Blogging

To Blog!

First of all when thinking of blogging we have to look at the name. Blog. Blogging. Blogger.Blog.The name speaks for it self. Kuddos to whoever thought of it. As a matter of fact,let me google that real quick.

GOOGLE SEARCH ANSWER:The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997. The shorter version, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who, in April or May of 1999, broke the word weblog into the phrase "we blog" in the sidebar of his weblog.

Ok, now that we have that covered, lets get back to the basics.

I think that blogging was a great idea to use as a tool in the classroom. It allowed me to express myself freely and conveniently from the comfort of my own home.It also allowed me to learn more about my classmates and their opinions.It was like having a conversation online. The topics we were given to blog about were attention grabbing topics. I always felt that I had something to say and I enojyed the sense of liberty I felt when blogging.As a student I felt more engaged to blogging than lets say writing a paper because it was less restricted.

Sure, I would continue updating my blog.There are always fresh new topics to write about , and its something entertaining to do when I have some extra time on my hands.

All this Junk ... for what?

The Marshmallow Shooter !

This clever pump-action device shoots sweet, edible miniature marshmallows over 30’, and it even has an LED sight that projects a safe beam of red light to help locate a target for pinpoint accuracy. The easy-to-refill magazine holds 20 marshmallows for fast, nonstop action. It can be yours today for only $24.95. Thats like 3 hours of pay for a minimum wage worker!

This is exactly what our Professor is talking about.These things just keep wasting my time! The typical stupid holiday junk that should have “Buy Me, You Stupid Mark” etched into their undersides. These are the hollow products that maybe get taken out for a couple of times that day then rot in the basement until spring cleaning six years down the road — ending up in the nearest landfill.



A battery operated bug zapper. Enough said.



Chirstmas Trees

Ok the other stuff was fun, but now lets get serious.How can I forget this one. I mean, when we think about Christmas we think about gifts and lights snow and all of that other stuff. But is that what Christmas has really come to be about?Is it really worth it to kill our trees just so we can have another Holiday decoration? How wastefull and selfish is that? They just end up on some street corner early morning January 1st anyway.

Awesome Green Blogs

So I did exactly that. Went on google and typed in awesome green blogs and this is what I came across. The website http://urbangreengirl.wordpress."This blog aims to tackle the everyday problems that we face at an individual level, from the products we buy and the food we eat, to the ingredients we put on our body, how we consume, how we clean, and so on".This blog offers awesome tips and advice on how we can empower ourselves and educate ourselves about the practical ways we can protect and preserve our environment.

Upon snooping around this site I also came across another awesome green website http://green.cbc.ca/.
This website offers alot of awesome information. From different acts of green a day like removing window air conditioners in the winter to,to fun facts, and tips and ideas of what we can do at the individual level, even some feedback of what some of our favorite celebrities are doing.

Religion and The Enivornment

With all the different religions in the world there is one thing that I have come to notice that they all have in common, and that is faith.

Whatever religion you choose to practice ,there is a connection with that religion and its beliefs that allows you to have faith in that religion.

I enjoyed our last class because it was interesting to learn about the different religions and their connection to the enviornment. I also enjoyed observing other people's power point presentation skills. We have some natural speakers in the classroom, I have to say.

I also loved my little gift at the end of the Daoisim presentaion.Very clever.

Museum Visit

At the Museum of Natural History the dinosaurs are always my favorite part!

This trip brought back a lot of memories of the trips I used to take back when I was a skinny little tom boy fourth grader chitting and chatting my away around the museum with friends (dying for snack time of course).

But this time it wasnt just the dinosaurs that caught my attention. It was all the information. Wow! So much information and so properly organized, clear to read and to understand.

I was really impressed walking and reading from exhibit to exhibit writing notes on my cellphone ( which I thought was pretty cool,and I thought to myself, damn... too bad we didn't have these back in the fourth grade LOL).At the bottom after every reading was a little summary of what you read, what you can do about it and they different ways you can get involved, which I thought was pretty neat.

And I thought the quotes right before reading all the information was so brilliant.This is a good one from Albert Einstein that caught my eye(and my mind).




"We cannot solve the problems that we have created with the same thinking that created them".

