprise to see those two.

What I loved the most about those two is that they were fascinated by the littlest things. I passed by those same trees, flowers, bushes, water fountains, etc…everyday and they now have started to blend in with the crowd.I am usually so busy trying to make it to my next class that I passed by those things without taking a second to look at the water fountain and enjoy it. Those two little girls asked nonstop questions and had comments about everything they saw. “Is it lunch time? Where are the little kids? Why are all of these big kids outside? Is it recess for everyone? What grade are all these people in? Omg!!That tree is bigger than that house. How old is it? Awww. this is such a cute baby flower. This water fountain is so pretty. Is that a baby turtle sitting on the mommy turtle’s back? Etc…” They were curious and wanted to explore and run around everywhere. It made me miss being a kid and being that carefree and curious, too. It was legit an adventure for those two. The thirty-minutes that I was with them, I too started to lose track of time and started seeing things through their eyes. They both found the campus to be beautiful and thought it was so cool that we had different professors for each subject and different classes for each subject. They loved meeting you guys (Profs. Saunders & Beckingham) and thought you guys were super nice.

After our little adventure of walking around they went to lunch with my cousin and I went back to doing my assignments. What I learned from this is that we are so busy focusing on social media,homework assignments, exams, finals, jobs,etc…that we forget to take time to connect with nature. Truth be told, the thirty-minutes that I was with those two on our little adventure around campus made my day. It was a good escape from worrying about what I had to get done. My point here is that it is healthy to take some time to enjoy life and hangout with family and friends. I am not saying to neglect your responsibilities, but rather try to find a balance. Taking some time once in awhile to observe where you are. Smell some flowers. Sit outside and enjoy some sunshine. 🙂

My personal goal is to pay more attention to my surroundings especially here at campus because our campus is beautiful.

Nature Inspiration

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First off, it’s a great day to be alive. Happy Earth Day. The Earth is one of the many places to feel connected. I feel extremely connected to the natural world as a human because of everything that goes on in my life. For this assignment, I chose to use my time at the beach. I feel the beach is one of the more calming areas in the world. I enjoy the beach because it makes feel closer to the earth. I decided to use my time to pick up trash along the shores and the dunes. Most of the oceans are polluted with debris and have been killing off all the animals. Did you know 550 million straws are used by Americans daily, enough to circle the Earth five times. This has changed my perspective of the world and why it is so important to keep the earth clean. My connection to the earth has changed over the years as I became older. I feel as if I started caring more about the changes in the Earth this year as I started living on my own. I learned to recycle more and keep my area clean.

Over the past few years, traveling to new and exciting places has also opened my eyes to the good and bad in the world. One of the reasons I have started to care so much was because of my recent trip to Alaska. I encountered some native tribes known as the Trinkets. During our dancing and singing circle I felt so deeply connected with not only the people but with the most beautiful place in the world. Another activity we had was a quiet time, just like this assignment. We would spend five to ten minutes in the Alaskan air, journaling and gathering our thoughts. I found this a time to very open and connecting with the Earth.

Being connected to the natural world is very rewarding. As a human we encounter a great deal of things that we need to fix. With the oceans being polluted, animas going extinct, and global warming spiraling we need to be better humans to the earth. I feel being connected helps me day in and day out because the earth is our home and we should take care of it.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

 

Book Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma A Natural History of Four Meals. 5 Stars!

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My favorite environmental book this semester would have to be The Omnivore’s Dilemma A Natural History of Four Meals. I got it from the College of Charleston Addlestone Library and read it over spring break. My nutrition professor recommended. It was a great read and I give it five stars. It was an easy read, too. I liked Mr.Pollan’s writing style. He does a great job of examining how and where we get our food. There are some scary stuff that I did not think about that he mentioned such as the food chain and the process of where it all begins. He did a fantastic jpn of tracing the food back to its root and how it went to each  step. There were many great points made in the book but my personal favorite was “ There was one more meal I wanted to make, and that was the meal at the end of the shortest food chain of all. What I had in mind was a dinner prepared entirely from ingredients I had hunted, gathered, and grown myself”(Pollan, 277). This I think was one of the main points made in the book. Most of us get our foods from the supermarket and we do not know how far those food have travel to get to us. So it makes sense, that something had to be done to mass produce all of those goods and give it a long shelf life.

