Reflection Weeks 8-15

Reflection Time!

I know this has been said before, but what haven't we learned in this class? I can honestly say that this has been my favorite class in my three and a half years at UMD. It has been thought provoking, challenging and interesting, to say the least. The second half of the semester has been a little more challenging than the first. I would say this was due to all the advocacy stuff that we encountered, but it still was well worth the time. We also switched up web groups, which was nice since I was able to hear other people's opinions and thoughts. Shannon, Bailey, and Chnice all provided me with interesting thoughts and ideas on my posts and also gave me many posts and topics to consider.

  Tapped

Week 8 started off with the Tapped documentary. This was by far my favorite documentary that I have watched so far in this class. It really enhanced my knowledge about water, water rights, contaminants, BPA, chemicals, etc. I really have a strong interest in water and plastic bottles and the effect that they are having on our nation. I loved watching all the documentaries in this class because they provide a very realistic and enlightening view on some incredibly serious topics that we are facing. 

Junk, Junk, Junk

We talked quite a bit about junking and how to repurpose things that to some, might just be worthless and well, junk! We did junking projects and the above picture is what I created. It was part of a ceiling fan, one of the blades on it actually. My dad had just taken it down and was going to toss it out, so I grabbed one and repurposed it. It can be used to put pictures on or post it notes, or if I put in some hooks it can be used to hang keys on...lots of different purposes! This part of the class taught me that I shouldn't just toss something without thinking...it really can be put to good use.

Advocacy

And then we get into the advocacy part of the semester! While this wasn't my favorite topic in Environmental Health, I learned so much. I'm not very good at politics and laws and such, but working on my letter to my elected official really helped me see how important it is to know who our politicians are and how to approach them on an important issue. I really believe that the "fracking" issue that is going on is very real and needs to be addressed. Along with that, I have learned so much about BPA and what it is doing to our bodies. I recently read an article on BPA and how in March of 2012 the FDA will decide whether or not to ban it for good. That is one law that I truly hope gets passed. 

 

Photo Essay 

The Photo Essay was one of my favorite blogs to do. I really liked being able to portray how my family does things for the environment through pictures. It was a fun project and really opened my eyes as to how well my family uses what we have and is environmentally friendly. It was also really fun to see other people's photo essays...such a fun project!

Share And Voice

I really enjoyed this part of the semester. I found some great websites, articles and blogs through my searching. This was one of my favorite parts of Environmental Health. It was great to do this with my web group since I was able to learn so much through them. 

Conclusion

As I said at the beginning of this post, what didn't we learn in this class?? Being in this class really taught me so much about myself, the environment, our world, politics and laws, and overall, how to be environmentally friendly! It was great to learn so much and I also was able to learn about myself as well as my peers. I hope continue to practice the concepts that I have learned in this class even though it's coming to an end. It truly has been an awesome experience to have taken Environmental Health!