Final Post

I have always enjoyed learning about our world and the different ways people on Earth work/ communicate. This class has opened my eyes to the “Norms” of people. I’ve always had an idea about what this means, however since we really went into detail in this class, I feel like I have an even better understanding.

When we talked about the environment, I always though “Nature”. I also learned that your environment doesn’t necessarily mean nature but your surrounding area. I have always been very intrigued by nature, but even more so now. I do my best to inform others of ways to keep Earth happy and healthy. I find that when I take walks in the park, it is just so calming to be out in nature. I want to do everything I can to preserve that.

I have enjoyed this class and everything that has been taught. I feel I have not only furthered the information that I already knew, but also learned new things that are beneficial to my everyday life.

Haley Wright

Faith and Science

My mom was raised Catholic and my dad Methodist. When my sister and I were young, my mom would take us to church for Christmas and Easter, but we wouldn’t go on a weekly basis. As we grew older, my mom would encourage us to try to go more as a family. My dad has never been big on church, I was never big on church, but my mom and sister have always wanted to try to go more.

I have always been science geared like my dad. I didn’t quite understand the stories of the bible and didn’t care much to try to understand. I knew how people evolved and I knew of the big bang and that was enough for me. This past summer, I had faced some hardships that I didn’t think was possible to work through. I began going to church, praying, and attempting to read the bible. I talked to people about God to better my understanding. I worked through the difficulties that I thought was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I thank God for helping me through it. I am still not very religious but I did find my faith.

I think for some people, it just takes something difficult to come up in their life to help find their faith. Others are raised in religious households. Some people are raised on certain beliefs and change and others pick up their faith.

It is a common misconception that people can’t have faith and still believe in science. In my case, I have found faith but am still science geared showing it is possible. However, some people don’t just believe in science or in religion.

Haley Wright

“Greenwash your floors with Swiffer”

The actual Swiffer is fully made of plastic. The container that the Swiffer cleaning pads come on is made from plastics along with the lid that covers it. Plastic is non biodegradable, meaning it will break into smaller pieces as time goes on but will never fully break down. The actual pads are chemically soaked and then thrown away and taken to soak into the ground in a landfill. Even the Swiffer that projects the chemical cleaner requires the pads, which are thrown away when finished. These things pile up in landfills and take years to break down, of they do at all.

Gianfranco Zaccai, the maker of Swiffer, stated “Cleaning the floor with an old-fashioned mop and detergent is a messy and unpleasant job that uses many gallons of hot water and great amounts of detergent every week in millions of homes around the world. The water, the energy needed to heat that water, and the environmental impact of dumping the detergent into the waste stream are terribly costly, and all for a job no one likes doing anyway.” He is right when he says the old fashioned mop and detergent uses gallons of water. Dumping the detergent afterwards is bad for the environment, but it isn’t any worse then his chemically made Swiffer Wet Jet projector.

Swiffer was smart in choosing the colors to help support them. Green makes the consumer feel as if the product is truly a “green” product. Humans associate the color green with Eco-Friendly objects. So when they see the green Swiffer and packaging, it gives false accusations that the product is environmental friendly. Purple is usually calming and soothing which helps the  consumer believe that they are doing good and making the right choice in buying the right cleanser.

Haley Wright

Trash Island

Every day humans produce and unbelievable amount of trash which sometimes ends up in the ocean. A trash pile has gathered in the Pacific ocean in-between Hawaii and California. This trash heap keeps growing bigger and bigger which makes the size undeterminable. This happens due to the currents constantly circulating and bringing the trash back in. Oceanographers and ecologists found that 70% of marine debris sinks to the ocean floor. Studies have shown that 80% of trash comes from land whereas 20% comes from ships at sea. Approximately 90% of this trash pile was said to be made from plastic. Water bottles and caps, cups and plastic bags along with fish netting tend to make up most of the trash in the ocean. Plastic never degrades, it just breaks into smaller pieces. In water plastics don’t break down easily but when on land it heats up easier making it break down faster. Plastic is very durable and doesn’t cost much to make and is also malleable. This means plastic is used more and more by consumers. Therefore more trash adds up in the ocean.

Animals get trapped and strangled by trash that circulates throughout the ocean. While swimming, they might not notice something like nets and swim right into it. Other animals such as birds or sea turtles might eat plastic thinking it is food. This would result in the garbage getting stuck in their throat or not being able to break down in their stomach. Jelly-fish and fish are filter feeders and could mistakenly eat garbage which is toxic to them. If it doesn’t kill them, it could cause genetic issues.