What I liked most about Mr.Pollan’s method was that he went back to the main root and explained the what, where, when, and how of our food systems. Most folks want cheap, accessible food and we do not realize the damage that it is causing to our health. I also liked how he explained that it is hard for us as a society to go back to the hunting, gathering, lifestyle because of our population size and amount of space available. He made the point that he knew how to grow some veggies but he did not know how  to hunt and he is right to make that point because majority of people do not know. I personally do not know how to hunt nor have I ever done it, but I do know how to grow some veggies in my backyard. This book made me want to question where I get my food from and now whenever I go to buy groceries, I try not to choose foods that have traveled so far, and try to buy from the farmers market, and locally grown food. For anyone who wants to learn more about our food system and how our food system has shifted from family farming to industry type, I highly recommended reading this book. Also, if you enjoyed watching Food Inc. this book is very similar. It talks about hoe farming style changed over the years and how corn is the golden food because it is cheap to grow and it is in everything. Additionally, how there is sugar in all processed foods to make it taster so people keep buying more. He even discussed how our bodies are not designed to handle this eating style. Overall, an excellent book. 🙂

Link to the book.

 

Arts & Culture

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The first time that I saw this painting was on Wednesday, at Rita 101, when I had the pleasure of hearing Ms.LaDuke speak about her cause to be a water protector. For those of you who did not make it to the talk, let me just sum up what she talked about. She discussed how this painting is a symbol of resilience and that it embraces the idea behind of standing up for a good cause. In her case it was the land of the indigenous people and how she stood up against a pipeline that was going to run through these lands, and how with the help of many people they were able to stop the pipeline from occurring. She also discussed the importance of growing your own food and how if we act now we can save our beloved planet. She was full of hope and I left that talk feeling inspired and hopeful too. There were many other important points that she discussed, but I want to focus on this painting.

I wanted to do more research on this painting and I forgot what the painting was called so I typed in google “water protector symbol of Laduke” and this painting that I had seen at the talk popped up. When I clicked on it, it gave me the option of clicking a link to go to an article. The article (link below) gave a more detail descriptions of the painting. This beautiful piece was painted by Votan Ik and  Derek Brown helped, too. In addition, there are much symbols behinds the red mask that the woman is wearing to cover her nose and mouth. There are several meanings behind the mask such as it hides the identity of the woman and protects from tear gas and gives it “universal appeal as in every woman,”according to Maira Villard, the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) Arts and Cultural Coordinator.

Most importantly, it is painted on the outside of AICHO in Duluth,Minnesota. The article discussed that it“is a potent declaration of the issues facing Native American women such as violence, sex trafficking, and environmental racism” (Pember 2017).  In our class, we focused several times on how woman in majority places were seen as the caring type or how we praises things such as “Mother Nature and Father Time.” What I am trying to say is that this painting represents not just one lady but women as a whole.

What I personally took from this painting was that the ladies head is at the center of the flower with all of the pretty red petal coming out of it or surrounding it. This could be seen as a symbol of connectives to nature, as in  how it is the circle of life, and we are one with nature. Humans and the environment go hand in hand. We are not separate but united as one. The values that are ignored that it has more of an appeal to ladies than males because it is putting female as the center. On the other hand, it can also be the greatest strength of the painting because it could be saying that nothing would be possible without women. I think, the artist wanted to portray the lady in the painting looks like someone that needs to be taken seriously. She looks mysteriously but at the same time looks like someone who is being protective and standing and guarding something that is precious to her. I really liked this painting so much that I am saving it as my laptop background. So whenever I open my laptop, it will motivate me to be awesome. 🙂

The painting is this one below in the article.