I also read about the fish poisoning with cyanide in Asia which I thought was
really sad. I knew there was a huge demand for fish, but I never knew that they poisoned the coral reefs so they could catch the fish.It's really sad.

I also noticed that Madagascar is the worlds fourth largest island in the world, reminded me of the movie.Just thought I'd mention that. LOL

I also found some interesting facts about water like 97% of the earths water is salt
water and 3% of that is fresh water, and of that 3% , 1% is actually what we use.So wow, its not as much as we might have thought it was.I googled around and found this interesting chart on just how we use and depend that 1% in our daily lives.




Then as I keep walking I bump into that HUGE tree stump!
Standing in front of it I felt intimidated by nature.

As I kept walking following the cool little map on the floor we went to the last exhibit. I felt kind of weird because those apes really looked liked humans. It made me think about the never ending debate of evolution and creation.

I enjoyed stepping out of the classroom and into the museum to do some hands on learning.It was nice.

Research Paper

I decided to do my research paper on Environmental Justice for Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco. I thought it was pretty interesting to find something like this going on in our own backyard.Just take a look at the serious toxins found in the air in this report.

Air Quality
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) estimates that of the 39 pollutants they measure in San Francisco neighborhoods, the highest concentration, 20pollutants, was found in Bayview Hunters Point10. Air quality is impacted by a variety of different sources including diesel and gasoline vehicles traveling on highways 280 and 101, noxious fumes from the Southeast Wastewater Treatment Facility, pollution from the PG&E Hunters Point Power Plant and the Mirant Power Plant which is less than a mile away, and air emissions fromhundreds of industrial activities, most notably those located in the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.
PG&E’s Hunters Point Power Plant, by itself, discharges almost 600 tons of pollution into the air each year including PM10 particles, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and volatile organic compounds11.

This is a little but more about Green Action.These guys are tuff stuff. Just take a look at their mission statement:
http://www.greenaction.org/org/mission.shtml

Dumpsters

"The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality."

This is an interesting statement.We are obedient seduced consumers!

Chris Jordan's photographs tell the story of just how crazy money has made us.

I found the photogrpahs heartbreaking and at the same time "oddly comical" as well.

And as for the dumpster diving... mooky chick? Oh my gosh, was she hilarious or what?



"Dumpster diving is cute anyone can do it" ....uhh, I dont know about using the word "cute" (LOL), but dumpster diving does seem pretty...interesting, minus the germs and the rotten smell of the dumpster.Maybe if there was a way for someone to do the dumpster diving for you and then sell it.I dont mind buying second hand things as long as they were gently used and in good condition.

This is hilarious.Shannon23n from Minnesota writes:

Funniest and scariest time i had was behind a thrift store in MN around 5:30 a.m. I was in this dumpster finding all kinds of neat stuff, I was trying to grab as much as i could before i hopped back out to leave, it was real windy so i closed the lid execpt for a small opening, it was kinda chilly so i was also looking for some gloves, found this really shiny object and started to pry it out when i heard this noise ,so i stopped ad listened for moment then continued pulling and yanking then all the sudden the dumpster made this really loud clashing sound and then it started thrashing around, so i threw open the lid to find the garbage truck forks starting to lift the dumpster, the driver about had a heart attack myself included, I jumped out and walked over and said i had lost my cell earlier when i made a dropp off and asked if i could have few more moments to try ad find it, he just nodded yes with is jaw still dropped , so i went back over and dug around a bit trying to calm my heart rate, then finally walked over and said thanks then bolted right out of there


While on the Dumpster Giving Blog and Guide page, This statement caught my attention:
"Supermarkets throw away a disgusting amount of food on a daily basis. Food that could be going to local people who are hungry and homeless".

This is true, and it caught my attention because this reminds me of the time when I saw that an employee from a local bakery was throwing out perfectly fine bread.I asked him "Why do you throw it out why you just give it to the homeless"?He replyed that the bread wouldnt be considered "fresh" anymore and that his boss gives to the homeless on holidays.The funny thing was you would think the employees get to take the bread home, but they werent allowed to take it home unless they payed for it!

I found a similar blog about a woman who went dumpster diving in back of a bakery and just look at what she came off with:

Here is her blog : http://transformingsociety.blogspot.com/2007/11/dumpster-diving-panera.html