Organizations have been made to attempt to clean up the oceans of the trash and debris. No nation takes responsibility in the trash flowing into the ocean. Funding isn’t being provided because the country would go “bankrupt”. Humans need to step it up and not ruin our planet and attempt to help clean earth clean.

Haley Wright

http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/trashislands.htm

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

Lawn Care

My parents have always taken pride in out yard. I live on a corner lot so everyone can see almost every section of our yard whether they are walking or driving past. My parents knew this when they bought our house so they have put so much effort into making our yard and lawn look nice. They knew they wanted a big backyard for my sister and I to play in when we were growing up and for our dogs to run around in. My sister, Lauren, and I every year would get flowers and plant them in our dedicated spot. As we grew up, advances were made to the landscaping. They hired a landscaper to improve the looks of our yard from the street view.

Even in the olden days, landscaping and big yards were normally associated with royalty. Larger yards were used to host extravagant parties. Landscaping was always trimmed up and freshly cut. Large horses or mazes were made out of shrubs and bushes. If you watch The Princess Diaries, Queen Clarisse had a large garden and yard with a stone fountain to host large parties. In The Sound of Music, they have a large yard with a lake in their backyard. Large lawns were a sign of money.

Now it can go both ways. People either want a large yard or a smaller yard. Normally if they want smaller yards, it’s because they don’t want the hassle of mowing or keeping up with it. Most of the time now people don’t keep up with their landscaping either. Buying plants to spruce up your landscaping and watering gets expensive. Mowing a large yard is time consuming and difficult work. Some people like having large yards so their children can play or they have room for their animals to run around. I prefer a large yard because for me taking care of plants is therapeutic. I want my children to have a large yard to play in. When I have family parties I want enough room for everyone to hang out in. It is all preference now.

Haley Wright

 

Rubbish

Have you ever wondered what happens to trash over the years when it lays on the ground or how it affects our environment? Foods scraps don’t take long to decompose; however, glass and plastic can take millions of years to break down. When you drive around, you see paper cups and fragments of plastic scattered across the ground along with partially buried plastic bags and beer bottles. Motorists throw plastic iced coffee cups out the window and don’t think twice about it. Ten years from now, that plastic cup that was thrown out the window will still be sitting there.

I don’t like the thought of living on a planet covered in garbage. I don’t understand why people think it’s ok to throw their McDonalds bags, tissues and cigarettes or whatever else they are throwing out the window for animals to get into, or why they throw dip containers on the side of the side of the road to rot on Earth. I believe that people just don’t respect their surroundings anymore.Trash that gets thrown into lakes or ponds by those passing by or fishing, over time, sinks to the bottom or settles on land.Trash in streets can wash into sewers, storm drains or rivers and streams when it rains and be carried to oceans or coastal waters.

Fish and mammals ingest harmful toxins affecting the humans that consume the animals. Lead, cadmium and mercury have been found in fish living in the ocean, which is dangerous for humans to eat. These toxins are linked to cancer, birth defects and even immune system problems and early development issues. Chemicals, if not degraded properly, can remain in the environment for hundreds of years and be absorbed through the human skin or inhaled.

People need to do everything they can to help our environment. The majority of the population doesn’t care about the environment. As a result, they just throw their trash out of the window of their cars or as they are walking. Why not wait until there is a trash can in sight or when you have a recycling bin near? Littering leads to several environmental issues and health factors which is why we should prevent doing it.

Haley Wright

Stressed Out!

We recently learned that stress effects everyone differently. Some people handle stress well while others can’t deal with even a little bit of stress; everyone handles stress differently. There are good ways and bad ways to handle stress. Smoking and overeating are unhealthy ways while exercising and writing are healthy ways to deal with stress.

Stress can be from things like commuting from school to home every day or even being the CEO of a big corporate office. Stress over time wears down the body not only emotionally, but physically too. Stress raises blood pressure and studies have shown that stress changes how blood clots which is more likely to cause a heart attack.

Not all stress is necessarily bad stress. Chemicals and hormones are released during stressful situations, your pulse and breathing is increased, muscles begin to tense up and your brain requires more oxygen. All these can boost ones immune system. Good stress helps one use their brain and think along with staying active. There is bad stress such as chronic stress which is the response to emotional pressure suffered for a long period of time on a individual who has no control over the situation. Chronic stress lowers ones immunity; digestive, excretory and reproductive systems eventually stop working properly. Once the chronic stress levels have passed, the body requires its normal state. These actions, if continuous, will lead to damaging effects on the body.

There are three different types of stress that carry physical and mental health risks for a person:

• Routine stress- pressures of work, family and other daily responsibilities.
• Negative change- losing a job, illness or breakup/ divorce.
• Traumatic stress- major accident, losing someone, natural disasters, war or assault.