 

https://rewire.news/article/2017/09/21/ganawenjiige-onigam-new-symbol-resilience-duluth-minnesota/

 

City Litter Sweep

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This past weekend I attended a trash cleanup through the Outdoors Club. This event was one of the last events that the Outdoors club put together to hopefully encourage people to get outside during the last, stressful week of classes and to benefit our environment and clean up the city we all love and live in. There were about 20 people there and we all split up and covered different ground. We began the cleanup by moving through campus and cleaning up around the cistern and through cougar mall. My group then walked along King Street and made it all the way to the Open Air Market. We figured this would be a good route to take because this is a tourist heavy area and an area that a lot of cars move through. We found a lot of small debris that were hard to pick up, mostly like cigarette butts and paper and plastic that had been broken down. While on the trash clean up I began to think about the sources of the pollution which in this case was obviously the trash. A main source of this trash would be the humans that disregard the environment and litter their trash. Another one would be the trash cans that are throughout campus and the city. The majority of the ones usually do not have tops, they are open bins which allows trash to be picked up from the wind and dispersed elsewhere. There also is not a lot of recycling bins around the city. Comparing Charleston to a big city like Chicago, the majority of their trash cans have a pull door on the front ensuring that any trash that goes in stays in. Chicago also has recycling bins separating paper, plastic and aluminum. This is a very simple initiative that could be carried through in Charleston to allow people to have a place to throw away any litter, and ensure that it gets disposed of elsewhere, and hopefully recycled.

It was very disheartening to see all of this trash in our city. My take away from the event was that many people have a complete disregard for their environment and community. But also, that our city doesn’t allow for people to have the option to recycle their recyclables. This also made me think of communities that participate in bottle returns. For example in Michigan, any sort of plastic, aluminum or glass bottle (usually drinking bottles) has an extra tax on them. This tax forces people to return their bottles to a recycling center to get their money back. Each bottle can be up to 5-20 cents, which can quickly add up. This simple system allows people to be rewarded for recycling which I am sure also encourages people to begin recycling other things and or finding other alternative ways to decrease their amount of waste.

Overall this event was a good way to bring people together and get people outside by benefiting the environment. After the clean up, we all felt as if this needed to be done multiple times, so I hope that we can organize these clean ups more often.

Ansel Adams

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Art is typically a visual representation of how a specific artist sees the world or possibly what they wish to say about a current issue. In a way, art has the capacity to go beyond a conversation because it creates power beyond simple words. A genuine and rare feeling can be invoked by viewing an art piece, which is an entirely personal experience. Many artists draw inspiration from a combination of their personal lives and immediate surroundings. The environment naturally influences and relates to art, whether classic or contemporary.

When I think of art interacting with the environment I think about Ansel Adams. He was and continues to be, one of the most influential people in both the arts and the environmental movement. He is a true example of creating a life around what you are passionate about, which for him was documenting his surroundings. Ansel Adams life became centered around Yosemite, which is where he found the Sierra Club and also his wife. In Yosemite, he developed his photography skills and began getting noticed as an up and coming photographer. The Sierra Club also helped him by publishing his work in their bulletin.

Ansel Adams photos capture beauty in landscapes that people tend to look over in their daily lives. This related to the environmental movement because his photographs managed to personify nature, making people relate to them. The emotional response to Ansel Adams work caused a feeling of responsibility or protection, which help to launch the environmental movement. On his official website, he is described as, “both the artist of the Sierra Nevada and the defender of Yosemite”. His personal connection to Yosemite transformed into a call for action in protecting the wilderness. He worked his entire life and formed his career around making the idea of wilderness relatable to those who did not have the first-hand experience of it. Adams himself described wilderness as, “a mystique: a valid, intangible, non-materialistic experience.” He has a unique lens of the wild, due to forming such a personal connection to it. Overall, Ansel Adams’ photographs have become a time capsule for true respect and dedication to the environment.Image result for ansel adams

A Plastic Ocean Documentary

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https://www.netflix.com/title/80164032

This documentary that shows us the state of our oceans and uncovers alarming facts about the consequences of our disposable lifestyle. It documents the global effects of plastic pollution. Throughout the film it shows us technology and solutions that everyone can do in order to help create a cleaner and greener ocean. The world we live in is full of plastic. The things we use in our day to day are made out of plastic. Shopping bags, bottles, toothbrushes, and even our clothes contain plastic. We have been mass-producing plastic since the 1950s. Every year we produce hundreds of million os tonnes of plastic. The majority of our plastic is not recycled and ends up in our landfills and oceans. The beginning part of the film starts out with an adventure to film the blue whale. This animals is the largest animal on the planet and while on their adventure it leads to them discovering a thick layer of plastic debris that is floating in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Over the course of the film it shows the viewers the marine environment that will be affected by the heavily polluted cities and dumps that are full of plastic waste. Throughout the film, we are shown footage of numerous marine species that have been affected by plastic debris. Marine animals and sea birds often mistake floating plastic for food. Large pieces of plastic, when eaten, can obstruct the animals’ digestive tracts of the animals, essentially starving them to death. There is not a quick fix for our plastic problem since plastic is so ingrained into our society. The film talks about various strategies that can help reduce the impact of plastic. If it was a simple fix, the ideal solution would be to avoid plastic containing products. Avoid using single use plastic products and recycling all the time. If items are not recyclable than a new technology has been developed to covert them into fuel. 

“Deadly Air in Our Cities: The Invisible Killer” New Report

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Smedley, T. (2019, March 17). Deadly Air in Our Cities: The Invisible Killer. The Guardian. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/17/air-pollution-london-low-emission-zone-deadly-toxic-fumes

 

  • The source of the article
    • The Guardian
  • The Questions:
    • What
      • This article is the about the recent and awful effects of air pollution for families, especially young children, located in/around busy cities. Parents and young children are being diagnosed with Asthma who have no prior family history of it.    
    • Who
      • The article primarily discusses families in London who are experiencing the negative health effects of air pollution. Although the article goes on to claim that, “studies around the world that have reached the same conclusion: children living near busy roads grow up with stunted lungs” (Smedley, 2019).
      • The article discusses the EXHALE study, that tested the lung volume of 8-9 year olds in over 25 schools in east London. “The data show that traffic pollution stops children’s lungs growing properly … by eight-to-nine-years-old, children from the most polluted areas have 5-10% less lung capacity and they may never get that back” (Smedley, 2019).
      • “The Californian Children’s Health Study, ongoing since 1993, measures the lung function of thousands of school children over five-to-seven-year periods. Living within a third of a mile from a motorway was associated with a 2% reduction in lung capacity” (Smedley, 2019).
      • “The 2015 smog in Beijing was so bad that it was dubbed the ‘Airpocalypse’”(Smedley, 2019).
      • “The toxic smog that covers Delhi every Diwali (religious festival of lights) now lasts for months at a time” (Smedley, 2019).
    • Why
      • Densely populated cities are clogged with diesel fumes from traffic, smoke from restaurants, and construction dust.
    • When
      • The Californian Children’s Health Study dates back to 1993 but families have been getting diagnosed with asthma since 2015, per the article. Policies all over the world have been enacted to combat this since 2015 as well. For example, in Edinburgh, London (northern London) in 2015, a school street turned the roads around a school into bus and bicycle-only areas during drop-off and pick-up times. Since then, this idea has spread to schools in London and Birmingham (Smedley, 2019).
    • Where
      • “Air pollution isn’t a London-only problem, or even a big-city problem. It’s an “anywhere with cars and smoke” problem. The answer isn’t to ban cars but it is to reduce exposure and to protect the most vulnerable” (Smedley, 2019). Mentioned by the article specifically was England, California, Beijing and Delhi.
    • How
      • This issue is persisting because community members and policy makers are not acting. The article itself states that the EPA and local health departments are claiming unsafe levels of air pollution but no one is doing anything about it.
  • Impact of the event or finding / Relevance to society
    • The impact of the article is very large and should resonate with every breathing being around the world. Air pollution is actually making people sick. Children are diagnosed with asthma, parents are suffering from heart disease and grandparents are experiencing dementia. This is a public health issue and more should be done to combat it. We as people are are responsible for harming our own health and our own environment. Policies need be enacted for the protection of public health.
  • Relevance to the course
    • This is relevant to the course because we had an entire lecture on pollution. We know that pollution is connected to land use as described in the article. Pollution is in fact any substance introduced into the environment that can be damaging to the environment or public health. The article speak of air pollution and its effects on human health.
  • Any pertinent questions raised by the story
    • Why were there no public health advisories or warnings?
    • Could this be related to overpopulation?
    • If you had a family, would you move away from the pollution or stay and fight policy makers?