As stated earlier, your body handles stress in different ways. Some people may experience digestive issues, others may experience headaches, fatigue, anger or depression.

The effects of stress build up over time. Exercising, avoiding stressful situations, seek support from family and friends, talking to doctors are a few ways for help cop with stress.

 

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml

Nutrisystem: too good to be true?

In class, we talked about how commercials are aired but not necessarily reliable. Take the Lipitor commercial for example, it states the spokesperson is a doctor. We found in class he isn’t truly licensed in the US. There are several commercials aired every day, promoting different drugs and prescriptions encouraging people to buy these “helpful” drugs. People see these commercials and assume they are reliable because they see a familiar face, or its stated that the spokesperson is a licensed doctor. These drugs aren’t always good for us to be consuming though. If people would go ask their doctors, they could have all their questions answered. Doctors are familiar with our history, commercials aren’t.

Another example is the Nutrisystem commercials. These commercials use Marie Osmond as their spokesperson, making the viewer feel they can trust it. This works because she is a familiar face. One of the newest commercials starts out with her holding a photo and she explains that pictures will show your every flaw weight wise (pictures don’t lie). The commercials will always show before and after pictures of people who have tried this “amazing” weight loss supplement. They advertise things like “Want to look good in that little black dress?” Black tends to be slimming on the body anyway! The viewers don’t know if the people using the product subjected themselves to ONLY using this product though. They could have used the product and worked out for an hour a day or work out twice a day. The viewers just don’t know the true facts behind this weight loss program.

Going to your doctor would reduce the risks that could come with buying these products. People are essentially buying blind when they buy products like Nutrisystem. You are only buying what you see on the commercials or what people are telling you. Doctors are the only people that truly know if these products are possibly good or harmful to put in your body.

Haley Wright

Do you procrastinate?

Everyone procrastinates whether its with school, our jobs, or even going to the doctors. Students tend to procrastinate when it comes to school work, constantly finding more interesting things to do around the house or dorm or sit down and watch Netflix. Do we procrastinate on purpose or accident though? When I know I have a big test coming up, I try to make a schedule of when and what I need to study. However, just because I have a schedule for myself doesn’t mean I will follow through.

Procrastinating isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes we need to just take a load off and focus on other things for awhile. When it comes to going to the doctors, procrastinating shouldn’t be on the top of your list.

Even the thought of the doctors generally makes people cringe! “I feel fine!” is our common response to when something goes wrong with our bodies. We shouldn’t procrastinate when it comes to going to the doctors. Doctors are here to help us prevent getting sick. If there happens to be something seriously wrong, the illness or disease could spread only making it worse for ourselves. Normally we only go to the doctors when there is a serious injury or our parents make us. As we grow up, that responsibility passes onto ourselves. As I was growing up, I would always refuse going to the doctors office. My mom would have to trick me into getting in the car and driving those 30 minutes to get to the doctors office. Now I know my health is on me. If I get sick, I know I should go get checked out to make sure I don’t have anything serious. Doctors aren’t here to make us any more sick then we are or we think we are.

We shouldn’t procrastinate when it comes to going to the doctors incase something is seriously wrong with us. The doctors are here to help, not hurt. Putting off going to the doctor would only be hurting yourself.

Haley Wright

Weight Goals

Today everyone says we shouldn’t judge people based on their weight. When you watch t.v, or read a magazine, the most covered topic is primarily on weight. “Everyone should be happy the way they are built.” but in society now, is this realistic? Can people truly be happy with their weight? When I got on the internet, the first thing that popped up on my home page was a link to “Get fit” with a picture of a girl from the side in workout gear and in a crouching position. Immediately I look at how thin she is, wishing I could be that thin. However, is she really that thin? The girl was positioned in a way that her stomach was outstretched so she didn’t have any body fat. The photo could have also been tampered with to help give you the impression that buying their sportswear motivates you to workout and get a better body. Pictures like these make you think about your schedule on a day to day basis and ask yourself what are you doing differently then the person in that picture. When you log on to sites like Facebook, advertisements pop up on the side for “fit wear” or “healthy eating” making you evaluate the choices you make on a day to day basis. We try not to be judgmental people and say it is ok to be happy with your weight and your size but every day we judge others if they aren’t the “perfect” weight. We need to ask ourselves what is the perfect weight? If someone is having health issues because of their weight, it would be best for them to try to lose weight. If someone is underweight, they should try their best to gain some. Other than that, if people are happy with their weight, who are we to judge.

Haley Wright